Canada: U.S. biker gang eyes Canada

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Biker Gangs coming to a Town near you?

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What is seen as a lucrative market,  Canada may soon seen "Mongol Gang Colours" on our streets. Streets some Gang members may view "Paved with Money" for Drugs, Prostitution and Criminal activities ripe for the taking. Biker Gang culture glorified in Movies seem glamourous for some. Perhaps Prime Minister Harpers new Crime Bill will take the profitability factor out for some Bikers.

url="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2007/10/20/4590857-sun.html"]A U.S. biker gang seeking to gain ground in Canada has set its sights on recruiting Bandidos members across the country, a source told Sun Media.

The California-based Mongols Motorcycle Club has been trying to recruit Bandidos members in Canada over the past three months, said the source, a former Bandidos member.

As reported yesterday, the Bandidos organization, a Texas-based biker gang with worldwide membership, claims on its official Canadian website that it no longer has any members in Canada.

Meanwhile, a Canadian flag is now featured on the Mongols' website along with messages on its guestbook from people claiming to be members of Red Power, one of the Bandidos support clubs in Manitoba.

In one of the messages posted on the guestbook, a user calling himself the Red Power president in "Peg city" welcomed the Mongols.

"Greetings from canada (sic) ... hope to see your club riding through out (sic) our regions ..."

Winnipeg police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Dennison said he's not aware of recruiting by the Mongols in Canada.

If the Mongols do intend to establish themselves in Canada, violence could break out with the rival Hells Angels motorcycle club, said the former Bandidos member.

"There's going to be a war for sure," he said.

Edward Winterhalder, a leading authority on biker clubs, said the Hells and Mongols generally don't get along.

"They don't associate," said Winterhalder. "And when they meet there's usually a fight, at least a fistfight."

Winterhalder, a former high-ranking member of the Bandidos and author of a number of books on bikers, said the Mongols are among the top three or four biker groups in the U.S.

TENSE RELATIONSHIP

In 2002, a clash inside a busy casino in Laughlin, Nev., between the Mongols and Hells Angels left three gang members dead.

It wouldn't be surprising, said Winterhalder, if Bandidos members turned to the Mongols because the Canadian Bandidos chapter has had a tense relationship with its U.S. counterpart.

"The U.S. Bandidos leadership has failed to acknowledge that the Bandidos even exist in Canada," said Winterhalder.

Despite website claims the Bandidos in Canada were "shut down," sources told Sun Media last summer the club is in fact growing in Western Canada.

Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Dan Redmond, who runs Ontario's provincial joint forces biker enforcement unit, would neither confirm nor deny the Bandidos still operate in Canada but said police aren't about to take the website's claim as gospel.

"We will remain vigilant in our mission, which is outlaw motorcycle gangs," said Redmond. "We are aware of the Bandidos website, the accuracy of which should be taken with a grain of salt."

Redmond said it would be "naive" of police not to recognize that Canada represents a potentially lucrative market for outlaw motorcycle gangs. [/q]