Vagos biker gang sets up in Peterborough

October 30, 2012..... The Vagos, an American biker club, have arrived in Canada and have apparently set up their first national club in Peterborough. A member of the club, who asked that his name not be used, told The Examiner that the club is at least 23 members strong, with four prospective members waiting on the sidelines.

The Vagos have gained an infamous reputation in the southwestern United States, where they’ve engaged in two shootouts with their rivals, the Hells Angels. The club has also been at odds with the Outlaws, another biker club. The local Vagos member said the club is planning to sit down with the Angels next week to broker a peace deal between the two groups. “We’re not looking for a war in Canada,” he said, adding that the Vagos respect members of the Hells Angels and the Outlaws. Members weren’t going to go out and start intimidating people, he said, but he cautioned that the club was strong, wasn’t prepared to back down and wouldn’t be run out of town. He was referring to the animosity between members of the newly formed club and the Loners. Some members of the Vagos split with the Loners this summer, creating an unresolved rift that has led to violence in the past. One member of the Loners was taken to the hospital in July after a fight broke out near the rail tracks on Park St. Weeks later another man told police that his “Support Your Local Loners” shirt was ripped off his back after he was confronted by three men in the parking lot of Home Depot. The Vagos member said the latter allegation was a concocted story. He also said the club wasn’t involved in any crime. But Peterborough is a city known for its drug trade, he said, and other clubs may find that alluring. “We’re a 1% club, a bunch of guys who love to ride and love the camaraderie,” he said. The Vagos tried setting up in Ontario about five years ago in Toronto. That club quickly fizzled out after it attracted more police attention than it did members. The man said members of the new chapter live around the Peterborough area. “It makes sense to have a stronghold on a city when most of the people are from here,” he said. He said it’s taken about six months to pull the club together. Their clubhouse is located at the corner of Park and Perry streets. The club had to be approved by the American Vagos, he said, and the patches were made and sent from the United States. Residents can expect to see Vagos colours in the city within the next week or so, he said. City police Insp. Ted Boynton said there have been rumours about the Vagos emergence in Peterborough for several months. He didn’t know the club had arrived in Peterborough, but confirmed the colours worn by the member were legitimate Vagos patches. The situation was concerning, he said. http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2012/10/30/vagos-biker-gang-sets-up-in-peterborough

Local members of the Vigilantes join Loners outlaw motorcycle gang

Local members of the Vigilantes join Loners outlaw motorcycle gang.... October 26, 2012 ..... Members of the Vigilantes have merged with the Loners motorcycle club, bolstering the numbers of the local Loners branch to as many as 30 members. The Examiner has learned that the Loners absorbed their new members about a month ago, during an event referred to among bikers as “patching over,” where one club absorbs members from another club. The Vigilantes have been making occasional appearances in the city since November 2010, when the Outlaws motorcycle club first opened a clubhouse on Lansdowne St. W.

City police Insp. Ted Boynton said investigators have heard rumours about the merger, but weren’t sure if had taken place yet. Nothing changes the way police continue to operate, he said. Officers will continue to monitor the situation. Det. Sgt. Len Isnor, with the OPP’s biker enforcement unit, said the OPP haven’t seen Vigilantes in Loners colours. But he said he wouldn’t be surprised if the two clubs had merged. Isnor pointed out that one club operating in the city is better than two rival clubs fighting for the same territory. “When you have more than one, that’s where the problem starts,” he said. The city has seen its fair share of problems when it comes to rival biker gangs. The Outlaws, who arrived in the city in November 2010, were kicked out of their Park St. clubhouse, located north of the YMCA, a year later by members of the Loners motorcycle club. The club made the news again in June when member Bob Pammett parted ways with the Loners and set up his own clubhouse located at Park and Perry streets. The two clubhouses were mere blocks from one another, and their relationship quickly soured. In July the Loners clubhouse was targeted by men who smashed windows and sprayed a substance akin to bear spray inside the house. Hours later a member of the Loners was taken to the hospital with a serious injury to his arm after he was attacked near the rail tracks on Park St. Pammett was charged in August along with Pierre Aragon after a man told police his “support your local Loners” T-shirt was ripped off his body while he walking through the parking lot near Home Depot. Weeks later Pammett was allegedly the targeted by assailants who threw a Molotov cocktail near the George St. home he was staying at. The merger between the Vigilantes and the Loners marks an upturn in biker-related news, which has been relatively quiet since Pammett moved to Campbellford. http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2012/10/26/local-members-of-the-vigilantes-join-loners-outlaw-motorcycle-gang

More bikers arrested in beating

November 28, 2012..... City police have arrested two rival bikers in connection with the violent beating of a Loners Motorcycle Club member in July. A 47-year-old member of the Loners was taken to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre with injuries to his arm after he was attacked July 22 near the rail tracks on Park St., police said. Police have now arrested four people in connection to the assault, three of whom are previous Loners members now in “bad standing” with the club, police said. Garry Coppins, a 53-year-old Minden resident who has been living in Peterborough, was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possessing a weapon dangerous to the public. Police also arrested Chris Graham, 40, Wednesday at a Perry St. home and charged him with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possessing a weapon dangerous to the public. Both Coppins and Graham are former members of the Loners and are now associated with the new Vagos Motorcycle Club in Peterborough, which has a clubhouse at the corner of Park and Perry streets. Det. Sgt. Len Isnor, with the OPP's biker enforcement unit, said the July assault was likely linked to a split within the local Loners chapters. There are now two rival gangs – the Loners and the Vagos – operating in the city. Whenever two gangs are competing in the same territory, there is always the potential for violence, Isnor said. “Outlaw motorcycle gangs are very territorial. You have an outlaw motorcycle gang, the Loners, that are wearing their insignia and a group that was part of the Loners that have broken away. I guess there are some hard feelings,” he said. “There is always the possibility of violence, but we’re prepared. We’re going to stay on top of this. We know who they are and we know where they are.” But given the alleged assault took place before the Vagos officially opened a chapter here, Isnor said he’s not expecting to see any retaliatory violence. “The incident happened before the group became the Vagos, so to be fair, I’m not really sure that it will spark any further incidents,” he said. “We have taken all the precautions. We are watching these guys like a hawk.” The more likely scenario is that the two groups will find a way to work together, Isnor predicted. “The landscape of outlaw motorcycle gangs changes all the time. These guys, one week they’re enemies, the next week they are friends,” he said. “Eventually it comes down to the point that they have to make money. How do they make money? They have to co-exist. Once they get their hurt feelings taken care of, it is going to come down to a point where it’s just business.” That business is usually drugs, Isnor added. “We’re doing everything we can to prevent that from happening. We don’t want a flood of drugs into Peterborough,” Isnor said. “I think we have been keeping a good grip on the situation in Peterborough since all this outlaw motorcycle activity started.” Graham was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday (Nov. 28) while Coppins will appear for a bail hearing Thursday (Nov. 29). Police previously arrested two people, a former Loners member and a former Loners associate, in August in connection to the same assault. Pierre Maurice Aragon,30,was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon and uttering threats. Shane Alfred Gardiner,46,was charged with aggravated assault.

Two former members of the Loners charged in connection with July 22 assault....... August 22, 2012..... Two former members of the Loners have been charged with a violent attack on a current member of the Loners Motorcycle Club. A 47-year-old member of the Loners was taken to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre with injuries to his arm after he was attacked July 22 near the rail tracks on Park St. Pierre Maurice Aragon, 30, was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon and uttering threats. Police charged Aragon when he appeared in court Wednesday morning. Shane Alfred Gardiner, 46, of no fixed address, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault. He appeared in court Wednesday and was remanded to custody. Police said both men are members in bad standing. That means they’ve been tossed out of the Loners and can’t join another motorcycle club until they’ve resolved their differences with the Loners. These new charges are a triple whammy for Aragon, who’s already facing charges in two separate cases. Aragon was in court Wednesday to speak to charges relating to an Aug. 2 robbery that took place in the Home Depot parking lot. During that altercation a man wearing a “Support Your Local Loners” shirt had the shirt forcibly taken from him. He was also charged during Project Kingfisher, a police investigation into the heroin and cocaine trafficking in Durham region and the city. Aragon was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2012/08/22/two-former-members-of-the-loners-charged-in-connection-with-july-22-assault

New book argues some men in Bandidos deaths wrongly convicted

Jane Sims, QMI Agency... Friday, April 20, 2012.... LONDON, ONT. - Three years after six men went on trial charged with the biggest mass murder in Ontario history, a new book by a trial observer has hit store shelves. Bloody Justice by Anita Arvast, a professor of literature and cultural studies at Georgian College in Barrie, argues that some of the men convicted of killing eight Bandidos bikers were wrongly convicted. Her focus is aimed mostly at Brett Gardiner, the man who had some of the lightest duties in the plot to kill the No Surrender Crew from Toronto. Arvast was frequently at the trial and keenly interested in the plight of Gardiner, who was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and six of first-degree murder. At one point during the seven-month trial, Arvast was banned from the courtroom by court security after she passed reading materials to Gardiner. In the book, she describes Gardiner as “a handsome and good-humoured young man with large gentle brown eyes.” “One knew from his eyes and his demeanor that he really wasn’t the tough guy he wanted others to think he was,” she wrote. Even though Gardiner didn’t shoot any of the Toronto Bandidos, a jury agreed with the Crown he was a party to the murders at a farm near Shedden. Gardiner manned the police scanner at the house. He helped in removing the bodies from the Kellestine farm. The notorious Wayne Kellestine was convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder. The killing took place at his farm, and the evidence at trial showed he was one of the operating minds in the plan. Michael Sandham and Dwight Mushey of Winnipeg were also convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder. Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena were convicted of one count of manslaughter and seven counts of first-degree murder. All six were sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years. Arvast argues in the book that a man known as M.H., a Winnipeg Bandido-turned-informant who testified at the trial, should have been put on trial and convicted. She forged a friendship with Gardiner and visited him at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London during the trial. A part of the book discusses Gardiner’s childhood and how he ended up at Wayne Kellestine’s farm on April 8, 2006. But, she writes, Gardiner wouldn’t talk about his biker involvement. Included in the book is a poem written by Gardiner. The author tells how she brought reading material for him. She said Gardiner took an interest in “poetry, journaling and Medieval runes (ancient letters).” She argues Gardiner wasn’t a Bandido, but a “wannabe and only did what he was told so not to be another victim in the shootings.” Arvast was unavailable for an interview, but said in an e-mail she maintains contact with Gardiner through letters and phone calls. “I’m also in touch with his family and looking forward to actually meeting them in Calgary this summer,” she said. The book, she said, was released in Canada and the U.S. and will also be released in the United Kingdom and Australia. http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/2012/04/19/new-book-argues-some-men-in-bandidos-deaths-wrongly-convicted