Police to monitor bike gang memorial

Hells Angels to ride from Nanaimo to Langford Saturday

Up to 200 Hells Angels, including full-patch members, will ride to Langford from Nanaimo on Saturday in memory of Mike Widner, a prospect for the outlaw motorcycle gang from Sooke who was found slain on March 12.

Nanaimo RCMP and officers from B.C.’s gang task force, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, will monitor the ride and gather intelligence, said Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien.

Hells Angels associates from across the Island and the Lower Mainland are likely to attend, O’Brien said.

The ride will leave the Nanaimo Hells Angels headquarters about 1 p.m. and is expected to arrive at the Devils Army biker clubhouse on Spencer Road in Langford about 2:30 p.m. The Devils Army is a suspected Hells Angels puppet club.

“We will have a number of marked police cars, officers in uniform and plain clothes, and officers in various sections assisted by organized crime officers,” O’Brien said.

“The expectation from the public is that we will monitor that and keep it in line. If there’s any outward display of intimidation or violence, which sometimes is associated to the outlaw motorcycle gangs, we will certainly deal with that and quell it as quickly as possible.”

O’Brien said the rides are often used as networking tools and to connect Hells Angels associates from across the province.

“We always do advance intelligence gathering as well as during those rides to find out whose who, who’s meeting with who,” he said.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, spokeswoman for the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said officers will be on the Island to gather intelligence, something done during all Hells Angels memorial rides.

“We’re a uniformed presence, so absolutely they know we are in the area and that we are gathering intelligence,” Winpenny said. “They’re fairly overt about their rides, which are in memory of one of their members who have gone missing or have deceased recently.”

Widner, a prospect for the Nanaimo chapter of the Hells Angels, was the victim of a targeted killing. His body was found on the Pacific Marine route near Port Renfrew, three days after he was reported missing by his mother, Reta Acorn.

The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit is investigating the killing. No arrests have been announced.

Acorn told the Times Colonist she didn’t know anything about her son’s connection to the Hells Angels and was unaware of any threats on his life.

Widner was a husband and father. O’Brien said he does not know whether Widner’s family supports the memorial ride.