OFF THE WIRE
Joel Rollin (L) and James "Bubbs" Sherwood in front of the newly established Hells Angels clubhouse in Hamilton, Ont.
The Hamilton Hells Angels, who this month turned on the charm for neighbours of their first Hamilton clubhouse since a 2009 raid, have found a less warm welcome from authorities.A fortification bylaw enacted by the city of Hamilton in early 2010 is being enforced for the first time in an inspection of the outlaw motorcycle club’s new clubhouse, purchased in early June.
“Under the new bylaw, there are regulations on how people can fortify a building; it prohibits excessive fortification,” said John Lane, manager of inspections at the City of Hamilton Building Services Department. “It’s to ensure that if someone is in distress of there’s a fire, ambulance and fire responders can get at them.”
No complaints have been received about the new clubhouse, which is the only property in Hamilton ever to have been subject to the fortification bylaw inspection. The city will check for things like heavy steel plating on doors, bars on windows, surveillance cameras, reinforcements of almost any kind.“Because of the attention this property receives, an investigation file has been created,” Mr. Lane said.
James “Bubbs” Sherwood, spokesperson for the Hamilton chapter, said the club is taking only appropriate precautions for its neighbourhood.
“We’ve installed one fence,” he said. “The cameras, the lights, the electrical, it’s all the same as it was before we moved in. Look at that building across the street, they have bars in the windows. This is a rough area.”
The new clubhouse sits on the corner of a leafy street in a partly residential, partly industrial neighbourhood. The Hells Angels lost their last clubhouse – at 269 Lottridge Ave., just around the corner from the new one – after the 2009 raid, Project Manchester, that saw seven members arrested and the property seized.
“The last place was beautiful,” says Mr. Sherwood. “We’d decorated there with more earth tones, but this one is going to have more of a biker style – murals of bikes on the walls, flames, lots of red and white.”
A building services inspector has made observations of 105 Beach Rd. recently but officials have not yet entered the premises. Mr. Lane said when it happens, police will accompany the inspector but will not come on to the property. The city said no date for the inspection has been set, but that it will be a matter of weeks, not months.
A shoulder-height two-by-four fence separates the clubhouse parking lot from the house next door. A 90-year-old woman lives there alone; the Hells Angels cut her lawn for her. “And we installed her air conditioning,” says Joel Rollin, a large man of few words in dark sun glasses and a black Hells Angels t-shirt with all the insignia.
Mr. Sherwood says the bikers are friendly with the neighbours.
“I’m well aware they’re in the neighbourhood and I’m not upset, I say power to them,” says Andrew Sayer, who’s lived in the area 13 years. “They’re working stiffs like me. Leave them alone.”
Ontario Provincial Police Det. Staff Sgt. Rich Patterson of the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau said it is not uncommon for the bikers to evoke sympathy in the community.
“The Hells Angels are always good neighbours,” says Det. Staff Sgt. Patterson. “That’s typical, that’s how they sell themselves to the neighbourhood and perpetuate this myth that they’re just a bunch of motorcycle enthusiasts. That’s their spin. But as a criminal organization, there’s more than that. Not 100% of them have been convicted obviously, but if you want to know what they’re up to, just look at their past.”
Three years ago, Mr. Sherwood and fellow Angel James Malone were acquitted of aggravated assault and weapons charges after a man was beaten and stabbed in a Hamilton strip club.
National Post