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273-477: The Loners Motorcycle Club states that it is a group of motorcycle enthusiasts that are not involved in organized crime, any members that choose to commit these acts do so without the permission of the club. The Loners Motorcycle Club was founded in 1979 by Frank "Cisco" Lenti . Lenti first joined the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club and left in 1978. Another reason may have been that an ambitious Lenti never rose above

546-462: A "cooler", saying "He was kind of the buffer, the cooler, to eliminate the other element that we didn't want". The Angels were led by David "White Dread" Buchanan, the sergeant-at-arms of the Angels' West Toronto chapter, who had gone out drinking that night to celebrate his 33rd birthday, and in his drunken state he began to threaten Lenti. In the outlaw biker subculture, the office of sergeant-at-arms

819-590: A "patch over" to the Angels. In 1995, a third attempt was made to set up a Satan's Choice chapter in Hamilton. The president of the new Hamilton chapter was the professional wrestler Ion Croitoru . The decision to open a chapter was regarded as an insult to Mario Parente, the president of the Outlaws' Hamilton chapter. One policeman stated: "Oh, they hated Parente. And they knew it would piss him off to have another club in what he considered to be his town". By 1995,

1092-470: A "rat". In 1976, McEwen arranged for a common "association patch" between the Outlaws and Satan's Choice, allowing for equality between the two clubs. In 1976, a member of the Hamilton chapter, James "Wench" Kellet, ran for the mayor of Hamilton under the slogan "A Choice in the Right Direction". He won only about 1,000 votes, coming last in the election. Shortly afterwards, Kellet was involved in

1365-674: A Canadian outlaw biker club by the mid-1980s, the Loners had chapters abroad with one in Portugal and several in Italy, having chapters in Naples , Messina , Salerno , Reggio Calabria , Brolo , Avellino and Isernia . The Loners were a successful club under Raso and Lenti's leadership despite the way that other clubs predictably mocked the Loners as "the Losers". By the late 1980s, the Loners were

1638-501: A Canadian outlaw biker club, the Loners had chapters abroad with one in Portugal and seven in Italy, having chapters in Naples , Messina , Salerno , Reggio Calabria , Brolo , Avellino and Isernia . The Loners were a successful club under Lenti's leadership despite the way that other gangs predictably mocked the Loners as "the Losers". By the late 1980s, the Loners were the third largest biker gang in Ontario, being exceeded only by

1911-562: A Loner on Lake Shore Boulevard, setting off a fire that caused $ 50,000 in damages. The next day three Molotov cocktails were tossed at Bazooka Jacks bar in Markham, Ontario , a Satan's Choice associated bar that was popular with members. On August 16, 1995, Satan's Choice struck back for the attack on their clubhouse by firing a rocket – again from a military rocket launcher – at the Loners Woodbridge chapter clubhouse. A Loner told

2184-425: A Loner while two Diablos were shot and wounded by the Loners. Attacks were made with rocket launchers on clubhouses owned by Satan's Choice and the Loners. On 25 August 1995, Lenti was badly wounded by a bomb planted in his car, which gave him the unflattering epithet of "the half-assed biker" as he lost one of his buttocks. Lenti was lucky to survive the car bombing, but ended up facing weapons charges afterwards as

2457-526: A Loners MC town. All others tread lightly!" Pammett used his influence to a split in the Loners Peterborough chapter during mid 2012, which led to a defection of at least four of its members to the newly formed Vagos. This caused several altercations between the two groups. Including the defectors, an unnamed spokesperson told The Peterborough Examiner that the chapter is at least 23 full patch members and four prospects strong. They had acquired

2730-611: A Satan's Choice member was killed in Kitchener while riding his motorcycle by a gunman in a car that drove up next to him. On 19 November 1984, Guindon was released on parole for good behavior and despite his parole conditions, resumed his association with his club. Guindon went to Windsor to beat up Bill Hulko, the former president of the Choice Windsor chapter who had gone over to the Outlaws in 1977. Putting his boxing skills to good use, Guindon recalled: "I soaked him right in

3003-461: A biker war later in 1995 against the Loners. Langton wrote that Lenti was expelled for stealing from his club while Lavinge stated that his expulsion was due to him throwing a "temper tantrum" too many. Lenti called the Diablos a motorcycle gang instead of a club, saying: "I'll show them who the real fucking gang is". After being expelled from the Loners, Lenti located the clubhouse of Diablos only

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3276-527: A biker war with the Chicago -based Outlaws. The conflict had started in 1969 when an Outlaw raped the wife of a Hells Angel, leading to the Angels to beat the rapist to death. During his time as an Outlaw enforcer and hitman in Florida, Berry customarily rode around in his motorcycle with a machine gun strapped to the front, as much for his own protection as for intimidation. During an assassination attempt by

3549-622: A blow to the Loners ability to fight the Angels. They launched Operation Hilltop against the club. It saw over 150 law enforcement officers raided around 15 locations in Ontario, many in the Greater Toronto Area, targeting chapters of the Loners Motorcycle Club in Woodbridge, Richmond Hill, Toronto, Vaughan and Windsor. The 6-month sting project led to the seizures of drugs and guns, the arrests of 21 members of

3822-818: A brawl with the Black Diamond Riders in a motel parking lot that put eight of the Riders into the hospital. The brawl in Sudbury came to be known in biker circles as the "Sudbury Saturday Night" and has a legendary reputation. In the "Sudbury Saturday Night" brawl, Guindon led 45 Satan's Choice bikers armed with baseball bats, knives, wooden boards and guns against 8 Black Diamond Riders led by Barnes and mercilessly beat them. In addition, Barnes and another Black Diamond Rider were shot. Campbell, after his release from prison in March 1993, recalled that Satan's Choice

4095-528: A brother, John Coates, who was an associate of the Hells Angels' Sherbrooke chapter. John Coates was a 6'7 man who weighted 300 pounds while younger brother Jimmy was not as large, but still intimidating. Through his brother, Jimmy Coates opened a secret pipeline for buying drugs from Sherbrooke. The president of the St. Thomas chapter, Wayne Kellestine , like Bernie Guindon was a firm Canadian nationalist and

4368-483: A bulletproof vast and survived. On 16 January 1987, Beaucage during a visit to London was shot by an Outlaw with .45 caliber handgun, taking a bullet to the heart, but again survived the shooting. He was known for his aggressive and confrontational personality, which led him to being transferred over to the Oshawa chapter after he was involved in quarrels with almost every member of the Kitchener chapter. In December 1986,

4641-556: A case of murder for hire. Former Satan's Choice member Cecil Kirby wrote in his 1986 memoirs Mafia Enforcer that Satan's Choice members specialized in seducing the female clerks who operated the Ontario Provincial Police's computers and were always willing to share information from the computers with their boyfriends. Kirby stated that there was one clerk who had access to the most classified information and: "Club members carried her number in their wallets. If

4914-547: A chance to join the Loners. Stadnick was unhappy about the way that the prominent Ontario biker gangs such as Satan's Choice, the Loners, and the Para-Dice Riders all refused his offers to join the Hells Angels. In the fall of 1993, it was decided that several members of the Rockers and other puppet gangs would move to Ontario to set up a new puppet gang. The Demons Keepers had four chapters and we're supposed to flood

5187-409: A clubhouse on the corner of Park Street and Perry Street (285 Perry St), which was in close proximity to the Loners clubhouse located at 126 Park Street, which in the outlaw biker world is seen as a direct sign of provocation. In July 2012, a 47-year-old member of the Loners Motorcycle Club was sent to hospital with a broken arm after being attacked by several former Loners, who were now affiliated with

5460-470: A consequence of their lifestyle. The campaign waged by Hall and other Special Squad members failed in its purpose as the number of outlaw bikers in Ontario went from about 500 in 1973 to about 800 in 1978 as the profits from organized crime led more men to join outlaw biker clubs. As part of the campaign against Satan's Choice, Hall orchestrated a media campaign, leaking information to journalists that portrayed Satan's Choice as public enemy number one, sparking

5733-422: A delegate to Toronto to ask Guindon to join the Hells Angels, a request that was refused. On 15 May 1969, Guindon was convicted of rape and during his time in prison, which lasted on and off until 1974 as Guindon kept being sent back to prison for violating his parole, the acting national president was Garnet "Mother" McEwen. In October 1969, during a field day in Hamilton, every Satan's Choice member took part as

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6006-649: A demonstration of power against the rival Wild Ones club. As all 400 members rode in, the Wild Ones were so intimidated that they abandoned the field. Towards the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s, Satan's Choice slowly developed into an organized crime group as a result of the large potential profits from criminal activities. While they were involved in a number of criminal activities that were typical for biker gangs, such as robbery , theft , assault , and running prostitution rings, they were notably deeply involved in drug production and trafficking. The club operated

6279-519: A dishwasher, which was felt to be sufficient punishment by Satan's Choice. The Golden Hawk Riders of Port Hope were a small club of seven members, and were considering "patching over" to join the Outlaws. In the aftermath of the split of 1977, relations between the Outlaws and Satan's Choice were very unfriendly. Several members of Satan' Choice warned the Golden Hawk Riders, including their sergeant-at-arms, Bill "Heavy" Matiyek, who had

6552-621: A further insult, McEwen told his police handers about the various safehouses for hiding drugs. In August 1977, the OPP seized $ 1 million dollars worth of drugs in various Satan's Choice safehouses in Toronto, Wasaga Beach, Kingston, and Hamilton. On 5 December 1977, the Popeyes of Montreal "patched over" to become the first Hells Angel chapter in Canada. On 15 February 1978, Trudeau, who was now with

6825-590: A gain as he was a more experienced outlaw biker than the national president Giovanni "John the Boxer" Muscedere . Another experienced outlaw biker who joined the Bandidos was James "Ripper" Fullager, who had been active in outlaw biking since the 1960s and whose home in Toronto was a favourite gathering place for the Bandidos, where Fullager recounted his past adventures and gave them advice. The Victoria Day weekend in May

7098-540: A gang war with two rival biker gangs in the city, the Black Diamond Riders MC and the Vagabonds MC. However, the rest of the group's chapters met and ended the war, making peace with the two rival groups and disciplining the leaders of the Toronto chapter. During this time period, Satan's Choice had grown rapidly, reaching a peak strength of more than 400 by 1970. Despite crackdowns by authorities,

7371-527: A generally disheveled look made him appear more like an outlaw biker than a policeman. One consequence of the "reverse intimidation" campaign was to reduce Satan's Choice membership from the all-time high of about 400 members in 1969 to about 110 in 1977. An additional and unintended result of "reverse intimidation" campaign was to drive out the genuine motorcycle enthusiasts out of Satan's Choice while leaving behind only those committed to organized crime who were willing to accept imprisonment from time to time as

7644-478: A good way of avoiding trouble and getting rid of rival gang members. We could also check out anybody's criminal record through that computer. This helped us spot people trying to infiltrate us from rival gangs or the cops". Kirby concluded that Satan's Choice "had the upper hand in Toronto because we had the best intelligence network around. We were able to move on the other gangs faster than they could move on us because we had such good sources and good information on

7917-493: A gun and shooting him dead. Another internal killing was that of the former acting national president, Jack Olliffe, who was shot dead by another Choice member, Terry Siblock, at the Cadillac Hotel in Oshawa. Olliffe had frequently accused Siblock of being an informer, leading to Siblock to shoot Olliffee dead while he was working as a bouncer in the bar-room of the Cadillac Hotel in order to prove once and for all that he

8190-410: A half block away from the Loners' clubhouse on Kipling Avenue in Woodbridge, which was considered a provocation. The Diablos were courted by Satan's Choice as the competition for the control of the drug trade in the Toronto area had grown very intense, and even the small territory controlled by the Diablos made them worth courting. On 18 July 1995, a Diablo threw a homemade bomb at a tow truck owned by

8463-416: A hedonist types who liked to party hard to darker stories such as the case of a Kitchener man beaten to death in a back ally brawl and that of a Markham woman who tried to break up with her Choice boyfriend, only to be found lying semi-conscious and naked outside with serious vaginal bleeding caused by rape. Satan's Choice members were the suspects in the murder of a Vancouver businessman, believed to have been

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8736-525: A heroin addict while Lenti refused to even smoke cigarettes, saying using drugs was for weak men. When Salerno gave himself a bastone tattoo, which Lenti saw as his own personal mark, Lenti proceeded to beat up Salerno and told him to have the tattoo covered up. When Lenti found insulting comments about himself on the Bandidos website, he discovered that the IP address of the poster was located in an area where Salerno lived, which led him to accuse Salerno of posting

9009-535: A larger support network of clubs throughout the United States and beyond, opening the club to new business opportunities and possibly even reinforcements in the event of another club war. Meanwhile, the Outlaws gained a strong ally in Ontario, precluding any expansion by the Hells Angels into the region. Furthermore, the Outlaws gained a way to challenge the supremacy of the Hells Angels in Quebec through access to

9282-475: A lasting grudge against the Outlaws, and during the subsequent struggle between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws, Guindon was to lean in a pro-Angel neutrality. In 1977, Guindon was described in media reports as being furious with McEwen, the man he appointed as interim national president for having engineered the "patch over". Guidnon later recalled: "I couldn't do anything about it. Fuck was I mad. Especially at him [McEwen]. Stool pigeon motherfucker". From within

9555-554: A leader because he was tougher and smarter than the next guy". Although Satan's Choice, together other Canadian outlaw biker clubs, slavishly copied the American outlaw biker clubs, Guindon was adamantly against allowing American clubs to come to Canada, arguing the American-based clubs would destabilize the biker scene and cause too much violence. Guindon saw violence as a legitimate way to achieve his aims, in general, but he

9828-467: A legitimate fear for his life. The fact that Lenti continued to shoot Buchanan even after he was lying on the ground could have been used by the Crown to argue that he was guilty of murder since by that point Buchanan did not pose any danger to him, causing Lenti not to take his chances with the jury. At the same time, the video footage of the confrontation at Club Pro Adult Entertainment showed that Buchanan

10101-583: A life sentence for murdering a woman in Florida in 1970 and had escaped from prison in 1974, leading to his fellow Outlaws arranging for him to go to Canada. William "Gatemouth" Edson of the Outlaw chapter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida had been convicted of multiple offenses such as murdering three Hells Angels; torturing a woman for two days because she wore a jacket with an Outlaw patch without permission; and almost beating another woman to death because she

10374-500: A local banquet hall. As 45 members of the Rock Machine Ontario receive their probationary patches, Rock Machine allies, the Loners Motorcycle Club provided security for the event. In December 2000, the Hells Angels entered Ontario by "patching over" 168 members from a number of Ontario biker gangs. When it came to the patch-over in Ontario, the Loners were not given an invitation to join the Hells Angels, as by this point

10647-401: A market that the Popeyes decided to violently enter in 1974, leading to the biker war. Kirby was present when "Pigpen" Berry opened fire on the clubhouse of the Popeyes with a sawed-off Lee–Enfield .303 rifle with a ten-round clip, saying "It was like a cannon going off". Kirby recalled in a 2015 interview: "If there was trouble anywhere, they'd sent Howard Berry out to take care of it. He was

10920-590: A member of an American outlaw biker club. Fugitives from both the Outlaws and Satan's Choice were found to be in hiding in each other's nations. Berry, wanted for attempted murder in Peterborough, was arrested in North Carolina in December 1975 with a forged Florida driver's license giving his name as Tim Jones. Berry was arrested after he was caught trying to steal a tank from a U.S. Army base. He

11193-603: A member of the Kitchener chapter and later its Oshawa chapter. These patch-overs caused tensions to run high between the two clubs, which would reach a fever pitch with the killing of Brian Beaucage . On March 3, 1991. Full-Patch member of the Satan's Choice , Brian Beaucage had spent the night devoted to drinking, hard drugs and watching pornography with his girlfriend in a Toronto rooming house. In his last years, Beaucage had become addicted to heroin and several members of Satan's Choice, such as Wayne Kelly were planning his murder due to constant issues. That night, Beaucage received

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11466-400: A member was worried about the cops, all he had to do was call her number, and she'd access the police computer to see if there were any warrants on him. When we spotted a rival gang member, we'd also use her to see if there were any outstanding fugitive warrants on him. If there were, we'd have someone in the club call up the cops and tip them off where that rival was and who was with him. It was

11739-527: A monopoly on organized crime in the Waterloo region. In 1985, the Kitchener chapter recruited Brian Beaucage , one of the leaders of the prison riot at the Kingston Penitentiary of 14–18 April 1971. Beaucage was known for his violent hatred of the Outlaws, once travelling to London to try to pull off the sign of the Outlaws' London clubhouse, causing the Outlaws to shoot him. He was wearing

12012-615: A moral panic against the club. In 1975, Satan's Choice began an alliance with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club , one of the largest international outlaw biker clubs. In 1974, Kirby and Garnet "Mother" McEwen , the president of the St. Catharines chapter, went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to meet Outlaw leaders. McEwen became especially close to the Outlaws and was the most vocal advocate within Satan's Choice of closer ties with them. In June 1975, Guindon forged an alliance with

12285-427: A motion as if he was reaching to pull out a gun, causing the gunman to run away. Lenti professed not to be worried, saying in 2019: "The day I worry about bad guys is the day I fucking kill myself". Lenti stated he planned to retire from outlaw biking soon, but still wore in public a jacket with the word "Criminal" written on the back. Satan%27s Choice Motorcycle Club Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club ( SCMC )

12558-458: A murder in Denmark. Lenti refused the offer to "patch over". The Hells Angels offered Lenti further chances to "patch over" several times in 1993 and 1994, but he declined, instead offering Stadnick a chance to join the Loners. Lenti found Stadnick arrogant, noting that Stadnick had told him that two Loners were police informers, a report that was true, but grated with him as he felt that Stadnick

12831-433: A musician after he fought with a Golden Hawk Friday and kicked over his motorcycle". Reports such as this were typical of the media reports about Satan's Choice in the 1960s, which rarely mentioned serious crimes. Police raids in the 1960s discovered that Satan's Choice members possessed guns, brass knuckles and marijuana, the latter which were as much for their own use as to sell. One policeman stated about Satan's Choice in

13104-446: A new outlaw motorcycle club, the Diablos. Lenti used his home as the Diablos clubhouse, which was located only a half block away from the Loners' clubhouse on Kipling Avenue in Woodbridge, this was considered a direct provocation. The Loners clubhouse was so close, it forced intimidated members of the Diablos to take an alternate route to their clubhouse. Satan's Choice agreed to sell drugs to the Diablos and offered support club status with

13377-460: A number of drug labs out of remote cabins in northern Ontario , with production focusing especially on PCP and methamphetamines , better known in the area as "Canadian Blue". The remoteness of northern Ontario made it possible to hide drug labs and to manufacture drugs on a scale that was difficult in the more populous region of southern Ontario . This success emboldened elements of Satan's Choice, in particular their Toronto chapter, into sparking

13650-436: A police informer. Gault was a career criminal who specialized in cheating seniors out of their life savings and who once bit off the ear of a man in a bar fight. Gault, a member of Satan's Choice joined the Hells Angels in 2000 with the sole aim of selling them out to the Crown. Gault received a $ 1 million payment from the Ontario government in exchange for testifying to the alleged murder plot. Lenti, who remained true to

13923-715: A portion of the market and do work in conjunction with other elements of organized crime, including the Italian Mafia." He also added that there were currently between 50 and 60 members of the Loners Motorcycle Club operating throughout the Greater Toronto area . In mid 2016 co-founder of the Loners MC, Gennaro "Jim" Raso , was charged with threatening death and discharging a firearm recklessly. The 15 charges were dropped in 2017. Also in August 2016. A member of

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14196-512: A powerful bomb to destroy the Loners' clubhouse in Woodbridge with the aim of killing the entire chapter. Kane, who was an informant, sabotaged his mission by encouraging the Para-Dice Riders under the influence of alcohol to speak very loudly in public at a Toronto bar about the murder plot, which led Carroll to declare with disgust that the Para-Dice Riders were "idiots" as now the murder plot could not go forward. In May 2000, Ontario Provincial Police in conjunction with local law enforcement dealt

14469-539: A product of conservative education in Catholic schools, described the party as like nothing he had seen before as it was like a scene out of "Sodom an Gomorrah" and decided on the spot to commit to Satan's Choice as it represented "freedom". On 25 September 1967, Guindon held the first national convention of Satan's Choice at a farmhouse in Markham Township just outside of Toronto, which was also attended by

14742-542: A professed strongly held moral code, while at the same time being inhabited by strange, cartoonish men given to making outlandish statements who frequently engaged in sordid intrigue and betrayed their friends, as greed and ambition outweighed their professed moral code. From 1999 to 2002, the club was a participant in the Ontario Biker War . One of the members of the London chapter of the Loners, Jimmy Coates, had

15015-403: A report stated that Carroll wanted him to kill Gennaro Raso , the international president of the Loners Motorcycle Club, as part of a bid to have the Para-Dice Riders join the Hells Angels. On 19 April 2000, Kane met in Toronto several Para-Dice Riders to discuss who he was to kill besides Raso. Kane reported that Carroll had devised a plan under which Kane would use his bomb-making skills to build

15288-460: A reputation as a hothead, not to go through with the planned "patch over", a demand that Matiyek rejected. Port Hope is a small town close to Oshawa, and an Outlaw chapter in Port Hope would threaten the profits from the drug trade enjoyed by the Satan's Choice Oshawa chapter. With Port Hope less than a half an hour away by automobile from Oshawa, an Outlaw chapter in Port Hope would effectively be

15561-404: A reputation for being violent. The members from Toronto who went to Port Hope that night were Garry "Nutty" Comeau, Jeff McLeod, Larry Hurren, Lorne Campbell and Armand Sanguigni. A confrontation, with Golden Hawk Rider Matiyek and the two Outlaws on one side and the Satan's Choice members on the other, began in the bar-room soon after. Matiyek, who was drunk and high on marijuana and amphetamines,

15834-404: A resort north of Orillia ... But he arranged everything – drug deals, beatings, shootings – he was probably more dangerous than Guindon himself". In 1967, a black outlaw biker from Montreal , Rod MacLeod, arrived at a biker's convention at Wasaga Beach to meet Guindon. MacLeod wanted to form the first Satan's Choice chapter in la belle province . Guindon approved the request, making MacLeod

16107-469: A second version of Satan's Choice Hamilton chapter opened up on St. Matthew's Avenue which was very close to the Outlaws' Hamilton clubhouse at 402 Birch Avenue. In August 1985, a biker war in Hamilton led to the murder of two Satan's Choice members, Allan Kinloch and Brent Roddick; an Outlaw, James Lewis; and a member of the Red Devils , Michael Carey. When Roddick's body was found on 25 August 1985, it

16380-484: A shoot-out with the Hamilton police when he opened fire with a shotgun on a police cruiser, leading to the police to return fire and ultimately kill him. One of the first Satan's Choice members to be murdered was John Foote, who was killed on 4 November 1976 by another member, John Harvey. After a disagreement, Foote hit Harvey with a pool cue, resulting in Harvey, who was heavily under the influence of drugs, returning with

16653-480: A soldier and what the Army was saying in rejecting his application was: "What they're trying to tell me is, `We don't want you to do good. Go do bad'. I'm trying to go in a straight line." On 14 April 2008, Lenti pled guilty to manslaughter for killing Buchanan and was sentenced to 6 years in prison with Justice Michael Brown ruling that since Buchanan had punched Lenti several times before Lenti shot him that he did have

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16926-614: A stand-up guy. He was a stand-up guy. That's what I liked about him". Berry once fought Howard "Baldy" Chard , the chief enforcer for the gangster Johnny Papalia , which added to his legend. One teenage recruit to Satan's Choice, Gary "Nutty" Comeau , attended a Satan's Choice party at the Blue Bird Inn in Richmond Hill full of bikers dancing with numerous women, many of whom were topless, to rock music while alcohol and marijuana were served free in plentiful amounts. Comeau,

17199-513: A symbol of rebellion and freedom with many of the younger people having a very romantic and idealized image of the bikers, who were admired for their "authenticity". Bikers were viewed as dangerous men who were, however, "cool" and "hip" in their rejection of "Toronto the Good" values. One young woman interviewed in the documentary said she liked riding with Satan's Choice because they were "not phony" and were "real". The Ontario outlaw biker subculture

17472-619: A takeover of their drug territories by the Hells Angels. The Loners held a party in Toronto that was attended by dozens of "machinists", as the Rock Machine are known in outlaw biker circles. On December 1, 2000, the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club became an official probationary club of the Bandidos. At the ceremony in on Jane Street in Vaughan, Ontario . Bikers from the Rock Machine, Bandidos and Loners gathered at

17745-585: A temporary end to the efforts of the Kitchener chapter to join the Hells Angels. A series of police raids in 1983 in Madoc discovered a methamphetamine factory operated jointly by Satan's Choice and the Para-Dice Riders that produced about $ 3.6 million worth of methamphetamine per month. Another set of raids in 1984 seized two small-caliber handguns, marijuana and marijuana oil, and a small amount of cocaine from four private residences in Scarborough . In 1984,

18018-476: A university drop-out turned chef, Howard Doyle Berry , aka "Pigpen", of Peterborough into Satan's Choice, who became his principal lieutenant. To compensate for his solidly respectable middle-class background, the former Classics student Berry embraced a slovenly, disheveled look and purposely led a life of poor hygiene, hence the unflattering moniker "Pigpen".  Berry liked to offend and disgust people via such antics such as vomiting over new members; attaching

18291-525: A university lecture. Although Satan's Choice was not as powerful as it once been before 1977, the club was described as still having a "cocky attitude" in the 1980s and 1990s, being the second most powerful club in Ontario after the Outlaws. In 1981, Satan's Choice made an alliance with the Lobos and the Chosen Few gangs to improve their bargaining power against their rivals, the Outlaws. In October 1982,

18564-491: A very unpleasant smell that is usually compared to the smell of cat urine, northern Ontario with its sparse population, numerous lakes and vast forests was ideal for manufacturing methamphetamine. The Outlaws who controlled the markets of the Midwest came to be dependent upon methamphetamine manufactured by Satan's Choice. The benefits of such a relationship worked to the advantage of both groups. Satan's Choice gained access to

18837-418: A visit (most likely a drug deal) from a full-patch member of the Loners, Frank Passarelli. Eventually Beaucage ordered Passarelli out of the room so that he could have sex with his girlfriend. The rude manner in which he did this offended Passarelli, who after a verbal altercation told him: "No one is going to ask me to leave for some girl". Later that same night, he was beheaded in his bed by Passarelli. His body

19110-399: A weapon, endangering the public, aggravated assault and uttering threats. A former Loners hang-around, Shane Gardiner was also charged with aggravated assault. The local authorities announced they would be keeping an eye on the situation and expressed their concern, saying that outlaw biker activity in the area is common but having two clubs in the same city that are not on good terms always has

19383-456: A year or two you'd lost at least a hundred members. They'd come and go so fast". Oshawa, as the first chapter, held the pride of place as Guindon stated: "The Oshawa chapter always stood proud. We'd fight anybody and ride to the fight". Lorne Campbell , a founding member of Satan's Choice and one of Guindon's principal lieutenants remembered: "There wasn't machine guns or knives back then, but there were pretty serious fights". Guindon recruited

19656-426: Is alleged to have paid him $ 5,000 in cash at their first meeting and promised another $ 10,000 in cash if his information proved to be useful. The police allege that Hawkins told Morin about a police raid planned in Hamilton and based on the information he is said to have provided, Morin was able to deduce the identity of the informer, whom he promptly had killed. Detective John Harris of the Hamilton police stated about

19929-419: Is as melancholy and suicidal sort of day as Puritan principles can make it". In the 1960s, it was common for young people to Toronto to embrace a "hip" image, choosing ways of life that were quite contrary to the traditional Anglo-Protestant Victorian values that had previously defined Toronto, which were viewed by the young people as conformist, dull and stifling. The outlaw biker subculture came to be seen as

20202-569: Is generally held by the toughest member in a chapter, and Buchanan had been appointed to that position on the account of his brutality, strength and cruelty. Buchanan, a white Jamaican immigrant, had been a member of a street gang, the Mount Olive Crips, that were the Toronto branch of the American Crips gang, before joining the Angels. Buchanan was known to the police as one of Toronto's principal gunrunners who sold guns, that

20475-451: Is the normal start of the riding season for outlaw bikers in Canada. For Victoria Day in 2003, it turned out that of the Bandidos only Muscedere, Lenti, Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson and George "Crash" Kriarakis actually owned working Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which humiliated Lenti who bitterly complained about "bikers without bikes". Lenti was close to the Bandidos' mentor James "Ripper" Fullanger, who always called him "Old Frank" despite

20748-550: The Annihilators Motorcycle Club led by Wayne Kellestine and Giovanni Muscedere . Kellestine did not like how the Angels had treated the Loners under Raso. He was also adamantly against joining the Hells Angels, but he also did not want to align with the Outlaws, so he chose to join the Loners. This merging of the Annihilators along with other clubs into the Loners was done in an attempt to increase

21021-469: The Hells Angels , using a series of bylaws instead of a single written constitution or charter. This new Satan's Choice started out much the same as the original, a group of young men simply wishing to escape from society and its rigid norms and expectations. Satan's Choice members were not serious criminals, if they committed any crimes at all. The newly founded club gained fame in Toronto thanks to

21294-554: The Mafia , the outlaw biker subculture was perceived by public by 1973 as especially dangerous. It was understood by members of the Special Squad that "legal niceties" need not be upheld as the politicians demanded convictions to show the public that action was being taken. Corporal Terry Hall of the Special Squad called the campaign against Satan's Choice "reverse intimidation" as the Special Squad sought to intimidate bikers via

21567-487: The Millhaven prison , Guindon placed a bounty on McEwen, promising to pay $ 10,000 as the reward for killing him. Langton wrote: "Effectively powerless behind bars, he [Guindon] issued a $ 10, 000 reward on McEwen's head. It went uncollected". Guindon spent hours punching his bed in fury as he wished his bed was McEwen. McEwen's house in St. Catharine's was shot up by the Satan's Choice in a failed assassination attempt. In

21840-571: The Outlaws and Satan's Choice . Lenti and the Loners were guests of honor at the party. Stadnick tried to persuade Lenti to have the Loners "patch over" to the Hells Angels, an offer Lenti and Raso refused. However, a working relationship was established between the two groups for a time with the Loners agreeing to buy their narcotics from the Angels. The Hells Angels offered Lenti and Raso further chances to "patch over" several times in 1993 and 1994, but they declined, with Lenti instead offering Stadnick

22113-664: The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club . The Loners would bounce back from these setbacks. By the late 2000s, they had reopened some of their chapters and they had established new chapters in Lindsay , Peterborough , Sarnia , totaling 8 in Ontario. They had also expanded outside of Ontario, establishing chapters in Alberta , Saskatchewan , and Nova Scotia and several other counties in Europe and Oceania . In 2013,

22386-594: The Shedden massacre . On 24 May 2006, Lenti rejoined the Bandidos and started to push aside both Sandham and his rival Pierre "Carlito" Aragon who were both competing to be national president. Lenti had one of his associates send Sandham an email saying it was time for the Canadian Bandidos "to stop looking like assholes in front of the USA and get along", meaning that Sandham should step aside to allow Lenti to run

22659-484: The "Fifty Whacks with an Ax". This series of events saw a significant increase in the rivalry between the two clubs which would later spread into open conflict in 1995. During the 1990s, Hells Angels from Quebec would frequently visit the Loners. In June 1993, the Hells Angels led by their national president Walter Stadnick hosted a party in Wasaga Beach that was attended by all of the Ontario biker gangs except

22932-418: The "rather elaborate and bizarre" patch for his club featuring a half-werewolf, half-horned skull creature. A disproportionate number of the Loners were Italian-Canadians from middle-class families who saw themselves as being more polished and sophisticated than other outlaw bikers. By start of the 1990s, the Loners had chapters in Toronto, Woodbridge , Richmond Hill , Windsor , and London . Unusually for

23205-567: The (club's) patch off and smack me across the head with it". Jessi Lenti has no criminal record and Armand La Barge, the police chief of York Region, told Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent for the Toronto Star : ""To the best of our knowledge, he (Jessi Lenti) has never been a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang and to the best of our knowledge, he has never been a member of an organized crime group or entity either". The younger Lenti stated that it had been his dream since his boyhood to be

23478-521: The 1960s: "They were rough guys, for sure. But they weren't gangsters; we'd pick them up for little things-simple assault, vandalism, trespassing, public drunkenness, that sort of thing". By contrast, Sergeant John Harris of the Hamilton police believed that Satan's Choice were always involved in organized crime, saying: "Guindon had a right-hand man named Arnold Kelly, who was never a member, never wanted to be. He made his money in construction and owned

23751-627: The 1962 brawl known as the "Battle of Pebblestone", where they defeated the Golden Hawk Riders (with Guindon a member at the time). While this initial club disbanded in 1962, it served as the namesake for a new Satan's Choice, a 1965 alliance of four regional motorcycle clubs: the Phantom Riders of Oshawa , the Canadian Lancers of Scarborough (modern Toronto), the Throttle Twisters of Preston (modern Cambridge ), and

24024-496: The 1965 documentary film Satan's Choice .  Charismatic and handsome, Guindon was the "star" of the documentary directed by Donald Shebib . Prior to the 1960s, Toronto had a very staid image of "Toronto the Good", a city whose people were mostly hard-working, conservative God-fearing Protestants of British descent , a bastion of Victorian values that was prosperous, safe and well run, but also rather boring and conventional. A British visitor to Toronto in 1896 stated: "Sunday

24297-464: The 401 , I wouldn't phone anyone from Oshawa. That's how much I hate Oshawa". Campbell responded by assaulting Séguin, who screamed in pain under the blows of Campbell's fists, leading Campbell to mockingly say "Not till I'm finished with you, Dave. This ain't hurting me". McEwen called a secret meeting attended by William "King" O'Reilly, the president of the Windsor chapter; John "Doctor John" Arksey,

24570-451: The American-based club that exile Pammett was now aligning with. They also stated that Peterborough was Loners territory and they would ready to defend it. "The club is a strong brotherhood and will be steadfast in remaining in Peterborough, Robert Pammett AKA Peterborough Bob is no longer a member of or affiliated with the Loners MC and is out in bad standings!! Peterborough is remaining a Loners MC Canada B&W stronghold and will always be

24843-633: The Amherstburg and Richmond Hill chapters along with all members of London chapter patched over to the Bandidos in May, 2001. He eventually rose to the rank of national secretary, but had decided to leave the Bandidos in October 2004. He stated that his reasons for doing so was that the Bandidos had completely lost control under the leadership of the former Annihilators, Giovanni Muscedere and Wayne Kellestine . Muscedere had lost contact with reality, and had become short-sighted and ill-tempered; Kellestine

25116-410: The Angels had come to kill him, was recorded by the security cameras as having his "right arm slipped behind his back, in a smooth, almost imperceptible movement" to pull out his handgun. Lenti opened fire, wounding one Angel, Verrelli, and killing Buchanan, while the other two Angels ran away with Desroche found fearfully hiding in the janitor's closet. Cargnie was also wounded, but was able to drive to

25389-414: The Angels had smuggled in from the United States, to various street gangs of Toronto. Alongside Buchanan were fellow Angels Dana "Boomer" Carnegie, Scott Desroche and Carlo Verrilli. The Angels confronted Lenti and threatened him, causing him to go to the lobby where the lighting was better and a security camera captured everything that ensured. The video footage showed that Lenti was seeking to calm down

25662-496: The Angels would never occur. After emerging victorious in the Toronto Biker War of 1995, the Loners remained a prominent biker gang. This continued until early 1997, when the Loners split into two factions. A split emerged between Jimmy Raso and Frank Grano. The pro-Hells Angel faction led by Grano joined the Para-Dice Riders while a rump remained under Raso. The split a breach with the Hells Angels. Stadnick had cut off

25935-472: The Angels, it was made clear that the Angels wanted an alliance. Rival gangs would also begin to target the club. Brian Beaucage spent the night of 3 March 1991 devoted to drinking, hard drugs and watching pornography in a Toronto rooming house. On the same night, he was beheaded in his bed by a member of the Loners gang, Frank Passarelli, with his body not found until the next day, being partially devoured by

26208-630: The Bandidos MC 1% Canada is officially shut down. There isn't no more Bandidos MC membership in Canada". Lenti's statement went on to ask that all Canadian Bandidos mail their jackets with the Bandido patch at once to an address in Texas. In 2007, Lenti's son Jessi attempted to join the Canadian Army and was turned down because of his father. At the time, the senior Lenti told the media "I'm

26481-524: The Bandidos in 2001, as a member of their Toronto chapter. After the collapse of the Bandidos in Canada, Pammett would rejoin the Loners in 2007. He had a decent amount of influence within Peterborough's underworld so police feared that this could cause tensions. The Loners released several statements issuing warnings during the Vagos Motorcycle Club's setup in Peterborough that left authorities concerned. The Loners were determined to compete

26754-458: The Bandidos sought to use that influence. This made sense, as the Loners maintained long-time relationships with Bandidos in Europe. On May 22, 2001. After a rift between now imprisoned Loners international president, Gennaro Raso and Toronto president, Peter Barilla, presumably about joining the Bandidos caused the club to divide again. Barilla would use his influence to convince several members of

27027-420: The Bandidos, saying that Muscedere was addicted to cocaine and Kellestine was insane, and he was tired of dealing with both of them. Unlike Glenn "Wongway" Atkinson, who was beaten bloody by Muscedere and Kellestine, Lenti was not beaten when he turned in his jacket with the Bandido patch as he had a fearsome reputation as a fighter who was known for his habit of gouging out the eyes of his enemies. Peter Edwards,

27300-477: The Black Diamond Riders would not dare attack them anymore. Guindon respectfully sought and received permission from Norris to use the name and patch of the former Satan's Choice. Norris recalled: "I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. I loaned them my old chest as a sample and told them where they could be made. For aiding in the new beginning, I was presented with a new set of colors". The group regulated itself somewhat differently from most motorcycle clubs such as

27573-562: The Breslau Hotel in Breslau in March 1984 and fell in love with her, abandoning his wife later that spring to move in with Graham. Through Graham, Hawkins got to know the president of her stripper agency, Claude "Gootch" Morin, who was also the president of Satan's Choice's Kitchener chapter. As Hawkins was deeply in debt owing to the costs associated with his divorce, the police allege that he began to sell information to Morin. Morin

27846-544: The Canadian Bandidos. Sandham sent back an email saying "You are asking me to throw down my patch. Over bullshit!!". However, Lenti was a living legend within Canadian outlaw biker circles with close links to the Mafia and a habit of gouging out the eyes of his enemies, and Sandham was so utterly terrified of him that he agreed to stop calling himself president of Bandidos Canada, and allow Lenti that honor. Sandham liked to act

28119-723: The Choice hitman and everybody knew it". In an interview, Berry stated that he was hired to kill people, but never actually succeeded in doing so. The same underworld struggle drew in the Irish West End Gang on the side of Satan's Choice while the Dubois Brothers gang backed the Popeyes. The Popeyes, who acted as "muscle" for the Dubois brothers, killed 15 members of the Devil's Disciples between 1974 and 1976, causing

28392-417: The Choice leaders. While relations between the Loners and Hells Angels would degrade in the years to come. Following the war, the Satan's Choice was subject to a large police crackdown in Ontario, this would cause tensions between them and the Loners to decrease. The Hells Angels saw it as a competition of who was fit to help them expand into Ontario. These police raids put an end to that, as the Satan's Choice

28665-478: The Choice's Peterborough chapter. At the same time, another four members of the Choice's Peterborough chapter were also convicted of separate charges relating to a gang-rape. The Peterborough chapter, which was already the weakest chapter, was effectively destroyed as a result of losing six members to the prisons, being reduced down to a shadowy existence. The Queen's Hotel was renamed the Walton Hotel to avoid

28938-620: The Crystal Beach meeting. Lowe wrote that the chapters "began to fall like dominoes" as, once Mario Parente of the Hamilton chapter decided to go over to the Outlaws, the Montreal chapter did likewise, which caused the Ottawa chapter to "patch over". To mark the change, a ceremony was performed at Crystal Beach where the Satan's Choice chapter presidents burned their jackets with the Satan's Choice patches while putting on new jackets with

29211-509: The Diablos were immediately courted". The narcotics trade in the Greater Toronto Area had grown very intense, and even the small territory controlled by the Diablos made them worth aligning with. On July 18, 1995, a member of the Diablos threw a homemade bomb at a tow truck owned by a Loner. Two days later, two Diablos were injured when they were both shot by a member of the Loners Woodbridge chapter. The Satan's Choice would enter

29484-575: The GTA targeting chapters of the Loners Motorcycle Club. The 6-month sting project led to the seizures of drugs and guns, the arrests of 21 members of the Loners and several associates, this included the president of the clubs Richmond Hill chapter, which at the time acted as its mother chapter. During this period authorities stated that the Loners had controlled most of the drug distribution North of Toronto and in York Region and their territory extended from

29757-504: The Greater Toronto Area thought to London and to Hamilton. Collectively the group faced more than 250 criminal charges, with around 75% of those charges narcotics being narcotics related. With the rest involved mostly charges relating to weapons, the distribution of weapons and theft. The narcotics seized included large amounts of cocaine, hash, marijuana and mushrooms. Their street value is estimated to be about $ 1.5-million (modern equivalent of $ 2.6 million). On June 18, 2012. An associate of

30030-433: The Hells Angels, Berry took two bullets to the chest. Berry was living under the assumed name Tim Jones, and the Florida police did not realize that Berry was living illegally in the United States. Berry reported to Guindon that many of the Outlaws were Vietnam veterans who were full of rage and hatred who engaged in pointless, irrational violence. The fact that many of the Hells Angels and the Outlaws were veterans who used

30303-661: The Hells Angels, shot two Outlaws outside of a Montreal bar, killing one of them, Robert Côté. The shooting caused the First Biker War that was to last until 1984. Between 1978 and 1983, the "psychopathic killer" Trudeau killed 18 out of the 23 Outlaws slain in Montreal during the conflict. By 1980, it was estimated that the Angels–Outlaw biker war had caused about 20 murders in Quebec and Ontario since 1978, while between 1981 and 1984 another 42 were killed. The Montreal chapter of Satan's Choice who had "patched over" to join

30576-623: The Humber River Regional Hospital to have his gunshot wound treated. Lenti stated he believed that Buchanan had a gun, but none was found on his corpse. Lenti turned himself in to the police the next day, and told Detective Angelo DeLorenzi that he had gone to the lobby of Club Pro Adult Entertainment to have the confrontation recorded by the security cameras, saying he was not looking for trouble. Afterwards, several Hells Angels contacted Lenti's family, saying that Buchanan had been out of line, and that they felt his killing

30849-548: The Kitchener chapter ran a full-page Christmas advertisement in the Kitchener Record reading: "Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in the Waterloo Region a very Merry Christmas and let you know that we are still here and will always be here. Choice Forever Forever Choice!" In December 1987, after complaints from readers, the Kitchener Record ceased running what

31122-406: The Kitchener chapter. As the Kitchener chapter was the most powerful and wealthiest chapter, Wattel had an oversized say in the running of Satan's Choice. Through the majority of Satan's Choice members favored an alliance with the Hells Angels, Guindon made the decision that individual members of Satan's Choice were free to do business with the Hells Angels, but there would be no official alliance nor

31395-410: The Loners Motorcycle Club in the York Region, Toronto and Caledon . The authorities seized assortment of drugs, gang paraphernalia and a loaded assault rifle. This included large amounts of marijuana packaged for distribution and thousands of Oxycodone , Percodan and morphine pills were also seized. Four full-patch members of the Loners and nine associates of the club were initially charged with either

31668-407: The Loners Motorcycle Club. The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club , the club was currently engaged with the Hells Angels in the bloody Quebec Biker War that was occurring at the same period. They had begun to establish themselves in Ontario during 1999. By 2000, the Loners Motorcycle Club aligned themselves with fellow Canadian motorcycle club. RCMP Staff Sergeant, Jean-Pierre Levesque also commented on

31941-721: The Loners Toronto chapter, John "Johnny Maserati" Raposo was shot and killed on the patio of the Sicilian, a cafe in Little Italy, Toronto. A second bystander was injured. The restaurant was described by an organized crime investigator, "The Sicilian has been a popular gathering place for many in Little Italy for years, including known Mafia members and associates. The cafe has been noted by investigators as one of many locations chosen for meetings between mob figures who like good food while they whisper over business." John Raposo

32214-408: The Loners and several associates, this included Raso, president Loners and leader of the clubs Richmond Hill chapter, which at the time acted as its mother chapter. During this period authorities stated that the Loners had controlled most of the drug distribution North of Toronto and in York Region and their territory extended from the Greater Toronto Area thought to London and to Hamilton. Collectively

32487-403: The Loners as a serious threat. Over time, the Satan's Choice had lost dozens of members to the Loners. Prominent members included, Frank Lenti , Gennaro Raso and Brian Beaucage , one of the inmates involved killings during the 1971 Kingston Penitentiary riot . Though Beaucage's membership in the Loners was short lived, as by the late 1980s, he had returned to the Satan's Choice, where he became

32760-467: The Loners ot join the Bandidos. This included himself, plus eleven other members of the Loners Toronto chapter. Some members from Richmond Hill, along with the entire memberships of the St. Thomas and Amherstburg chapters. The Woodbridge chapter of the Loners continued to operate as the Mother chapter. Most members of the London chapter of Loners had chosen to join the Hells Angels instead. Jimmy Coates became

33033-667: The Loners supply to narcotics. Without a supply of drugs from the Hells Angels, the journalist Jerry Langton that the Loners "faded into obscurity. Bikers gangs without a steady supply of drugs to sell generally don't make headlines".. This was due to the Loners Italian roots and at times they would subcontract for them. By late 1999, the Loners had built up moderate strength, beside Nomads they had chapters in Richmond Hill, Woodbridge, Vaughan, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and Amherstburg. In June 1999, had established its Chatham chapter (based near St. Thomas), when they absorbed

33306-412: The Loners were Italian-Canadians from middle-class families who saw themselves as being more polished and sophisticated than other outlaw bikers. Lenti has never acknowledged the thefts or removal from his former club. He stated in 2017, it was due to the fact that Satan's Choice member Cecil Kirby turned police informer in 1980. Lenti claimed Kirby told him that he should leave Toronto for a while as he

33579-406: The Loners would establish a chapter in rural Stratford, Ontario . A popular area for the manufacturer of methamphetamine. Producing such drugs emits a foul odor, so motorcycle clubs will set up manufacturing sites in rural communities where the population is less dense. Despite issues in the past the Loners Motorcycle Club has as seen a period of success and growth since the early 2000s. As of 2023,

33852-547: The Loners, Micheal Raso, Gennaro Raso's son, was allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting of the residence of Chief Financial Officer for the Dream Corporation(multi-million dollar Caribbean-based casino company), Ed Kremblewski, who was a minor witness in the attempted murder case against Antonio Carbone, who was a majority shareholder in Dream Corp. Carbone was an entrepreneur from Toronto that

34125-453: The Loners. With the Diablos gone and Lenti in the hospital by the end of 1995, the conflict ended with the Loners and Satan's Choice agreeing to peaceful terms. The war in Toronto had seen the Hells Angels change tune temporarily to support the Loners against Satan's Choice. Stadnick was upset with the Satan's Choice over the war, but did not wish to keep Satan's Choice as his enemies. Afterwards he set out to rebuild his damaged relationships with

34398-699: The Mafia figures who employed him as a hitman, his friend Lenti fled to Italy where he lived for the next two years. Lenti recalled in an interview in 2019: "Me and Kirby used to be together a lot. When he started singing I said, ‘I’d better go take a tour.’" Lenti lived in Perugia, where he associated with the Italian Hells Angels. Lenti founded a new club, also called the Loners in 1984 in York Region after his return to Canada, recruiting mainly from his fellow Italian-Canadians . Lenti designed

34671-568: The Montreal chapter of Satan's Choice. This led the Montreal chapter and their Outlaw allies into open conflict with the Hells Angels-backed Popeyes , resulting in a number of casualties on both sides. The Popeyes had targeted the Devil's Disciples biker gang, who were allies of Satan's Choice. The Devils' Disciples and the Montreal chapter of Satan's Choice were engaged in the manufacturing and smuggling of chemical drugs,

34944-478: The Ontario biker gangs except the Outlaws and Satan's Choice. The party was seen as "an audition of sorts" to join the Hells Angels, and the guest of honor was Frank Lenti , the president of the Loners. In November 1993, in what appeared to be an attempt to undermine Guindon's leadership of Satan's Choice, Stadnick met in Thunder Bay with several Satan's Choice chapter presidents, most notably Andre Wattel of

35217-474: The Ontario market with cheap drugs to try and cause instability. However the Demons Keepers would quickly collapse. Frank Lenti would later be expelled from the Loners for the second time in 1994, which was said to either be due to allegations of him stealing from the club. or the fact that his temper was apparently getting out of control. Upon being expelled from the Loners, Lenti would go on to found

35490-519: The Oshawa chapter of Satan' Choice. The lodge was so remote as to be only accessible by plane. Also at the lodge were a group of undercover detectives from the OPP posing as American tourists looking for a "good time" in Canada. On 6 August 1975, the undercover officers raided a shack located on an island in Oba Lake and found Guindon and Templain with some PCP tablets worth $ 6 million Canadian dollars together with PCP-manufacturing equipment. Found on

35763-476: The Outlaw patch. Satan's Choice lost the chapters in Montreal, Hamilton, St. Catharine's, Sault Ste. Marie , Windsor, London , Ottawa, and Kingston to the Outlaws. The "Big Split" as the break-up was known caused much anguish with many Satan's Choice members feeling that it was like a family being divided after a divorce as members either opted to join the Outlaws or remain with Satan's Choice. Lorne Campbell stated: "The split never would have gone down if Bernie

36036-548: The Outlaws and Satan's Choice. Langton wrote that Lenti was also personally successful in two "industries bikers tend to admire-a stripper/escort talent agency and a tow truck firm". On 16 June 1993, Lenti was approached by Walter "the Nurget" Stadnick , the president of the Canadian Hells Angels at a bikers convention in Wasaga Beach with an offer to have the Loners "patch over" to the Hells Angels. Stadnick

36309-583: The Outlaws club, which is very active in the American Midwest . Under the terms of the agreement, the Outlaws were the exclusive distributors in the United States of the PCPs and methamphetamine manufactured by Choice members in northern Ontario. The "Canadian Blue" methamphetamine produced in Ontario sold for $ 8,000 Canadian dollars per pound, but in the United States it was sold for $ 12,000 U.S. dollars per pound. As manufacturing methamphetamine produces

36582-492: The Outlaws in 1977, believing that this would improve their status within the underworld, had been "virtually exterminated" by the Hells Angels by 1984. One consequence of the biker war was that the Outlaws did not wish to take on Satan's Choice, which enjoyed a respite despite its weakened status. The possibility of Satan's Choice "patching over" to join the Hells Angels ensured that though the Outlaws–Satan's Choice relationship

36855-419: The Outlaws. The split of 1977 caused Satan's Choice to favor the Angels against the Outlaws. However, Guindon – whose Canadian nationalism was described as "almost a mania" – repeatedly turned down offers all through the 1990s made by Hells Angels' national president Walter Stadnick to have Satan's Choice "patch over" to the Hells Angels. The journalist Jerry Langton wrote that Satan's Choice "...seemed to be

37128-473: The Rock Machine in February 2001. While there, they also paid a visit to the Loners Toronto chapter led by Peter "Peppi" Barilla. They had come to see if any Loners wanted to patch-over to the Bandidos. An offer that Barilla, for the time being, would politely refuse. Barilla was an extremely influential figure in Toronto's motorcycle community. He was also a very powerful member of the Loners Motorcycle Club, so

37401-599: The Satan's Choice Toronto chapter until leaving in 1984. At some point during the 1980s the Loners established a chapter in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan . However, it would "Patch-Over" to the Alberta-based Rebels MC . This was seen as ironic because both founders of the club had started a Toronto chapter of the Rebels only to leave it and start the Loners. Now they had had one of their chapters patched over by

37674-438: The St. Catharine's and Windsor chapters had already decided to join the Outlaws. The chapter presidents known to be loyal to Guindon were not invited to the meeting. The meeting was not held at the usual meeting place of Wasaga Beach on Georgian Bay , instead held at Crystal Beach on Lake Erie close to the American border. McEwen brought over a number of American Outlaws from their Detroit chapter to provide intimidation at

37947-642: The Toronto Bandido chapter. An outlaw biker from Edmonton , Joe "Crazy House" Morin of the Rebels, who was considering "patching over" to join the Bandidos expressed much doubt after the Kriarakis incident, saying the only members of the Toronto chapter who impressed him were Atkinson and Lenti. Lenti disliked Frank "the Bammer" Salerno , the president of the Bandidos Toronto chapter, who was

38220-573: The Toronto clubhouse was burned down in a case of arson. In 1983, a Satan's Choice-turned-Outlaw, David Eugene Séquin, stormed into the clubhouse of the Chosen Few in Emeryville , where he killed three people and wounded three more. Séquin fled to the United States and was killed in a shoot-out in Illinois in July 1985. On 8 September 1983, Guy "Frenchie" Gilbert of Satan's Choice Kitchener chapter

38493-416: The Toronto police discovered a handgun and a loaded machinegun in his car. Lenti told detective Angelo DeLorenzi about the loaded submachine gun and 9-millimetre handgun found in the ruins of his car: "I was using them for my kinda people. I wasn't using them for law-abiding citizens". Ever since the 1995 bombing, Lenti has walked with a limp and has often had to use a cane. The attempted assassination marked

38766-433: The United States. At times, the fugitive hiding program caused tensions. One Outlaw biker from Nashville arranged for his girlfriend to hide out with the Satan's Choice's chapter in Kitchener, during which time she had a sexual relationship with Lorne Campbell of the Choice's Oshawa chapter, which almost caused a brawl between the two men when the biker from Tennessee travelled north to reclaim his girlfriend. In May 1976,

39039-545: The Vagabonds club. Attending the convention were the members from the chapters from Oshawa, Ottawa , Guelph , St. Catharines , Windsor , Montreal, Preston, Kingston , Peterborough, and Hamilton. Amid much riotous drinking in a barn where the convention was being held, 23 police officers raided the barn about midnight, but came under a shower of empty beer bottles, forcing them to retreat. The police had not left behind any men to guard their cars which were parked outside of

39312-659: The Vagabonds from Ontario; the Rebels from Alberta and Saskatchewan; the Vikings from Quebec City ; and the Grim Reapers from Alberta attended the party, which reflected the growth of Hells Angels influence. Starting in 1981, Kevin Roy Hawkins worked as an anti-biker police detective in Kitchener who spent much time pursuing the Kitchener chapter of Satan's Choice. Hawkins saw a stripper named Cherie Graham perform at

39585-495: The Vagos. The incident occurred on Park Street, near a set of railroad tracks just down the road from the Loners Peterborough clubhouse, Peterborough authorities arrested four individuals in connection with the incident, three of whom we're previous members of the Loners, now in “bad standing” with the club. Garry Coppins, Chris Graham and Pierre Aragon, all former Loners were hit with multitude of charges including, assault, assault with

39858-408: The Wild Ones of Port Credit (modern Mississauga ). Guindon became the president of this newer, larger version of Satan's Choice, and later their national president as the group expanded. He had promoted the merger of the four clubs to end the attacks of the Black Diamond Riders, arguing if the four clubs were united, it would have such an overwhelming numerical superiority that it would ensure that

40131-506: The accused, noting that exculpatory evidence, such as Comeau's jacket that would have supported his story that he had been shot, mysteriously disappeared after the police seized it. In 1988, the Oshawa chapter president Campbell served as a guest lecturer at the University of Ottawa law school class, where he spoke about the Port Hope case as a miscarriage of justice, becoming the first and only Satan's Choice chapter president to ever give

40404-421: The angry Angels while Buchanan was set on escalating the situation. Lenti firmly asked several times for the Angels to "Please go home" while Buchanan shouted "You shut up, motherfucker, old guy!". Buchanan began to strike Lenti with the other three Angels surrounding Lenti, making an escape impossible. A very belligerent, drunken Buchanan told Lenti "Who's looking at who, motherfucker!"   Lenti, believing

40677-461: The arsons, but they assumed it was the Loners based on the ongoing issues between the groups. Staff Sgt. Larry Charmley stated:"Pammett's crew and the Loners haven't resolved their differences in the past few months." Police seized the remains of the cocktail and are still investigating. By late October, the Loners Peterborough chapter had increased its strength. By absorbing the local Vigilantes Motorcycle Club, which had acted as their support club, this

40950-421: The associations with the murder. The Port Hope case became the subject of a best-selling 1988 book, Conspiracy of Brothers by the American journalist Mick Lowe , and the 1990 protest song "Justice in Ontario" by the American singer Steve Earle . The "Port Hope 8" case became a cause célèbre in the 1980s–1990s, attracting even international attention. Lowe charged that there was a police conspiracy to frame

41223-418: The authorities in Ontario it had been made clear that the Loners and Hells Angels were now at war. The Outlaws would also join the conflict, fighting in the cities of London and Hamilton. In April 2000, Montreal Rockers member, Dany Kane traveled to Toronto on the orders of Hells Angel, David Carroll . He was there to meet the leaders of the Para-Dice Riders gang for another of Carroll's murder plots. Kane in

41496-472: The barn despite the shower of empty beer bottles being thrown at them. The police arrested 55 bikers plus 9 women who also attending the party. The police smashed up the motorcycles of the bikers in retaliation for the damage done to their cruisers. Journalists who saw the scene the next morning described it as looking like a war zone. The incident at the barn in Markham attracted much media attention, as did

41769-455: The barn, and as a result, while the police were being showered with bottles, some of the bikers had trashed the parked police cruisers, ripped out the radios and punctured their tyres, forcing the policemen to walk back to the station. At about 4:00 am, the enraged police returned with a greater force of 84 officers who engaged in a fierce brawl with the bikers. On their second attempt, the police had plastic shields that allowed them to advance on

42042-403: The biker underworld, the promiscuous Frank Lenti, who over twenty years wore the colors of nearly half a dozen Toronto gangs. The temperamental Lenti flitted from gang to gang when he didn't get his way". Lenti's frequent changes in membership of outlaw biker clubs gave him the nickname of the "Velcro biker". Lenti was never a member of the Mafia, but he had friendships with several Mafiosi over

42315-407: The biker war: "The first time I invaded their clubhouse I had to. They were invading our property". The Satan's Choice club led by Don Norris was forced to disband in 1962 following attacks from the rival Black Diamond Riders led by Harry Paul Barnes , who beat them in street fights and humiliated the group by stealing their patches . Barnes invited Satan's Choice bikers to attend a party that

42588-405: The bikers as they were marched into the courthouse to be fined. In the end, the judge fined Satan's Choice a thousand dollars, most of it in the form of $ 10 fines for each individual for being present in a place where alcohol was being illegally served plus $ 3.50 fine for court costs. The Markham incident was not considered a triumph for the forces of law and order with public opinion on the side of

42861-547: The bikers, who were felt to be victims of excessive force. By the end of the 1960s, Guindon had emerged as something of a folk hero in Toronto while Satan's Choice had become the most best known and largest outlaw biker club in Canada. In 1969, Satan's Choice reached its peak strength of 400 members as the club grew rapidly in the 1960s. By this point, Satan's Choice had chapters in Toronto, Oshawa, Preston (modern Cambridge), Hamilton, Windsor, Ottawa, Kingston, Guelph, St. Catharines, Peterborough, Vancouver , and Montreal. Guindon

43134-494: The chapter fell apart before it really got going. By October 2011, They had returned to Toronto, the Vagos Motorcycle Club established a new probationary chapter in Peterborough, Ontario , by patching-over 9 members of the Rock Machine. The chapter would become full-patch Vagos in October 2012. The Loners Motorcycle Club had possessed a chapter in Peterborough for sometime so this caused some territorial tension. In mid 2012, it

43407-493: The charges against Hawkins and Morin were withdrawn by the Crown following the revelation that the OPP detective investigating Hawkins and Morin had been in a sexual relationship with Graham at the time, a relationship the prosecutors were aware of, but failed to disclose to the defense lawyers representing Hawkins and Morin. On 18 January 2010, Hawkins won the right to sue the two Crown Attorneys at his trial, Brian Trafford and William Wolski, alleging malicious prosecution. The case

43680-429: The club in 1981. While in Italy, he persuaded other motorcycle clubs to join the Loners. He also opened several new chapters. These chapters were not associated with the official Loners MC until Lenti's return to the club in 1984, when all new chapters were officially recognized. He set up a chapter in York Region , recruiting mainly from his fellow Italian-Canadians as the group normally did. A disproportionate number of

43953-514: The club is estimated to have around 1,000 members worldwide and they have established over 65 chapters in 13 countries. The Loners, like many many other 1% motorcycle clubs, maintain that they are a club of motorcycle enthusiasts. Any members that commit crimes do so free of the clubs instruction or knowledge. These claims are heavily disputed by law enforcement and intelligence agencies from several nations. "The Loners MC has regained strength following several episodes of departures and betrayals within

44226-408: The club still maintained a membership of over 350 in 1977, across thirteen chapters in Ontario and Quebec . At this point, Satan's Choice still maintained the position of the second largest motorcycle club in the world behind only the Hells Angels. The Canadian scholar Graeme Melcher wrote: "In a culture where violence, toughness, and assertive masculinity were so highly prized, Guindon succeeded as

44499-450: The club's leader Bernie Guindon was incarcerated on drug charges relating to the Oba Lake drug bust. The man who replaced Guindon as national president, Garnet "Mother" McEwen, was a proponent of "Yankeeization", favoring close ties with the Outlaws unlike the Canadian nationalist Guindon who wanted to keep his club Canadian. The fact that McEwen bugged the automobiles of other Satan's Choice members did not endear him to many who saw him as

44772-480: The club. Over the past 10 years, the club has experienced a significant increase in membership and is present in several countries around the world and its influence has never been stronger." Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson had been a longtime and prominent member of the Loners Motorcycle Club in Ontario. However he decided to become a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, when the some Loners from

45045-425: The clubs membership and strength to deal with the incoming threat of the Hells Angels. One Loner, Irish immigrant Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson, was heard to remarking the low quality of the Annihilators after meeting Kellestine and his group for the first time: "Can you believe the type of people we're attracting?" Unlike most Canadian outlaw bikers who were barely literate, Atkinson was a bibliophile who especially loved

45318-582: The co-founder of the Loners Motorcycle Club . Lenti was born in Woodbridge, Ontario to Italian immigrant parents. The journalist Jerry Langton wrote in 2010 "...that even by Canadian biker standards, Lenti was a strange guy. Vain, constantly preening, and prone to violent temper tantrums, he had a habit of giving up on projects that didn't exactly go his way". The journalist Yves Lavigne wrote in 1999 about: "...that social butterfly of

45591-578: The combat skills they had learned during the Vietnam War against each other added to the intensity of the conflict as Berry stated: "Down here they played the game for keeps". However, Berry also told Guindon about the Outlaws: "They're well organized. They make money big time". In August 1975, Guindon went to a hunting lodge at Oba Lake in northern Ontario owned by Alain Templain, the president of

45864-501: The combatants that all of York Region north of Highway 7 was a "no war zone". On 25 August 1995, Lenti, the president of the Diablos, was nearly killed by a bomb planted by Loners in his car. The incident left him in hospital for months. The explosion had removed his left butt cheek from his body, This earned him the title "half-assed biker", which he detested. The Diablos collapsed without Lenti, and after attacks on two more members, their territory and membership were forcibly absorbed by

46137-503: The comments. Salerno broke down in tears and told Lenti "please, please, please" not gouge out his eyes as a punishment. When Michael Sandham of Winnipeg joined the Bandidos in 2004, Lenti was highly suspicious of him, saying he kept hearing rumors that Sandham used to be a policeman and that he had been rejected by the Outlaws for that reason, and assigned the Bandido national sergeant-at-arms Wayne Kellestine to investigate him. Lenti further noted that Sandham had no tattoos, which

46410-443: The conflict on behalf of their ally. Brawls between the Loners and Satan's Choice became common in the summer of 1995, causing injuries to multiple people. Satan's Choice ambushed three Loners in Woodbridge, injuring them. Several businesses belonging to members of both clubs, such a tattoo parlor, a motorcycle repair shop and a bar were bombed. On August 1, 1995, the Toronto chapter clubhouse of Satan's Choice on Kintyre Avenue – which

46683-491: The control of the drug trade. Guindon later stated: "Drugs were the ruin of many a good club member and many a good club". Ken Rae, the Crown Attorney (prosecutor) in Kitchener stated in 1977: "At one time Kitchener had all the (Satan’s) Choice in jail. When they got out in 1971, they decided that running around alleys with shotguns wasn’t profitable so they reorganized and got into more profitable things like drugs." The stories about Satan's Choice started to change from that of

46956-417: The country's second largest club, the Popeyes , from 1974 to 1976. Satan's Choice's power began to diminish during the late 1970s, with some of the club's chapters "patching over" to the Outlaws in 1977. The remaining chapters would eventually become members of the Hells Angels, along with most of the other major outlaw clubs in Ontario, in 2000. The founding chapter of the first iteration of Satan's Choice

47229-461: The crime correspondent of The Toronto Star , wrote: "No one could count on coming out on top in a fight with Lenti...and guys who went toe to toe with the veteran biker sometimes came away with one less functioning eye". Lenti almost provoked a fight with Muscedere, whom he no longer respected, and only the intervention of others prevented the two men from coming to blows. Lenti was a living legend within Ontario outlaw biker circles and his resignation

47502-411: The criminal, so why punish him?". The historian Jack Granatstein criticised the Army for turning down Jessi Lenti, saying "I've never heard of this kind of thing before." Ray Lefaive, the vice principle at the St. Joan of Arc Catholic school where Jessi Lenti was educated described Frank Lenti as a strict father who gave him permission to strike his son if he should misbehave. Lefaive added that he had

47775-504: The distribution of narcotics or firearms. This included then acting national secretary of the Loners MC Canada, Glenn Atkinson. By August 2014, authorities were forced to drop several charges due to inconclusive evidence, some were later acquitted when the search warrants were dismissed by judges in 2016. Law enforcement was greatly criticized as only two men would actually receive charges. Now former Nation secretary, Glenn Atkinson would pled guilty to three counts of trafficking narcotics and

48048-431: The dogs belonging to another boarder. At the time, the police expressed no surprise about Beaucage's murder, saying he was a violent and disagreeable man, and the only surprise was that it took this long for somebody to saw off his head with a kitchen knife. The gruesome nature of Beaucage's murder led it to take on a legendary reputation within biker circles, being known inaccurately as the "Fifty Whacks with an Ax". In

48321-462: The dominance of his club by preventing challenges into his territories. Melcher further noted that as a business strategy, Guindon's peace strategy was quite rational as the lack of a police crackdown allowed Satan's Choice to make greater profits than would be the case if the police were cracking down. In 1973, Guindon was approached by the Hells Angels for the first time with the offer to have Satan's Choice "patch over" to become Hells Angels. Guindon

48594-424: The end of the biker war, but the mayor of Toronto, Barbara Hall , unaware that the war was over, attempted to ban all outlaw bikers from Toronto. In an interview in 2019, Lenti claimed that the Rizzuto family of Montreal tried to recruit him in the 1990s, an offer he declined on the basis that he was an outlaw biker, not a Mafiosi. In the fall of 2002 Lenti joined the Canadian Bandidos , which they regarded as

48867-514: The fact that Fullanger was the older man. However, Fullanger was annoyed when Lenti called the Bandidos a biker gang rather than a club. In June 2003, when Kriarakis was eating in a restaurant in Woodbridge where he was surrounded by a dozen Hells Angels and was ordered to go out to the parking lot to be beaten as Woodbridge was considered to be "their" territory. One of Kriarakis's friends called Lenti on his cellphone, who promptly raced off in his tow truck to help his biker "brother" while Kriarakis

49140-408: The fact that the police seized at the barn a mixture of weapons such as sawed-off shotguns, handguns, axes and bike chains together with an immense quantity of alcohol and marijuana. Arrested together with Guindon at the barn were his second wife Barbara Ann and his right-hand man Howard Berry. On Sunday morning as those arrested were taken into the Don Jail , there were a number of journalists from

49413-488: The film had been approved by "Big" Jack Olliffe, who had replaced McEwen as the interim president. The first day of filming, 3 October 1970, was highly chaotic owing to unruly behavior of the bikers who refused to take direction, and matters continued to decline thereafter. Olliffe and the others took advantage that the film's producers were paying for the meals of the extras to gourmandise extravagantly as Olliffe alone devoured six hamburgers per meal. The gourmadising inflated

49686-427: The film's production costs by $ 2, 000 dollars per day, which ensured that The Proud Rider was doomed to lose money at the box office owing to its bloated production costs. When a group of bikers dropped their pants and underwear with the aim of shocking a script girl, "Pigpen" Berry felt overshadowed, which inspired him to bite off the head of a live snake to shock her even more. Throughout the film's production, Berry

49959-404: The first black chapter president anywhere in Canada, leading in Montreal a multiracial, multilingual chapter made of blacks and whites, English-Canadians and French-Canadians of about 20 members. Outlaw biker clubs tended to shun non-white applicants, and Guindon was highly unusual in allowing a black man to lead a chapter. Members tended to leave as quickly as they arrived as Guindon recalled: "In

50232-414: The first president of the Angels' London probationary chapter in 2001. Most of the others members in the new Hells Angels London chapter were also former members of the Loners. In 2007, several members of the Loners in Ontario and Western Canada joined the California-based Mongols Motorcycle Club . When the Mongols Canada collapsed soon after, these former Loners would be involved in the reconstruction of

50505-430: The first reports in the media about Satan's Choice was a story in the Toronto Star on 29 August 1966, reporting "Five arrested in motorcycle rumble". The report stated: "A policeman had a guitar smashed over his head during a brawl in a local hotel cocktail lounge Saturday after two motorcycle clubs ganged up on a musician. Police say about 12 members of the Golden Hawk Riders and Satan's Choice were out to get even with

50778-429: The fracturing of Satan's Choice when, on 1 July 1977, the Ottawa, St. Catharines, Windsor, London and Montreal chapters fully abandoned Satan's Choice in favour of the much larger Outlaws. McEwen called a secret meeting on 1 July 1977, with most of the chapter presidents being present where he called for "patching over" to the Outlaws, arguing that being members of an American-based club would add to their power, saying that

51051-435: The fucking head... He did nothing... I just wanted to see where his balls were. He didn't have his balls that fucking day". Between 1985 and 1988, Guindon opened up four new chapters in Ontario, adding about 95 new members. By the 1980s, Satan's Choice had moved into selling cocaine, and a pipeline was opened to move cocaine from Toronto to Alberta, where many oil workers used cocaine to ease the tedium of their jobs. In 1985,

51324-420: The group faced more than 250 criminal charges, with around 75% of those charges being narcotics related. With the rest involved mostly charges relating to weapons, the distribution of weapons and theft. The narcotics seized included large amounts of cocaine, hash, marijuana and mushrooms. Their street value is estimated to be about $ 1.5-million (modern equivalent of $ 2.6 million). This caused temporary issues within

51597-402: The habits of the other gangs". In 1973, the Ontario government decided to put all the outlaw biker clubs out of business, and had the Intelligence Branch of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) set up a Special Squad with the unfortunate acronym of the SS dedicated entirely to pursuing outlaw bikers. The Special Squad was later renamed the Anti-Biker Unit. Unlike other organized groups such as

51870-593: The impression that Lenti pere did not want Lenti fils to follow him into the outlaw biker subculture, saying "I really always felt that he [Jessi Lenti] was sheltered from it". The senior Lenti, who was in jail at the time awaiting murder charges for killing Buchanan, stated: ""I had a lot of fun but in the end you end up in a place like this. I always told him that I didn't want him involved in my business". Jessi Lenti concurred with his father's assessment as he stated that if he joined an outlaw biker club, his father's reaction would be: "He'd hunt me down. He'd probably rip

52143-414: The instigation of the detectives and Crown Attorneys at the first preliminary inquiry hearings in 1988. Over the following years, the Crown sought to use Graham's initial 1988 statements as evidence for the trial while the lawyers for Hawkins and Morin sought to exclude these statements as evidence. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1996, which ruled these statements could be used as evidence. In 1997,

52416-449: The island on Oba Lake were 9 pounds of PCP ready to sell and 236 pounds of PCP waiting to be completed. The drug network for selling the PCP ranged as far as Florida, and the police estimated Guindon was making at least $ 60 million per month in sales. Unknown to Guindon, it was McEwen who tipped off the police about the PCP factory at Oba Lake and told them when Guindon would be visiting so they could arrest him. McEwen wanted Guindon out of

52689-454: The latter gang to disband themselves in January 1976. Yves Trudeau , the ace assassin for the Popeyes, first rose to prominence during this struggle. Reflecting the new alliance, Berry started to work for the Outlaws in Florida, where his willingness to perform any task together with his anonymity made him useful as an enforcer. In the 1970s, the San Francisco -based Hells Angels were seeking to expand from California into Florida, leading to

52962-423: The latter was considered an enemy. The only ones who had were the former Loners who had joined the Para-Dice Riders or the ones from London who participated in the attempted coup. On January 17, 2001, Bandidos Canada national vice-president, Alain Brunette travelled with US Bandido, Edward Winterhalder to Toronto to meet with the new Bandidos chapter there. The Bandidos Toronto (North) chapter had patched over from

53235-419: The leaves were falling, a policeman arrested the member for the possession of a banned weapon. The arrested member expressed much bafflement that a policeman was able to find the assault rifle, leading Campbell to tell him that "He just looked up", which astonished the man. By late 1989, both Guindon and Campbell were growing dissatisfied with the low quality of incoming recruits into Satan's Choice, feeling that

53508-427: The local television stations present and the bikers blew kisses to the cameras. On Monday after the Saturday night raid, the arrested bikers were taken to a courthouse, which became the most popular "tourist attraction" in Toronto that day as one journalist from The Globe and Mail newspaper described it with a large crowd waiting outside the courthouse, many of whom were high school students who were there to cheer on

53781-414: The logical partners for the Hells Angels. Even through they had been weakened by defections to the Outlaws, they had an enviable network, a strong leadership crew, and a deep and abiding hatred for the Outlaws". However, Stadnick seemed more interested in the Loners than Satan's Choice. In June 1993, the Hells Angels, led by their national president Stadnick, hosted a party in Wasaga Beach attended by all of

54054-448: The media it was not Satan's Choice that fired the rocket as he claimed: "Looks like the cops have stolen our rocket launcher". Canadian authorities would raid the Loners clubhouse due to this. They seized several illegal weapons but what unable to make any arrests. Despite the lucid headlines in the newspapers, Satan's Choice as a whole was not committed to an all-out struggle against the Loners. Officer Lorne Campbell made an agreement with

54327-412: The media often described Satan's Choice as public enemy one, Campbell disagreed, arguing that the low intelligence of most Satan's Choice members led them to engage in asinine antics that made it very easy for the police to arrest them. Campbell gave as an example one member who, in August 1989, hid an M1 assault rifle in the branches of a tree in the backyard of the Oshawa clubhouse. In October 1989, when

54600-402: The mindless conformity of Canadian society.  That Guindon and his followers were rigidly conforming to the code of outlaw biker subculture that originated in California in the late 1940s apparently escaped them. Shebib's documentary, with its sympathetic picture of Satan's Choice as "rebels" against "Toronto the Good" values, gave them an immense amount of publicity in 1960s Toronto. Through

54873-593: The murder: "At first we thought it was a drug deal gone bad. But when Hawkins went down, we were all more careful about what we said". In March 1987, Graham contacted the police, alleging that Hawkins was physically abusive and was involved with Satan' Choice. Hawkins and Morin were charged with corruption and obstruction of justice on 29 January 1988, and at Hawkins's preliminary inquiry on 7–8 September 1988, Graham testified against him. However, Hawkins then married Graham on 31 March 1989, and at subsequent preliminary inquiry hearings she claimed she had committed perjury at

55146-405: The new members were of abysmally low intelligence and were too "soft". The feud with the Outlaws led Guindon and his deputy Campbell to look with approval upon the Hells Angels who had driven the Outlaws out of Quebec with much ruthlessness. Furthermore, the style of the Hells Angels were much to the taste of both Guindon and Campbell, who admired the type of men that the Hells Angels attracted. In

55419-493: The outlaw biker code, refused an offer of police protection when informed of the alleged plot, but he did start carrying around a handgun, saying he would get the Bandidos "off the ground" after the massacre. Shortly after midnight on 2 December 2006, four Hells Angels showed up at the Club Pro Adult Entertainment strip club and bar in Vaughan , where Lenti worked as a security guard and bouncer. The owner of Club Pro Adult Entertainment, Domenic "Mimmo" Marciano, described Lenti as

55692-419: The possibility of joining Satan's Choice, which angered the Loners. The Loners came into conflict with the Diablos in the summer of 1995, who called upon Satan's Choice for aid. The Satan's Choice made a firm alliance with the Diablos, led by Loners exile, Frank Lenti. Langton wrote: "So desperate were the big biker gangs for every square inch of southern Ontario – especially prime real estate like Woodbridge –

55965-418: The possibility to spiral into a much larger conflict. In late August, the Vagos clubhouse located on the corner of Park and Perry Streets, was firebombed by Molotov cocktails causing minor damage. A current Vagos member, Bob Pammett's property was also subject to arson, however little damage was caused to his truck as it seems the Molotov cocktail missed. Police were not able to confirm who was responsible for

56238-400: The president of the Ottawa chapter; and Joseph "Sonny" Lacombe, the president of the Montreal chapter. O'Reilly and Arksey both agreed to McEwen's plans to have Satan's Choice "patch over" to the Outlaws, while Lacombe remained non-committal for a time. In March 1977, McEwen arranged for the Windsor and St. Catharine's chapters to secretly join the Outlaws. Guindon's imprisonment soon led to

56511-442: The professional con-man Gault had manufactured the alleged murder plot so he could collect a $ 1 million payment from the Crown. On January 18, 2009, Akleh and Stephenson were acquitted of conspiring to murder Lenti with the jury ruling that Crown's case rested entirely on the unreliable word of Gault. Edwards wrote that as a result of Gault's lies, Lenti had killed Buchanan, thinking he was out to kill him when in reality Buchanan

56784-418: The rank of prospect in Satan's Choice, causing him to leave in 1978 and join the Rebels . Kirby turned police informer in 1980. In 1981, Kirby told Lenti that he should leave Toronto for a while as he was about to reveal much to the Crown. After leaving the Satan's Choice, Lenti joined the Rebels before founding a new club, the Loners , which collapsed in 1981. In 1982, when Kirby started to testify against

57057-441: The rank of prospect in Satan's Choice, causing him to leave. Regardless they both decided to leave the Satan's Choice and we're involved in starting a chapter of the Rebels Motorcycle Club in Toronto, this lasted for roughly a year before they decided to form the Loners Motorcycle Club in 1979. Lenti designed the "rather elaborate and bizarre" patch for his club featuring a half-werewolf, half-horned skull creature. In 1981, Lenti

57330-592: The remains of a dead skunk he found on the road to his Satan's Choice jacket; and bringing and eating his own feces when invited to dine with other Choice members. At a cottage near Coboconk , Berry served to initiate new members by dumping outhouse buckets over their heads while also vomiting over them. Through Guindon found Berry repulsive, his willingness to do anything made him useful and he came to serve as his principal enforcer. Cecil Kirby stated about Berry: "There are guys who would start fights and then they'd say 'Come and help me'. I can't stand people like that. Be

57603-487: The roof to collapse. No one was present inside at the time but it took firefighters several hours to put out the blaze. The Loners-Vagos conflict would come to a close due to the patch over of the Vagos Peterborough chapter to the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in 2015. A club that had historically good to moderate relations with the Loners. Note: See Early History and Split and growth above for older incidents and crimes The Loners Vaughan chapter clubhouse near Toronto, Ontario ,

57876-404: The same as an Outlaw chapter in Oshawa. A member of the Satan's Choice Peterborough chapter, Richard Sauvé , took the a phone call and received the message that Matiyek was drinking with two Outlaws, Fred Jones and Sonny Bronson, at the Queen's Hotel and wanted to see an officer of the Peterborough chapter that night. Sauvé asked for help from the Toronto chapter in order to face Matiyek who had

58149-437: The same means used by the bikers themselves. The American journalist Mick Lowe wrote that, starting in 1973, Hall "had inhabited a strange nether region on the fringes of Canadian law enforcement" as he went after bikers via very ruthless and often illegal means, making him into a "black legend among Canadian bikers" who feared him as a policeman who did not follow the law. Even Hall's appearance with his long hair and beard and

58422-474: The situation in Ontario. "New alliances have changed the balance of power in the province. The only gang affiliated with the Hells Angels in Ontario is the Para-Dice Riders. The Vagabonds and Satan's Choice are apparently neutral, while the Outlaws, Loners and now the Rock Machine have traditionally rivalled the Hells Angels. The Hells Angels to enter in Ontario -- want total control, nobody escapes them. By setting up alliances, other gangs are better able to resist

58695-412: The summer, the feud was resumed with the Black Diamond Riders who were attempt to set up a chapter in Sudbury. Upon hearing that Barnes and the Black Diamond Riders had beaten up a Satan's Choice biker in Sudbury and stolen his "colors", Guindon personally led a force of Satan's Choice bikers north to Sudbury to avenge the insult. On 5 September 1992 in Sudbury , the Satan's Choice bikers were involved in

58968-411: The third largest motorcycle club in Ontario, being exceeded only by the Outlaws and Satan's Choice. Langton wrote that Lenti was also personally successful in two "industries bikers tend to admire-a stripper/escort talent agency and a tow truck firm". In 1990, several members of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club patched-over and joined the rival Loners. At this point the Satan's Choice had begun to see

59241-402: The tough guy, but Edwards wrote: "As it turned out, all anyone really had to do was tell him to get lost in an unfriendly tone of voice, and he would have disappeared." On 28 September 2006, two Hells Angels, Remond "Ray" Akleh of Ottawa and Mark Stephenson of Oshawa , were charged with ordering another Angel, Steven Gault , to kill Lenti. Unknown to Akleh and Stephenson, Gault was secretly

59514-401: The trial, Campbell testified that he had killed Matiyek and the eight accused were innocent. The journalist Jerry Langton wrote that the trial was "comical" as some of the witnesses for the Crown "changed their testimony three or even four times... Much of the Crown's evidence contradicted itself". The conviction of six of the eight accused of Matiyek's murder despite Campbell's testimony on

59787-569: The values of outlaw biker subculture that celebrated violence, macho masculinity and the acquisition of wealth contrasted with the counterculture values of the hippies , the two subcultures saw themselves as fellow outcasts from Canadian society, and hippies tended to glamorize outlaw bikers as the 1960s progressed. Although Guindon and his gang were often into trouble with the law owing to their frequent brawling with other outlaw bikers, in general Satan's Choice were not involved in organized crime in its early years, engaging only in petty crime. One of

60060-442: The very club they left. The Loners International President, Jimmy Raso would also eventually begin to expand overseas, establishing chapters in the United States as well as additional countries in Europe, with his first European chapter opening on 24 December 1985. By the 1990s, the Loners had chapters in Woodbridge, Toronto , Vaughan , Richmond Hill , Windsor , London , Amherstburg , Hamilton , and Chatham-Kent . Unusually for

60333-409: The way in order to pursue his plans for " Yankeeization ". Lowe described McEwen as suffering from "...the classic Canadian-American love-hate relationship, a distinctly Canadian malady, since Americans never thought enough about Canada to either love or hate their northern cousins one way or the other". McEwen believed that he would not be a truly important person in the biker scene until he had become

60606-440: The winter of 1990, a group of senior Satan's Choice members led by Guindon and Campbell visited the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Sorel to seek an alliance with the Angels against the Outlaws. Campbell recalled about the visit: "They listened to us. Even though they had a reputation for being dangerous, there was no confrontation. There was no pulling heavies. They were perfect gentlemen". Although no promises were given about joining

60879-436: The witness stand that he had killed him was highly controversial in 1979 and remains so. At the time, a journalist wrote "Who actually fired the gun was never established..." at the trial. Comeau and Sauvé were convicted of first-degree murder while the other four were convicted of second-degree murder. Two of the accused, Armand Sanguigni and Gordon van Haarlem, were acquitted. Two of the convicted, Sauvé and Blaker, came from

61152-428: The work of James Joyce , which led some other bikers to consider him strange. Atkinson was well regarded as a diplomat. He had connections with many group in Ireland, including the Irish Alliance. In 1999, the Loners' International secretary Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson and another full-patch Loner, Wayne Connor were sent to Ireland to try persuade the biker clubs of Irish Alliance to join the Canadian Loners, an offer that

61425-476: The years such as Domenic Musitano of the Musitano family of Hamilton . Lenti started out as a member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club and was one of the first members of Satan's Choice together with his friend Cecil Kirby to visit the Satan's Choice's national president Bernie Guindon in jail at the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre in Sault. St. Marie after he was arrested at an Oba Lake drug bust in August 1975. Lenti had Mafia connections and it

61698-502: Was "making money hand over fist". Campbell together with three others members of the Oshawa chapter served as the security for cigarette smugglers on the Akwesasne St. Regis Mohawk Reservation that spanned across the international border in eastern Ontario and upstate New York . Throughout the 1990s, Satan's Choice was the subject of unsolicited offers of a friendly take-over by the Hells Angels. The Hells Angels had for decades been prevented from expanding from Quebec into Ontario by

61971-461: Was a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club that was once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario , with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal , Quebec , at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choice grew to more than 400 members by 1970, making it the second largest outlaw motorcycle club in the world, behind only the Hells Angels . The club was involved in the first major outlaw biker conflict in Canadian history , when it engaged

62244-403: Was a great blow to the already waning prestige of the club. To save face, Kellestine sent out an email to the other Bandidos saying that Lenti had been expelled. The Hells Angels considered making an offer to Lenti with the notes for November 2004 Central Canada committee reading: "Vote on Frank issue was Yes 72 No 69 did not pass". Lenti attempted to keep the Bandidos operating in Canada after

62517-401: Was a lot of booze, broads, and bikes. It wasn't organized crime as it became. But I don't think you wanted to cross them". In Satan's Choice , Guindon together with the rest of his club professed to reject materialism as they maintained that the only possessions they held dear were their motorcycles. In the documentary, Guindon and the rest of his club claimed to be rejecting what they called

62790-400: Was about to reveal much to the Crown. In 1980, when Kirby told Lenti he was to testify against the Mafia figures who employed him as a hitman, Lenti fled to Italy where he lived for the next two years. However, prominent Canadian journalist Jerry Langton stated in 2006 that Lenti had been booted out of the Loners and had left for Italy until "tempers cooled". When he return to Canada, he joined

63063-413: Was adamantly against having the Loners join the Hells Angels, as he didn't want to "answer to a club based in another country". He once even pistol-whipped a member of his chapter who expressed a desire to join the Angels. Together, the Coates brothers worked to encourage a mutiny in the area against Kellestine, with the promise of joining the Angels as the reward. On 22 October 1999, an assassination attempt

63336-471: Was against biker wars, arguing that the Canadian public was willing to accept street fights, but not murder, and that excessive violence would lead to a police crackdown. Guindon argued the outlaw biker clubs should respect each other's territories and avoid violence. Melcher wrote there was an element of self-interest to Guindon's strategy since Satan's Choice was the largest club and his strategy for peace by mutual respect for each other's territories enshrined

63609-427: Was also a close friend with a longtime Loner member known as "Joe the Meatman," who worked as a local butcher. "He was one of his "Joe the Meatman's" guys downtown," a former Loner mentioned to the Toronto Star. There was also a outpour of support from the local community where Raposo lived. On 18 April 2013. Around 90 police officers, along with OPP and the biker enforcement unit, performed 12 pre-dawn raids targeting

63882-433: Was an ambush. Barnes forced Satan's Choice to disband at gunpoint. Barnes told the media at the time: "We took all their crests and told them they couldn't exist any longer. I wiped them out twice, the Choice". Phantom Riders president Bernie Guindon subsequently revived the name and patch of the disbanded club as a way to enrage the Black Diamond Riders. Guindon had sought vengeance on the Black Diamond Riders ever since

64155-411: Was an ardent Canadian nationalist and rejected the offer, saying he did not want his club absorbed into an American club. In October 1970, a number of Satan's Choice members from the Toronto and Oshawa chapters served as extras in a low-budget exploitation film The Proud Rider starring Arthur Hindle about a thinly disguised version of Satan's Choice. The decision to use Satan's Choice members in

64428-428: Was announced by the Loners that former Satan's Choice and Bandidos member, Robert "Bob" Pammett had been kicked out of the Loners Motorcycle Club in "bad standing" after a unanimous vote by the club's Peterborough chapter. Pammett was a close associate of club founders, Frank Lenti and Gennaro Raso. He had left the Satan's Choice in the 1980s to join the growing Loners, where he remained an influential member unil he joined

64701-433: Was backing the Diablos – was stuck by a rocket fired from a military rocket launcher by Loners members. The Canadian journalist, Yves Lavigne wrote the explosion caused by the rocket "tore a large in the door and blew windows out of three neighboring houses, but did not injure the bikers inside the building". Later the same night at 3: 35 am, Satan's Choice tossed a bomb through the window of Pluto's Place tattoo parlor owned by

64974-403: Was badly beaten up in the parking lot. Upon arriving, Lenti was furious to see that Kriarakis had called the police to report the assault, telling him that outlaw bikers never report to the police a crime committed by other outlaw bikers, even against themselves. At a meeting at Fullager's house, Kriarakis was taken to task for his violation of the outlaw biker code, which just publicly humiliated

65247-448: Was caught embezzling some $ 30,000 he was supposed to pay to them. Fearing he might be killed if he stayed in Ontario, McEwen fled to Alberta where he ended up working as a dishwasher at a restaurant located in a Calgary hotel. McEwen joined the Chosen Few biker gang and was again caught stealing, causing the other members of the Chosen Few to be almost beat him to death with his artificial leg. In 1980, McEwen abandoned biking to become

65520-410: Was chronicled in the 1998 book The Biker, the Stripper and the Cop by Eugene McCarthy. The Kitchener chapter was generally considered to be the strongest Satan's Choice chapter that had a firm arm-lock on organized crime in the " Tri Cities " of Cambridge , Kitchener and Waterloo from the early 1970s onward. The "Tri Cities" were a wealthy area, and unlike in Toronto, the Satan's Choice chapter had

65793-456: Was dangerous, and another club member, Michael Sandham , seemed like a shady character to Atkinson. Eventually Atkinson rejoined the Loners after the Shedden massacre. He would eventually regain the rank of national secretary of the Loners Canada. The Vagos Motorcycle Club , which is one of the largest motorcycle clubs in America, attempted to expand North into Canada in 2007. Their plan was to set up their first chapter in Toronto, Ontario , but

66066-448: Was done in a patch over ceremony that happened in September 2012. This increased the chapters numbers to over 30 members, giving them a significant advantage over the Vagos. After this the Vagos Peterborough clubhouse was subject to a massive arson attack. The inside of the building was almost completely "gutted" by the flames. Authorities presume that they will have to tear the building down due to extensive damage, even causing portions of

66339-443: Was established in 1956 in Toronto , usually hanging around Aida's , a downtown restaurant. This version of Satan's Choice was small in size, only numbering about 45 members, and had a very casual, non-criminal focus at the time. Don Norris, the president of the club, described its activities as "party, party, party". In 1956, Harry Paul Barnes of the Black Diamond Riders started a biker war against Satan's Choice. Barnes said of

66612-401: Was forced to disband the Vancouver chapter after drug use of its members became too excessive even for him. For a time in the late 1960s, Satan's Choice was the closest thing Canada had to a national outlaw biker club with chapters in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, which caused the club to have the most media attention by far. In 1968, the Hells Angels national president Sonny Barger sent

66885-485: Was having lunch at Le Petit Bourg restaurant in Longueuil , Quebec with Yves Buteau , the national president of the Hells Angels, to discuss "patching over" to join the Hells Angels. As Gilbert, Buteau and another Hells Angel, René Lamoureaux, were leaving the restaurant, they were ambushed in the parking lot by an Outlaw, Gino Goudreau, who gunned down all three men. Lamoureaux was badly wounded, but survived while Buteau and Gilbert were both killed. Gilbert's murder put

67158-442: Was he who recommended Kirby as a hitman to Cosimo Commisso, saying that Kirby was good with bombs and guns, though he also warned that Kirby was not to be completely trusted as he was of non-Italian descent, saying "Remember, he's not one of us". According to Kirby, Lenti was involved in "million-dollar burglary" in 1977 and recruited him. However, the plot ended with Kirby getting "nothing". An ambitious man, Lenti never rose above

67431-444: Was in bad condition. This caused the Hells Angels to increase their partnership with the Loners, who they were already supplying drugs. Detective Len Isnor stated, "The Satan's Choice were never the big guys, they were nickel and dime. The Loners were always Stadnick's favorites." The Hells Angels continued to court Loners, there was even talks of the Loners becoming a support club for the Angels in Canada and Italy, this unfortunately for

67704-473: Was intended to be an annual ad. In the summer of 1989, a group of Satan's Choice bikers led by Guindon and Campbell visited the Prairie provinces , meeting with the leaders of los Bravos gang of Winnipeg and the Grim Reapers in Calgary and Lethbridge to form alliances. A report by the police Organized Crime Committee from 1989 stated that Satan's Choice, the Vagabonds and the Lobos were working closely to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. Although

67977-452: Was involved in the casino business along with his brother, he was also found guilty of firebombing a rival's Jaguar on December 1, 2014. The vehicle belonged to Dream Casino manager Fernando Baez, and Antonio stated "Dream was estimated at $ 540 million so we're talking about the largest ... conspiracy in the Dominican Republic." Frank Lenti Francesco "Cisco" Lenti (born 1947) is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster , best known as

68250-437: Was justified as Lenti had only shot him after being punched. David Atwell , a police informer within the Hells Angels, reported that the Angels national secretary Donny Petersen 's reaction as: "Petersen says up until this happened he had a good relationship with Frank and that Frank saved his life once". In the fall of 2007, a statement by "Cisco 13 1%er Canada" appeared on the Bandido website stating: "As of October 2 2007,

68523-417: Was kicked out of the club for a period. It was alleged that Lenti had stolen from the club and was caught, at which point he decided to flee the country to Italy, where he lived for the next two years. With Gennaro Raso's blessing, Lenti officially rejoined the Loners Motorcycle Club in 1984. When Lenti was removed from the club, he travelled to Italy, and continued to use the Loners name despite his removal from

68796-434: Was looking to have the Hells Angels expand into Ontario by "patching over" one of the stronger existing Ontario outlaw clubs, and after being turned down by Bernie Guindon of Satan's Choice, decided to make a friendly takeover offer to Lenti of the Loners. Joining Stadnick was David "Wolf" Carroll who wore a T-shirt with the SS runes reading "Filthy Few Denmark", which Lenti understood as Carroll's way of saying he committed

69069-427: Was made against Kellestine as he stopped in his truck for a red light in his hometown of Iona Station . A car driven by Philippe "Philbilly" Gastonguay of the Angels' Sherbrooke chapter, together with a pro-Angel Loner, David "Dirty" McLeish of the St. Thomas chapter, pulled up and one of the two men in the car opened fire with a shotgun, spraying Kellestine's truck with bullets He would survive this attempt unscathed. To

69342-434: Was not an informer. During McEwen's presidency, in-fighting between the chapters became common and in 1977, McEwen tried to expel the entire Kitchener chapter after some of its members talked too frankly to two journalists from the Kitchener Record . At a party at the clubhouse of the Montreal chapter, Lorne Campbell of the Oshawa chapter was startled to hear David Séguin of the Windsor chapter declare: "If I broke down on

69615-426: Was not extradited to Canada as he was instead convicted in North Carolina for his involvement in an Outlaw auto theft ring. After completing his sentence, Berry was deported to Canada. James "Blue" Starrett of the Outlaws was found to be living in St. Catharine's on 22 July 1976 under the name Charlie Brown, where he ran a painting business and was a member of the local Satan's Choice chapter. Starrett had been serving

69888-453: Was not found until the next day, being partially devoured by the dogs belonging to another boarder. At the time, the police expressed no surprise about Beaucage's murder, saying he was a violent and disagreeable man, and the only surprise was that it took this long for somebody to saw off his head with a kitchen knife. The gruesome nature of Beaucage's murder led it to take on a legendary reputation within biker circles, being known inaccurately as

70161-413: Was out of control as he engaged in bizarre antics designed to disgust and appall. The scriptwriter and assistant director, Chester Stocki, told a journalist, Paul King, that he felt "scared, scared, scared. Just look at them!" As the group moved from a motorcycle club into organized crime, many of the original members dropped out. It was estimated that about 90% of the violence in the 1970s was related to

70434-479: Was providing the evidence to convict as many Satan's Choice bikers as possible. Ultimately, eight members of Satan's Choice were charged with the murder. People in Port Hope were so outraged by Matiyek's murder that it was deemed impossible to find an impartial jury in that town, so the trial was held in London, Ontario. The Crown Attorney at the trial, Chris Meinhardt, presented the case as a first-degree murder, calling it "a foul, horrible, planned execution." During

70707-643: Was raided by law enforcement in 1998, where authorities uncovered a pet African lion named "Woody" being kept in a tidy 25-metre by 25-metre pen. As a result, the club was charged with violating a King Township bylaw against keeping exotic pets . In 2001, the Loners Vaughan chapter were still involved in a legal battle to try and keep their mascot. The Vaughan chapter clubhouse was eventually sold and its members transferred to other chapters. In May 2000, Ontario Provincial Police in conjunction with local law enforcement launched Operation Hilltop. Over 150 law enforcement officers raided 13 locations in Ontario, many in

70980-410: Was respected but refused. Atkinson told Peter Edwards that there were many parallels between the world of Irish politics and Canadian outlaw biking, and to grow up following Irish politics was the best preparation for Canadian outlaw biking. Atkinson stated that both Canadian outlaw biking and Irish politics were based on a sense of identity formed around a sense of rebellion, fierce clannish loyalties and

71253-420: Was seeking to intimidate him, writing: "Gault had set out to destroy his former Hells Angels brothers, but instead brought down the last of the Bandidos". After his release from prison in 2014, Lenti was the object of an assassination attempt at his Vaughan home on 20 December 2016 when a shot was fired at him from a would-be-killer on his driveway. The assassin's gun jammed after the first shot while Lenti made

71526-406: Was sentenced to nine months of house arrest. The other was a Loners associate named Ricardo Silva, who was forced to pay a $ 200 fine for possession of marijuana. Regardless law enforcement tried to put a positive spin on their operation, with Det. Sgt. MacIntyre stating, "Locally, this is a decent-sized dent,” he said. “It disrupts drug trafficking going on here and in the GTA. They (the Loners) have

71799-586: Was slapdash with the detectives taking no fingerprints from the crime scene while interviewing the witnesses as a group instead of individually. Subsequently, four Choice members were charged with Matiyek's murder, but not Campbell. Corporal Terry Hall of the OPP's Special Squad, who took charge of the investigation on 27 October 1978, seems to have decided to use Matiyek's death as a chance to cripple Satan's Choice by convicting as many bikers as possible of his murder. Hall's investigative methods were heterodox and contrary to accepted standards, but what mattered to him

72072-434: Was still out. Bernie Guindon's influence was not to be challenged. When he talks about people having parts, he's got all kinds of parts". When Guindon was released early from prison for good behavior in 1984, all Satan's Choice had left were the chapters in Thunder Bay , Kitchener, Oshawa, and Toronto. The way his supposed allies, the Outlaws, poached several chapters away from him while he was in prison caused Guindon to have

72345-413: Was talking about shooting the Satan's Choice members in the Queen's Hotel bar-room, causing Lorne Campbell of the Choice's Toronto chapter to come to their aid. Campbell had heard that Matiyek had a gun and he brought along a gun to the Queen's Hotel. The confrontation in the bar-room ended with guns being drawn and Campbell shooting and killing Matiyek at about 10:55 pm. Much of the police investigation

72618-432: Was tense and always difficult, the Outlaws never wanted to apply too much pressure against the Choice least they join the Hells Angels. In the summer of 1978, at a general meeting, Satan's Choice debated about whatever to move into selling heroin. The only consolation for Guindon was that McEwen as the first national president of the Canadian Outlaws proved to be a total failure as the American Outlaws expelled him after he

72891-410: Was the aggressor, which gave Lenti's lawyers a strong case for self-defense on the part of their client, causing the Crown to drop the murder charges and to settle for a plea bargain. On 7 November 2008, the Crown's case against Akleh and Stephenson collapsed when Akleh revealed to the court he had been a police informer since 2002 and there never was a murder plot against Lenti. Edwards has charged that

73164-449: Was the cousin of former Loners Toronto member Luis Raposo , who was killed during the Shedden massacre . John Raposo had come close to joining the Loners in the 1990s, he chose not to but remained in association. He was considered by some a gangster and was connected with the Montreal Mafia. He was a close friend of Eddie "Hurricane" Melo, a boxer who acted as an enforcer for the Montreal mafia, they grew up in same neighbourhood together. He

73437-411: Was the fourth murder of a biker in Hamilton that month. The day after Roddick's murder, Satan's Choice disbanded their Hamilton chapter with its members relocating to the Kitchener chapter. In 1986, the Nanaimo chapter of the Hells Angels put on an "Angels Acres" party on Vancouver Island that was attended by 2,500 people. A number of bikers from Satan's Choice together with the Para-Dice Riders, and

73710-434: Was the girlfriend of a Bandidos Motorcycle Club member. Like Starrett, Edson had escaped from prison in Florida and with the help of his fellow Outlaws had made his way to Canada, where he settled in Kitchener. In Kitchener, Edson was given the false name Denis Lupo, together with a fake Ontario driver's license, and he joined the local Satan's Choice chapter. Edson was arrested in Kitchener on 27 August 1976 and deported to

73983-429: Was trying to control the Loners from afar. Lenti has been faithful to the outlaw code, serving prison sentences rather than accept offers of immunity from the Crown in exchange for testifying against other outlaw bikers, making him a figure of respect within the outlaw biker world. Subsequently, Lenti was expelled from his own club for the second time in 1994, and founded a new club, the Diablos Motorcycle Gang that lost

74256-431: Was unusual as almost all outlaw bikers have many tattoos on their bodies, his demeanor was like that of a policeman doing a very clumsy impression of an outlaw biker, and that Sandham seemed like the sort of man who would have "sucked up" to the high school bully rather than stand up for himself. However, Kellestine reported that the rumors were not true, and Sandham had never been a policeman. In November 2004, Lenti quit

74529-437: Was violent, but in the 1960s the violence was usually limited to brawls and it was most unusual for bikers to kill each other. The unwillingness of outlaw bikers to testify against one another in court following their code made it difficult for the authorities to prosecute them for their frequent street fights, which contributed to their "cool" image as men who successfully broke the law. Shebib said of Satan's Choice in 1965: "It

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