Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 9, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Inside Story Winnipeg free press january biker War based on grudges drugs missing in local Battle police reporter there a lot like the hat Fields and Mccoy Only much worse the simmering gang War Between the los bravos and the which has seen stray bullets flying around the City for almost two has its roots and its momentum in events real and imagined which occurred As Many As 20 years unlike biker wars in other cities where the fight for turf control translates into big drug and prostitution police and biker insiders Here say the Brovo spartans matchup has More to do with personalities and age old grudges than its almost a Hatfield and my coys dispute where its been going on so Long they dont even know any More what the fight is one biker insider the whole fight is about nothing for one unlike the situation in other cities such As Vancouver and Montreal where organized crime has a stranglehold on illicit neither gang currently has anything resembling control of the drug Trade in while individual members of both gangs Are known to traffic in primarily cocaine and neither has established any organizational control of what comes who gets to buy it and at what Price three elements critical to con trolling drug everyone always talks about Bik ers and drugs but the fact is weve arrested a lot More people who drive cars than we have vice Ray Johns lost control Johns division is responsible for policing drug trafficking and keep ing tabs on Johns notes no bikers have yet been implicated in any of the major heroin seizures made this and what Little control they had of the local cannabis Trade has nearly Evaro while individual Mem Bers of both gangs have been arrested Over the years and charged with being pimps for local Prostic police and bikers say the local sex Trade is Little More than a Side line for individual bikers trying to make some extra Money on the so what then is All the fuss and shooting about in order to understand you have to go Back about 20 years to the Days when the spartans controlled vital and the los bravos con trolled had to expand the two gangs managed to coexist peacefully As Long As each stayed on their own but like any Good the gangs eventually had to expand if they wanted to become More profitable and when both eventually expressed designs on Central the quiet truce fell a War ensued that lasted until when the out manned and outgunned by the burned their colors in the presence of the bravos the ultimate Dis Grace officially some spartans joined their old rivals in an amalgamated gang but most notably spartan Leader Darwin were never Able to Bury the within two Sylvester had formed a new gang to rival the Bro the silent and that when the problems really stabbings and bomb Ings rocked Winnipeg for most of 1984 and 1985 As the two gangs fought an fallout War for control of the Winnipeg free press file photo biker wars Over years have seen More than one the hits and misses of fight Over turf bullets have been whizzing around the City for nearly two years As los bravos and the spartans get Down and dirty for control of the heres a Brief chronology of some of the misses q including two Are shot during a gun fight at a crowded North end bar Between two members of los bravos and an associate of the newly reformed q raid the Home of a los bravos associate and find 26 kilograms of High powered the largest explosives seizure in the cites police wonder whether the bravos Are gearing up for a bombing War with the spartans Akin to the one they had with the silent riders in the q March get into a shootout on main Street with a member of the spartans after they pull him Over As part of a cocaine at least three officers fire shots and the biker is charged with firing several More none strike their intended the biker later argues he fired the shots believing the officers were members of los q member of los bravos is chased through River Heights and shot at by a group of men in a the biker is not seriously injured but police spend most of the weekend pulling stray bullets out of Homes on Academy police identify members of the spartans As their prime q member of los bravos is shot once in the Back As he walks into a crowded police say 15 to 20 shots were fired into the restaurant before the biker was actually members of the spartans Are q known associate of the Hells Angels is shot at 10 to 15 times As he leaves a crowded Boniface one of the shots hits the 25yearold in the leg the others Fly off into the police suspect members of los police blame a1 the silent riders eventually lost the simply running out of Mem Bers As slayings and jail took their for the next seven years the los bravos enjoyed a biker monopoly in the City where their Only enemy was the that abruptly changed in a Hail of bullets at a North end nightclub one cold night in february a month the spartans had been reformed in Brandon by none other that Darwin who put the old gang Back together again in one last bid to take on his Arch in tensions had been running High in the City for a month and it didst take Long for the guns to come out when two Mem Bers of the los bravos ran into sylvesters inside the Diamond club a shootout started and by the time the bullets stopped four peo ple had been including who would spend the next several months in Hospital it was to be the first Salvo in a Bat the Between the two gangs that has seen several drive by shootings As Well As gunfights in crowded hotels and while bikers Are Quick to Point out no one has died police say the violence of the current War Long ago eclipsed the earlier Brovo spar tans War and is threatening to rival the violence of the Brovo silent riders Battle that claimed two lives and saw at least four buildings blown Sylvester has Long courted the support of the Hells Angels and the sudden appearance of the notorious gang in Winnipeg following the re forming of the spartans has police concerned the Angels Are planning to set up shop in Winnipeg and Are simply using the spartans to fight their War by the theory goes that the Angels Are quietly backing the spartans in the War hoping that they will pre should that investigators speculate the Angels will then absorb the spartans and officially open a Winnipeg while police fear such an occur biker insiders scoff at the no Tion that the Hells Angels would want anything to do with a gang made up of mostly Small time hoods whose marksmanship Over the past two years has earned them the Des ignation the gang that shoot biker types Point out the Angels could Roll into Winnipeg and completely obliterate both gangs in Side of a week if they really wanted to gain a foothold Here that insiders say the Angels Are already doing Large scale drug trafficking Here and Are More than Happy to sit on the sidelines while the other two gangs kill themselves off or end up behind what happens after no one seems sure Winnipeg free press file photo los bravos motorcycle club members congregate outside a warehouse in 1981 Winnipeg free press file photo silent riders make their Way to 1985 funeral of slain inside the spartans club q established late 1960s in East were forced to Dis band in Early 1970s and Burn their colors after losing a turf War to the los were resurrected in Brandon in q q members to 15 full Mem approximately six to 10 known q number in q assets one clubhouse in Brandon and a minibus painted with the clubs q affiliations have courted a relationship with the Hells Angels since their Early relations be tween the two clubs Are considered Friendly but there has been Little Evi Dence of any Large scale business dealings Between the two q Arsenal arrested members have generally been found to be in Possession of q criminal activity police say club members Are suspected of be ing involved in Small scale drug Deal ing and Are believed to be attempting to gain a foothold in the local prostitution careers examining los bravos q established late 1960s in the Boniface q q members 25 to 30 full members and at least As Many known q number in prison with several others awaiting trial on drug and weapons q assets two one on Queen the other on Sailer q affiliations longtime relationship with satan a Southern Ontario based biker club which in turn is affiliated with the police say the relationship has Given the bravos National and International drug q Arsenal each member is believed to own and regularly carry a police suspect the club also has a Cache of explosives and has knowledge to manufacture crude q criminal activity drug trafficking is believed to be the Pri Mary income source for the club but individual members have also been known to Pimp for local pros also suspected of minor Protection and extortion creative wardrobe to your lifestyle a successful metro Winnipeg Dealership is looking for sales people to handle the increase i in we Are currently recording record numbers of potential customers per month and 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