Author: terry.katz

Defense for Seabeck quadruple homicide suspects give opening statements
Two members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and one other man are suspected in the 2017 killings of a Seabeck family.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seabeck-quadruple-homicide-trial/281-74093398-9777-40ef-b576-67deac5c9a27
Author: KING 5 Staff Seattle Washington November 28, 2023

SEABECK, Wash. — Opening statements were made Monday and Tuesday in the trial of three men accused of killing four members of a Kitsap County family in 2017.
Investigators say the suspected murders were linked to drugs and money. It was years before investigators were able to make an arrest.
In January 2017, investigators found the bodies of Christale Careaga, 37; her son Jonathon Higgins, 16; and stepson Hunter Schapp, 16; in a burned-out home near Seabeck.
wo days later, police found the body of the Careaga’s husband, John Careaga, 43, in a car that had been set on fire in Mason County.
In January 2020, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office detectives linked the homicides to the notorious Bandidos Motorcycle Club and said members were directly involved in the killings.
Suspects Danie Kelly, Jr. and Robert Watson III were Bandido members, according to investigators. A third suspect, Watson’s younger brother, Johnny Watson, was not affiliated with the club.
According to investigators, John Careaga was selling cocaine. Some of his customers were Bandido members.
Kelly, according to investigators, was an entry-level member of the motorcycle club. Entry-level members are known as “hang arounds.” However, Kelly was promoted to “prospect” after the killings, according to investigators.
Watson III was vice president of the Bremerton Bandidos in 2017, according to investigators.
Investigators said information from Bandido members suggested Watson III changed his story when club members asked if he had been involved in the killings.
During the state’s opening statement on Monday, prosecutors said it was Hunter’s actions that kept the home from burning all the way down.
“The evidence will show you that this house would have burned all the way down – all the way down – but for Hunter. Hunter’s 911 call interrupted their whole process.”
On Tuesday, two of the three defense attorneys delivered opening statements.
The attorney representing one of the three suspects spent time questioning the credibility of one of the witnesses expected to testify.
“The time doesn’t work. The geography doesn’t work, and the math just doesn’t work,” said defense attorney Tom Weaver, who is representing suspect Danie Kelly.
Weaver went on to cast doubt on testimony the jury is expected to hear from a witness who came forward more than a year after the 2017 shooting and reported hearing 11 rounds fired from a single weapon.

“The murder weapon is either a .38 special or a .357 magnum, it’s a revolver – they hold between five or six bullets at a time. And we also know based upon the scene that a total of eight bullets were fired by the murders.”

NZ fraudster Miles McKelvy fights extradition to US on 400kg cocaine smuggling charge
By Craig Kapitan NZ Herald Auckland New Zealand. November 30, 2023

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/nz-fraudster-miles-mckelvy-fights-extradition-to-us-on-400kg-cocaine-smuggling-charge/Z7JYXKXM2FGODBFHKS2T2YMVAI/

A well-known convicted fraudster accused of scheming with an imprisoned double murderer, a trailblazing meth cook and two high-ranking Hells Angels members to import a huge haul of cocaine into the United States has argued the authorities have it wrong — he only intended to bring the drugs to New Zealand.
That was one of the arguments in the High Court at Auckland today as Miles John McKelvy, 65, appealed a district court judge’s decision in May paving the way for extradition to the US.
US federal prosecutors in Texas want to put McKelvy on trial alongside two currently at-large New Zealanders: Auckland Hells Angels member Murray Michael Matthews and chemist Marc Patrick Johnson, who has earned the criminal distinction of being one of New Zealand’s first meth cooks.
Authorities say the trio — with Romanian Hells Angels chapter president Marius Lazar and convicted double murderer Wen Hui Cui — were duped in 2020 by an undercover officer with the US Drug Enforcement Administration posing as a large-scale drug trafficker.
Cui, who was allegedly making arrangements from a phone smuggled into his Wiri prison cell, died in custody in 2021. Lazar, 50, has already been extradited from Romania and was two weeks ago found guilty by a Texas jury of the importing scheme and other charges. He awaits sentencing.
In all, US authorities say, the group was caught in the act of discussing and making nearly US$1 million ($1.62m) in payments for a 400kg cocaine shipment that was to originate in Peru then make its way to Beaumont, Texas, where it would be concealed inside machinery. The cocaine-laden machinery was then to be shipped to Romania before ending up in the Hells Angels’ distribution network in New Zealand, authorities said.
In communications with the undercover agent, authorities allege McKelvy confirmed his identity and his role within the tight-knit group: To help arrange transport documents and receive the cocaine when it arrived in New Zealand. At one point the agent asked McKelvy directly if he was aware the plan involved importing 400kg of cocaine, US law enforcement says.
“Yes, I’m very clear but this will work if we get the paperwork bang on,” he is alleged to have replied, also allegedly insisting at one point that he had “brought in lots” of drugs to New Zealand in the past.
He has been charged with conspiracy to import and export cocaine into and out of the US, as well as conspiracy to manufacture cocaine knowing it was likely to be imported into the US. If convicted in the US federal court, he will face a sentence of between 10 years and life in prison.
But the US should not have jurisdiction over the case, defence lawyers Hannah Stuart and Ron Mansfield, KC, argued today as they appealed the district court extradition decision to High Court Justice Christine Gordon.
That’s because there’s no evidence McKelvy knew the drugs were to be offloaded in Texas and repackaged, they argued, explaining that if he believed the drugs were to remain in international waters until they reached New Zealand then he couldn’t have been part of a US importation conspiracy.
Lawyer Ben Thompson, acting on behalf of the US Government, responded that it could be inferred McKelvy knew about the US plans based on his “deeply embedded role in the conspiracy”, which included getting the shipping paperwork in order.
Justice Gordon seemed to agree on the point, but the defence suggested she might be falling into the same trap that they suggested had tripped up District Court Judge Peter Winter.
While McKelvy might have known from shipping documents that the illegal load would be going from Peru “to” Beaumont, Texas, that’s not the same as knowing it was going “into” Beaumont, Mansfield argued, explaining that his client might have believed the drugs were to stay on the ship as it docked for other business.
While the US indictment makes note of an alleged plan to hide the drugs inside machinery while in Texas, that’s not part of the formal “record of case” the United States submitted to New Zealand for purposes of the extradition hearing and so can’t be considered, Mansfield also suggested.
Justice Gordon reserved her decision. However, she said she expects to release a judgment by the end of the month.
McKelvy, on bail while awaiting the outcome of the already lengthy extradition process and his appeal, sat in the courtroom gallery today as the case was discussed.

Six Islanders face charges after probe of drug-trafficking network tied to Hells Angels
Four of the six are from the Courtenay-Comox area
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/six-islanders-face-charges-after-probe-of-drug-trafficking-network-tied-to-hells-angels-7907958
Jeff Bell Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada November 30, 2023

harges have been laid against six people from Vancouver Island — including four from the Courtenay-Comox area — after an investigation begun in 2021 into an alleged organized-crime drug-trafficking network with ties to members of the Hells Angels.
he investigation by B.C.’s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, which targets gangs, resulted in the charges being approved Thursday.
They followed execution of multiple search warrants at locations around the Island and several arrests in January 2022.
The six people facing charges include:
• Jeff Scott Pasanen, 59, from Comox. Charges include one count committing an offence for a criminal organization and three counts of trafficking cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
• Randall James King, 45, from Campbell River. Charges include one count of committing an offence for a criminal organization and two counts of trafficking cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
• Shawna Lynne Leblanc, 48, from Comox. Charges include one count of committing an offence for a criminal organization contrary and four counts of trafficking cocaine and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
• Peter Bruce Billie, 37, from Comox. Charges include one count of committing an offence for a criminal organization and two counts of trafficking a controlled substance and possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
• Jonathan Erin Clifford, 41, from Courtenay. Charges include one count of participating in the activities of a criminal organization and one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
• Rhys Tyler Vernon Bolton, 34, from Victoria is charged with one count of trafficking cocaine.
All will be appearing in court at a later date.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit has also secured charges against three Duncan residents stemming from a 2020 investigation into drug trafficking on the Island.
That led to search warrants being executed at two Duncan residences in March 2021. Charges have now been laid against 43-year-old Jason Thomas Conrad, 45-year-old Margaret Rose Conrad and 38-year-old Nicholas Doug Gollinger.
Each is charged with possession of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.
The day after the Duncan search, North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Detachment Cmdr. Chris Bear said police had made a “substantial seizure” to help deal with the community’s ongoing opioid crisis.
jbell@timescolonist.com

1 dead after biker club fight ends with gunfire in Rocky Mount, police say
by: Rodney Overton CBS 17 Raleigh, North Carolina November 27, 2023

https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/1-dead-after-biker-club-fight-ends-with-gunfire-in-rocky-mount-police-say/
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) — A man was shot dead after a fight escalated into gunfire in a Rocky Mount motorcycle club Sunday night, police said.
The incident was reported around 9:35 p.m. at a location called All Round Huzlerz at 309 Tarboro St., according to a news release from the Rocky Mount Police Department.
The call at the location, which CBS 17 discovered is possibly named All Roun Huzlaz, was about a shooting with injury, police said.
“The preliminary investigation found there was an altercation inside the motorcycle club,” officers said in the news release.
A person known to others at the club fired gunshots and a man was hit by the gunfire, police said.
Donald Joseph, 55, of Rocky Mount was given help from EMS crews and first responders, but he died at the scene, according to police.
“This was not a random event, and it appears all parties involved are known to each other,” officers said.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the shooting, according to the release.
Officers said anyone with information about the deadly shooting should call the Rocky Mount Police Department at 252-972-1411 or Crimestoppers at 252-977-1111 for cash rewards.

Senseless’: A Lodi family’s response to 3 sentenced in man’s deadly beating outside bar
Lee Anne Denyer KCRA 3 November 23, 2023
https://www.kcra.com/article/lodi-clements-bar-beating-hells-angels-sentencing/45924172#

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. —

Three men recently pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter following the 2022 beating death of a Lodi man outside a San Joaquin County bar, KCRA 3 News learned.
According to a spokesperson for San Joaquin Superior Court, they entered pleas on Oct. 12. A spokesperson for the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office confirmed Aaron Davis, Jason Blasingame and Lloyd Strack received six years each for felony manslaughter.
Steven Buchan, 45, was identified as the man killed. All family members of his who spoke with KCRA 3 wished to remain unnamed.
“He was discarded initially and this sentencing really feels like that just occurred again,” a family member said.
In response to the sentencing, loved ones of Buchan are asking questions about how the investigation was conducted and if six years is an appropriate sentence for the three men given the violent nature of the crime.
“It’s just senseless,” the family member said. “How do you go to an establishment and end up dead just being in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
Family also mentioned to KCRA 3 that Buchan did not regularly attend that bar.
Last November, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office put out a plea for help in locating Blasingame. Officials said in the early hours of May 1, 2022, Buchan was severely beaten and “left to die” outside a bar in Clements, a rural town in the county about 12 miles east of Lodi.
In a November 2022 news release, the sheriff’s office said Davis and Strack were in custody but that Blasingame remained at large. The release also said that Blasingame and Strack were both members of the Stockton chapter of the Hells Angels.
In response to the sentencing, a family member of the man beaten questioned if justice was served.
Members of Buchan’s family said they planned to meet with the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office next week in their search for more information and explanation into the sentences.

SIX HELLS ANGELS ARRESTED IN THE CANARY ISLANDS FOR THREATS AND COERCION
11/14/23, 9:58 AM By National Police National Photo Credit: Policia Nacional
https://www.canarianweekly.com/posts/Six-Hells-Angels-arrested-in-the-Canary-Islands-for-threats-and-coercion
The National Police have arrested six people in different locations in Tenerife for their involvement in crimes including belonging to a criminal organization, damages, serious threats, and coercion. The detainees are members of the Canary Islands division of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC).

The police investigation, conducted jointly by the General Information Commissioner and the Provincial Information Brigade of Tenerife, began three years ago when it was discovered that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club intended to expand its influence to the island of Tenerife.

Recognizing the potential danger associated with the establishment of such gangs due to their ties to organized crime, as observed in the United States and various European countries, an extensive intelligence and investigative effort was initiated.

As a result, investigators determined that the Hells Angels considered Tenerife as their “territory,” preventing rival motorcycle clubs from entering and requiring non-rival clubs to operate under their control.

This became evident when members of a legal motorcycle club, seeking to establish a branch on the island, faced coercion, serious threats, and substantial damage to their motorcycles and vehicles as retaliation, which was all attributed to the detainees.

The HAMC is an organization present in at least 62 countries with around 5,000 members, having been banned in neighbouring countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. It was established in Spain in 1997 and currently has a total of 17 divisions.
The expansion of the Hells Angels in Spain has been gradual, with an increasing number of members across the country, especially in recent years, targeting strategic points for organized crime, such as the Costa del Sol, the entire Levantine Coast, the Costa Brava, and the Canary Islands.

The operation carried out by the National Police is part of the European police forces’ fight against the establishment of these “outlaw” motorcycle gangs linked to organized crime, led by Europol through the (AP) Monitor Project.

Various police operations have already been conducted against different chapters of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) in Spain, for crimes including belonging to a criminal organization, drug trafficking, coercion, extortion, violent robbery, and illegal possession of weapons.

Hells Angels chapter founder convicted in Beaumont court for racketeering, drug-trafficking, arms dealing
Marius Lazar, 50, of Bucharest, Romania was convicted of racketeering, drug trafficking conspiracy and military-grade arms dealing.
Author: Gabby Gaspard 12 News ABC Beaumont, Texas November 17, 2023

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/crime/hells-angels-chapter-founder-convicted-in-beaumont-for-racketeering-drug-trafficking-arms-dealing/502-401f1094-4db9-437d-a4ec-df74fed50c0d

BEAUMONT, Texas — A chapter founding member of the motorcycle club, Hells Angels has been convicted in a Beaumont court by a federal jury.

Marius Lazar, 50, of Bucharest, Romania was convicted of racketeering, drug trafficking conspiracy and military-grade arms dealing.

Lazar was planning to traffic hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from the United States in a plan that included money laundering, arms trafficking and attempted assassination of rival gang members, according to an United States Department of Justice news release.

With the help of a fellow Hells Angel member in New Zealand, Lazar joined a conspiracy to purchase more than 400 kilograms of cocaine from someone in the U.S. who they believed was a drug trafficker. This person was actually an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to the release.

Part of his negotiations for the purchase included Lazar soliciting the undercover agent to kill two members of a rival motorcycle club in Romania.

He offered to supply the agent with rifles, grenades, armored vehicles and other military-grade equipment that Lazar knew would be used against police officers in the United States, according to the release.

Members of the conspiracy sent nearly $1 million to the country by bank wires and Bitcoin transfers, as payment for the crimes.

The federal jury convicted Lazar of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the release states.

Lazar faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office, according to the release.

Co-defendants Murray Michael Matthews and Marc Patrick Johnson remain fugitives, the release states.

The case was investigated by multiple agencies including the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Marshals Service and the IRS Criminal Investigations with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to the release.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement agencies in Romania to arrest and extradite of Lazar.

The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation.

Former Resident of Cheswick, PA Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Conviction of Violating Federal Narcotics and Firearms Laws
Thursday, November 9, 2023

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH, PA – A former resident of Cheswick, PA, has been sentenced in federal court to 48 months of incarceration followed by four years of supervised release on his conviction of violating federal narcotics and firearms laws, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

United States District Judge Robert J. Colville imposed the sentence on Bill Rana, age 43.
In conjunction with the sentencing hearing, the Court was informed that the Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, conducted a long-term investigation into drug-trafficking activity occurring in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Law enforcement identified several individuals, suspected at the time, of illegally distributing controlled substances, including cocaine and methamphetamine in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Erie, Fayette, and Washington Counties.

Investigators identified Rana, as a “fully patched” member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club and Sergeant of Arms for the Pittsburgh Chapter. Over the course of the conspiracy, Rana obtained and redistributed over one kilogram of cocaine and over 140 grams of methamphetamine from multiple sources of supply that Rana redistributed. Additionally, Rana’s residence was searched on December 8, 2020, and investigators seized a variety of ammunition, which Rana was precluded from possessing due to a prior felony conviction.

Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan D. Lusty prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
United States Attorney Olshan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, and Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigations for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Rana.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
Updated November 9, 2023

Organized crime figure Gregory Woolley killed in shooting south of Montreal
Police on scene of shooting in parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
Erika Morris · CBC News · Posted: Nov 17, 2023 11:33 AM EST
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/gregory-woolley-shooting-1.7031620
A prominent organized crime figure has been killed in a shooting Friday morning in a parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., according to Radio-Canada.
Multiple sources told Radio-Canada that Gregory Woolley was the victim of the shooting which took place on Boulevard du Séminaire in the city south of Montreal.
Quebec provincial police confirm that a 51-year-old man died.
Images from the scene show police tape in a parking lot and an ambulance on the scene.
Woolley was a member of the Hells Angels and the leader of the Syndicates, a street gang formed by the Hells Angels in the 1990s.

B.C. demolishing former Hells Angels clubhouse in Nanaimo
Minister says government will take action against organized crime ‘brick by brick’
Nanaimo News Staff November 16, 2023
https://www.hopestandard.com/news/bc-demolishing-former-hells-angels-clubhouse-in-nanaimo-7109001

Demolition of the former Hells Angels clubhouse in Nanaimo got underway yesterday.
Heavy machinery was at the location in the city’s south end Wednesday, Nov. 15, and B.C. Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth issued a statement about the demolition of the building, which he said was previously used to co-ordinate criminal activities.
The province legally owns the former Hells Angels clubhouses in Nanaimo, East Vancouver and Kelowna.
“Government will continue to protect British Columbians and take action against organized crime by seizing illegally obtained assets – brick by brick, we will demolish organized crime and those that profit from it,” the minister said.
Farnworth said the forfeiture of the properties is a step in “putting organized crime on notice” in B.C. and said demolishing the Nanaimo clubhouse is a testament to the work of everyone involved, from undercover and anti-gang law enforcement to the police agencies, civil forfeiture office and legal counsel that continued to work on the case.