XPost: can.politics, tor.general, alt.true-crime   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   LONDON, ON - The former head of London's Hells Angels has failed in a   
   bid to get the nation's highest court involved in a key provincial   
   battle over his strip club.   
   The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Rob Barletta's leave to appeal an   
   earlier court decision, sending the precedent-setting contest between   
   outlaw bikers and the province back to square one - a simple licence   
   appeal tribunal.   
      
   But the mere fact the liquor licence hearing has gone so far in the   
   court system underlines the high stakes involved.   
      
   Since 2009, Ontario has been trying to load new ammunition in its war on   
   outlaw bikers by getting a precedent-setting ruling to yank the licences   
   for bars and other businesses run by those with ties to the gangs.   
      
   That would be a body blow to gangs using legitimate businesses to raise   
   or launder money, police and crime experts say.   
      
   "From everything we've seen in the last 30 or 40 years, the Hells Angels   
   is heavily involved in criminal activities, particularly drugs, and   
   prostitution and extortion and murder. You don't get much more criminal   
   than that," crime writer James Dubro said Monday.   
      
   "While it's not illegal to be a member of a biker gang, it seems to me   
   common sense you don't want to give liquor licences or any special   
   privileges or a taxi licence to someone you have good intelligence   
   information is a professional criminal. It's just common sense."   
      
   That view is shared by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The   
   province's liquor law bans anyone from a licence if their "past or   
   present conduct" suggests they won't carry on business with "integrity   
   and honesty."   
      
   Backed by police testimony, the ACGO argued in an earlier hearing   
   Barletta has to be "100% devoted" to the Hells Angels with a "good   
   criminal network" and "good aptitude for criminal activity," meaning he   
   can't carry on his bar and strip club with integrity and honesty.   
      
   Barletta has acknowledged he's a full-patch member of the Hells Angels   
   and a former president of its London chapter.   
      
   But his lawyers argue that isn't proof he's breaching the Liquor Act.   
   Barletta has owned the business for 10 years without breaking any laws   
   and himself has no criminal record, his lawyers argue.   
      
   In 2011, the AGCO's own board ruled Barletta wasn't doing anything   
   wrong, as far as the strip club was concerned.   
      
   The AGCO appealed that decision to Ontario divisional court, but lost.   
      
   The AGCO then appealed the divisional court ruling to Ontario's court of   
   appeal, its highest court, and won.   
      
   The appeal court ruled the alcohol board and the divisional court both   
   made errors in law, and ordered a new hearing in front of Ontario's   
   Licence Appeal Tribunal.   
      
   But Barletta sought leave to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court   
   of Canada, which dismissed his leave last week.   
      
   No date has been set for the appeal tribunal hearing, a spokesperson said.   
      
      
      
      
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   *Read and obey the Bible*   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)