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Five men deny M-way biker murder UK - Five men have denied murdering a Hells Angel. Gerry Tobin, 35, was shot dead as he rode his motorbike along the M40 in Warwickshire on August 12. On Friday Simon Turner, 41, Dane Garside, 42, Malcolm Bull, 53, Dean Taylor, 46, and Ian Cameron, 45, pleaded not guilty to the murder. The addresses of the men, who entered their pleas by video link at Birmingham Crown Court, cannot be given for legal reasons. Judge Frank Chapman set their trial date for October 1. Two other men also charged with the murder will enter pleas at Birmingham Crown Court on a date in January to be fixed. Mr Tobin, a mechanic from Mottingham, south east London, was returning from the Bulldog Bash bikers' festival at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon, when he was killed with a single shot to the back of the head near Junction 12 of the motorway. After emigrating to Canada when he was two, Mr Tobin returned to the UK about 10 years ago and worked at a Harley Davidson dealership. He lived with his fiancee Rebecca Smith in a flat just yards away from the garage in Mottingham.   Biker gangs brawl during German murder trial Dec 17, 2007, 17:42 GMT Muenster, Germany - An estimated 600 members of two rival German motorcycle gangs converged on a peaceful city Monday for a murder trial and tried to settle scores on the street. Two members, 48 and 36, of one gang, the Bandidos, are accused in court in Muenster of shooting dead a bike shop owner, 47, affiliated to the other gang, the Hell's Angels, in May this year. Riot police intervened to stop a brawl at nightfall involving about 40 bikers on the edge of town after a Hell's Angel rammed his mini-bus into a Bandido on the street, police said. Police had monitored the opposing groups all day for fear they would settle the feud with violence. The combative gangs are believed to oversee drugs and gun rackets. Neither gang is willing to assist the justice system they hate by testifying at the trial. The rivals were obliged to sit in different sections of the public gallery and were scolded by the judge for talking during the half-hour first hearing. A court official said there was no violence. So far 19 widely spaced hearing days have been set down for the murder trial with a verdict expected next April.     Hells Angels murder suspect bailed By Steve Farrell Politics & the law 08 October 2007 10:32 A suspect in the shooting of Hells Angel Gerry Tobin on the M40 has been released on bail. The 44-year-old man was arrested on Thursday at his home address in Nuneaton on suspicion of conspiracy to committ murder. He was released on Friday on police bail and ordered to return to Nuneaton Police Station on December 5. Three other men appeared at Nuneaton Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with Tobin’s murder. Karl Garside, 44, of Silverdale Close, Coventry, Ian Cameron, 45, of no fixed address, and Malcolm Bull, 52, whose address cannot be given for legal reasons, were remanded in custody to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on October 15. Tobin, 35, was shot dead on August 12 while returning from the Bulldog Bash at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford. Tobin was a Canadian who lived in south London, where he worked for Warr’s Harley-Davidson. Four men have already been charged over the killing and are currently remanded in custody. Simon Turner, 40, Dane Garside, 41, and Sean Creighton, 43, are charged with murder and a firearms offence, and Dean Taylor, 45, with a firearms offence. They are due to appear at Birmignham Crown Court on November 26.     Four remanded over biker's murder Press Association Saturday August 25, 2007 12:03 PM Four men have appeared in court charged in connection with the murder of a Hell's Angel biker. Simon Turner, 40, Dane Garside, 41 and 43-year-old Sean Creighton, are all charged with the murder of motorcyclist Gerry Tobin on the M40 motorway in Warwickshire on August 12. Dean Taylor, 45, of Warwick Street, Coventry, appeared alongside them at Nuneaton Magistrates' Court charged with a firearms offence. Turner, of Vernons Lane, Stockingford, Nuneaton, and Garside of Silverdale Close, Alderman's Green, Coventry and Creighton, of Doncaster Close, Coventry, are also charged jointly with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. The four spoke only to confirm their names at the brief hearing. The case was adjourned until September 3 when it will be heard at a Crown Court in the region. No application for bail was made and the four were remanded in custody. The men were all arrested by Warwickshire Police after a series of raids in Coventry and Nuneaton on Wednesday. Mr Tobin, 35, of Mottingham, south-east London, was gunned down as he rode home from the Bulldog Bash bikers' festival at Long Marston near Stratford. He was killed with a single shot to the back of the head fired from a handgun. A second shot fired at the biker struck his motorcycle.     Three arrested in M40 murder hunt   Biker murder police release CCTV The footage was taken just minutes before Gerry Tobin was shot   CCTV footage Two raids were in the Wykencroft and Earlsdon areas of Coventry Officers investigating the fatal shooting of a biker on the M40 have arrested three men and seized weapons and vehicles. A number of knives and a firearm were found when police raided three addresses in Coventry and Nuneaton. Three men were held on suspicion of the murder of Gerry Tobin, 35, who was killed as he returned from a motorbike festival in Warwickshire. Police are trying to trace a Rover 600 which followed him on Sunday 12 August. Officers arrested the three men after raids on two premises in the Wykencroft and Earlsdon areas of Coventry and one in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two vehicles, a van and a Rover car, were recovered from the addresses. Gerry Tobin was travelling back from the Bulldog Bash festival    A second Rover car, which has been damaged in a fire, is also being forensically tested. Police have not released information about where it was found. The weapons were found in the three houses. The arrested men are still being questioned and police have said they may search more premises. Mr Tobin, a Canadian living in south London, was shot in the back of the head as he returned from the Bulldog Bash, held at Long Marston, near Stratford-on-Avon. Police believe the shot that killed him was fired from a dark green Rover 600 car seen passing him at the time of the incident. Detectives have been working on the basis that Mr Tobin was deliberately targeted. Two shots are believed to have been fired, with one of the shots killing Mr Tobin and the other hitting his bike, as he travelled south between junctions 13 and 12, police have said. His mother, Maria, has travelled from her home in Canada and has spoken of her grief at the killing     Murdered biker was a devout Christian Steve Bird The Hell’s Angel biker shot dead on the M40 last Sunday had been a Christian who used to hold Bible classes and prayer meetings and dreamt of being a missionary. As his girlfriend, Rebecca Smith, 25, spoke of the void left in her life by his murder, it emerged that he had been a born-again Christian when he lived in Canada. Gerry Tobin, 35, was killed with a shot to the back of the head as he drove his Harley-Davidson in Warwickshire. It remains unclear whether he was killed after angering someone from a rival gang or was targeted because he was wearing the Hell’s Angels insignia. Born in Britain, he moved to Canada with his family at a young age and married a school sweetheart who shared his religious convictions. Mr Tobin and his wife, Kara, would raise eyebrows as they drove to church in Calgary on a Harley-Davidson. “He was definitely unashamed of his faith in Jesus,” said Chris Stevenson, a missionary who attended the same church. Mr Tobin had been brought up in Alberta and moved to Calgary after marrying Kara. There the couple were known as born-again Christians. Tim Pogue, who worked with Mr Tobin in a carpet-cleaning business in the town, said: “He was as close to the Bible as anyone I’ve ever known.” It is not known whether Mr Tobin was still a practising Christian at the time of his death. “He used to have Bible talks at work in the mornings, prayer meetings,” said Mr Pogue. “I still have a Bible that he and Kara gave me as a gift.” The couple moved to Britain in the late 1990s and it is understood that they split up five years ago. Apparently they had spoken of becoming missionaries. According to Mr Stevenson, Mr Tobin wanted to fly humanitarian aid to impoverished areas. Detective Superintendent Ken Lawrence, who is leading the inquiry, said: “We are getting a picture of a hard-working, friendly but private person who would put himself out to help others.” At a press conference at the Harley-Davidson dealership in Mottingham, southeast London, where Mr Tobin worked as a mechanic, Marcus Berriman, of the Hell’s Angels, read a statement on behalf of Miss Smith in which she condemned the shooting as cowardly and callous. “Gerry stood out as a true gentleman. He was a rare breed of man with the heart of a lion and a soul filled with compassion and selflessness,” the statement said. “Gerry was a man of his word and a defender of his principles. He was a hard-working and respected motorcycle mechanic who was not only loving towards Rebecca but also to his family and friends. Gerry was a thinking man, ready to offer guidance and support, a true inspiration to many, a charming personality whose quick-witted humour kept everyone smiling. His membership of the Hell’s Angels was a natural extension of his passion for motorcycling.” Mr Tobin “was Rebecca’s soulmate and she feels blessed to have spent five wonderful years of her life with such a wonderful man,” Mr Berriman said. “The nature of his untimely death due to a callous and cowardly act of violence from which it was impossible to defend himself only accentuates the pain that we are experiencing. ” Mr Lawrence said that officers had had anonymous tip-offs and it emerged that two shots had been fired at Mr Tobin. “I don’t think this was a simple random attack. There must have been some precursor event,” he said. He feared that the shooting could lead to a turf war between rival gangs, Mr Lawrence added. He said that he would be astonished if the murder had been carried out by another Hell’s Angel, because of the group’s code of loyalty, but that fringe elements may not feel bound by its principles and may be tempted to retaliate.   Police fear renewed biker violence Sweden - Police have expressed concerns that a violent confrontation between Sweden's international biker gangs may be just around the corner as a third club threatens to undermine the dominance of the Hells Angels and Bandidos. Since June, police have identified the emergence of seven new groups allied to the US-based Outlaws, Dagens Nyheter reports. Related Articles Man gets ten years for roadside murder 17th August 2007 Swedish flights to Iraq still grounded after attack 16th August 2007 Man dies in gang fight 16th August 2007 Article Options Send to a friend Printable version Submit to Digg.com Going under the name Loyalty BFL Sweden, branches have been set up during the summer in Stockholm, Malmö, Skurup, Växjö, Tranås, Njuv and Sjöbo. The group is reported to consist of around fifty members between the ages of 20 and 35. A numer of members have previous convictions for offences such as murder and assault. Many also have connections to extreme right-wing organizations. One former member of the Outlaws is in no doubt that Loyalty BFL Sweden is a front group for the larger organization. "My interpretation is that the leadership wants to pick a fight with the Hells Angels and Bandidos and hopes that Loyalty BLF will do the job," he told Dagens Nyheter. There have already been signs that the more well-established gangs are less than happy with recent developments. In June, for example, two men with ties to the Outlaws were stabbed by Bandidos members in Norrtälje. "We can be sure of one thing: the Outlaws' expansion has irked both the Bandidos and Hells Angels," police spokesman Thord Modin told Dagens Nyheter. "There is a risk that we will see more violence between the organizations," he added.   Murdered biker was shot in head   About 50 officers conducted a fingertip search   Eyewitness account A biker who was killed as he rode along the M40 in Warwickshire died from a single bullet to the back of his head. The motorcyclist, thought to be in his 30s and from the south of England, had been at a nearby biker rally on Sunday. Police said biker gangs were a line of inquiry but there were no reports of incidents at the Bulldog Bash. But police said the rally may have been used to track down the victim. The M40 near Leamington Spa was closed for more than 24 hours following the murder. It was fully reopened on Monday afternoon. The motorcyclist, who died on the southbound carriageway between junctions 13 and 12, is thought to have been a member of the Hell's Angels. Det Supt Ken Lawrence, from Warwickshire Police, said: "We are not aware of any incidents at the Bulldog Bash event which could be directly linked to the death. "But the event gathers huge numbers of people from across Europe, and if someone was seeking revenge, the event would be a good place to find someone."   Biker event 'Europe's biggest' History of the Hell's Angels Detectives want to speak to the driver and occupants of a green Rover 620, which was seen travelling south on the M40 close to a group of motorcyclists around the time of the incident. Detectives are keen to hear from any motorists travelling on the A46 near junction 15 on Sunday afternoon who may have seen the green Rover. The biker, who was travelling with two Polish friends, is thought to have joined the M40 from the A46 at junction 15 after leaving the Bulldog Bash at Long Marston near Stratford, Warwickshire. The motorway, which was closed from Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon, has been searched and police are watching CCTV footage from cameras monitoring the road. Mr Lawrence said police were examining a similar shooting involving bikers from the Bulldog Bash six years ago. "There are similarities but that doesn't mean necessarily that they are linked," he said. In that incident, three bikers were shot at on the M40 as they returned from the Bulldog Bash, but were not killed.     Inside the biker gangs: the truth about guns, drugs and organised crime The drive-by shooting of a motorcyclist on the M40 throws a chilling light on Britain's biker gangs. In a gripping extract from his best-selling book, Tony Thompson rides with the Hells Angels – and uncovers a violent criminal underworld Published: 14 August 2007 According to its one-time spokesman, the late Ian "Maz" Harris, PhD: "The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a loosely based organisation of motorcycle enthusiasts who own bikes of 750cc or more. We are primarily and exclusively a motorcycle club. That is all." The Memorandum of Association for Hells Angels Limited, registered at Companies House in October 1976, adds the following objectives: "To foster, encourage and advance the sport and recreation of motor-cycling and to promote the acceptance of the ethical code of morality of the Hells Angels club; to encourage, promote and hold race meetings, happenings, rallies, reliability trials, exhibitions and shows and give entertainments of all kinds related to motor-cycling." Indeed, every year the club's 250-odd members, along with hundreds more associates, attend a number of exclusive rallies and conventions and stage huge, highly profitable shows where customised bikes are displayed – and they donate thousands of pounds to various charities. In June 2002, it was a Hells Angel named Alan "Snob" Fisher who led a cavalcade of fellow bikers in a jubilee procession past the Queen, raising money for the anti-child bullying charity Kidscape in the process. However, according to the police, the Hells Angels are a major international criminal organisation, a "pure form of organised crime", who " have accomplished in 25 years what it took the Mafia over 200 years to do" . Interpol describes outlaw motorcycle gangs as "one of Europe's faster-growing criminal networks" and closely monitors their activities. Not surprisingly, the bikers disagree: they insist that the police are simply paranoid and that, because they live an alternative lifestyle yet remain highly visible, they are the ideal soft target. "We're so prominent, it's untrue," Dr Harris told me. "We ride about on big bikes and wear patches on our backs to say who we are and where we're from. I mean, if you're hellbent on collective criminality, it's hardly the way to go about it. We'd have all been arrested years ago. We're not trying to claim that we're all perfect. Nobody ever is, but to suggest that we represent a significant threat to the peace and prosperity of Britain is taking things too far." So if, as happens periodically, a Hells Angel is arrested, charged and convicted of crimes ranging from murder and mortgage fraud to drug-dealing and assault, the usual excuse is that their ranks may indeed contain a few bad apples but that doesn't make them the Mafia. "The club," said Harris, "cannot be held responsible for the actions of individual members." But the Angels often go to war with rival gangs. And when they do, outsiders can be forgiven for thinking that it revolves around nothing more than club pride and maintaining the hedonistic fighting and drinking traditions of the biker lifestyle. The truth is that the primary reasons the Angels do battle is to protect their business interests. And these days, almost exclusively, that means the drugs trade. Across the world, biker gangs are involved in drug-dealing and trafficking on a massive scale. Estimates from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms suggest the Angels and the other biker gangs collectively earn up to £1bn a year from the drugs business. "The Hells Angels particularly are very involved in the drug-dealing scene in the UK," says a spokesman for the National Criminal Intelligence Service. "Traditionally their commodities were cannabis and amphetamine, but they are moving more and more into Class A drugs." Virtually every fight, every shooting, every stabbing and every bombing that has taken place between biker gangs in the UK and further afield in the past 25 years is ultimately connected to a desire to protect the highly lucrative drugs business – although they are also involved in prostitution, theft, extortion and other enterprises. The Angels in particular are super-cautious, rarely carrying the product themselves. One amphetamine dealer supplied by the Angels complained to police how they regularly drove him half mad with his weekly delivery. When he had deposited the money earlier in the day at a "safe" drop site, they would call him in the early hours of the following morning and simply tell him: "It's in your garden." Neighbours reported how he could regularly be seen in his underpants at 4am, armed with a torch and a spade. But even when caught red-handed, many Angels are bolshie enough to beat the rap. When one senior member was stopped in his car soon after leaving a rally and found to have a bag containing nine kilos of high-quality cannabis resin beside him, he didn't hesitate. "What a coincidence," he told them. "I was just on my way to the police station to hand this in. I found it at the rally. I think it might be drugs." Fingerprints were found on the outside of the bag, but not on the packets of drugs inside. It was impossible to disprove his story – no matter how unlikely – and charges were dropped. It was a similar story when another Angel was stopped with half a kilo of cocaine and a loaded handgun hidden behind a door panel of the vehicle. " You've got me bang to rights," he told the officers. "I stole the car." All those connected to the vehicle were later acquitted of all charges. The legend that was to become the Hells Angels was born on 17 March 1948 when Second World War veteran Otto Friedli formed a new bike gang out of the remnants of two notorious fighting and drinking clubs. Dozens of loose-knit biker groups had sprung up across America in the mid-1940s. Motorcycles were cheap, and appealed in particular to the hundreds of former soldiers and airmen who found it hard to cope with uneventful lives following the end of the war. They came together at weekends, riding hard and drinking even harder. For those who had nowhere to go when Monday came, the club turned into a surrogate family. In 1947, at a drag-racing meeting organised by the American Motorcycle Association in the quiet town of Hollister, California, a gang called the Pissed-Off Bastards rode in drunk and created mayhem, fighting anyone and everyone and ripping the place to shreds. The local sheriff later described the scene as "just one hell of a mess". In the months following Hollister, Bastard member Friedli broke away and took a few like-minded souls with him. Basing himself in San Bernadino, he adopted a name favoured by fighter pilots – Hell's Angels – structured the gang along military lines and continued the theme on the gang's crest: a grinning, winged death's head wearing a pilot's helmet. (Friedli's seamstress forgot to include the apostrophe and it has been officially omitted ever since.) Their exploits reached a new level of public awareness with the 1953 Marlon Brando film The Wild One (based loosely on the Hollister incident). That same year, the original Hells Angels chapter merged with San Francisco's Market Street Commandos to spawn the club's second chapter, and soon more chapters popped up along the California coastline. In 1964, four Angels were accused of rape in the oceanside town of Monterey. The high-profile case not only saw the first of many, many headlines demonising the biker gang, but also allegedly marked the beginning of the Angels' move into international drug-trafficking, to pay legal bills. Infamy bred notoriety, and in the mid-1960s The Nation magazine sent a young Hunter S Thompson to write about the Hells Angels. Soon afterwards, Hollywood came calling again and Jack Nicholson starred in the 1967 release Hell's Angels on Wheels. Rock stars such as Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead struck up friendships with the bikers, which Garcia admitted was a bit scary because they were, as he put it, "good in all the violent spaces" . That was proved beyond doubt on 6 December 1969, when Angels were hired – for $500 worth of free beer – as security guards for a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco. Armed with pool cues, they attempted to keep order while drinking, smoking marijuana and dropping acid. At one point a black, 18-year-old Stones fan named Meredith Hunter rushed the stage, just as the band finished playing "Under My Thumb" , and was beaten back. He rushed again, was pushed back, pulled a gun, and shot a Hells Angel in the arm. An eyewitness, Tony Sanchez, described the ensuing scene thus: "Five more Angels came crashing to the aid of their buddy, while Meredith tried to run off through the packed crowd. An Angel caught him by the arm and brought down a sheath knife hard in the black man's back... then the Angels were upon him like a pack of wolves. One tore the gun from his hand, another stabbed him in the face and still another stabbed him repeatedly, insanely, in the back until his knees buckled." When the Angels finished with Hunter, several people tried to come to his aid, but an Angel stood guard over the motionless body. "Don't touch him," he said menacingly. "He's going to die anyway, so just let him die." Now, with their bad-boy reputation squarely in place, the Hells Angels began to emerge as a more sophisticated outfit. They formed a corporation to protect their legitimate business interests, trademarked the infamous death's head logo and opened more chapters around the world. The first British chapter was formed in London in mid-1969, and it took only three years to achieve the same kind of status as their American brothers. In late 1972, 18-year-old Ian Everest, along with two others, abducted a 14-year-old Girl Guide off the streets of Winchester and dragged her along to an Angels party, where he raped her in front of cheering clubmates. At the subsequent court case the girl told a horrified jury that Everest had laughed throughout the assault. Sentencing him to nine years, Mr Justice Waller launched a thousand tabloid shock-horror headlines: "We have heard of Hells Angels as an utterly evil organisation, evil and corrosive of young people. I do not sentence you for being a Hells Angel, but no doubt the evil nature of that organisation has led you into this situation." Every few years something new happened to keep the image alive, often helped by the media's inability to tell the Hells Angels apart from other biker gangs. And each summer, the Angels organise the Bulldog Bash, Europe's premier biking event, which now attracts around 40,000 bikers from all over the world for a non-stop, four-day party at the Long Marston Airfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Inside the grounds there is a massive beer tent, open 24 hours a day, hundreds of food stalls, a shopping village, bungee-jumping, mini-motorbike tracks and tattoo parlours. In the evening there is a giant musical stage with top rock and heavy-metal bands. Up on stage, the grinning death's head skull is replaced by a far more family-friendly image – a cute bulldog sitting astride a Harley, its little paws up on the handlebars. The event is policed by Angels themselves and, despite the vast numbers attending, is now recognised by Warwickshire Police as their least troublesome public event. Teams make regular "security" patrols in customised black Ford Escorts that have had all the glass removed and large white swastikas painted on the sides. It was at the Bulldog Bash that I first met Colin, an associate member of a leading back-patch gang – he has asked me not to say which gang – who agreed to be my guide to the inner workings of the biker world. After being assured that his true identity will never be revealed, he agreed to fill me in on what he knows about the current back-patch gang scene. He has never been a member of the Hells Angels but was once a "prospect" for a different biker gang and got to know several Angels as a result. He decided not to continue with the recruitment process after realising that he simply did not have the time or the energy to commit fully to the lifestyle. You start out as a "hang-around". That's a chance to get to know the club and for them to get to know you. That's before you can become a " prospect," and that stage can last for at least a couple of years. "You've got to be able to fight or you're not going to get anywhere. Your face has to fit. All that stuff about biting the heads off chickens, eating dogs and the like, some of it used to happen but it was never club policy. The hardest part is knowing how to deal with having a family. You always have to put the club first. "It's a real commitment. You can't hold down a full-time job, because if the club needs you and calls, you have to be there. Most members will be self-employed because that gives them the flexibility they need. If you're single, you're expected to be there most evenings and weekends. If you have kids, you might get away with just the weekend but you'd still be expected for any important meetings. If there is a big party, you shame the club if you don't make it." Colin lights a cigarette as he casts his mind back to his own time as a " prospect". His voice grows quiet as he tells me he did some things he was ashamed of, things that he would now rather not talk about. "When you go to the Bulldog Bash, it's hard to believe there is any tension but, of course, there always is. There are tensions and there are political pressures. Outsiders don't realise the ties and commitments members have to each other, it's like family but more so. And what would you do if someone messed with members of your family? "The Bulldog Bash may be one of the most peaceful big events around, but that hides a lot of problems. So far as the Angels are concerned, there is always a war to be fought somewhere." Since the start of the new millennium, the biker world has been relatively quiet. But, as last weekend's tragic events may suggest, there are storm clouds on the horizon. And the biggest battle of all might be waiting in the wings. In early 2003, the Bandidos (hostile rivals in the US to the Hells Angels) opened their first two chapters in Britain, on the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey. They arrived in Guernsey after absorbing an existing gang, the Islanders, who were made "prospects" soon after their clubhouse was raided by police and a significant number of drugs and weapons were found. Guernsey also supports a small branch of the Bandidos' " sister" club, the Outlaws. Jersey also has branches of both the Bandidos and the Outlaws. The current membership of both gangs is unknown but, with no Hells Angels on either island, many within the biking world believe that this is just the beginning. "The Bandidos are one of the most formidable and violent biker gangs in existence," says the outlaw biker specialist at the National Criminal Intelligence Service. "They have strong links to the drugs trade and have shown themselves more than willing to defend their turf with violence. They have been responsible for dozens of murders, many in broad daylight with no regard for public safety. They have access to military-grade weapons, including rocket launchers and assault rifles. The Bandidos have been expanding ever since the Sixties and show no sign of slowing down. It is unlikely they will stop at one or two British chapters. The significance of seeing the first Bandidos chapter on UK soil cannot be understated." So today, detectives in Britain and across Europe are watching events on the Channel Islands with great interest. Extracted from Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld by Tony Thompson (Hodder, £7.99). To order a copy for the special price of £7.49 (plus free P&P) go to Independent Books Direct or call 0870 079 8897 Britain's top five gangs, as ranked by Tony Thompson Interview by Rob Sharp 1. Hells Angels The British offshoot of the world's most infamous motorcycle gang was born after two English bikers visited, and took their impetus from, its West Coast birthplace. The group, officially sanctioned in 1969, organised last weekend's Bulldog Bash, one of the biggest biker events in Europe. 2. Outlaws From relatively modest beginnings in Illinois in 1935, the Outlaws have grown to encompass 200 chapters dotted around the world. The British arm of the club came under the aegis of its New World forefathers in 2000, and currently boasts followings in Birmingham, London, Kent... and the Forest of Dean. Members flaunt a crossed piston and skull motif on the back of their black leather jackets. 3. Blue Angels Formed in 1960s Glasgow, the name derives from Scotland's national colours, although some of its members claim the "Blue" stands for "bastards, lunatics, undesirables and eccentrics". They began by using stripped-down Triumph/Norton hybrids (without lights) as their ride of choice. Chapters in Leeds and Sheffield first careered on to British roads in 1997. 4. Road Tramps With groups in Limerick, Cork and Tipperary, the gang – formerly known as the Reapers – was established in Ireland in 1987. It is part of the Irish Motorcycle Club Alliance, an umbrella organisation drawing together the Vikings, Freewheelers and Devils Disciples. The Road Tramps also have an English following. 5.Bandidos The club's (refreshingly honest) slogan is: "We are the people our parents warned us about." It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 195 chapters, across 14 countries; groups in Jersey and Guernsey are their only British adherents. The club, which originated in Texas, is among the Angels' fiercest and most violent rivals.     10/7  Sweden grapples with rise of biker gangs Herald Tribune STOCKHOLM: Three and a half years after first receiving threats from members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang at his Iranian restaurant in Goteborg, Massoud Garakoei lives in fear. Biker gangs like the Bandidos, the Hell's Angels and the Outlaws have grown rapidly in recent years, the Swedish police say. The gangs engage in extortion and drug running, among other criminal activities. When he was targeted, Garakoei, 43, who was born in Iran but is now a Swedish citizen, did what most people threatened by the gangs choose not to do. He went to the police, denounced the extortionists and testified in court. "These people are not stupid," Garakoei said in a telephone interview. "They can read the law, they can read the newspapers and they use the weaknesses they see. When you can threaten the life of someone's small child and only get a year in prison for it, it is easy to be a criminal." Outlaw motorcycle gangs are a fairly recent phenomenon in Sweden. The first chapters were established in the early 1990s and they quickly made an impression. From 1994 to 1997, a bloody conflict raged between the Hell's Angels and the Bandidos; 11 people were killed and about 100 were wounded. The biker war was covered intensely in the media and the police promised that no resources would be spared to fight the spread of the gangs. Yet their strength has increased. According to a survey carried out by public service radio, the growth has been especially strong in smaller towns where the police presence is low. Meanwhile, a report from the police's National Criminal Investigation Department shows that organized criminal activity typical of motorcycle gangs has increased, with the number of extortion cases reported to the police rising to 1,240 last year, from 699 in 2000. "These are very violent people organizing themselves," said Thord Modin, head of analysis at the national police service. "When you see people walking around with patches on their vests announcing that they've murdered someone, society has to react." He was referring to patches printed with the words "Filthy Few," which the police said they thought were awarded to members who had killed for the gang, and have been spotted on the vests of some gang members in Sweden. Modin said motorcycle gangs exploited the weaknesses in democratic societies, especially in such an open society as Sweden. "They use society's democratic safeguards to protect themselves, while they at the same time stand outside society," he said. "When you start threatening witnesses, police and prosecutors, and make it a routine way of working against society, it's a big problem." Nonetheless, he said, "Protecting witnesses is something the police are getting better at." For Garakoei, however, it is too late. He hoped that he would be able to keep his restaurant, but after receiving new threats in February he concluded that he should sell and start over, maybe even outside Sweden. He says he was happy for the support he has received - he and his wife, Shahnaz, were named "Swedes of the Year" by the magazine Fokus last year for their willingness to do what many fear to do - but he was pessimistic about the gangs. "I fled from an undemocratic country to come here, but when this happened I hoped these people could be dealt with like they would have been dealt with in Iran, with much tougher punishments," he said. "I'm afraid that in 10 years, Goteborg will be a dangerous city. Things will just get worse.   Five held after biker gang party Published: 22nd April 2007 12:40 CET Five people were taken into custody on Saturday evening when police raided a party in Gothenburg attended by members of the Bandidos biker gang. One of those arrested has been deported to Denmark. According to police spokesman Mona Nordberg the man, who is aged 25, is wanted for "a serious crime". Four men aged 30 to 35 have been held on suspicion of weapons offences. Police had been keeping the third anniversary party of the motorcycle club under close surveillance, with officers from Västra Götaland and the National Criminal Investigation Department, as well as police from Denmark and Norway involved in the operation. At least 83 people, 23 cars and 32 motorcycles were checked throughout the evening. The operation was part of the Swedish police's ongoing fight against organised crime.   Tank gun found at Hell's Angels party Published: 11th March 2007 11:30 CET A tank gun has been found during a raid on a Hell's Angels club in Stockholm. The raid took place on Saturday evening, as a chapter of the biker gang was celebrating its tenth anniversary at its headquarters in Ulvsunda, northern Stockholm. Some 40 police officers were involved in the raid, which was launched after a tip-off that illegal drugs were being kept on the premises. As well as finding drugs, the police discovered a 120 kilogram tank gun. The weapon was Swedish-made, and of a type no longer used by the Swedish army. No ammunition was found on the premises     No ban on Hells Angels, court rules Netherlands - The Haringen chapter of the Hells Angels motorbike club does not have to be banned and broken up, a court in Leeuwarden ruled on Tuesday. The court said that the public prosecution department had failed to prove that the organisation was such a threat to public order that the 'ultimate deterrent' - a ban - was legally justifiable. Nor could the Harlingen group be held responsible for criminal acts by members of the gang elsewhere in the country, the court said. Just because some members had criminal records, did not mean the Hells Angels were a criminal organisation, the court ruled. The public prosecution department (OM) is attempting to have the Dutch Hells Angels banned because of its criminal connections - in particular to drugs and illegal weapons - arguing such an organisation has no place in society. The court's decision will come as a severe blow to the OM. The Harlingen case was the first of seven such hearings nationwide and the first to reach a verdict. Other cases have been heard in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Alkmaar, IJmuiden, Rotterdam and Kampen. The OM said immediately that it would appeal against the Leeuwarden ruling. It would do all it could to ensure the organisation was banned, a spokesman said. Last week it emerged that several serving Dutch soldiers were also Hells Angels in their spare time.       Arrested Bandidos Sweden-Gavle - The weekend at Gavle ended up in prison for the two bandidos chapter presidents from Seffle and Umea. Five other members were also held in custody for attempt of theft and damaging of property. A couple hours before the hearing the police department put up massive force around the courthouse. Everyone who wanted to take part in the hearing as a spectator was visited by the police before entering the courthouse. The state prosecutor Mikael Hammarstrand wanted all the seven persons who were caught in the car chase to be held in custody for time being for preparation of attempt of assault,theft and vandalization. Two of the seven are known to be chapter presidents and the other five full color members,they were all well known faces to the police department. The lawyer Lars Stahlberg who defends a 28-years old man from Umea,-It`s very low senteces for theft and vandalization in the book of law,therefore these crimes are not valid enough for holding these individuals still in custody,that`s my clear opion,says lawyer Lars Stahlberg after the hearing. The theft in Gavle is about some club-related objects for decoration . In the car that police chased down,there were also found a knife. The seven bandidos members shall be prosecuted at latest at 7th of March 2007. Because of the strong presence of the police forces,only four local Solidos MC members shown up at the hearing,amongst them the 29-years old vice president of the club,who`s a stand-in for the president who`s doing a six-years prison sentence. The police believes the reason to the bandidos presidents visit at Gavle and the burglary at the Outlaws MC clubhouse is a sign that there`s a feud between the clubs and it has been authorized at a very high level in the Bandidos MC hierarchy. It`s hard to know how deep is the criminality among the bandidos around Sweden. An individual with deep knowledge about bandidos at Seffle says that the bandidos are keeping a low profile in the community. The members are hanging around in a windowless clubhouse without any bandidos symbols. The president from Umea,24-years old,has been sentenced in the past for more than 60 crimes,mostly drug-,theft and receving stolen gods crimes. Rougher mc-related crimes has been usually committed by the clubs in Skane and Gothenburg. Soon it will be known,if Solidos MC and Outlaws MC will start the next mc-war at Gavle. Mats Hedstrom-Gefle Dagblad     Anxiety for vengeance SWEDEN-Seffle - The Sweduish Police Department for organized crime: "We haven`t seen anything like this since the Scandinavian MC-war at mid 90-ties." Four fullcolor members at Seffle Bandidos are currently suspected for the burglary at Gavle AOA Outlaws clubhouse. The police fears vengeance. During the mc-war between Hells Angels MC and Bandidos MC eleven persons were killed in Scandinavia. Since the peace settlement,there has been a cold peace between the clubs. But the peace could be in jeopardy,after the incident at Storvik,a couple of miles in west of Gavle. Four bandidos,including the chapter president ,are held in custody for burglary at AOA Outlaws clubhouse,which was seriously vandalized. The act is a violation of the unwritten rules of the mc-culture,besides the colors and motorcycle,the clubhouse is also counted as a holy place for the mc-clubs. That`s the reason why the police department is worried about the occured situation. -It`s very obvious that this is an huge insult for the AOA Outlaws MC and a very clear provokation,says Thorbjorn Johansson,the police departments expert of MC-gangs. -The worst scenario is that the outlaws will be looking for revenge. They might be feeling forced to reply with similar methods and we are deeply worried about this situation. * Revenge,how? -It`s hard to predict what`s going to happen. * A new mc-war? - It`s too early to say anything about that scenario. Hopefully the clubs will meet at a table and negotiate,that`s the way the problems has been solved by clubs in the past.But it`s obvious that this is a provokation from the Bandidos MC and their goal was to drag them (AOA Outlaws MC) into dishonour. * Several of the members of Bandidos MC are from Seffle,any threats to the Seffle chapter? - We can`t eliminate the possibility to vengeance and that can take place anywhere there are bandidos members,including Seffle. The four members at Seffle Chapter were arrested after a car chase with three other persons,all full color bandidos members from different locations in Sweden. Yesterday three of seffle members were held in custody for probable grounds of theft and damaging the property belonging to AOA Outlaws MC. Besides the president of Seffle Bandidos,the others are 32-years and 38-years old members and one them is a member of a Bandidos MC affiliated street gang called X-Team Seffle,who was also held in custody for attempt of assault. The background to the clash between the clubs is a long term feud between Solidos MC and AOA Outlaws MC at Gavle. - The interference of Bandidos MC in the feud is an obvious statement from Bandidos MC in favor of Solidos MC. Jonas Brandt / Varmlands Folkblad     Bikers face jail after violence at bar UK - A JUDGE has warned a gang of bikers they could face prison after a terrifying attack on a Blackpool nightspot. Ten members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club stood in the dock at Preston Crown Court and pleaded guilty to affray for their part in the brutal violence which erupted on October 2, 2005. Witnesses claimed the bikers used knives, knuckle-dusters and CS gas as they waged battle with door staff at the NTK bar on Market Street. The Crown accepted the fight had been sparked in retaliation to an earlier incident in which a gang member had been thrown out of the premises. But Judge Cornwall told the gang: "Each and every one of you has put your liberty in jeopardy by the way you conducted yourself on this occasion. "My provisional view is that you have taken the law into your own hands invading the premises with the numbers in which you did. I think it is inevitable you will all lose your liberty." The bikers who were all from outside Blackpool had been drinking in the town's bars when the trouble started. They were ejected from the premises and came back later with larger numbers. At the time, NTK manager Mick Sugden called the incident: "Extremely scary." The Outlaws, who have chapters all over the UK, have links with the Hell's Angels. The judge said: "One man had been in an incident previously where door staff used force to eject him from the premises. At one stage on the video you can see him being pulled out of the venue by his feet." Speaking to the defendants the judge added: "The seriousness of this is that you have taken the law into your own hands and injuries were caused to some of the staff. "It would have been quite an alarming and frightening experience for any member of the general public who happens to be in the club at the time and that's what this offence is directed towards." Stephen O'Shaughnessy, 38, of Five Acres, Harlow, Essex, Richard Holzman, 41, of Beadlemeade, Milton Keynes, Clifford Churchill, 47, of New Chester Road, Rockferry, Wirral, Christopher Cain, 42, of Saughall Masset Road, Upton, James Devine, 37, of Newton Walk, Liverpool, John Clarke, 38, of Peacocks, Harlow, Essex, Paul Harvey, 44, of Rounton Road, Waltham Abbey, David Owen, 52, of Nashcourt Road, Margate, Kent, Michael Fielding, 41, of Calau Gleision, Bangor, Wales, and Nabeel Zindani, 33, of Hawthorn Road, Liverpool, all pleaded guilty to affray. Two other gang members were convicted of actual bodily harm to a member of the public and assaulting a police officer during the incident and will be sentenced at the same time as the rest of the men. The judge adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports and bailed the defendants until March 23.     Court hears demand to ban Hells Angels Netherlands - A court in Leeuwarden will today begin hearing the public prosecution (OM)'s case for a ban on the Hells Angels. The case will focus on the Hells Angels chapter in Harlingen - one of seven groups nationwide. Last year the OM said it wanted to see the organisation banned because of its persistent involvement in crime.     Some trade secrets The challenge of reporting on Brett Kebble’s murder demands a potent mixture of art and science. Barry Sergeant Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 07:05 | © Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2006 So now the “truth” is out, in a document unofficially called The World According to Glenn Agliotti. This was unveiled in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s court this week in the form of an affidavit. Brett Kebble, who was slain on the night of September 27 2005, “assisted and played a material role in the planning of his death”, states Agliotti. It was, Agliotti insists, “in fact an assisted suicide”. Agliotti states: “After I had become involved, it was decided to rather make his death look like a carjacking. After numerous dry runs and plans, he was killed in this manner by persons who have been identified by the State and apparently granted Section 204 indemnity for the roles that they played”. Agliotti provided zero proof that the murder was an “assisted suicide”, and failed to come clean by naming the triggermen. When the time and the place is just right, Agliotti’s claims will be shown up for what they really are. In the meantime, given that Agliotti has conceded participation in the conspiracy (but hardly pleaded anything like guilt), his claims will have to be taken from whence they come. Within a week or two of Kebble’s murder, any investigative journalist worth his or her salt would have known the structure of the conspiracy leading to the murder, and the identities of those involved. The real issue has been the question of how to report these facts, and when. The saga has created massive competition in the media, and also confirmed that the media remains heavily populated by various species of scavenger and vermin. One newspaper, which has even started publishing articles on how it has always been ahead of the pack, serves as a prize example. Last week the newspaper, which has four journalists working on the Kebble saga, stated that “the arrest of Agliotti appears to have been based on the evidence of accomplice witnesses, named in the media as security company boss Clinton Nassif and prominent Johannesburg gangland figures Michael “Mikey” Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel Smith”. This is a load of bollocks. Besides, there is nothing so convenient and cowardly as citing “media” as the source for naming alleged accomplice triggermen Schultz, McGurk and Smith. Where’s the damn proof? (By the way, anybody who really knows the story has hardly heard of Faizel Smith; his name is “Kappie”, finished and klaar.) But it gets worse. The same newspaper goes on to state that: “Schultz, a former Hell’s Angel, is notorious in bouncer circles around Johannesburg”. This shows up the four journalists for what they really are. Schultz was never a Hell’s Angel. Anyone who knows the story will tell you that. If you want to get the facts straight in and around a murder, small details like this are crucial; an error of the nature exposed here raises questions over every other “fact” gleefully strung together by the hacks in question. If journalists want to take the potentially dangerous step of reporting on a deadly murder, they must get into the story, and not pretend to get into the story by relying on half-baked information and putrefying allegations. If you want to be a matador, you must live your life straight up and straight down. As a side-note, it is instructive that when American journalist and author Hunter S Thompson was gathering material for his book Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, he spent a year literally living with the Hell’s Angels. As one reviewer put it, Thompson did his best to expose the New York Times, Time Magazine and others for “their target-picking, fear-baiting, if-we-printed-it-it-must-be-real style of reporting”. One can only weep that the lessons appear to have died over time. Thompson quit collecting material for the book when a bunch of Hell’s Angels beat him into a pulp. He recovered, and went ahead and wrote the book, publishing it in 1967. He continued to refuse to give the boys in black leather a cent of his royalties, the cause of the beating he had received. Back in South Africa, it was correct, and remains correct, to say that Schultz was a prospect Hell’s Angel – but that’s totally different to being one. It may be premature to disclose the reasons, so let’s leave it at that for the meantime. It would have been correct to state that McGurk (rather than Schultz) was a Hell’s Angel, but that, ironically, has not been done. An investigative journalist is blessed by a wealth of raw material. When the choices are made about what to publish and what to leave out, the latter inevitably proves the most troublesome. Even if it means sacrificing a “scoop”, the choice should be totally dictated by a deep sensitivity for the safety of individuals still alive. Sometimes it is just too damn dangerous to let something go; it has to remain secret until the time and the place is just right. There is, of course, a lunatic fringe school of thought demanding that whatever is in the public interest should be published as soon as possible. That lunatic fringe can take their school of thought and stick it where it fits best, until they prove their investigative skills by putting their necks on the line and, more important, getting results. Investigative work is not only about timing, and about what to leave out, it is, as mentioned, also about absolute accuracy. If something is known to be absolutely true, and the time and the place is right, then publish it. It is correct to state that Nassif was Kebble’s security boss, and also security boss at Kebble’s key public company, JCI, at the time when Kebble was murdered. Agliotti was appointed a “consultant” to JCI in March 2003. It is correct to say that Nassif was recently arrested on fraud charges unrelated to Kebble’s murder, and that Agliotti was arrested on charges of murdering Kebble, and of conspiracy to murder Kebble. Both Nassif and Agliotti “reported” to John Stratton, a wily British-born Australian who joined the JCI board of directors in 1998. For those who know the story, it should have come as no surprise to find Stratton appearing in Agliotti’s affidavit. Once again, take it from whence it comes, but in the world according to Agliotti, “I have been advised that the State intends to add another suspect, Mr John Stratton, who is currently residing in Australia”. It would have been more accurate if Agliotti had stated that Stratton is residing in Perth, and residing under pressure. Stratton, known to some as “Bangles” Down Under, and to some in South Africa as “Turtle”, enjoys great notoriety in Perth, where he lives. He is an absolutely ruthless businessman who has left a string of broken financial hearts behind him. It is no secret that South African law enforcement agents were out in Perth a few weeks back, and it wasn’t for fun. As for extraditing individuals from Australia, the case of Ed Dutton casts a horrible pall over the odds that Stratton will ever again be seen in this country again. Besides the jurisdictional complications, Stratton is no spring chicken and would be vulnerable to the heavy stresses he may face in South Africa. If Stratton ever had a real friend, his name was Brett Kebble. On the subject of friends, it was Agliotti who notoriously used his cellphone to call Jackie Selebi, the national police commissioner, from close to Kebble’s murder scene. Agliotti had used the same instrument to call Kebble when he guided him to the scene of the murder. These are unhappy and hair-raising facts that point to the possibility that the final outcome to the murder case is going to be unsatisfactory. There are countless facts that may one day be placed in the public domain. In the meantime, rest assured that there are some dangerous people out there. There always are. As Thompson wrote in 1965 on the subject of motorcycle gangs, “a few belong to what the others call ‘outlaw clubs,’ and these are the ones who - especially on weekends and holidays - are likely to turn up almost anywhere in the state, looking for action. Despite everything the psychiatrists and Freudian casuists have to say about them, they are tough, mean and potentially as dangerous as a pack of wild boar”. Long-time Hell’s Angels president Sonny Barger was out in South Africa at a particular time in the 1990s. One day, it will be the time and the place to tell the story of why the Hell’s Angels link is going to stick to Agliotti. Danish Bandidos Member to Celebrate Christmas in Prison   The Dane Kim Lindegaard Nielsen will celebrate Christmas and New Years Eve in Bangkok's Lad Yao Prison.     By Morten Perregaard    The first day of the trial against Kim Lindegaard Nielsen lasted 15 minutes before the judge granted a request from the prosecution to postpone the case. The case will be resumed on February 19. The prosecution needed more time to investigate the case. That means that Kim Lindegaard Nielsen together with the British Bandidos member, Crispin Patton-Smith will have to be in prison during Christmas and New Years Eve. The lawyer of the Dane also informs that he does not believe that Kim Lindegaard Nielsen can be released on bail before February 19. In July the Dane together with Crispin Patton-Smith was arrested in Pattaya. So far, they are charged with one incident of threatening and to have created an illegal organization on the island of Koh Samui. Amsterdam - Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday they would apply to the courts for a total ban on the activities of the Hells Angels, accusing the motorcycling club of involvement in organised crime. "The target is not violations committed by individual members, rather large-scale criminal activities within an organised association," a spokesperson said. Reports said the prosecutors aimed to use the civil rather than the criminal code, as the burden of proof required was lower. Attempts have been made in the Netherlands in the past to ban single chapters of the club, but never the entire organisation. National prosecutors made the relevant applications to six different divisions, calling for all foundations and associations linked to the Hells Angels also to be banned. In raids on clubhouses of the seven chapters of the club in the Netherlands in recent years, police have found arms and ammunition, along with large-scale cannabis-growing operations. Among the crimes alleged are fraud and the handling of stolen goods. The club is also accused of racial discrimination in line with the worldwide Hells Angels policy of excluding black people. The Dutch Hells Angels have been plagued by internal division in recent years that led to the murder in early 2004 of three members of the South Limburg chapter. An Amsterdam court sentenced 12 members of the chapter to six years in prison each, the prosecution failing to secure a murder conviction as it was unable to establish who had fired the fatal shots. In 2005 the Amsterdam chapter threw out its head of 30 years, "Big Willem" Boxter, saying he was "in bad standing" with the club over an alleged murder contract on a major figure in the Amsterdam underworld, Willem Holleeder. Criminal proceedings are currently running against 22 Hells Angels. - Sapa-dpa Dutch try to ban HA AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they are asking the courts to outlaw the Hells Angels motorcycle club as a threat to public order, arguing it is inherently a criminal organization. Members of Hells Angels Holland and its local branches have been involved in several cases involving drugs or violence in recent years, notably the 2004 murder of three members at a clubhouse. Last year, police raids on clubhouses led to the arrest of 47 members for possession of illegal weapons or drugs. In addition, an Amsterdam club leader, Willem Holleeder previously convicted in the 1983 kidnapping of beer tycoon Freddy Heineken is currently on trial on extortion charges, which he has denied. "It's become sufficiently clear that the activities of the motorcycle club are in conflict with public order," the national prosecutor's office said in a statement. "In our firm opinion, this is not a case of a few incidents, but a chain of criminal activities. This criminal behavior is ... part of the culture of the Hells Angels," it said. A Hells Angels member downplayed the prosecutors' remarks, and denied the club had violated any laws. "This is one of prosecutors' tricks," Daniel Uneputty, of the Amsterdam branch, told the Dutch radio station BNR. "It's nonsense, and the rest I'll leave to my lawyer." Prosecutors said that club branches had been outlawed in many countries, but that this, if successful, would be the first nationwide ban. A parliamentary inquiry in 1995 found the Hells Angels was a criminal organization involved in the drug trade and smuggling women for prostitution, but no action was taken to ban the group. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/08/europe/EU_GEN_Netherlands_Hells_Angels.php Back