Police brace for violence after Hells Angel slain
Law enforcement agencies across the region are bracing for potential fallout after a prominent Hells Angel was found slain in Maple Ridge on the weekend.
Cpl. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said his agency is working with other gang enforcement teams in the Lower Mainland following the slaying of Chad John Wilson, a full-patch member of the Hardside Hells Angels.
“IHIT will be engaging with our numerous partners from the gang enforcement units throughout the Lower Mainland region. They will be working to mitigate any ongoing violence,” Jang said at a Surrey news conference. “While the motive for Mr. Wilson’s murder hasn’t been confirmed, this is yet another example, another reminder, of the significant dangers that are posed to one’s life by being part of a criminal organization.”
Chief Superintendent Trent Rolfe, head of the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said even prominent members of outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels “are not immune to gang violence or their connection to the gang landscape, both as perpetrators and victims.”
Two years ago, another high profile Hells Angel, Bob Green, was shot to death by an associate in the 856 gang after an all-night drinking party at the 856’s clubhouse.
Within days, another young gangster who was at the party was found slain and mutilated at the side of a Langley road.
Green’s killer, Jason Wallace, who later pleaded guilty to manslaughter, said he was told in a threatening phone call to kill himself, or turn himself into the Hells Angels and they would do it.
Wilson, 43, began his biker career in San Diego, joining the Hells Angels Dago chapter there on Jan. 28, 2005 as a prospect and becoming a fullpatch member a year later.
He pleaded guilty in South Dakota in 2009 to being an alien in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to four years in jail. The charge stemmed from a 2006 shootout with rivals from the Outlaws biker gang. Wilson wounded several Outlaws, paralyzing one of them, but was acquitted of an attempted murder charge after claiming self-defence.
“If I didn’t shoot back, they would have kept shooting me until I was dead,” he testified.
When Wilson returned to Canada, he joined the Haney Hells Angels. And last year, he transferred over to the newest chapter of the notorious biker gang, Hardside. He got married earlier this year, wearing his colours — or Hells Angels vest — to the ceremony.
Postmedia has learned that Hardside has an association with the Brothers Keepers, a younger drug trafficking gang that’s been locked in a bloody gang war with rivals who were once associates.
Police are trying to figure out the motive behind Wilson’s death. They’re looking at whether he got caught in the violence of his junior associates or was targeted for some past crime, including the South Dakota shootout and a conviction in Spain for smuggling half a tonne of cocaine into the country.
“Right now, behind the scenes, there is a lot of activity going on,” Jang said.