Biker clubs linked to Hells Angels popping up across B.C., police say
New motorcycle clubs linked to the notorious Hells Angels are sprouting up around the province, alarming police who think the older gang is expanding its reach.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, says there are now about 30 of the support or “puppet” clubs in B.C., compared to 10 chapters of the Hells Angels.
“There’s been four or five new ones pop up in the Lower Mainland in the last year,” he said. “The farm team system for the HAS is very alive and well.”
Among the new groups is the Smoke Show, an all women’s riding club, the Commandos and another called the Krusherz.
Houghton said six of the approximately 30 support clubs “are self-identified one percenters, so they wear the little one per cent diamond on their leather vest.” That means they identify as “outlaw” motorcycle clubs, he said, of the expression that dates back to the formation of the Hells Angels in 1948.
After more than two years of COVID restrictions, Hells Angels and their supporters are hosting large “rides” and other events that had been cancelled throughout the pandemic. That has allowed police to gather intelligence on how the biker landscape has changed.
Many of the new puppet clubs are showing up at Hells Angels events, Houghton said.
“The concern, as these clubs proliferate, is that the people in these clubs, will continually confirm their dedication and their loyalty and their subservience to the Hells Angels,” Houghton said.
He said the Hells Angels, subject to continuing criminal cases and a variety of charges including conspiracy to kill and cocaine importation, find the puppet clubs useful.
“Often in the support clubs, these are people who some consider quote unquote regular people with regular jobs,” he said. “They work in various industries. They work in government. They may have access to information.”
“The Hells Angels and other OMGS (outlaw motorcycle clubs) look for these people in these groups to be able to infiltrate and exploit. And the concern for us always is access to information, risk to public safety, risks to privacy.”
He cited a United Nations gang associate who got a contact in ICBC to look up addresses of people at the Justice Institute of B.C. then launched a series of attacks on their homes a decade ago. He eventually was caught and pleaded guilty.
Postmedia reached out to Hells Angels B.C. spokesman Rick Ciarniello about the support clubs. He didn’t respond.
Last week, Houghton said that the Throttle Lockers puppet club, which had tried to expand in Kamloops, was basically defunct after a major CFSEU drug investigation that resulted in charges against two of its former members and an associate.
Other puppet clubs have also been targeted in criminal investigations. Devil’s Army president Richard Alexander is facing a first-degree murder charge in the 2016 Vancouver Island slaying of John Dillon Brown. His trial is scheduled for February 2023. The Instagram account of a Krusherz member promoted a fundraising campaign for Alexander’s legal fees.