The cocaine use in the Toronto Red Line Crew clubhouse was because he was feeling lonely and having “a pity party,” Atwell testified. David (Shaky Dave) Atwell met with another club member to discuss murdering a police agent, weeks before Atwell became a paid police agent himself, court heard today. Atwell testified in Superior Court about the meeting with local Hells Angel David Blackwood at an undisclosed location “around Lawrence Avenue and Kennedy” in the fall of 2005. “He wanted to discuss a matter with me,” Atwell told court. “What matter was that?” asked Glen Orr, the defence lawyer representing Thomas (Chubs) Bogiatzis, who faces cocaine trafficking charges. Bogiatzis is not a member of the Hells Angels. “Killing an agent in Project Shirlea,” Atwell replied in a soft voice.
Project Shirlea was a massive police operation in which more than 80 men accused of being outlaw bikers or associates were charged in the spring of 2003.
Atwell is now living under a new identity as part of the police witness protection program. Orr didn’t pursue questioning about the alleged murder plot against the unidentified police agent, as Atwell completed his third and final day of testimony as a Crown witness. There has been no mention by police of a police agent who was injured or killed. Instead, Orr pressed Atwell about whether he tampered with police efforts to secretly record a conversation he had with Bogiatzis.
Orr noted that Atwell was a long-time salesperson at a local store which specialized in secret listening and filming devices. Atwell held the senior position of Sergeant-at-Arms for the Hells Angels Downtown chapter, meaning he was in charge of security and club discipline. His duties included sweeping the former downtown Hells Angels’ clubhouse for hidden recording devices. Atwell denied he used a “jammer” to sabotage police attempts to record the conversation when he met with Bogiatzis and a man named Thomas (Fatty) Christodoulou at a burger restaurant across the street from Winston Churchill Collegiate on June 6, 2006.
“That’s not true,” Atwell said. “Not true?” Orr asked. “No, it’s not,” Atwell repeated. He said he only met with Bogiatzis for a minute or so at the meeting. Under questioning from Orr, he said that Bogiatzis repeatedly declined invitations to meet with him a second time. Atwell, who is being paid about $450,000 for his undercover work, told court that he used cocaine in the London, Ontario and Toronto clubhouses of a Hells Angels-affiliated club called the Red Line Crew while he was working as a police agent. He said the cocaine use in the London clubhouse was to “keep up appearances,” since he had a reputation as a frequent cocaine user.