Simcoe County Gets HAMC Chapter

[Greg Carr]

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Photo : Stan Howe

A sign announcing the Hells Angels Simcoe County charter was recently
added to a clubhouse on McKay Road (Conc. 10) on Barrie’s border with
Innisfil.






















Innisfil Journal by Rick Vanderlinde


The Hells Angels are letting anyone who passes by their south Barrie
clubhouse know they are back.

The notorious motorcycle club has added a large backlit sign to their
36 McKay Road (Conc. 10) clubhouse bearing the Hell Angels logo and
the words: “Hells Angels Simcoe County”.

“It’s not against the law to have a sign,” OPP Sgt. Peter Leon said.
“It’s certainly a different approach. They usually keep a low profile
and pretty much keep to themselves.”

It’s not clear when the sign went up on the sprawling farm property
that includes about a dozen house trailers, but it’s been there for at
least 10 days.

A long-time neighbour in the area was aware the home had been used as
clubhouse by bikers for several years, but hadn’t noticed the sign
announcing the Simcoe County charter.

“They’ve never bothered anyone in anyway that I’ve ever heard,” the
resident said. “They’re not going to dirty up their own backyard. I
know the police come by and keep an eye on them.”

Police have been aware of the location for years and have set up
surveillance during large parties in the summer, Leon said.

“Anyone going in and out of there would be aware that they could be
pulled over at anytime,” Leon said. “Our biker enforcement unit
monitors them and I’m sure is aware of the sign going up.”

Toronto Star reporter and crime author Peter Edwards said putting the
sign up is “a bit cocky and in-your-face to police”.

The author of Bandido Massacre and other organized crime books said a
Simcoe County Hells Angels charter was disbanded a few years ago
because it wasn’t considered to be “up to snuff”.

“I imagine they are trying to make a statement after losing a charter
before,” Edwards said. “It’s certainly unusual to see a sign being put
up. It’s odd.”

The clubhouse had been in the jurisdiction of South Simcoe Police but
is now Barrie Police’s territory after the city annexed the area from
Innisfil in 2010.

The Hells Angels took a big hit in 2005 when Project Tandem used a
full-patch member to infiltrate the criminal organization and hand
evidence to police and prosecutors.

Terry Pink, the former president of Simcoe County’s Hells Angels, was
one of the bikers caught in an OPP sting. He was sentenced to 2-1/2
years in prison in 2009 for trafficking in 8,340 ecstasy pills for the
benefit of a criminal organization.

Pink sold the pills on four occasions in 2005 at his auto detailing
business in Woodbridge to Steven Gault, a fellow Hells Angels member
who was wearing a body pack to secretly record their conversations.

Edwards said a charter must have at least six members to be recognized
by the Hells Angels.

In the early 2000s, the Hells Angels began “patching all kinds of
members” to stave off a challenge from the Bandidos, he said. But with
the Bandidos out of Canada following the murder of eight members in
2006, the Hells Angels have no real rivals.

Edwards added the bikers are usually no threat to their surrounding
community.

“They generally will get along with the neighbours and ignore them or
be friendly or maybe standoffish,” he said. “They wouldn’t want to
give police a reason to go in there. There are usually very few drugs
inside and no guns. They’ve lost clubhouses before and that can be
costly.”