OFF THE WIRE
By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER — Juel Ross Stanton was a long-time debt collector for the Hells Angels with an unmatched propensity for violence and a long list of enemies, biker expert Insp. Andy Richards said Thursday.
And the notorious biker gang is undoubtedly near the top of the suspect list in Stanton's execution after kicking out the 41-year-old this past May, Richards said.
Stanton was gunned down about 6:15 a.m. Thursday outside his huge Vancouver heritage home at 202 W. 11th, just hours before he was due in Vancouver Provincial Court on a series of weapons and assault charges.
His hysterical wife screamed obscenities at police as Stanton's body lay in the house's back yard.
Richards, who spent 17 years investigating the Hells Angels as a Vancouver Police officer and later with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said Stanton was too violent even for the Hells Angels.
"We were shocked when he became a member of the club because he has been such a loose cannon for so many years and his propensity for violence has been almost second to none," said Richards, who is now with the Port Moody Police Department.
"He was certainly very, very volatile and very high maintenance from a club perspective. He drew a lot of unwanted police attention and a lot of unwanted public attention on the Hells Angels."
While Richards said investigators will be taking a close look at the HA, there were many others who wanted Stanton dead.
"He cut a wide swath for many, many years in the Lower Mainland. He would have a very lengthy list of enemies," Richards said.
But he said the public should not fear an escalation in Vancouver's gang war.
"If it was an inhouse thing with the club, it is done, it is over. I don't think anybody is going to retaliate against the club. I don't see much coming from this," Richards said.
Criminologist Darryl Plecas, of the University College of the Fraser Valley, agreed.
"People should not be thinking that this is anything close to being the start of any gang war," he said. "Hells Angels are not that stupid..That is not their style."
Stanton had been a full-patch member of the East End chapter for about a decade after an earlier stint with the now-defunct Regulators biker club.
But his criminal history across Metro Vancouver dates back to his teens when he, his brother Norman and his mom Marion got arrested in a theft ring.
"I had several face-to-face contacts with him over the years, both in uniform and in plain clothes. He was extremely volatile and aggressive," Richards said. "It didn't take much to set him off - just being stopped by the police - would be enough to set him off and he would loose it."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/Gang+former+debt+collector+shortage+enemies+police/3392270/story.html#ixzz0wXqVosEN
