Biker died over control of illegal gambling

Describing killing, sources say lockdown restrictions have affected activities

A longtime Hells Angel biker who was shot to death in a parking garage on the Danforth was embroiled in a bitter ongoing dispute over control of illegal gambling in the area, several sources say.

Harry Lainas, 47, of the Hells Angels’ Simcoe South charter, is Toronto’s ninth homicide victim of 2021 and the eighth killed in a shooting.

The body of the stocky biker was found near his black Jeep in the apartment parking garage at 2301 Danforth Ave., near Oak Park Avenue, around 10:24 p.m. Tuesday.

Lainas had been shot several times. Police said bullet shell casings were found near his body. Police did not comment on the type of bullets used.

The Hells Angels have bolstered their ranks in the GTA with a junior support club called the Helles Nation and a handful of full members who joined the biker organization while living in Greece.

Two sources said that criminals running illegal gambling networks are smarting because of social gathering restrictions because of COVID-19, saying the Super Bowl is generally a major moneymaker for illegal gamblers, but the game last Sunday was a bust.

“There was no parties, nothing,” the source said. “They got hit pretty good.”

“A lot of people had banked on making money from that (Super Bowl),” another source said. “They require a certain amount of social interaction.”

Tensions were perking in illegal gambling circles even before COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Lainas was fired upon in the area roughly two years ago while collecting illegal gambling revenues in the same area where he was slain, sources who knew him said.

Lainas was well-known by police and in the biker world.

He had earlier been named by police as being part of an organized crime ring that impersonated police while committing a string of GTA armed robberies in 2008.

That nine-month operation, called Project Betrayal, ended with 198 criminal charges laid against 25 people after a crime spree across the regions of York, Peel, Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe.

Project Betrayal investigators said they seized body armour marked “Police,” police-style stun guns, handcuffs, policestyle radios, a money-counting machine, $108,000 in cash, plus 15 stolen luxury vehicles.

That operation centred around a career criminal named Dobroslav (Bobby) Manchev, who often held court in a restaurant on the Danforth — which police said he called “the office.” Manchev was shot to death near the Eglinton Town Centre last May.