Manitoba Bandidos Torture Trial.....

Manitoba Bandidos Torture Trial.....

February 17, 2005
Biker gang moves into 'Peg
Winnipeg may not have an NHL team, but we're now home to two major-league outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Bandidos, arch-rivals to the Hells Angels, have set up a probationary chapter in the city, police said yesterday.
Cops confirmed the Bandidos' recent arrival in Winnipeg after arresting two members in connection with a violent abduction Feb. 8 in the West End.
Winnipeg police seized one of the Bandidos member's vests and showcased it to the media yesterday during a press conference.
"We've had intelligence for some time that there may possibly be Bandidos here in Manitoba, but this is the first confirmed evidence that we have that there is a charter here," said Sgt. Cam Baldwin, head of the Winnipeg police organized crime unit.
Police say there is a "worldwide truce" between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, and so far there has been no reported violence between the competing gangs.
'UP TO ANGELS'
"I guess that will be up to the Hells Angels chapter here in Manitoba to dictate whether they're going to welcome the Bandidos or whether they're going to try to eliminate them from cutting in on their economics here in the province," Baldwin said.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 8, a 20-year-old man was driving near Sargent Avenue and Toronto Street, when he was run off the road and forced into a snowbank, said Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Shelly Glover.
"The victim was then dragged from his vehicle by several males known to him and taken to an address in the city where he was held for several hours and tortured," Glover said.
The victim was treated in hospital for extensive injuries but has since been released.
Ron Charles Burling, 34, was arrested last Thursday, while Jason Llewellyn Michel, 25, was arrested Tuesday night in Calgary.
Both men, who are believed to be probationary members of the Winnipeg-based chapter of the Bandidos, are charged with aggravated assault and abduction.
Burling, whose leather Bandidos vest was seized by cops, returned a call from The Sun yesterday, saying he was doing it purely out of courtesy and that he had no comment.
Before hanging up, he asked that the media refrain from contacting Bandidos members.
"We don't talk to the media," Burling said yesterday afternoon via telephone from the Winnipeg Remand Centre. "I have nothing to say to you. Have a good day."
Burling made headlines last July when he accidentally shot off part of the big toe on his right foot following a violent home invasion on Agnes Street in the West End.
Police said at the time Burling had no gang connections.
Initial rumblings that the Bandidos were looking to expand into Manitoba were first reported in The Sun in December 2001. Baldwin said the Bandidos chapter in Toronto is sponsoring Manitoba's six probationary members, who "are all people that are familiar to us in the province."
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Tue, January 16, 2007

Kidnap, assault detailed
Crack-trade brutality
Jurors in the trial of five men accused of kidnapping a Winnipeg drug dealer were given a first-hand account yesterday of just how ruthless the city's crack trade can be.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Blair were all charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
"He was scared. He kept asking why this was happening to him," said Jason Michel, one of two witnesses arrested for kidnapping. Jurors heard Michel pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and, in exchange for his testimony, saw additional charges of kidnapping, extortion and aggravated assault stayed by the Crown.
DRUG DEBT
Michel told court the victim was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling, a member of the outlaw Bandido's biker gang. Michel, who called himself the president of the Bandido's puppet club, La Familia, said Burling called him to his Union Avenue home several hours before the abduction. He was joined a short time later by Curwin, Pereira, Ducharme and Blair.
Burling said "the victim took off with a bunch of money and that we were to snag him so we could talk about it," Michel told court. "Burling was pretty angry."
Michel, Curwin, Pereira, Ducharme and Blair drove to a Toronto Street crack house where they hatched a plan to lure the victim to the address.
The victim's car was ultimately forced into a snowbank. The victim and a female passenger were dragged to the crack house where they were placed in separate rooms.
Michel called Curwin who instructed him to head over to a St. Mary's Road address where he was expected to recover the stolen money. After being directed to a second address, Michel recovered about $1,000 in drugs and cash.
When Michel returned to the apartment several hours later, the victim had suffered a savage beating. "He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
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Tue, January 23, 2007
Kidnap-beating details forgotten
Adam Amundsen suffered what looked like a bad case of amnesia yesterday as he testified at the trial of five men accused of kidnapping and beating him for several hours.
Questioned about the night he was allegedly forced out of his car and savagely beaten over a drug debt, Amundsen answered "I don't know" or "I don't remember" more than three dozen times.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Blair are all charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion in connection with the Feb. 8, 2005 incident.
WARNING GESTURE
One of the accused, Ron Burling, flashed a grin at Amundsen's mounting "I don't know" answers, prompting a warning gesture from his lawyer.
Amundsen, a 22-year-old former drug dealer with ties to the Bandidos biker gang, remembered some things about the night, but only after persistent questioning by Crown attorney Daniel Chaput.
Amundsen said a female friend asked to meet him at a West End address. When Amundsen arrived, his car was forced off the road and into a snowbank. Somebody smashed the passenger windows of his car -- who, he could not say. He said he remembers being beaten in the bedroom of an apartment but not how he got there or who administered the beating.
Amundsen said he was beaten about the head and body with fists and a baseball bat, and the index finger on his right hand was smashed with a sledge hammer. The tip of that finger was cut off, as was a tattoo from his left hand. He said he did not know why he was beaten.
Earlier in the trial, witness and co-accused Jason Michel told court Amundsen was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Lawyers for the five accused will begin cross-examining Amundsen today.
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Wednesday 21 February 2007
Don't trust Crown's witnesses, jury told
Jurors in the trial of four men accused of kidnapping and beating a Winnipeg drug dealer were urged to reject the testimony of witnesses defence lawyers said had every reason to lie and no reason to be trusted.
News Canada
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
The Crown's three major witnesses include two male co-accused who were offered plea deals in exchange for their testimony and a crack-addicted woman who lived in the apartment where the beating took place.
"If the Crown had a choice, they wouldn't be asking you to take (the witnesses') word for anything," said Ducharme's lawyer, Ian Garber.
The accused men are all either members or associates of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified earlier in the trial the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
LURED TO ADDRESS
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank. Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms. After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
"He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
Garber said yesterday Michel's testimony could not be trusted, reminding jurors of a plea deal that saw the Crown charge Michel with one count of kidnapping in exchange for his testimony.
"On cross-examination he admitted there is no reason for you (jurors) to believe anything he told you," Garber said. "Mr. Michel would promise anyone anything he had to get out of the mess he was in."
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Mar 3, 2007
By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press
Bandidos head launches outburst after conviction, vows biker gang is here to stay
The head of the Manitoba Bandidos launched into a profanity-laced tirade and vowed the notorious biker gang was here to stay — moments after a jury found him and three associates guilty of kidnapping and torturing a rival drug dealer.
Friday afternoon’s verdict could represent a crushing blow to the local chapter, as the men are facing lengthy prison sentences for their roles in the February 2005 attack. A fifth accused had previously pleaded guilty.
“The Bandidos aren’t (expletive) going anywhere,” gang leader Ron Burling shouted in court as he was led away in shackles by sheriff’s officers.
“God forgives. The Bandidos doesn’t.”
Burling also directed his venom towards Crown attorney Daniel Chaput with a barely audible threat that is now being investigated by justice officials. Only the words “rape” and “girlfriend” could be clearly heard from the public gallery.
The five gang members — Burling, Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Daniel Pereira — have all been detained in custody and a sentencing date is expected to be set next week.
Burling is currently serving a nine-year prison term for a violent home invasion in which he accidentally shot off his own toe.
Manitoba is one of only a few provinces in Canada with a full-time Bandidos presence. The gang’s status took a major hit last year when eight Bandidos were executed in Ontario in what police called an “internal cleansing.”
Five other Bandidos members and associates — including three from Manitoba — have been charged with the killings. A preliminary hearing is underway.
In Winnipeg, jurors began their deliberations on Thursday afternoon following one of the longest trials in recent memory. The case began in early January.
They found the accused guilty as charged of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion for their role in a disturbing attack on a 20-year-old man.
Jurors were told the victim owed Burling money as part of an outstanding drug debt. The man and his girlfriend were allegedly lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called “friend” who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Jason Michel, a former high-ranking biker associate who admits to participating in parts of the attack, was called as a Crown witness to detail the incident.
His evidence was considered crucial since the victim offered little during his testimony, claiming to have no memory of the incident or who was responsible. Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by Burling’s co-accused and another Crown witness.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
“He looked like a beach ball. His head was swollen. He was beat up,” Michel testified earlier in the trial.
Michel’s credibility was a hot issue for defence lawyers, as he admitted to having an extensive record for crimes including break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats and breach of court orders.
But jurors clearly believed his testimony.
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Sunday 04 March 2007
Bandidos guilty of kidnapping, assault
Jurors have convicted four men arrested in the kidnapping and savage beating of a Winnipeg drug dealer.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
FULL DAY OF DELIBERATIONS
Jurors deliberated about one full day before convicting the men on all charges.
The Crown's three major witnesses included two male co-accused who were offered plea deals in exchange for their testimony and a crack-addicted woman who lived in the Toronto Street apartment where the beating took place.
Jurors heard Burling was a member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang and the other accused were gang associates.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified earlier in the trial the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms.
After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
"He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
Amundsen, a reluctant witness, told jurors he was abducted and beaten, but would not say by who.
LONG TRIAL
Jurors acquitted Burling and Pereira in connection with a separate incident in which the apartment tenant was confronted by two armed men who robbed her of drugs and money.
No date has been set for sentencing.
The trial, the longest in recent memory, was set for six weeks and ran eight, with no shortage of twists and turns and delays. In the middle of the trial, one accused, Daniel Blair, pleaded guilty.
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Tue, March 20, 2007
LIFE SENTENCE OUTSIDE JAIL: JUDGE
A Winnipeg man who testified against four co-accused in the kidnapping and torture of a Winnipeg drug dealer was sentenced to time served yesterday and released from custody.
But Jason Michel will continue to serve a life sentence outside of jail, "always looking over his shoulder, wondering if he has been found by those seeking revenge," said Justice Holly Beard.
"That alone should be enough to deter him from pursuing a criminal lifestyle."
Michel was sentenced to four years, two months for his part in the incident but agreed to testify against his co-accused in exchange for a reduced sentence. He had been facing up to 12 years in prison.
Michel was given double credit for the 25 months he has spent in custody.
Beard warned Michel "if you ever find yourself back in jail you will be bait for anyone who is in there.
A jury earlier this month convicted Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion. They have not yet been sentenced.
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Ex-Bandidos associate rewarded for snitching
Tue Mar 20 2007
By Mike McIntyre
A former Bandidos associate who snitched on fellow members during a recent high-profile gang trial was rewarded for his work Monday with a reduced sentence and ticket to a new life.
Jason Michel, 25, admitted to being one of several men involved in the February 2005 kidnapping and torture of a rival drug dealer.
But he agreed to provide key evidence for the Crown against his co-accused in exchange for a joint-recommendation of time served in custody of just over two years.
Five men were convicted earlier this month and the Crown is now expected to seek up to 12 years custody for their roles.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard endorsed the plea bargain, which now allows Michel to be relocated under the federal witness protection program.
"The conviction of the other accused was unlikely without his co-operation," said Beard. However, the judge warned Michel's actions come with a steep price.
"This really is like a life sentence," she said. Michel will likely always be "looking over his shoulder" because of his deal and would become an instant target should he ever find himself back behind bars.
"If you are ever back in jail, you'll be like bait," said Beard.
Michel told jurors how the Bandidos committed a disturbing attack on a 20-year-old man that wasn't for the faint of heart.
The victim owed money to the gang as part of an outstanding drug debt and was lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called "friend" who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by his co-accused.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
"The events leading to this charge were horrendous," Beard said Monday.
"We don't expect this kind of behaviour in a civilized country like Canada."
Michel told jurors he was serving as president of "La Familia" -- which he described as a "support" group for the local Bandidos chapter -- at the time of the abduction. La Familia's job basically involved selling cocaine on behalf of the Bandidos, he said.
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Sat, July 14, 2007
Ad trumpets Hells Angels foes staking city turf
The motorcycle gang that took on the Hells Angels in Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war may be establishing itself in Winnipeg.
An "announcement" in the classified section of a Winnipeg newspaper yesterday says a "Rock Machine Club House" is opening in Winnipeg on Sept. 15, indicating the club may be looking to set up shop in Manitoba. It's unclear who submitted the classified ad.
"Our officers do not have confirmation that that is fact, that they're coming here," said Const. Jacquie Chaput, a spokeswoman for Winnipeg police.
The Rock Machine went head-to-head with the Hells Angels during Quebec's deadly biker wars in the late '90s that claimed an estimated 170 lives. In 2000 most of the club's members "patched over" to the Texas-based Bandidos, the Angels' largest rivals worldwide.
ROCK MACHINE
A source told Sun Media yesterday that if the Rock Machine is in fact coming to Winnipeg, it would likely be in the capacity of a puppet club to help get the Bandidos back on their feet in Manitoba.
Three Winnipeg Bandidos affiliates are in jail after being charged in the massacre of eight men affiliated with the Bandidos in Shedden, Ont., in April 2006. Others are locked up in Stony Mountain Institution for various offences.
That leaves too few, if any, Bandidos on the streets of Winnipeg to have a full chapter here, said the source.
Winnipeg police had previously identified a group called Los Montoneros as the Bandidos' puppet club here, but the source said prospects in that group must go through a five-year probationary period before becoming full-patch Bandidos. It's possible the Rock Machine is being brought in, if they are in fact coming here, to speed up the rebuilding process, said the source.
That scenario would seem to support postings on the Bandidos' official Canadian website. Its guestbook has seen several recent comments related to Winnipeg.
A June 25 comment posted by a user who identifies himself as the secretary-treasurer of "Bandidos Mid West" reads: "Congratulations to the new Prospects in Winnipeg chapter Frank, Norm & Derrick on there (sic) new Status in the Bandido Nation ... Great job boys."
Winnipeg police declined to comment on the possibility of a local Bandidos resurgence when contacted by Sun Media last month.
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Sun, July 15, 2007
Notice baffles bikers
Rock Machine no more?
By PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA
If the Rock Machine is coming to Winnipeg, it's news to the Bandidos.
A Bandidos source told Sun Media yesterday the motorcycle club has no idea who is responsible for placing a classified ad in a Winnipeg newspaper on Friday announcing that a clubhouse for the Rock Machine will open in Winnipeg in September.
The Rock Machine waged Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war against the Hells Angels in Quebec during the 1990s but most of its remaining members became Bandidos in 2000.
A source had suggested to Sun Media that if the Rock Machine were indeed coming to Winnipeg, it might be to help speed up the process of building the Bandidos' ranks here. However, the Bandidos source said yesterday that the club is already well-established.
"We have 15 members on the streets in Winnipeg," he said.
The Bandidos source also noted the Rock Machine no longer exists, and if someone plans on re-establishing a chapter they're doing so without the Bandidos' knowledge or consent.
The source said Winnipeggers don't have to fear any kind of turf war with the Hells Angels.
"We don't party with them on a regular basis but we're not at war with them either," he said.
The Bandidos have two support clubs in Manitoba, Los Montoneros and another group, Red Power, which operates in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said the source.
MURDERS IN SHEDDEN
The Bandidos have also established the Mid-West chapter with members scattered between Saskatoon and Calgary, as well as four chapters in Ontario, said the source.
"We're larger now than we were before the murders that happened in Shedden," he said.
Eight men with ties to the Bandidos were killed in April 2006 near Shedden, Ont. Eight people have been charged in connection with the slayings, including three from Winnipeg.
The Bandidos source said the Canadian members are trying to shed their outlaw image.
"I know you've heard it before, but we're not a criminal organization. We're just trying to be a motorcycle club," he said. "The lion's share of the guys are businesspeople. We have pilots, we have retired people -- these are guys who have been legitimate businessmen all their lives."
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Fri, October 19, 2007
Bandidos no more?
Outlaw gang toast after Shedden massacre: Website

By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

Michael Sandham is one of eight charged with murders. (Ken Wightman, Sun Media File)

Eighteen months after Bandidos affiliates were murdered or charged in a mass slaying, a website suggests the motorcycle club no longer exists in Canada.

Since the Shedden, Ont., massacre in April 2006, there have been mixed signals about the outlaw biker gang's status in Canada.

Persistent speculation the club, headquartered in Texas, had collapsed north of the border was met recently with hints it welcomed new prospects in Manitoba and opened a midwest chapter with members in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

But a recent post on the Bandidos Motorcycle Club Canada website states: "As of October 2, 2007, the Bandidos MC 1% Canada is officially shut down. There isn't no more Bandidos MC membership in Canada."

The person who updates the website did not respond to an e-mail before press time last night.

A Winnipeg police spokeswoman had this response about the website's claim: "The Bandidos website is not clear to us. Therefore, we are not able to confirm the existence of a chapter in Canada."

The Shedden murders happened at a time when the gang's national membership was dwindling, observers believe, and many members were behind bars.

MYSTERY

Eight Bandidos were slain. Of the eight charged, three were part of the gang's Winnipeg chapter -- president Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39.

The trio is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. A trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2008.

In recent months, comments within a guestbook on the Bandidos Canada website suggested the club was gaining momentum in Western Canada.

There were congratulatory messages for supposed new affiliates in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, while another announced the launch of a probationary chapter in Calgary, something police in that city did not confirm or deny at the time.

Adding to the mystery was a newspaper ad in July that announced a "Rock Machine Club House" would open Sept. 15 in Winnipeg.

Yesterday, Winnipeg police were unable to comment on whether a clubhouse opened.

In 2000, most remaining Rock Machine members patched over to the Bandidos following the Rock Machine's deadly biker war with the Hells Angels in Quebec.

There was a suggestion the Rock Machine, if it came to Winnipeg, would prop up the Bandidos. A Bandidos source, however, previously told Sun Media the club did not need the help.
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Thu, November 1, 2007
Hard time for gangsters?
Man savagely beaten over debt
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
Two men convicted in the kidnapping and torture of a Winnipeg drug dealer should be sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, a judge was told yesterday.
John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Ron Burling were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house on Feb. 8, 2005.
'MORAL CULPABILITY'
Four of the accused were convicted following a marathon jury trial last March. Blair pleaded guilty early in the trial for his part in the attack.
At a sentencing hearing yesterday, Crown attorney Geoff Bayly recommended Justice Holly Beard sentence Curwin to 12 years in prison and Pereira to 11 and a half years. Their lawyers asked that they be sentenced to time served.
Bayly said the degree of planning and the severity of the assault justified lengthy periods of incarceration.
"The moral culpability of all the offenders was very, very high," Bayly said.
Pereira pleaded for leniency and told Beard he is a different man after spending nearly three years in jail.
"I've come to realize this isn't the life I want to live," said the 25-year-old father of two. "I'd just like to ask for a second chance."
Jurors heard Burling was a member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang and the other accused were gang associates.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms.
After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
Jurors acquitted Burling and Pereira in connection with a separate incident in which the apartment tenant was confronted by two armed men who robbed her of drugs and money.
Sentencing submissions for Burling, Ducharme and Blair will be made today and tomorrow. The Crown is expected to seek sentences between 12 and 15 years. No date has been set for sentencing.
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Fri, November 2, 2007
Gangster talks tough in court
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
A Bandidos gangster convicted of orchestrating the kidnapping and beating of another drug dealer showed little sign of repentance yesterday after a judge was urged to sentence him to 15 years in prison.
"I'm prepared to do my time," Ron Burling told Justice Holly Beard.
"We weren't playing a game of bank teller here. This guy was a known drug dealer, I was a known drug dealer. I don't know what to say. I'm not going to ask for any leniency."
The burly, heavily-tattooed biker was flanked by three Sheriff's officers as Crown attorney Geoff Bayly recounted his role in a plot to recover a $6,000 drug debt.
Burling, 37, and four Bandidos underlings were arrested in February 2005 after drug dealer Adam Amundsen was kidnapped and taken to a Toronto Street crack house where he was beaten for more than four hours. Amundsen was only released after two co-accused recovered money and drugs and returned them to Burling. Amundsen was released bloodied and bruised, suffering a smashed finger, and a broken nose and cheekbone.
Bayly said it didn't matter that Burling didn't actively participate in the kidnapping or assault.
"The offence was committed entirely for the benefit of Mr. Burling," Bayly said.
Burling's lawyer Pam Smith said he should be sentenced to just five years, arguing 15 years would be "harsh and excessive."
Such a sentence would be consecutive to a nine-year sentence Burling is already serving for home invasion.
"He would be serving, basically, a life sentence," Smith said.
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Strike three, he's out
Re: Gangster talks tough in court, Nov. 2.
Your story read: "Burling's lawyer Pam Smith said he should be sentenced to just five years, arguing 15 years would be 'harsh and excessive.'"
Such a sentence would be consecutive to a nine-year sentence Burling is already serving for home invasion.
So Ron Burling was convicted of a home invasion, admitted he's a drug dealer, kidnapped someone over a drug debt, and severely assaulted that person, and somehow his lawyer thinks 15 years in prison is "harsh and excessive" because he's already doing nine years for the home invasion?
Are you kidding me?
If this was America, he'd be going away for life, with the possibility of a death sentence. The only thing harsh and excessive about this is the fact Ron Burling continues to excessively commit harsh crimes
Lock him up and throw away the key. -
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Crown wants up to 15 years prison four five Bandidos convicted of kidnapping, torture
Nov 2, 2009
By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba justice officials are trying to put the final nail in the coffin of the local Bandidos motorcycle chapter by seeking up to 15 years in prison for five members and associates.
The group was found guilty earlier this year of kidnapping and torturing a rival drug deal in February 2005.
Queen’s Bench Justice Holly Beard has reserved her decision on the men, who remain in custody without bail.
The Crown is seeking the harshest sentence for leader Ron Burling, who is already doing a nine-year sentence for a home invasion in which he accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Burling would face 15 more years consecutive to his existing penalty if the Crown’s request is granted. Burling’s lawyer said a five-year additional penalty would be sufficient.
“He is the mastermind. He put the wheels of this criminal act into motion,” said Crown attorney Geoff Bayley.
The Crown cited Burling’s conduct during the trial as a further aggravator, noting he launched a profanity-laced tirade and vowed the notorious biker gang was here to stay just moments after a jury found him guilty.
“The Bandidos aren’t (expletive) going anywhere,” Burling shouted in court as he was led away in shackles by sheriff’s officers.
“God forgives. The Bandidos doesn’t.”
Burling, along with his co-accused Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Daniel Pereira, took part in what the Crown says a pre-meditated revenge plot.
Jurors were told the 20-year-old victim owed Burling money as part of an outstanding drug debt. The man and his girlfriend were allegedly lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called “friend” who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Jason Michel, a former high-ranking biker associate who admits to participating in parts of the attack, was called as a Crown witness to detail the incident.
His evidence was considered crucial since the victim offered little during his testimony, claiming to have no memory of the incident or who was responsible. Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by Burling’s co-accused and another Crown witness.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
Michel’s credibility was a hot issue for defence lawyers, as he admitted to having an extensive record for crimes including break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats and breach of court orders.
But jurors clearly believed his testimony in finding the accused guilty of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion.
Manitoba is one of only a few provinces in Canada with a full-time Bandidos presence. The gang’s status took a major hit last year when eight Bandidos were executed in Ontario in what police called an “internal cleansing.”
Five other Bandidos members and associates — including three from Manitoba — have been charged with the killings. The trial is set for next fall.
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Thu, November 22, 2007
Gang boss gripes
Gets 8 years in kidnap, beating
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
A Bandidos gangster who masterminded the kidnapping and vicious beating of a fellow drug dealer shook his head in disbelief as a judge sentenced him yesterday to eight years in prison.
The sentence will be served consecutively to a nine-year sentence Ron Burling is serving for a violent home invasion.
"Seventeen years for sitting in my house," Burling, 37, grumbled as sheriff's officers led him out of court. "It'll only be nine years and then they can throw me in for something else."
Burling, a member of the city's now-defunct Bandidos motorcycle gang chapter, recruited six underlings and Bandidos associates to kidnap the victim Feb. 8, 2005.
Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme, and John Adam Curwin were sentenced yesterday to six years in prison while Daniel Blair received a sentence of four years.
Two co-accused, Jason Michel and David Rink, were previously sentenced to time served and house arrest respectively after pleading guilty for their roles in the incident. Michel's sentence came as the result of a plea bargain that saw him testify against his co-accused at trial.
At trial, court heard Burling, during a meeting at his Union Avenue home, orchestrated the kidnapping of Adam Amundsen to recover a $6,000 drug debt.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to a Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were dragged out of their car, taken to an apartment and held in separate rooms.
Amundsen was beaten with a bat and sledgehammer for more than four hours. His attackers carved a tattoo off his finger and smashed the finger with a sledgehammer.
"The amount of force and violence was significant ... and resulted in significant injuries," said Justice Holly Beard.
The female victim, while not physically harmed, "was subjected to four hours of terror and brutality only because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Beard said.
Amundsen was released after Michel and Rink recovered a quantity of money and drugs from another location and returned them to Burling.
Beard said it didn't matter that Burling didn't actively participate in the kidnapping and beating.
"While Burling wasn't present at the apartment, the evidence was he directed the action by way of a cellphone," she said. "While there may have been no discussion of violence at (Burling's) house, it's clear Burling was involved in the activities at the apartment."
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Trial set in biker killings
Winnipeg Sun
LONDON, Ont. -- A trial is to start in 11 months for eight people accused in the biggest mass slaying in modern Ontario history.
Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney set Sept. 8, 2008, to begin the trial of eight people charged in connection with the deaths of eight Bandido motorcycle club members in Elgin County on April 8, 2006. The trial is expected to last three to six months.
Wayne Kellestine, 58, Frank Mather, 33, both of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39, of Winnipeg, are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Eric Niessen, 46, and Kerry Morris, 47, of Monkton in Perth County, Ont., are charged with accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice.
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Four bikers plead guilty in brutal slaying
WHITBY -- Four men with ties to an outlaw biker gang have pleaded guilty to offences ranging from murder to assault in connection with the brutal slaying of a man whose burned remains were found more than two years ago in rural Pickering.
Cameron Acorn and Robert “Bobby” Quinn, both of Keswick, Randolph Brown of Jackson’s Point and Pierre Aragon of Oakville all admitted in Superior Court Monday that they took part in the slaying of 35-year-old Shawn Douse in December 2005 at a house owned by another biker in Keswick.
All have been identified by Durham police as members or prospects of the Bandidos, a gang assumed to be defunct since the widely-publicized slaughter of eight members in 2006. One of those murder victims, Paul Sinopoli of Sutton, was involved in the dispute with Mr. Douse, court heard; the murder took place in a Keswick home owned by Jamie Flanz, another Bandidos member killed near St. Thomas.
Police have said there is no connection between Mr. Douse’s killing and the St. Thomas slaughter.
Mr. Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Douse, while Mr. Acorn and Mr. Quinn pleaded to manslaughter. Mr. Aragon pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
All four men were originally charged with second-degree murder.
Justice Edwin Minden heard an agreed statement of facts in which the Crown alleged Mr. Douse, a drug user and dealer, had angered the bikers by selling cocaine and using drugs with a number of women, one of whom was in danger of breaching the terms of her bail. When they learned Mr. Douse was in possession of a significant amount of cash and three ounces of cocaine they lured him to a house on Hattie Court in Keswick early on Dec. 7, 2005, having a woman call and arrange a drug deal.
When he arrived at the house Mr. Douse was set upon and beaten savagely, Justice Minden heard; after the attack blood drenched a foyer and stairs leading to the basement, where blood was spattered on walls and the ceiling.
After the killing Mr. Douse’s body, wrapped in sheets and a sleeping bag, was driven to a field near Concession 7 and the York-Durham Line in rural Pickering where it was dumped and set ablaze.
The body was discovered Dec. 8, 2005, by a resident walking dogs.
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Bandidos sentenced for killing drug dealer
The London Free Press
WHITBY -- Four men connected to the Bandidos bikers have been sentenced to penitentiary terms after pleading guilty to the December 2005 fatal beating of Keswick drug dealer Shawn Douse.
Randy Brown, 36, of Jackson's Point, Cameron Acorn, 27, and Bobby Quinn, 28, both of Keswick, and Pierre (Carlitto) Aragon of Oakville were all connected to the now-defunct Keswick chapter of the Bandidos.
Brown, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison, with no opportunity to apply for parole until June 2016.
Acorn, who was called the architect of the murder plot by the Crown, was sentenced to nine ears in prison for manslaughter, while Quinn was sentenced to five years and 11 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Aragon, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison.
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Kidnapping, extortion net years in prison for alleged gang members
Five men with connections to the Bandidos motorcycle club were sentenced to a combined 30 years in prison Wednesday for convictions related to a vicious kidnapping in Winnipeg in 2005.
Ron Burling, Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Pereira were convicted of numerous charges, including kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion.
Burling was given an eight-year sentence. Curwin, Ducharme and Periera were each sentenced to six years in prison, while Blair was handed four years.
The five men ran Adam Amundsen's car off the road in central Winnipeg in February 2005, and forced him and his girlfriend into an apartment in a nearby block.
They beat Amundsen for several hours, smashing his fingers with a sledgehammer and cutting a tattoo from one of his fingers, in an attempt to convince him or others to pay drug debts, the court heard.
Amundsen testified he was beaten, but said he was not able to identify his attackers.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard addressed a number of factors in determining the sentences for the five men.
Burling was acknowledged in court as the only full member of the Bandidos; the other men were said to be members of a support club called La Familia.
That the kidnapping and extortion were carried out in support of criminal organizations was a "serious aggravating circumstance," Beard said.
While the victims were not held a long time, relative to other kidnapping cases, Beard said kidnapping is "one of the most terrifying crimes ever committed" and noted that in this case, the crime required a significant amount of advance planning.
All of the men except Burling had some time reduced from their sentence based on pretrial custody. Burling was previously convicted of crimes related to a home invasion and is already serving several years
Two other men involved in the scheme pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assault charges and were sentenced earlier this year. Both appeared as witnesses for the Crown.
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Wed, May 14, 2008
Convicted gangster suffers apparent heart attack
Convicted gangster Ron Burling was taken to the hospital suffering a possible heart attack yesterday morning just minutes after appearing in the Manitoba Court of Appeal.
The high court had just rejected the former Bandido's sentence appeal and was being escorted out of court by sheriff's officers when he tried to pick up a bench and was taken to the floor by the officers. Following the scuffle, Burling lay motionless on the floor for several minutes, having suffered an apparent heart attack.
Paramedics arrived several minutes later and Burling was taken away on a gurney.
Burling, 38, was appealing an eight-year sentence he received last year in connection with the kidnapping and torture of a rival drug dealer.
DISPLEASURE
Burling's lawyer Mike Cook argued the sentence was unduly harsh, given he was already serving a nine-year sentence for a violent home invasion.
According to one witness, Burling made no attempt to hide his displeasure following the high court's ruling, telling two Crown attorney's in court: "I'll see you clowns in 10 years."
According to a recent Sun Media report, sources say Burling is now affiliated with the Rock Machine motorcycle gang and has been named to head up the gang's Western Canadian chapters upon his release from prison.
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Ex-Bandidos leader carried out of court on stretcher
The former leader of the Manitoba Bandidos motorcycle gang was taken out of court on a stretcher Tuesday, just moments after he lost his fight for a reduced prison sentence and launched into a bizarre outburst.
Ron Burling was livid after the Manitoba Court of Appeal decided to uphold his eight-year sentence for kidnapping and torturing a rival drug dealer. He claimed the penalty was overly harsh and unfair.
According to witnesses, Burling began yelling at two prosecutors and vowed to "see you when I get out in 10 years." He also called them "(expletive) clowns."
Burling continued his tirade as sheriff's officers led him out of court. He reached down in an attempt to flip over a large public bench in the hallway, but was quickly subdued and brought to the ground. Burling then began clutching his chest, yelling "my heart, my heart," witnesses said.
Paramedics rushed to the scene, and Burling was taken to hospital. Defence lawyer Mike Cook said his heavy-set client may have suffered a heart attack, although Burling never lost consciousness.
"He told me he's had a heart condition for the past few years," said Cook, who was waiting to get a medical update late Tuesday, but believed Burling was going to be fine.
"As he was being wheeled away, he asked me if I had his sunglasses. I figured that was a good sign."
Burling reacted with anger during his sentencing hearing last year, shouting something about "baby killers only getting three years" as he was led out of court by a parade of sheriff's officers
Burling also launched a profanity-laced tirade after jurors found him guilty at trial, vowing the notorious biker gang was here to stay.
"The Bandidos aren't (expletive) going anywhere. God forgives. The Bandidos doesn't," he yelled.
Burling's eight-year sentence is in addition to the nine-year penalty he is currently serving for a home invasion in which he accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard ruled last year that Burling was clearly the mastermind behind the well-planned attack, in which the victim and his girlfriend were held for several hours and tortured by numerous gangsters.
Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Pereira were given six-year sentences, while Daniel Blair received four years. Two other accused -- Jason Michel and David Rink -- pleaded guilty after striking deals with the Crown in exchange for their testimony. Michel got four years custody, while Rink received a two-year conditional sentence.