A Brief Overview Of The Hells Angels & The Bandidos

The murder of an alleged Hells Angels member Saturday has put the notorious motorcycle gang back in the media spotlight.

Probably the most famous name in biker gangs, the Angels have at least 34 known chapters in Canada, and 228 worldwide.

The government claims the Angels are regularly involved in criminal activities, and use the international ties between chapters to engage in major drug trafficking, mostly marijuana and cocaine.

Despite arrests, raids and efforts by law enforcement officials, their tight knit organization, size and the threat of violence to anyone who tries to leave or oppose them makes them the most dangerous such entity in the world.

The group has embraced modern technology, like computers and the Internet, to further its aims. Many of its clubhouses are protected by highly sophisticated security systems to warn them before authorities approach.

The most famous incident involving the group in Canada may have come in August 1995, when a booby trapped car exploded on a Montreal street, killing the driver and fatally injuring an innocent 11-year-old boy who was simply walking by at the time.

The incident, part of an escalating war between the Angels and the Rock Machine, outraged the public and forced a government crackdown on biker gangs that’s still going on.

The Angels have managed to keep growing by absorbing other smaller groups into the fold, including the Paradise Riders and the Loners.

They’ve also been effective in staging public relations events, like gathering toys for kids at Christmas. And who can forget that infamous election handshake between an Angel and then Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman?

The government claims intimidation and violence remains the group’s modus operandi of choice.

The Bandidos

Unlike the Angels, the Bandidos don’t give authorities a place to raid, because they have only one semi-official clubhouse, located in Ontario.

But they have other branches around the world, including the U.S., Germany, Bangkok, Finland, and Norway. They may have also expanded to Alberta and other Canadian provinces.

They originated from the remnants of the Rock Machine in Quebec, crossing the border and affiliating with the U.S.-created gang, taking on their infamous name.

“The Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang came to our attention first in Ontario in December of 2000,” explains O.P.P. Detective Insp. Don Bell.

“They evolved from the Rock Machine. As you are aware, the Rock Machine was involved in the war in Quebec throughout the 1990s …

“They first came to our attention in 2000 when members of Rock Machine passed over to Bandidos. Since that time we have seen them involved in similar offences as other motorcycle gangs, drugs, violence.

And in 2002, a Quebec-led enforcement action had seven Ontario members charged with drugs and weapons offences.”

The group originated in Texas in the 60s, and has since spread its tentacles to major international cities.

The feds maintain the Bandidos are in a war with the Angels over drugs and other criminal activities that’s driven by both money and outright hatred.

Their website contains the usual brash claims, including this one: “Only one percent of people have the heart to belong to a group such as the Bandidos motorcycle club … Our colours don’t run.”

But some officials believe the mass murder and defections to the Angels has all but diluted the gang’s power in the province, and that they’re no longer a major threat.

The government claims many of the groups are also associated with organized crime overseas, making them a convenient conduit to the Canadian and U.S. markets.

Law enforcement officials have made a dent in some of their activities, but due to the secretive nature and number of the gangs – and some splinter groups associated with them – it’s been an uphill battle that has yet to be won.

Here’s a list of the activities the feds say biker gangs regularly take part in:

• Drug trafficking;
• Money laundering;
• Murder;
• Fraud;
• Theft;
• Prostitution;
• Trafficking of illegal weapons and contraband and oddly enough,
• Telemarketing

All the groups deny the allegations, insisting they’re simply people who love the freedom their motorcycles provide and are targeted because they don’t subscribe to society’s rigid morals.

For the most part, biker gangs like to operate under the radar. And that’s why at least one organized crime expert believes the dreaded motorcycle wars that plagued Quebec aren’t likely to happen here in Ontario.

“I would be very surprised if this happened in Toronto,” confirms Lee Lamothe.

“Bikers are unstable people, whether they’re the criminal bikers, the traffickers, of which a fair number of them obviously are, or they’re just people who joined for whatever rebel outlaw reason,” he outlines. “They’re not people who are necessarily the brightest people around.”

To read/watch our story on a massive Hells Angels bust this past fall, click here .