Justice Anne MacKenzie acquitted David Giles, a full patch member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Therefore he could not be found guilty of a second charge of directing a criminal investigation, she said. One of the reasons for dismissing the case was that the judge said she could not understand the audio recordings the Crown submitted as evidence, and the Crown was far-reaching in their interpretation of what they heard on the audio evidence. MacKenzie did find Hells Angels associates Richard Rempel, 24, and David Revell, 43, each guilty of one count of possession of cocaine and one count of trafficking cocaine. In 2005, police conducted a large-scale raid on Hells Angels properties as part of a $10-million investigation dubbed Project E-Pandora. Lenny Hochberg, a criminal lawyer who has defended Hells Angels members in the past, says the B.C. court made the right decision.
"It was the absolute right decision . . . that the Hell Angels Motorcycle Club is not a criminal organization," he told CTV Newsnet on Thursday. "There are so many false urban legends around the Hells Angels, all perpetrated by law enforcement and eaten up by the public." Hochberg admitted that were some "criminal elements" in the organization, but said that did not represent the organization as a whole.
"(The legend is) the only way to get into Hells Angels is to commit offences and the profits of your offences have to be paid into the club," he said. "That's not true, the only way they raise money is by selling T-shirts, hats, calendars -- all that stuff you can buy on EBay."
"The Hells Angels are not a criminal organization but they are anti-establishment. They go against the grain of society."
According to the Hells Angels official webpage, if you have to ask how to join the Hells Angels, "you won't understand the answer." Criminal Intelligence Organization Canada (CISC) said the Hells Angels "remains the largest and most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang in Canada" in their 2004 annual report. In 2007, police in Ontario arrested 31 alleged Hells Angels in an operation called Project Develop.
At the time, police said the raids dealt a significant blow to the organization's flagship chapter in Toronto, said to be the largest in the country.
The Toronto Hells Angels clubhouse was seized as well as $500,000 in vehicles, drugs, weapons and more than $500,000 in cash.