Canadian Hells Angels jailed in Greece
B.C. members among those at gathering
Dozens of Canadian Hells Angels took their death-head-emblazoned vests to Greece this month for an international biker parade and convention, but at least three of them didn’t return.
A trio of full-patch Alberta Hells Angels are in jail in Greece after being arrested last week following the near-fatal beating of a Greek man.
At least nine B.C. Hells Angels also attended the international meeting, in which more than 2,000 Hells Angels from 500 chapters descended on Athens. Some of the B.C. Hells Angels stopped along the way in Paris to do some sightseeing at Notre Dame Cathedral.
The three Alberta Angels made a court appearance last Friday. The 41-year-old man they allegedly beat up is on life-support.
The Canadian government is providing consular services, spokesman Francois Lasalle confirmed, without identifying the people involved.
“We are aware of reports of Canadian citizens detained in Greece. Canadian officials are in contact with the individuals and providing consular assistance as required,” Lasalle said in an email to The Vancouver Sun.
“Due to the Privacy Act, further details on this case cannot be released.”
Mike Tucker of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team said two of the Hells Angels arrested are from the Westridge chapter in Edmonton and one is from the Nomads, which are based in Red Deer.
Tucker said his agency is working with Greek officials.
Ontario Provincial Police Det.-Staff Sgt. Len Isnor said it’s not known yet what charges the three Canadians may face.
“All I know (is) it was an assault. How that assault took place, I couldn’t tell you,” said Isnor, a leading Canadian expert on the Hells Angels.
Isnor said he has been liaising with his European counterparts about the world gathering, an annual event, and the involvement of Canadian Hells Angels.
“We speak back and forth. We knew everything that was going on,” he said.
Isnor said he doesn’t have the final tally of Canadian bikers that attended.
“Every chapter in Canada — and there are 31 chapters — has to send at least one representative and some send two because they don’t like to have one guy travelling alone,” Isnor said. There are nine B.C. chapters. The week before the meeting, two Hells Angels from the Mission chapter were photographed outside Notre Dame in Paris, admiring the cathedral’s stone angels.
“They are there basically on vacation, but they do their business,” Isnor said.
He said the “world run” happens once a year and includes a procession with bikers from around the world riding their Harleys through the street with their country’s logo on their backs.
“It is in a different country every year,” said Isnor, who has attended world runs in the past. “They also have what’s called their world meeting.”
Only Hells Angels executive members from each country attend the meeting, Isnor explained.
“World meetings are to resolve world motions. A lot of motions come forward that would change the constitution and the way they do business on the surface,” Isnor said.
But don’t expect the world run to be held anywhere in Canada or the U.S.
Isnor said Canadian immigration law “doesn’t allow any members of a criminal organization into Canada, so they can’t have a world run in Canada.”
“They can’t have a world run any longer in the United States also because they also created a law similar to what we have in Canada that won’t allow international members of the Hells Angels into the United States,” he said.
B.C. Hells Angels spokesman Ricky Ciarniello did not respond to a request for information about the biker arrests or the international meeting.
The B.C. Hells Angels and the provincial government are locked in a long-running court battle over the ownership of three biker clubhouses.
The B.C. Civil Forfeiture office says the clubhouses should be forfeited because the Angels are a criminal organization.
The bikers are trying to get the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Act struck down as unconstitutional.