Angels' wings shelter local bike gang
Sat, Jul 22, 2000
WINNIPEG'S gang scene is to change dramatically tonight as the notorious Hells Angels take the Los Brovos motorcycle gang under their wing.
Members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang are to accept 12 remaining Los Brovos members as prospects or strikers in a "patchover" at the Los Brovos clubhouse on Chalmers Avenue in East Kildonan.
"The Los Brovos as a club is finished," a source said. "They're going to burn their (gang emblem) colours. By burning their colours it means the club is finished and you'll never hear from them again."
The ceremonial party tonight means that starting tomorrow, the Los Brovos will sport only the lower portion, the Manitoba bottom rocker, of the Hells Angels patch. They will continue in the prospect stage until fully "patched over" in the next year or two.
Tonight's ceremony officially raises the Los Brovos to Manitoba's top gang.
It also means local hard-core bikers, who've had close contact with the Hells Angels both in Quebec and Vancouver for more than a decade, now have a voice in one of the world's most infamous networks.
Welcoming the Los Brovos into the fold are about 55 Hells Angels bikers, some from each chapter across Canada. The Hells Angels are staying at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Ellice Avenue, where they partied last night.
They were met by the Winnipeg Police Service, who showed their own colours.
As of 10 p.m. last night, some Hells Angels had been charged with a handful of Highway Traffic Act offences.
Six charges in total were laid for offences including speeding and driving an unregistered vehicle.
"Otherwise, everything is going smoothly," said (police liaison officer Bob) Johnson.
Officers spent the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening monitoring the comings and goings of each biker, pulling them over for spot checks and traffic infractions at every opportunity, both outside the Ellice Avenue hotel and the Los Brovos clubhouse.
City police even pulled over Los Brovos president Danny Rogoski's car.
At an afternoon press conference, J.P. Levesque of the RCMP's Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada defended the practice of constant, in-your-face spot checks.
"We've been paid to assure the security of the public and our way to do it is to be proactive and ensure there is no problem in town," Levesque said.
Police added they're also checking for outstanding warrants and whether some of these men are allowed to be in Canada.
Sgt. Guy Ouellette, a member of a national task force on outlaw motorcycle gangs who flew in from Quebec to brief police here on the convention, predicted the former Brovos will have a higher profile after the patchover.
He predicted the Brovos will also be sitting at the table with street gangs like the Manitoba Warriors "and establish the rules" as they firm up control over them.
"There's a place for everybody," he said. "There's a lot of money out there (to be made)."
The courting of the Hells Angels by local outlaw bikers has been in the works off and on for about a decade. During that time there has been a biker war, which claimed the Silent Riders, the Redliners and the Spartans gangs, and two high-profile murders, plus the 1996 disappearance of Spartans leader Darwin Sylvester.
Former Brovos president David Boyko was killed in Halifax in May, 1997. Boyko's killers have not been found, but Boyko was attending one of their events when he was shot in the head.
Also shot in the head was Spartan Robert Rosmus in January, 1999. His body was dumped face-up on a snow-covered road just past the Perimeter Highway in Transcona.
As well, three men, including two associated with a local biker gang, were killed in a West Kildonan home in 1996.
The net result is that weak links were eliminated, old scores settled and the way paved for the Hells Angels to move in.
"The Los Brovos have spent the last while weeding out the weak links,'' a source said. "No Hells Angels chapter has more than 10 or 12 guys. That's because you can still do business, but there's less mouths that can open.
"What the Brovos have done is get those people out. What you got now are solid, capable guys who are willing to do anything."
Tonight's patchover brings to six the number of provinces where the ever-expanding Hells Angels have a firm presence.
Standing guard outside the hotel lobby yesterday, a black-vested member of the Brovos coolly eyed a reporter through a pair of dark sunglasses.
"What do you want, man?" the biker asked in a bemused tone as the reporter gingerly made his way into the hotel.
Sitting behind his desk, manager Tony Eyer said he had no qualms about booking his hotel to the bikers, known for their sometimes boisterous behaviour.
"As long as they behave, they're fine with me," said Eyer.
After all, he said, "we get all kinds of groups here."
The enlistment of the Los Brovos comes at a time when the Hells Angels are at war with rival gang the Rock Machine in Quebec -- more than 35 people have been killed since it started in 1994. The Angels have also made rumblings about expanding into Ontario.
No comments:
Post a Comment