Pubdate: Wed, 12 Apr 2006
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: John Duncanson, Dale Brazao, And Peter Edwards
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

MASSACRE A DRUG RIPOFF

The night started with the transfer of $400,000 worth  of cocaine to
Wayne Kellestine's farmhouse and it ended  with Ontario's largest mass
murder.

Hours before Ontario's largest mass murder, Durham  Region police
officers followed three of eight Bandidos  from the Toronto area to a
southwestern Ontario  farmhouse belonging to the man now charged with
killing  them, sources have told the Toronto Star.

Suspecting a major drug deal could be in the works,  investigators
tailed the trio west along Highway 401.  But they were unaware the men
were transporting a cargo  of 200 kilograms of cocaine that night to
fellow  Bandido Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine's London-area farm,  law
enforcement sources say.

After watching the three men enter the farmhouse, the  officers left,
assuming the bikers were there for a  party, the source said.

What transpired was a deadly drug ripoff that left the  three Bandidos
shot dead, their bodies stuffed into  cars that were driven into a
field. It's believed five  other Bandidos arrived separately later
that night,  only to be systematically killed and their bodies 
similarly disposed of.

It's unclear whether the ripoff of $400,000 worth of  cocaine was
planned. It's believed the killings were  going to be justified to
fellow bikers as punishment  for refusing to participate in a national
"run," an  outlaw motorcycle tradition involving members riding in 
formation according to club hierarchy.

Four others, including a woman, were each charged with  eight counts
of first-degree murder. They were to  appear in a St. Thomas courtroom
today.

More details, meanwhile, are emerging about Kellestine,  who relished
playing the role of a dangerous man.

The 56-year-old loved to pose in front of his  collection of Nazi
memorabilia in his rundown  farmhouse, near Dutton, about a 20-minute
drive from  where police discovered the bodies of eight  Toronto-area
members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang on  the weekend.

"His reputation is being an absolute renegade," said  someone from the
area who knows him well. "A dangerous,  dangerous guy. He's always had
that reputation."

Michael Simmons, who worked undercover for the Mounties  and the OPP
against motorcycle gangs 15 years ago, said  he purchased cocaine and
guns from Kellestine on  several occasions and that his work helped
put away 18  bikers, including his own brother, Andrew "Teach" 
Simmons -- onetime president of the Outlaws.

"I witnessed him shoot his girlfriend in the back with  an air pistol
just for a joke," said Simmons, who  entered the witness protection
program in 1992. "He  pointed a .45-calibre at my big toe and asked me
if I  could blow it off, when I was trying to buy some  cocaine off
him."

On another occasion, Simmons said he witnessed  Kellestine "come
flying down the stairs" in a combat  arctic suit, armed with an Uzi,
after a motion detector  was set off on his rural property during a
party.

"There was a big party and he freaked out, went  upstairs, and he was
down and ready for full combat,  and that scared the s--- out of me,"
Simmons recalled.

Before Kellestine was sentenced to two years in prison  in 2000 for
weapons offences and running a marijuana  operation, the court was
shown photos of him posing  with his personal arsenal, which included
machine guns  and Luger pistols like those the Nazis used.

"He always had lots and lots and lots of guns," the  person who knows
him well said. "He had quite an  arsenal of guns."

Kellestine loved to dress the part of a dirty biker,  with lots of
leather. But in court, he tried to dress  like former New York City
mobster John (the Dapper Don)  Gotti.

"He always wore a three-piece suit to court," said the  person who
knows him well. "When he came to court, he  presented himself as a
professional gangster."

Kellestine was president of his own local bike gang,  the
Annihilators, which evolved into the Loners and was  affiliated with
Toronto-area Loners.

That group eventually evolved into the Bandidos, and  Kellestine
remained a member.

While considered a dangerous force in southwestern  Ontario, he wasn't
on the level of those in bigger bike  gangs such as the Outlaws and
Hells Angels, the person  who knows him well said.

"He was never in with them," the person said. "He stuck  with his own
crowd. ... He's always been a renegade  kind of guy."

Billy Miller, who was once part of the Loners with  Kellestine, went
on to become president of the London  Hells Angels.

Kellestine's houseguest, Frank Mather, 32, is a far  different man. He
has a lengthy criminal record that  includes eight break-and-enters
but no violence. He  served a three-year term in prison in his native
New  Brunswick and was on parole for possession of  break-and-enter
tools when arrested while trying to  steal a truck.

He has never been a biker, and his consistent record of  arrest
suggests he would be a liability to any  organized-crime group.

"He'd be a follower, not a leader," said someone from  the area who
knows him.

He did land a six-month sentence in 2002 for growing  marijuana near
London, and was convicted again in 2005  for possession of
break-and-enter tools.

The person who knows Mather's criminal activity well  said he can't
see him taking the lead in any kind of  organized-crime hit.

"It's not his play," the person said. "Frank Mather is  no biker."

Guy Ouellette, a retired Quebec Provincial Police biker  expert, said
the Bandidos were irritating for the Hells  Angels in southwestern
Ontario.

He said it's too easy to pronounce the Bandidos dead,  even though
they have only a dozen members in Toronto  -- who meet in a Parkdale
social club -- and five  members in Manitoba with a puppet club called
Los  Montoneros.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin