Grim Reapers MC

Grim Reapers MC

The Grim Reapers MC (motorcycle club) was a one-percenter motorcycle club based in Western Canada that was founded in 1958, active during the sixties and seventies, and grew to become a dominant club in the region during the eighties and nineties. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=mgNRMZAg8N4C&dq=grim+reapers+hells+angels "The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers", by Daniel R. Wolf, University of Toronto Press, 1991, p. 322] ]

They were apparently independent of a US-based motorcycle club of the same name that was founded in 1959 in Louisville, Kentucky. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=fbcPBAOJcXYC&dq=grim+reapers+hells+angels "Understanding Organized Crime", by Stephen L. Mallory, Jones & Bartlett, 2007, p. 161] ] Along with the "Rebels", the "Warlords", and "King's Crew", they were one of the four dominant outlaw motorcycle gangs operating in Alberta prior to 1997. In 1997, the gang became part of the Hells Angels in a patch-over ceremony held in Red Deer, Alberta. [ [http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470837101.html "Fallen Angel: The Unlikely Rise of Walter Stadnick in the Canadian Hells Angels", by Jerry Langton, John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 2006, pp 180-184] ]

The Grim Reapers were listed as an "Outlaw Motorcycle Gang" by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. [ [http://www.intellnet.org/resources/csis_report_2000/Cisc2000/outlaw2000.html "Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs", Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) Report, 2000] ] In 1997, primarily because of public outcry due to escalating violence in eastern Canada between the Rock Machine and the Hells Angels' Quebec chapters, the Canadian government passed Bill C-95 which amended the Criminal Code of Canada (and other legislation) to give Canadian law enforcement organizations powers similar to those provided to their American counterparts via RICO. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/index.html "CBC News In Depth: Biker Gangs in Canada", CBC News On-line, April 5, 2007] ]

The new Canadian legislation essentially made it illegal to be a member of an "outlaw motorcycle gang" or any other "known criminal organization". While the new laws first came into effect in 1997, the first convictions using the new legislation weren't won until February 2001, and the first real test of the new laws didn't start until September 2004 when two members of the Hells Angels went on trial in Barrie, Ontario for extorting money from a businessman. [ [http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/CurrentEvents/2005_Q2.htm#OMGs "Being Hells Angel is Now a Crime; Court Case a Test of Anti-gang Law", Toronto Star, July 1, 2005, p. A1] ] Critics of the legislation say it goes too far, arguing that it infringes on the freedom of association guaranteed by Section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. [ [http://www.hellsangelssaskatoon.ca/photos.html "Know Your Rights", Hells Angels Saskatoon website] ]

Several former members of the Reapers, now members of the Hells Angels' Western Canadian chapters, were eventually successful in their challenge of charges brought against them under the new legislation, as a result of events that occurred in relation to their patch-over gathering in Red Deer. In 2005, the bikers in Alberta won a major court victory when a judge ruled that police violated their constitutional rights during a roadside check in 1997. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/antiganglaw.html "Canada's Anti-gang Law", CBC News On-line, April 10, 2006] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.realdealnews.com RealDealNews.com, a Hells Angels MC website]
* [http://www.hamccanada.com a Hells Angels MC website listing Western Canadian chapters]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs CBC News In Depth: Biker Gangs in Canada]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/antiganglaw.html CBC News In Depth: Canada's Anti-gang Law]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/featurestories/bikers/index.html The Fifth Estate: The Road to Hell: The Rise of the Hells Angels in Quebec]
* [http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/CurrentEvents/2005_Q2.htm#OMGs York University's Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption]


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