OFF THE WIRE
A member of an outlaw motorcycle club will serve a weekend jail sentence for beating up and threatening to kill a rival biker last summer.
"Motorcycle club versus motorcycle club, we thought, had gone out with the incarceration of the Hells Angels members," assistant Crown attorney Alex Kurke told a Sudbury court Wednesday.
Kurke said it was discouraging to have happen in Greater Sudbury, after having been absent for a number of years.
"But, we see there are still middle-aged men who get involved in bizarre, outdated, shenanigans. Somebody has to step in and remind them they can't live on the edge of the law or a feudal society where someone decides who can wear what."
Ontario Court Justice William Fitzgerald sentenced Richard Ranelli, 52, to 90 days jail, to be served on weekends.
He was also put 18 months of probation, with the key condition being that he not wear any apparel or patches bearing the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club logo or any other motorcycle club logo in public.
In addition, he was given a five-year weapons ban and has to provide a genetic sample to the national DNA database.
"I apologize for what went on," said Ranelli, who had no prior criminal record. "I learned my lesson. It won't happen again. It was uncalled for."
Ranelli pleaded guilty to assault and threatening death/bodily harm.
The court heard three members of the Iron Cross Motorcycle Club were driving their motorcycles on Lorne Street about 9 p.m. July 10, 2011. That's when Ranelli and several other members of the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club came up behind them.
They surrounded the rival bikers, began kicking their motorcycles and forced them to pull into a parking lot. The Iron Horse members told the three Iron Cross members to remove their vests.
When the Iron Cross members refused, Ranelli and two other men pushed one Iron Cross member to the ground, began kicking him and said they would kill him. Police were contacted and Ranelli and the two other attackers were arrested. The other two men are still before the courts.
Defence lawyer John Recoskie said it was his client's decision to break from the trio and put the incident behind him.
"He is accepting responsibility for his actions that day and the things he shouldn't have said," said the lawyer.
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3588223
