"A former president of the Maine chapter of the Outlaws motorcycle gang has been sentenced to 15 months for his role in sanctioning the retaliation shooting of a rival Hell's Angels motorcycle gang member.
According to Journal Tribune of Biddeford, 41-year-old Thomas 'Taz' Benvie of Sanford was sentenced this month on one racketeering charge in Richmond, Va. Three other racketeering charges were dismissed.
Benvie was charged for his role in a 2009 shooting when two other Outlaws members shot a Hell's Angels member in central Maine as payback for an altercation between gang members in Connecticut.
Benvie was one of 27 Outlaws members and associates nationwide charged in a federal indictment last June.
During the roundup of suspects, Outlaws member Thomas 'Tomcat' Mayne was killed in a shoot-out with federal agents at his Old Orchard Beach home"
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Bikie figures don't lie, says Rann | Adelaide Now
FIGURES revealed by Premier Mike Rann show police have arrested or reported 210 bikie gang members since 2007.
The figures revealed yesterday by Mr Rann - copied below - also show police have arrested or reported 570 bikie gang associates, issued 217 licensed premises barring orders and 23 firearms prohibition orders since November 2007.
Mr Rann gave the figures as both he and Police Commissioner Mal Hyde hosed down speculation yesterday about a rift over the threat posed by outlaw bikie gangs in South Australia.
The speculation has again raised the issue of whether SA's anti-bikie laws are effective, with the Opposition reiterating they had only supported the bikie control legislation because police had urged them to.
Mr Rann said police had seized 33,245 street deals involving amphetamines, 63,061 of cannabis, 10,063 of ecstasy and 8481 of other drugs. In related crimes, police had seized 65 pistols, 132 other firearms and more than $1.25 million in cash."
The figures revealed yesterday by Mr Rann - copied below - also show police have arrested or reported 570 bikie gang associates, issued 217 licensed premises barring orders and 23 firearms prohibition orders since November 2007.
Mr Rann gave the figures as both he and Police Commissioner Mal Hyde hosed down speculation yesterday about a rift over the threat posed by outlaw bikie gangs in South Australia.
The speculation has again raised the issue of whether SA's anti-bikie laws are effective, with the Opposition reiterating they had only supported the bikie control legislation because police had urged them to.
Mr Rann said police had seized 33,245 street deals involving amphetamines, 63,061 of cannabis, 10,063 of ecstasy and 8481 of other drugs. In related crimes, police had seized 65 pistols, 132 other firearms and more than $1.25 million in cash."
arrested an alleged Outlaw Motorcycle Gang associate and seized a number of firearms.
Strike Force Raptor officers have arrested an alleged Outlaw Motorcycle Gang associate and seized a number of firearms.
About 7pm yesterday (Monday 24 January), Strike Force Raptor officers attended a home at Canterbury where an inspection was conducted in relation to the safe storage of firearms.
During the inspection police located and seized a pistol, a double barrel shotgun, a rifle, a bolt action rifle, and a lever action rifle, as well as a quantity of ammunition.
Following the inspection, a 34-year-old man attended Campsie Police Station. Police allege the man is an associate of the Hells Angels OMCG.
He was given a Future Court Attendance by police in relation to various firearm related offences including unauthorised possession of firearms and ammunition.
He will appear at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday 9 March, 2011.
The charges relate to a previous vehicle stop by police on Wednesday 19 January, 2011 in which police discovered the man had an expired firearms licence."
About 7pm yesterday (Monday 24 January), Strike Force Raptor officers attended a home at Canterbury where an inspection was conducted in relation to the safe storage of firearms.
During the inspection police located and seized a pistol, a double barrel shotgun, a rifle, a bolt action rifle, and a lever action rifle, as well as a quantity of ammunition.
Following the inspection, a 34-year-old man attended Campsie Police Station. Police allege the man is an associate of the Hells Angels OMCG.
He was given a Future Court Attendance by police in relation to various firearm related offences including unauthorised possession of firearms and ammunition.
He will appear at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday 9 March, 2011.
The charges relate to a previous vehicle stop by police on Wednesday 19 January, 2011 in which police discovered the man had an expired firearms licence."
Hells Angel opens up over brother's death
HELLS Angel Peter Zervas is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of the fatal Sydney Airport brawl and is only now beginning to open up about his brother's death, a court heard today.
Mr Zervas is facing a sentencing hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on a charge of affray in relation to the fatal fight on March 22, 2009.
His brother, and bikie associate Anthony Zervas, was killed during the brawl between the Hells Angels and Comanchero gangs.
Just a week later, Mr Zervas was shot multiple times outside his mother's house.
Mr Zervas pleaded guilty to the charge last October, with the crown withdrawing a riot charge.
Forensic psychologist Timothy Watson Munroe told the hearing he feared Mr Zerva's rehabilitation would deteriorate if he were to enter custody over the offence.
'He is starting to open up...and starting to acknowledge that he is gaining some benefit from speaking with me,' Mr Watson Munroe told Magistrate John Favretto."
Mr Zervas is facing a sentencing hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on a charge of affray in relation to the fatal fight on March 22, 2009.
His brother, and bikie associate Anthony Zervas, was killed during the brawl between the Hells Angels and Comanchero gangs.
Just a week later, Mr Zervas was shot multiple times outside his mother's house.
Mr Zervas pleaded guilty to the charge last October, with the crown withdrawing a riot charge.
Forensic psychologist Timothy Watson Munroe told the hearing he feared Mr Zerva's rehabilitation would deteriorate if he were to enter custody over the offence.
'He is starting to open up...and starting to acknowledge that he is gaining some benefit from speaking with me,' Mr Watson Munroe told Magistrate John Favretto."
Korean actor sent to jail for drug use, smuggling meth from PH | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online
Korean actor sent to jail for drug use, smuggling meth from PH | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "sentenced Korean actor Kim Sung Min, 38, to two years and six months of imprisonment for importing and using methamphetamine.
Kim’s sentence was handed down by the Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 24. In addition, Kim was ordered to pay a fine of 904,500 won (about P36,000).
The court ruling also revealed that the actor bought the illegal drugs in the Philippines in 2008 and 2009 and smuggled it to South Korea by hiding it in his underwear.
Kim was arrested last December at his home for possession of methamphetamine. In addition, he was suspected of smoking marijuana.
During the trial, prosecutors demanded that the court sentence Kim to four years in prison.
However, Kim told the court that he deeply regretted his actions and appealed for leniency.
He argued that he took drugs because of depression due to personal and financial problems. His arrest also cost him his TV show.
Kim starred in many Korean dramas including “Before and After: Plastic Surgery Clinic,” “The Reputable Family,” “Family’s Honor” and “Give Me Food.”"
Kim’s sentence was handed down by the Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 24. In addition, Kim was ordered to pay a fine of 904,500 won (about P36,000).
The court ruling also revealed that the actor bought the illegal drugs in the Philippines in 2008 and 2009 and smuggled it to South Korea by hiding it in his underwear.
Kim was arrested last December at his home for possession of methamphetamine. In addition, he was suspected of smoking marijuana.
During the trial, prosecutors demanded that the court sentence Kim to four years in prison.
However, Kim told the court that he deeply regretted his actions and appealed for leniency.
He argued that he took drugs because of depression due to personal and financial problems. His arrest also cost him his TV show.
Kim starred in many Korean dramas including “Before and After: Plastic Surgery Clinic,” “The Reputable Family,” “Family’s Honor” and “Give Me Food.”"
Friday, 7 January 2011
Derby sex abuse gang leaders jailed | UK news | The Guardian
Derby sex abuse gang leaders jailed | UK news | The Guardian: "ringleaders of a gang who groomed vulnerable girls for sex were given indefinite prison sentences today .
Abid Mohammed Saddique, 27, and Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, 28 from Derby – both married with children – were described by a judge at Nottingham crown court as 'sexual predators' who subjected their victims to a 'reign of terror'.
Saddique was jailed for a minimum of 11 years before he is eligible for parole and Liaqat for eight years.
Judge Philip Head told Saddique: 'Your crimes can only be described as evil,' adding he was an 'evil, manipulative and controlling' character who was a continuing danger to young girls.
'You are in the truest sense a sexual predator with a voracious sexual appetite that you gratified as frequently as possible in a variety of ways.'
He said the pair's attitude was 'sex at any price' as they and others embarked on what he described as a 'reign of terror on girls in Derby'."
Abid Mohammed Saddique, 27, and Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, 28 from Derby – both married with children – were described by a judge at Nottingham crown court as 'sexual predators' who subjected their victims to a 'reign of terror'.
Saddique was jailed for a minimum of 11 years before he is eligible for parole and Liaqat for eight years.
Judge Philip Head told Saddique: 'Your crimes can only be described as evil,' adding he was an 'evil, manipulative and controlling' character who was a continuing danger to young girls.
'You are in the truest sense a sexual predator with a voracious sexual appetite that you gratified as frequently as possible in a variety of ways.'
He said the pair's attitude was 'sex at any price' as they and others embarked on what he described as a 'reign of terror on girls in Derby'."
David Chaytor jailed for 18 months over false expenses claim | Politics | The Guardian
David Chaytor jailed for 18 months over false expenses claim | Politics | The Guardian: "former Labour MP David Chaytor behind bars tonight beginning an 18-month jail sentence after admitting claiming false parliamentary expenses.
Chaytor, who as MP for Bury North tried to cheat taxpayers out of more than £22,000, looked gaunt but impassive as Mr Justice Saunders at Southwark crown court told him the expenses scandal had 'shaken public confidence in our legislature' and had 'angered the public'.
The first MP to be convicted and sentenced over the debacle, he was led from a reinforced glass-panelled dock and taken to Wandsworth prison, where he will be held until transferred to an open prison.
The 61-year-old may serve just four-and-a-half months if risk-assessed as eligible for the home detention curfew scheme, which could see him released with a tag as early as the end of May."
Chaytor, who as MP for Bury North tried to cheat taxpayers out of more than £22,000, looked gaunt but impassive as Mr Justice Saunders at Southwark crown court told him the expenses scandal had 'shaken public confidence in our legislature' and had 'angered the public'.
The first MP to be convicted and sentenced over the debacle, he was led from a reinforced glass-panelled dock and taken to Wandsworth prison, where he will be held until transferred to an open prison.
The 61-year-old may serve just four-and-a-half months if risk-assessed as eligible for the home detention curfew scheme, which could see him released with a tag as early as the end of May."
Michael Jackson - Doctor: 'Jackson Was Dead An Hour Before He Arrived At Hospital' - Contactmusic News
Michael Jackson - Doctor: 'Jackson Was Dead An Hour Before He Arrived At Hospital' - Contactmusic News: "MICHAEL JACKSON was dead an hour before his body arrived at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in June, 2009, according to testimony from emergency room doctor RICHELLE COOPER.
The doctor took the stand at an ongoing preliminary hearing which will dictate whether or not Jackson's physician Dr. Conrad Murray will stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges relating to the King of Pop's death.
Cooper revealed she gave paramedics who raced to the singer's rented Holmby Hills, Los Angeles home the authorisation to pronounce the Thriller singer dead.
However, Murray - who found the star's lifeless body in his bedroom - insisted they try to resuscitate the King of Pop for almost an hour.
Cooper told the court on Thursday (06Jan10) she authorised paramedics to pronounce Jackson dead at 12.57pm on 25 June, 2009, but they declined at Murray's request - and because of the singer's celebrity."
The doctor took the stand at an ongoing preliminary hearing which will dictate whether or not Jackson's physician Dr. Conrad Murray will stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges relating to the King of Pop's death.
Cooper revealed she gave paramedics who raced to the singer's rented Holmby Hills, Los Angeles home the authorisation to pronounce the Thriller singer dead.
However, Murray - who found the star's lifeless body in his bedroom - insisted they try to resuscitate the King of Pop for almost an hour.
Cooper told the court on Thursday (06Jan10) she authorised paramedics to pronounce Jackson dead at 12.57pm on 25 June, 2009, but they declined at Murray's request - and because of the singer's celebrity."
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Builder charged with threatening subcontractors - San Jose Mercury News
Builder charged with threatening subcontractors - San Jose Mercury News: "Southern California builder has been charged with threatening to unleash his Hells Angels biker gang pals on unhappy subcontractors.
Riverside County prosecutors say 47-year-old James Albert Bradley of Temecula has pleaded not guilty to grand theft, criminal street gang activity, possession of steroids and making criminal threats.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports Tuesday that the alleged threats were first reported to Murrieta police last spring. A subcontractor told investigators that Bradley threatened to have 150 Hells Angels come after him because of a dispute over failure to pay for cabinet installations.
Two other subcontractors made similar allegations.
Bradley, the owner of J.A. Bradley Construction, is a Hells Angels member."
Riverside County prosecutors say 47-year-old James Albert Bradley of Temecula has pleaded not guilty to grand theft, criminal street gang activity, possession of steroids and making criminal threats.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports Tuesday that the alleged threats were first reported to Murrieta police last spring. A subcontractor told investigators that Bradley threatened to have 150 Hells Angels come after him because of a dispute over failure to pay for cabinet installations.
Two other subcontractors made similar allegations.
Bradley, the owner of J.A. Bradley Construction, is a Hells Angels member."
Dupuy’s role as leader of the Bo-Gars has been common knowledge among gang members for decades
Its leader has spent almost all of the last three years behind bars, and there’s a chance that is where he’ll be for another three.
But as Chenier (Big) Dupuy waits in a detention centre – expecting to learn in February whether he will serve up to another 40 months for drug trafficking – the Bo-Gars, a street gang he is alleged to lead, appear to be very active.
Several details about the Bo-Gars were recently revealed while sentence arguments were made in Dupuy’s drug trafficking case last month. Unlike most gangs based in northeastern Montreal, which fade after a few years, the Bo-Gars have been around for two decades with Dupuy, 34, at the helm the whole time. He sports a tattoo on his right shoulder depicting a firearm pointed at a head with the inscription “Only Stronger Survive.”
According to Det.-Sgt. Jean-Claude Gauthier, a Montreal police street gang expert who testified at Dupuy’s sentence hearing, the Bo-Gars are an offshoot of a defunct gang called the Master B that emerged from Montreal North in 1985 and was founded by Beauvoir Jean, 46, a man who now counsels youth on how to avoid joining gangs. (The B in Master B was taken from Jean’s first name.)
In a report submitted to Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Boyer, Gauthier describes the Bo-Gars, estimated to have 18 members, as having “the leadership level above all the gangs in the Red alliance. The Bo-Gars gang is principally active in the Montreal North and Rivière des Prairies sectors. They also have activities outside the province. The criminal activities of the Bo-Gars include murder, attempted murder, drive-by shootings, infractions related to firearms, drug trafficking (in particular, crack), break-ins, armed robbery and pimping.”
The Red alliance that Gauthier mentions is a grouping of street gangs who refer to themselves as Bloods. Their sometimes rivals are grouped under the Blue, or Crips, alliance.
Dupuy’s first gang-related arrest as an adult was on weapons charges in 1995 when police in Toronto, acting on a tip from Montreal police, arrested four members of the Bo-Gars. The police suspected they were in Toronto to send a violent message to a rival group by disrupting a Caribbean festival. In the follow-up to the arrests, Toronto police learned one of the four men they arrested had rented five motel rooms in the city. The rooms were raided and five more gang members were arrested, including Dupuy and his older brother Charles-Yves. All of the men were armed.
Gauthier said Charles-Yves, 39, was a member of the Master B and probably set the example his younger sibling followed. The older brother is alleged to be a member of the Bo-Gars, but Chenier is considered the gang’s leader.
Dupuy denies even being part of the Bo-Gars. During sentencing arguments, he said, in reference to Gauthier’s testimony: “There is nothing that can prove that I am in the gang. It’s just blah, blah, blah.”
His lawyer, Serge Lamontagne, was more eloquent. After sentencing arguments, he told reporters that police are too quick to assume the existence of a gang.
“We shouldn’t forget territorial questions involve people going to the same schools, living in same ghettos and so they are often together. They are together and do things like smoke (pot) or other small things, and (the police) say ‘they’re a gang,’ so we all say ‘they’re a gang.’ We have to stop this,” Lamontagne said.
Dupuy’s role as leader of the Bo-Gars has been common knowledge among gang members for decades, Gauthier said during the hearing.
“He is known. Even the rivals know he is the leader,” Gauthier said, adding that in 2002, while members of the Bo-Gars were investigated for stealing firearms from people advertising their sale in classified ads, Dupuy was recorded on a wiretap telling his sister he was the head of the gang and had territory to protect.
To further his point, Gauthier recounted how Beauvoir Jean was recently the target of a shooting in Montreal North in June. Jean approached two men arguing outside a strip mall on Pascal St. and tried to calm things down. He later told police that Philistin Paul, 32, a man known to associate with Bloods, punched him in the face and fired a shot in his direction. Jean told police, in a videotaped statement, that he believed Paul was trying to make a statement that he now controlled Montreal North. He said Paul mistakenly assumed that Dupuis “got five years” in the drug trafficking case and Paul was now “boss of the neighbourhood.”
Paul has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting, and his trial is scheduled to resume this month.
Dupuy insists he is not a gang member and accuses police of targeting him whenever he finishes serving a sentence. In arguing that he is not a chronic repeat offender, Dupuis claims to have invested money in a hair salon in St. Léonard and to be involved in the music career of Fritz Gérald Michel, 37, who is also known as King and has recorded rap songs under that name. Police say they believe Michel is involved with the Bloods. Dupuy said Michel recently signed a contract with a major recording label in Europe.
Michel and known members of the Bo-Gars were with Dupuy on Dec. 22, 2007, when the alleged gang leader was arrested inside Café Univers in Laval as police responded to a 911 call about a fight. When officers arrived, an employee told them they could find a very large and aggressive man inside the manager’s office.
When officers entered the office, Dupuy greeted them and tried to convince them he was just settling a matter with the manager. The manager then blurted out that Dupuy was armed. Dupuy was grabbed by the officers, who found he was carrying a 9-millimetre firearm.
Dupuy was kept in custody while he was charged with intimidation, assault and uttering threats in the Café Univers case. He pleaded guilty, on May 8, 2008, to possession of a prohibited and loaded weapon, assault and uttering threats. He was sentenced to six months and was released from a detention centre on Sept. 7, 2008.
Michel was also with Dupuy on Sept. 10, 2008, three days after he was released, at the Solid Gold strip club on St. Laurent Blvd.
Dupuy got into an argument with seven men believed to be members of the Kraz Brizz, a rival gang. Someone among the group of seven tried to shoot Dupuy as he and Michel headed for the exit. Dupuy jumped on the hood of a taxi parked outside the strip bar. The driver, spooked by the sound of gunshots, drove off and then stopped about a block away, with Dupuy still clinging to the hood.
It was Dupuy’s evasive answers to police after the shooting that led them to conduct surveillance on a Laval apartment where he lived. Investigators also had information from sources who told them Dupuy spoke of taking over drug trafficking in Montreal North and Rivière des Prairies as he neared the end of his sentence in September 2008. It took police about seven weeks to gather enough evidence to have Dupuy picked up for drug trafficking in October 2008, and he has been in custody since.
At least three other men considered to be Bo-Gars members, or associates of the gang, have criminal cases pending against them, and another member was recently targeted in a gang-related shooting.
Eneck Baptiste, 35, was recently the victim of a shooting inside the Red Lite after-hours club in Laval. On Nov. 6, Laval police showed up at the club while responding to a call about shots fired inside. When they arrived, they couldn’t find anyone who had been shot. But they soon learned Baptiste, who was with Dupuy when he was arrested at Café Univers in 2007, had shown up at a nearby hospital in a taxi. He was reported to be in critical condition, but managed to leave the hospital days later.
Musset St. Cyr, 26, a man with known ties to a gang affiliated with the Reds, has been charged with attempted murder in Laval court and has a bail hearing scheduled for Jan. 17.
Another sign the Bo-Gars are active involves charges of intimidation and uttering threats filed in Montreal last year against Charles-Yves Dupuy.
Edison Saintil, 26, another reputed member of the Bo-Gars, faces 11 charges alleging he tried to run down at least three people with his car after an altercation outside the Sunrise after-hours club on Viau St. near the Metropolitan Blvd. He is charged with damaging at least six cars in the parking lot of the club on Feb. 7 and with assault using a weapon, his car. On Dec. 16, a judge who heard the preliminary inquiry in the case decided there was enough evidence to go to trial. What happened that night outside the after-hours club is not believed to be gang-related.
Chenier Dupuy will learn on Feb. 18 whether he will be sentenced to about 40 months in prison, as the prosecution is seeking, or a symbolic one-day sentence on top of the time he has already spent behind bars since his arrest.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Gars+just+away/4059976/story.html#ixzz1AHlUIDdF
But as Chenier (Big) Dupuy waits in a detention centre – expecting to learn in February whether he will serve up to another 40 months for drug trafficking – the Bo-Gars, a street gang he is alleged to lead, appear to be very active.
Several details about the Bo-Gars were recently revealed while sentence arguments were made in Dupuy’s drug trafficking case last month. Unlike most gangs based in northeastern Montreal, which fade after a few years, the Bo-Gars have been around for two decades with Dupuy, 34, at the helm the whole time. He sports a tattoo on his right shoulder depicting a firearm pointed at a head with the inscription “Only Stronger Survive.”
According to Det.-Sgt. Jean-Claude Gauthier, a Montreal police street gang expert who testified at Dupuy’s sentence hearing, the Bo-Gars are an offshoot of a defunct gang called the Master B that emerged from Montreal North in 1985 and was founded by Beauvoir Jean, 46, a man who now counsels youth on how to avoid joining gangs. (The B in Master B was taken from Jean’s first name.)
In a report submitted to Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Boyer, Gauthier describes the Bo-Gars, estimated to have 18 members, as having “the leadership level above all the gangs in the Red alliance. The Bo-Gars gang is principally active in the Montreal North and Rivière des Prairies sectors. They also have activities outside the province. The criminal activities of the Bo-Gars include murder, attempted murder, drive-by shootings, infractions related to firearms, drug trafficking (in particular, crack), break-ins, armed robbery and pimping.”
The Red alliance that Gauthier mentions is a grouping of street gangs who refer to themselves as Bloods. Their sometimes rivals are grouped under the Blue, or Crips, alliance.
Dupuy’s first gang-related arrest as an adult was on weapons charges in 1995 when police in Toronto, acting on a tip from Montreal police, arrested four members of the Bo-Gars. The police suspected they were in Toronto to send a violent message to a rival group by disrupting a Caribbean festival. In the follow-up to the arrests, Toronto police learned one of the four men they arrested had rented five motel rooms in the city. The rooms were raided and five more gang members were arrested, including Dupuy and his older brother Charles-Yves. All of the men were armed.
Gauthier said Charles-Yves, 39, was a member of the Master B and probably set the example his younger sibling followed. The older brother is alleged to be a member of the Bo-Gars, but Chenier is considered the gang’s leader.
Dupuy denies even being part of the Bo-Gars. During sentencing arguments, he said, in reference to Gauthier’s testimony: “There is nothing that can prove that I am in the gang. It’s just blah, blah, blah.”
His lawyer, Serge Lamontagne, was more eloquent. After sentencing arguments, he told reporters that police are too quick to assume the existence of a gang.
“We shouldn’t forget territorial questions involve people going to the same schools, living in same ghettos and so they are often together. They are together and do things like smoke (pot) or other small things, and (the police) say ‘they’re a gang,’ so we all say ‘they’re a gang.’ We have to stop this,” Lamontagne said.
Dupuy’s role as leader of the Bo-Gars has been common knowledge among gang members for decades, Gauthier said during the hearing.
“He is known. Even the rivals know he is the leader,” Gauthier said, adding that in 2002, while members of the Bo-Gars were investigated for stealing firearms from people advertising their sale in classified ads, Dupuy was recorded on a wiretap telling his sister he was the head of the gang and had territory to protect.
To further his point, Gauthier recounted how Beauvoir Jean was recently the target of a shooting in Montreal North in June. Jean approached two men arguing outside a strip mall on Pascal St. and tried to calm things down. He later told police that Philistin Paul, 32, a man known to associate with Bloods, punched him in the face and fired a shot in his direction. Jean told police, in a videotaped statement, that he believed Paul was trying to make a statement that he now controlled Montreal North. He said Paul mistakenly assumed that Dupuis “got five years” in the drug trafficking case and Paul was now “boss of the neighbourhood.”
Paul has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting, and his trial is scheduled to resume this month.
Dupuy insists he is not a gang member and accuses police of targeting him whenever he finishes serving a sentence. In arguing that he is not a chronic repeat offender, Dupuis claims to have invested money in a hair salon in St. Léonard and to be involved in the music career of Fritz Gérald Michel, 37, who is also known as King and has recorded rap songs under that name. Police say they believe Michel is involved with the Bloods. Dupuy said Michel recently signed a contract with a major recording label in Europe.
Michel and known members of the Bo-Gars were with Dupuy on Dec. 22, 2007, when the alleged gang leader was arrested inside Café Univers in Laval as police responded to a 911 call about a fight. When officers arrived, an employee told them they could find a very large and aggressive man inside the manager’s office.
When officers entered the office, Dupuy greeted them and tried to convince them he was just settling a matter with the manager. The manager then blurted out that Dupuy was armed. Dupuy was grabbed by the officers, who found he was carrying a 9-millimetre firearm.
Dupuy was kept in custody while he was charged with intimidation, assault and uttering threats in the Café Univers case. He pleaded guilty, on May 8, 2008, to possession of a prohibited and loaded weapon, assault and uttering threats. He was sentenced to six months and was released from a detention centre on Sept. 7, 2008.
Michel was also with Dupuy on Sept. 10, 2008, three days after he was released, at the Solid Gold strip club on St. Laurent Blvd.
Dupuy got into an argument with seven men believed to be members of the Kraz Brizz, a rival gang. Someone among the group of seven tried to shoot Dupuy as he and Michel headed for the exit. Dupuy jumped on the hood of a taxi parked outside the strip bar. The driver, spooked by the sound of gunshots, drove off and then stopped about a block away, with Dupuy still clinging to the hood.
It was Dupuy’s evasive answers to police after the shooting that led them to conduct surveillance on a Laval apartment where he lived. Investigators also had information from sources who told them Dupuy spoke of taking over drug trafficking in Montreal North and Rivière des Prairies as he neared the end of his sentence in September 2008. It took police about seven weeks to gather enough evidence to have Dupuy picked up for drug trafficking in October 2008, and he has been in custody since.
At least three other men considered to be Bo-Gars members, or associates of the gang, have criminal cases pending against them, and another member was recently targeted in a gang-related shooting.
Eneck Baptiste, 35, was recently the victim of a shooting inside the Red Lite after-hours club in Laval. On Nov. 6, Laval police showed up at the club while responding to a call about shots fired inside. When they arrived, they couldn’t find anyone who had been shot. But they soon learned Baptiste, who was with Dupuy when he was arrested at Café Univers in 2007, had shown up at a nearby hospital in a taxi. He was reported to be in critical condition, but managed to leave the hospital days later.
Musset St. Cyr, 26, a man with known ties to a gang affiliated with the Reds, has been charged with attempted murder in Laval court and has a bail hearing scheduled for Jan. 17.
Another sign the Bo-Gars are active involves charges of intimidation and uttering threats filed in Montreal last year against Charles-Yves Dupuy.
Edison Saintil, 26, another reputed member of the Bo-Gars, faces 11 charges alleging he tried to run down at least three people with his car after an altercation outside the Sunrise after-hours club on Viau St. near the Metropolitan Blvd. He is charged with damaging at least six cars in the parking lot of the club on Feb. 7 and with assault using a weapon, his car. On Dec. 16, a judge who heard the preliminary inquiry in the case decided there was enough evidence to go to trial. What happened that night outside the after-hours club is not believed to be gang-related.
Chenier Dupuy will learn on Feb. 18 whether he will be sentenced to about 40 months in prison, as the prosecution is seeking, or a symbolic one-day sentence on top of the time he has already spent behind bars since his arrest.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Gars+just+away/4059976/story.html#ixzz1AHlUIDdF
Gordon Ramsay doused in petrol by gang - Monsters and Critics
Gordon Ramsay doused in petrol by gang - Monsters and Critics: "TV chef Gordon Ramsay was doused in petrol in a terrifying ordeal while investigating illegal fishing for a new TV series.
Ramsay who went to Costa Rica to look into the illegal trade of shark fins for Channel 4's Big Fish Fight TV series, told Live magazine: 'It's a multi-billion-dollar industry, completely unregulated. We traced some of the biggest culprits to Costa Rica.
'The day before we got there, a Taiwanese crew landed a haul of hammerhead sharks - police searched the boat and found cocaine. These gangs operate from places that are like forts, with barbed-wire perimeters and gun towers."
Ramsay who went to Costa Rica to look into the illegal trade of shark fins for Channel 4's Big Fish Fight TV series, told Live magazine: 'It's a multi-billion-dollar industry, completely unregulated. We traced some of the biggest culprits to Costa Rica.
'The day before we got there, a Taiwanese crew landed a haul of hammerhead sharks - police searched the boat and found cocaine. These gangs operate from places that are like forts, with barbed-wire perimeters and gun towers."