Biker Shot To Death Outside Vaughan Strip Club
Posted December 2, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
York Regional Police were called to Club Pro at 170 Doughton Road, near Highway 7 and Jane Street, around 1am after shots apparently rang out in the parking lot.
“When we got here we found one man lying on the ground obviously deceased,” York Regional Police Insp. Norn Miles said Saturday morning.
“There was a second man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken down to … hospital. At the present time we think his condition is fairly stable but he’s just going into surgery.”
The deceased victim has been identified as 32-year-old David Buchanan, also known as “Dread”. Police say he was a full-patch member of the Hells Angels and was celebrating his 32nd birthday inside the establishment.
The second victim, 28-year-old Carlos Virrili, is a prospective member of the biker club, authorities said. He’s in serious but stable condition.
And a third man suffering from gunshot wounds – 33-year-old Hells Angels member Dana Carnnagie – turned up at hospital shortly after the shooting. He’s since been treated and released.
Detectives have interviewed a number of witnesses and employees at the bar, Miles said, and will be looking over footage from security cameras.
“At the present time we don’t know what precipitated the shooting. We don’t know if there was an argument prior to that so we’re going to be combing over videotapes and talking to the witnesses hoping to get some more information,” Miles explained.
On Saturday night, police arrested Fransesco “Frank” Lenti, 59, of Vaughan, Ont., in connection with the shooting. The 59-year-old is said to be a member of the rival Bandidos biker gang and is charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and numerous weapons offences. He will appear in court Sunday.
Police are warning, however, that the incident could be related to a growing turf war involving several of the province’s biker gangs. Organized crime expert James Dubro agrees.
“A lot of this has to do with drugs and territory. This could very well be even internal rivalry in the Hells Angels, which is now the sole gang. What it almost certainly isn’t is a smaller gang being encroached on by the Hells Angels reacting,” he said.
A province-wide sweep on the Angels in September called Project Tandem netted 15 suspected bikers, cash, weapons and drugs. Police claim it hit the organization hard, but Dubro doesn’t believe it had much of an impact.
“Dismantling Hells Angels is not going to happen. Dismantling biker gangs is not going to happen and ending organized crime in Canada is never going to happen,” he said.
If you have any information that can help police call the Homicide Bureau at 1-866-287-5025 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
- The Hells Angels have at least two known clubhouses in Toronto, including one on Eastern Aveune.
