Like company Christmas parties’: Hells Angels member describes national gathering in Calgary
Uniformed and intelligence police officers will be monitoring Hells Angels this weekend in Calgary
By Bill Kaufmann
Published Jul 17, 2025
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/like-company-christmas-parties-hells-angels-member-describes-national-gathering-in-calgary
Hundreds of Hells Angels members from across Canada gathering in Calgary on the weekend will enjoy a good-natured get-together akin to a company Christmas party, a member of the club’s Calgary chapter said Thursday.
On Wednesday, a public advisory about the gathering held annually in different parts of Canada was issued by city police, who, along with other law enforcement agencies, view the motorcycle club as a violent organized crime outfit involved in drug trafficking and other activities.
But the long-time Calgary member called that “propaganda” and noted the police statement predicted there’d likely be no trouble coming from him and his colleagues during the Friday and Saturday event.
“We don’t get to see our young guys so it’s just to have a party to get to know everybody,” said the man, who didn’t want to be identified.
“It’s like any company, you have your Christmas parties.”
A circus tent has been set up for the party at the local Hells Angels clubhouse in southeast Calgary where up to 600 members hailing from every province will eat, drink and socialize, he said.
Among them, he said, will be about 25 members of the club’s two Calgary chapters.
Shuttles will be provided to take attendees to their hotels afterwards “so nobody drinks and drives,” added the man, who said he’s been a full-fledged member for 26 years.
Police said they’ll be closely monitoring “those attending and ensuring they abide by the law, including the Traffic Safety Act.”
The Calgary club member said he expects officers to be doing just that, noting the weather forecast is for rain.
“They’ll likely have hundreds watching the party and good on them — I hope they get wet,” he said.
Even so, the man said Calgary police tend to be more easy-going with club members compared to those in Winnipeg and Edmonton, the latter who are “in your face, trying to push your buttons.”
On Thursday afternoon, motorists spotted about 10 Hells Angels wearing Toronto-area patches heading westwards on the TransCanada Hwy. around Medicine Hat.
Calgary Hells Angels have criminal history in the city
Since its inception in California in 1948, the group has been involved in a number of deadly turf wars, including in Canada.
The Hells Angels first gained a foothold in Alberta in July 1997 with the takeover of the Grim Reapers. At the time, the group had chapters in Lethbridge, Red Deer, Edmonton and Calgary.
In February 2001, the trial began in the case of former club president Kenneth Szczerba, who was accused of plotting to blow up the homes of alderman Dale Hodges and two other people. Hodges was a strong opponent of the Angels’ clubhouse being built. Szczerba was later found guilty.
City police raided the Hells Angels’ Calgary clubhouse in Ogden and other locations in March 2001, seizing 11 kg of cocaine and other drugs along with weapons. Charges were laid against 43 people, eight of them members of the club’s Calgary chapter.
The club member said that was a long time ago and police have little to show for their efforts against them since, suggesting law enforcement rhetoric against them “is a way to keep their budgets nice and fat.”
) and 100 per cent, we’re just working guys who pay our taxes … but we’re not all angels,” he said, adding he’s a father of five who operates a flooring tile company.
Any time a member is arrested or convicted of criminal activity, it’s simply an individual matter of wrongdoing unrelated to the club, said the man.
Police expect Hells Angels will be promoting members
But a city police officer tasked with monitoring the Hells Angels said it’s preposterous to suggest the group isn’t an organized criminal entity.
“They have been court-qualified as a criminal organization over a number of years and you’d have to be wilfully blind to all of this information to think otherwise … There’s no longer an excuse,” said Acting Insp. Matthew Gow of the CPS organized crime section.
It’s mandatory, he said, for all 34 Canadian Hells Angels chapters to send representatives to the Calgary meet-up, along with those from their support clubs, adding he expects between 500 and 1,000 people to attend.
“We’re no strangers to managing motorcycle events and this is a larger one, so we have a larger posture,” said G“We not only have uniformed members but intelligence officers from across Canada are already on the ground collecting intelligence.”
It’s likely the bikers will conduct business while in Calgary, including conducting promotions and position changes, said Gow.
“If my people are spread across the country, would I use a concentration like this as an opportunity to conduct business? I’d say yes,” he said.
Calgarians can expect to see a significant group of Hells Angels and affiliated bike riders on local streets during their organized ride, whose numbers could pose a danger to the public “depending on their behaviour,” said Gow.
Another concern, he said, is the unsettling presence Hells Angels members wearing their highly visible patches bring to public settings, such as restaurants or bars where they’ll be evicted by officers, said Gow.
“We’re not going to allow intimidation to drive our citizens away from licensed places,” he said.
“If all things go well, this group will come and go without incident.”
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
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