Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Joey Thompson, The Province Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) STAKES HUGE FOR PUBLIC ON ANTI-GANG LAW Legal Issue Of Gang Membership Needs To Be Aired Citizens have the most to lose when a criminal court judge moves to outlaw the printing, airing or Internet posting of all evidence emerging from a juicy trial. That's why we media messengers were relieved to hear that B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie has finally rescinded most of the gag order she imposed eight months ago on an ongoing hearing involving some of the muscle behind the mighty Hells Angels. I say "most" because MacKenzie has said key evidence linked to a Criminal Code provision dealing with whether the H.A. thugs -- on trial for coke trafficking and related offences -- were members of a criminal organization is still taboo. What I can say is it concerns a gritty section of the code that has the potential to bring biker gangsters to their knees, in that it metes out a double sentence to those convicted of doing crimes for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a lawless gang. The clause is a formidable weapon for law-enforcers striving to topple some of the 950 organized crime groups said to be operating in Canada, a hike of nearly 20 per cent over 2006. At least 124 of these gangs are alive and well in B.C. But while the CC section appears tough -- it carries a consecutive sentence of up to 14 years -- the jury is still out as to whether it can actually deliver. Crown prosecutors must first establish, to the comfort of the court, that an accused is a member of a specific gang or club and then whether the group fits the legal definition of a criminal organization, which involves three or more people whose main activity is to commit crime for the gain of the group. It's not easy to prove. In fact, judgments flowing from the few cases that have so far caught the attention of the courts and the public have been all over the map. A Superior Court judge ruled in July 2005 that an Ontario chapter of the Hells Angels was an identifiable criminal group. All well and good, but a B.C. judge more recently concluded that prosecutors in B.C. and other provinces will still have to provide evidence on a case-by-case basis -- as they intend to do in the previously mentioned Vancouver Hells Angels trial -- that the "criminal" label applies to each individual Angels' club in Canada. But later in 2005, a B.C. Supreme Court judge struck down as unconstitutional part of the same section that relates to how a person is deemed to be one of some who constitute a criminal organization. The judge said the section was too vague in that it failed to detail who would be considered a member of a gang and who would not. Meanwhile, Manitoba's judges haven't accepted even one Crown attempt to convict an accused of being part of a criminal gang. Whereas a judge in Montreal decided last year that a small local street gang was a criminal group. Until an appellate court or Canada's top court clarifies what constitutes a criminal organization -- and more pointedly, whether the Hells Angels or their various chapters fit the definition -- it remains an uncertainty with huge stakes. That's why the veil of secrecy must be removed as quickly as possible to enable us to report fully on a public issue that has serious implications for the war on organized crime. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath