Hells Angels targeting Kelowna, B.C. Interior, police say

The Hells Angels motorcycle club is working to open a new chapter in Kelowna, expanding its criminal empire into the B.C. Interior, the RCMP say.

• INDEPTH: Biker Gangs

Chief Supt. Bob Paulson, who runs the RCMP's organized crime intelligence branch, says the Angels are pushing for a fully autonomous new chapter in the once-quiet resort city.

"What I saw were these guys, sitting down, talking about 'This place is wide open, there's an opportunity there for us, we gotta get in there,'" Paulson said.

RCMP Supt. Bob McKinnon says Kelowna's peaceful image has been changing.

"Over the last two years our homeless numbers and what we call the criminally transient have increased dramatically, and it's an ongoing problem we're trying to deal with on an everyday basis," he said.

The number of drug charges in Kelowna has more than doubled in five years, making the city's RCMP detachment the third busiest in the country.

McKinnon has strong opinions about who is responsible.

"The majority of drugs brought into this community are brought in by organized crime, and the Hells Angels are a large part of it. They are not entirely responsible, but they are a large part of it," he said.

The organization maintains a clubhouse in the city, and police believe it's just a matter of time until the Hells Angels try once more to launch a full chapter.

Julian Sher, an expert on biker gangs, agrees that Kelowna has become a major expansion site for the Hells Angels.

"A lot of the bikers had money from the power they built up in Vancouver and they began moving up to Kelowna," Sher said. "They began buying up property, buying up taverns, running protection rackets, and for the longest time, were ignored."

Sher and local police officials say the Hells Angels were working last year to open a new chapter in Kelowna, giving them a base from which they could dominate the drug trade throughout the B.C. Interior.

• FROM JULY 18, 2005: B.C. suspects face organized crime charges

But the plan stalled when the RCMP charged 19 Hells Angels under Project E-Pandora, an undercover operation targeting gang members in both Vancouver and Kelowna.

"So the arrests that took place were a huge blow to their image, to their numbers, but also to their expansion plans. And that's why the bikers are so furious," Sher said.

While the Mounties rank the Hells Angels as the most dangerous organized crime gang in Canada, members of the group insist they are not the drug kingpins that police believe.