Rock Machine off the map: RCMP

Rock Machine off the map: RCMP Thursday, January 31, 2013 .........

The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club will no longer ride their crime wave through the streets of Winnipeg. A total of 11 people, including many connected to the Rock Machine, have been charged with a number of offences related to drug and firearms trafficking and other criminal activities, RCMP proudly announced Thursday. "We have in custody the entire Winnipeg chapter of the Rock Machine members," said Inspector Len DelPino, officer in charge of drug and integrated organized crime. "As a result, Winnipeg streets are safer today," said RCMP assistant commissioner Kevin Brousseau. About 140 RCMP and Winnipeg police officers searched 13 different locations, including a Wall Street business where explosives were found, and arrested the 11 persons at 10 of them (including the Wall Street locale where one Rock Machine member worked) on Wednesday. No one was injured during the arrests. The following Rock Machine members were charged: Todd Kenneth Murray, Joseph John Strachan, John Adam Curwin and Cameron Adam Hemminger, the RCMP said. Also charged was Shannon Chad Campbell, a Rock Machine prospect. Others charged were: Christopher Lee Camara, Donny Syraxa, Danny Vu Tran, Patrick La, Teagveer Singh Gill and Richard Dennis Lund. The arrests came as the result as the RCMP's Project Dilemma investigation that started in August of 2012. "The long-term investigation responds to one of main concerns of the communities we serve across Manitoba, that being violence associated with drugs," Brousseau said. Police and RCMP seized 13 pounds of cocaine, 1,800 tablets of Benzylpiperazine about eight pounds of marijuana, firearms, ammunition, two pipe bombs and eight other commercial explosive devices, a 2009 Audi S5, a significant amount of cash and Rock Machine-related clothing and paraphernalia. More arrests could still be coming. "As the result of (Wednesday's) searches, we've seized a number of items," DelPino said. "That will lead us to other locations, possibly, other people, further charges. Until we've got a full tally of what we have, we're not finished our investigation." DelPino would not speculate on whether the Rock Machine was preparing for any sort of biker war, considering the explosives — including sticks of dynamite — and firearms seized. "It does concern every Manitoban when you see these people having these types of things," he said. "We're just happy to be able to get it off the streets before it was used." Charges in Project Dilemma: Todd Kenneth Murray, 43, Rock Machine member Trafficking in Cocaine x 3 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 3 Conspiracy to Traffic Cocaine x 1 Trafficking Cocaine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Conspiracy to Traffic Cocaine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Instructing Persons to Commit Offences in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Participating in the Activities of a Criminal Organization x 1 Joseph John Strachan, 42, Rock Machine member RM of East St. Paul, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 1 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 1 Conspiracy to Traffic Cocaine x 1 Trafficking Cocaine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Conspiracy to Traffic Cocaine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Instructing Persons to Commit Offences in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Participating in the Activities of a Criminal Organization x 1 John Adam Curwin, 31, Rock Machine member Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Benzylpiperazine x 2 Firearms Trafficking x 1 Offer to Traffic a Firearm x 1 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Trafficking Benzylpiperazine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Firearms Trafficking in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Cameron Adam Hemminger, 42, Rock Machine member Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking Cocaine in Association with a Criminal Organization x 1 Trafficking Cocaine x 1 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 1 Shannon Chad Campbell, 35, Rock Machine prospect RM of St. Andrews, Manitoba Possess Ammunition While Prohibited x 1 Fail to Comply with Conditions of a Recognizance x 2 Christopher Lee Camara, 33 Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 2 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Donny SYRAXA 27 years Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine X 2 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Danny Vu Tran, 27 Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 2 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Patrick La, 26 Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 2 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Teagveer Singh Gill, 28 Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 2 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 2 Richard Dennis Lund, 29 Winnipeg, Manitoba Trafficking in Cocaine x 1 Possession of Proceeds Crime x 1 After-effects of 2012 gang war still being felt The Rock Machine were one of the key players in a gang war that appears to have climaxed in 2012. In December 2009, the Manitoba Angels' original puppet club, the Zig Zag Crew, was decimated in a major police project that saw the arrests of many of its members. The Redlined started taking over responsibilities, cops say. But the Rock Machine — first sited in Winnipeg in 2008 at a Notre Dame Avenue hotel with four people wearing "Rock Machine Nomads" vests — had other plans. By January 2010, the violent feud between the Rock Machine and its rivals had erupted, police say, and the tensions boiled over in the summer of 2011 with more than a dozen shootings and fire bombings in a battle over drug turf. UNREPORTED But court documents suggest there was far more gunfire, arsons and assaults that were kept private. "Since January 2010 there have been in excess of 20 reported and almost as many unreported incidents of violence between the Redlined/ Hells Angels and Rock Machine," the documents said. In November 2011, a makeshift bomb was tossed at the home of a Hells Angel in the middle of the night. The device, which looked like it was made out of shotgun shells and ballbearings, extinguished without detonating and without injuring anyone. No one called the cops. Later that same day, a man was beaten, court documents state. He declined medical treatment. The documents, prepared by police as part of the application to stick roughly 10 members of Hells Angels and Redlined under crime prevention- related peace bonds, suggest members gather intelligence on enemies and "have assembled in convoys to go on the hunt for rival Rock Machine members," court documents state. Sometimes, these "hunting missions" culminate at an enemy's property in a home invasion, dubbed "knock knock ginger man," the court documents state. Last month, Winnipeg police busted nine alleged Hells Angels and Redlined members in Project Flatlined — a clear dig at the name of the friend club. In spite of the arrests, police said the conflict is anything but over. "The war has been quiet in the past few months, but the rivalry is still existent and it appears the Rock Machine outlaw motorcycle gang are still intent on expanding their presence here and across Canada," police wrote in 2012. "More violence is predicted between these groups."