Man tied to Hells Angels gets 10 years

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Judge cites ‘pain and grief and fear’ inspired by criminal organizations built on drugs and guns

By Andrew Seymour, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — The right-hand man to a Hells Angels hangaround who conspired to take over the small-town drug trade has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after admitting to possessing a cache of firearms and more than half a kilogram of cocaine and other drugs.

Lloyd MacDonald, 39, was handed the sentence Thursday after admitting to possessing 11 guns — including a fully automatic Ingram submachine gun and an Uzi machine gun — along with ammunition and drugs in what a federal prosecutor described as a York Street stash house.

The guns and drugs were uncovered during a two-and-a-half-year undercover operation by the province’s Biker Enforcement Unit that wrapped up in January with the arrest of MacDonald and seven others, including full-patch Hells Angels and Ontario Nomads member Mario “Five Cent” Sincennes and hangaround Craig Haines.

The investigation, dubbed Project Beckenham, was launched in August 2007 after police learned that the Hells Angels were making overtures through the Ottawa-based Nomads to take over the drug trade in Brockville, Prescott and Gananoque by waging a campaign of violence and intimidation.

The criminal organization was allegedly headed by Sincennes. MacDonald worked with Haines, Sincennes’ right-hand man. Using wiretaps and other surveillance methods, police noted a pattern of trips that involved MacDonald meeting with mid-level Brockville-area cocaine dealers, federal prosecutor Allyson Ratsoy said.

She said MacDonald was present during a series of violent incidents, including the vicious beating at a Brockville hotel of a rival drug dealer who refused to sell under the Hells Angels banner. A number of beatings were also given, usually with a baseball bat, at a Marier Avenue garage known as “The Garage.” Ratsoy said police tape-recorded four assaults there after planting a bugging device.

The federal prosecutor said MacDonald could be heard retrieving the bat for Haines during one beating over an outstanding drug debt, while during another he discussed whether a shovel or the bat would be a better tool to use to beat someone.

MacDonald himself was the victim of one of the beatings, Ratsoy said, after he was disrespectful of Sincennes during a meeting at a restaurant.

MacDonald also confronted an undercover police officer who was following him and ordered the beating of several rival Brockville drug dealers, although the planned assault was foiled by police.

In April 2009, police followed MacDonald to a rural park-and-ride lot where they watched him disappear into a swampy area with a garbage bag. Police later found 25 ounces of cocaine hidden inside a culvert.

Police caught MacDonald with half a kilogram of cocaine in May, before arresting him a month later with more than $9,000 in cash.

It wasn’t until June 2009 that police searched his York Street residence, discovering a secret door in a bathroom that led to a neighbouring unit. Inside, police found the 11 guns, ammunition and drug paraphernalia, including a meat grinder police believe was used to process the cocaine and a press to pack the drug in large bricks. Police also seized 962 grams of hash, 120 Ecstasy pills and a small amount of cocaine.

MacDonald pleaded guilty to two dozen charges, including conspiracy to commit assault causing bodily harm and directing a criminal offence for a criminal organization, along with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and numerous firearms-related charges.

Only arrested in January of this year, MacDonald is the first to enter a plea for the offences, a factor Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder said she took into consideration before accepting a joint position on the 10-year sentence.

Alder said she was particularly disturbed by the “very lethal combination” of drugs and guns.

“These are the types of weapons that serve absolutely no lawful purpose,” said Alder, noting the harm that drug dealing can inflict. “The pain and grief and fear that can be linked back to this type of criminal organization can affect an entire community.”

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