NANAIMO — Hundreds of Hells Angels from across Canada spent Saturday partying at the local chapter’s biker clubhouse, right next door to the one raided by the RCMP almost 11 years ago.
Attendees from as far away as P.E.I. and Nova Scotia began arriving Friday under the watchful eye of B.C.’s anti-gang agency — the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit — and other police forces.
Dozens of additional bikers rode over on the ferry Saturday, arriving in almost procession-like fashion at the Nanaimo compound to celebrate the Hells Angels’ 35th anniversary in B.C.
The old Hells Angels’ clubhouse at 805 Victoria Rd. remains behind a blue metal fence, a large No Trespassing sign hanging on the dilapidated building. It is the subject of an ongoing court battle between the Hells Angels and the B.C. director of civil forfeiture that began with the clubhouse raid in November 2007.
The warehouselike structure, with an assessed value this year of $104,000, no longer bears any markings of the notorious biker gang.
But right beside it, the Nanaimo Hells Angels have established an even bigger compound in two houses surrounded by gravel.
One of the properties being used is owned by Angels Acres, the same biker-owned corporation that was named as a defendant in the civi-forfeiture case. The house, which has a new garage added on with Hells Angels signs inside, has a current assessed value of $242,000.
The second house, assessed at $303,000, is owned by Jeffrey Scott Pasanen, according to land title records.
Pasanen, a convicted drug trafficker, is a full-patch member of the Nanaimo chapter.
CFSEU and the other agencies in town to monitor the event took photographs as bikers mingled, did curfew checks on known HA associates and patrolled the streets in and around the party compound.
“Part of their presence here is to intimidate the public, intimidate and cause fear among rival criminal organizations and to re-establish or reaffirm that they are essentially the top dog,” said CFSEU Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton.
“We are here to keep them in check and make sure that nothing bad happens.”
The bikers seem to be friendly with many in the neighbourhood. Several area residents said they have no problem with the Hells Angels, but they didn’t want to be quoted.
Houghton said his agency is trying to educate the public about the Hells Angels’ link to organized crime in B.C., Canada and even abroad.
“British Columbia Hells Angels have a significant influence and presence worldwide, not just within the Hells Angels organization itself, but within criminal organizations worldwide,” he said, adding that they control the drug trade in most of the places they operate.
“The public needs to realize that this clubhouse isn’t just a clubhouse for fun. This is the clubhouse of a criminal organization and a major one at that.”
Asked about the fact the Nanaimo chapter re-established a clubhouse despite the civil forfeiture case, Houghton said: “It is continued motivation for us to not just target them overtly, but covertly as well. It is no secret that we look for every opportunity to investigate them.”
