OFF THE WIRE
James Turner
winnipegsun.com
A sweeping drug-and-guns dragnet by Manitoba cops has snared the reputed national president of a biker gang gaining police attention in Canada, the Winnipeg Sun has learned.
Jamie Christopher Korne, 40, was nabbed last week for his alleged role in Project Deplete, a months-long covert investigation into drug and weapons trafficking.
Korne — a former Manitoba Bandidos member who cops claim also once was linked to the reformed Rock Machine gang — is accused of selling hundreds of grams of cocaine to a police snitch paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to inform on the activities of people suspected of being major players in the provincial drug underworld.
The two drug transactions Korne is accused in took place last October and as recently as Jan. 9, court documents state.
Cops quietly sought arrest warrants for 16 suspects in the case. Each have been directly indicted into court.
All are presumed innocent and the allegations have not been proven.
The warrant pertaining to Korne was of the so-called "no-knock" variety, allowing them to enter a Boissevain suite unannounced.
In court documents, cops say they were concerned about Korne's potential access to guns and associations with gangs.
"Korne told the agent during the course of Project Deplete that he is the national president of the Vagos gang," cops said in court documents unsealed last week after his arrest. "Korne told the agent that he along with his associates have access to firearms," the affidavit said.
Ontario gang police warned a year ago of the growing threat the California-based Vagos Motorcycle Club posed through an apparent expansion north of the border. "We would like to welcome Canada to the Green Nation," the club announced on its website last spring.
The U.S. department of Justice alleges the Vagos, comprised of hundreds of members across the U.S and Mexico, have been implicated in assault, extortion, fraud, murder, witness intimidation and other crimes. Traditionally, they're arch rivals to the Hells Angels.
In November 2010, the gang — also known as Green Nation — absorbed nine Toronto-area Rock Machine members.
Police were searching for Korne since early February, but didn't track him down until the morning of Feb. 22 in the community of Newdale, about 20 kilometres northwest of Minnedosa. Investigators were initially stumped about exactly where he lived due to a number of "inconsistent" addresses associated to him, they said.
That all changed Oct. 24 when Korne asked the informant to give him a lift home from Winnipeg to Boissevain, cops say.
Police tailed the vehicle to an intersection in the small town. They did it again on Jan. 9, saying he was dropped off in front of a store they later discovered had two unnumbered suites on its second floor.
james.turner@sunmedia.ca
---with Toronto Sun files
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/02/26/biker-ring-leader-caught-in-project-deplete