XPost: van.general, alt.true-crime, can.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   Associates of the Rock Machine — a notorious gang that clashed with the   
   Hells Angels in Quebec’s bloody Bikers’ War — are threatening to invade   
   the Angels’ turf in B.C., The Province has learned.   
      
   Although the Rock Machine is not believed to be officially active in   
   B.C., several individuals wearing Rock Machine colours have been spotted   
   in the Lower Mainland, a top Vancouver-area cop told The Province on   
   Thursday.   
      
   The officer was interviewed after a purported Rock Machine associate   
   contacted a reporter, claiming the gang plans to set up a full chapter   
   in Vancouver within a year. The man predicted trouble with the Hells   
   Angels, claiming that potential members wearing Rock Machine “support”   
   gear have been threatened recently.   
      
   Quebec’s Bikers’ War claimed 160 lives and lasted from 1994 to 2002, as   
   the Rock Machine and Hells Angels fought for drug turf, court records   
   say. There were more than 300 attempted murders, and terror spilled into   
   the public, with cars and businesses bombed. An 11-year-old boy, Daniel   
   Desrochers, was killed by shrapnel as he played near a vehicle that was   
   blown up.   
      
   Gang-war bombings haven’t been a concern in Vancouver since the 1990s,   
   when the Hells Angels clashed with a Russian gang.   
      
   “That is how they look after those sorts of conflicts, and the car bomb   
   was one of the most effective tools they used back in Quebec,” the   
   officer said. “So my point is that it is not a stretch to see the   
   Quebec-like response here in B.C., because they have done it before.”   
      
   The officer said he has heard “rumblings” since 2005 that Rock Machine   
   members wanted to break into B.C., but the Hells Angels have explicitly   
   told police they would oppose such a move.   
      
   Right now in B.C., any person wearing a “three-piece” patch that denotes   
   an outlaw bike gang member must get permission from the Hells Angels, he   
   said.   
      
   “(The Hells Angels) will not take this at all lightly, if they start   
   seeing people riding around displaying a Rock Machine patch,” the   
   officer said.   
      
   Following the Quebec violence, the Rock Machine amalgamated with another   
   biker gang, the Bandidos, but later re-formed under their original name.   
   In Winnipeg, the Rock Machine clashed with a “puppet club” connected to   
   the Hells Angels, with a gang war climaxing in shootings and   
   firebombings in the summer of 2011.   
      
   “The war has been quiet in the past few months, but the rivalry is still   
   existent and it appears the Rock Machine outlaw motorcycle gang are   
   still intent on expanding their presence here and across Canada,” police   
   wrote in 2012, according to the Winnipeg Sun.   
      
   If the Rock Machine in fact plans to challenge the Hells Angels in B.C.,   
   it could be because of a perceived power vacuum.   
      
   “It is my view that with all of the gang killings around the region in   
   the recent years and with law enforcement that has been very effective   
   with some massive prosecutions, ... there is a void that is out there to   
   be filled,” a police biker gang expert told The Province.   
      
   But fears of B.C. biker wars last raised in 2004 never materialized. At   
   that time Bob Paulson — who was B.C.’s leading biker gang expert and now   
   is Canada’s top Mountie — warned that the Bandidos intended to set up a   
   chapter in B.C., and it would be “soon ... and troublesome.”   
      
   It didn’t happen, and the Bandidos broke up in 2006.   
      
   Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit,   
   said he doesn’t view claims made by B.C. Rock Machine hopefuls as credible.   
      
   “Someone saying they are bringing the Rock Machine to B.C. is a long way   
   from actually setting up chapters, obtaining property, and coming in   
   significant numbers to try and challenge the Hells Angels, who have a   
   100-plus full-patch members here, along with dozens and dozens of   
   associates in puppet clubs and affiliates,” Houghton said. “We would   
   seriously question the credibility of that. And also, the Rock Machine   
   are not a very large outlaw motorcycle gang, anyways.”   
      
   Julian Sher — an author and bike gang expert who now is a producer for   
   CBC Television’s The Fifth Estate — also said it sounds as if the Rock   
   Machine is floating “dangerous dreams.”   
      
   “It sounds like they are literally trying to plant the flag, but many   
   (biker gangs) have tried in B.C. and all have failed,” Sher said.   
      
   Unlike the situation in other countries, the Hells Angels have “managed   
   a virtual monopoly in Canada, and B.C. has probably been the most   
   monopolistic,” Sher said.   
      
   “They maintain dominance either by absorbing others, or wiping them out   
   as they tried in Quebec.   
      
   “(The Rock Machine associate) who called you, I don’t think he’s going   
   to drive down Robson Street with the Rock Machine patch on his back,   
   because he won’t make it to Stanley Park.”   
      
   In a brief phone call Rick Ciarniello, a member and spokesman with Hells   
   Angels in B.C., was asked about police spotting people wearing Rock   
   Machine gear in the Lower Mainland.   
      
   “I don’t know a thing about it,” Ciarniello said, adding he had no   
   comment for this story.   
      
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