CANADA - Update: Police send clear message to biker CLUBS

OFF THE WIRE
Niagara's police chief has a message for motorcycle gangs.

“The message needs to be heard very clearly,” Police Chief Jeff McGuire said at media conference Thursday after the NRP, with assistance of about 220 officers from across Ontario, executed 30 search and arrests warrants in and around Niagara in a pre-dawn biker raid Wednesday morning. “Outlaw motorcycle gangs and criminal organizations are not welcome here. They never will be. They never have been.
“This was a project about community safety. It was a project to make sure criminal organizations don't disrupt our neighbourhoods.”
Thirty-one Niagara residents were arrested for various alleged criminal offences as part of Project Resurgence, which police believe stopped the Outlaws motorcycle gang from re-establishing itself in Niagara. Wednesday's raid included seven tactical entries.

“Unfortunately Niagara is a lucrative market for the drug trade,” NRP Staff Sgt. Shawn Clarkson said. “The usage of cocaine and heroin is high. These guys tried to establish themselves and take over this area as far as the drug trade. The border points of entry are also of interest to them as well as the prostitution that goes on in this area.”

Project Resurgence began in early 2013 when the NRP started investigating the activity of the Outlaws and Black Pistons motorcycle gangs in Niagara.

Police said the investigation uncovered evidence of narcotics trafficking — including heroin, cocaine and marijuana — along with weapons trafficking, break and enter, assault, extortion and participation in a criminal organization.

About 150 charges were laid as a result of the investigation. Police said they seized about $70,000 worth of cash and several weapons including a Mac-10 semiautomatic 45-caliber firearm and an AK47-type assault weapon. The semiautomatic Mac-10 had a silencer and over-capacity magazines, which are prohibited in Canada, police said.

The main targets of Wednesday's raid were the Black Pistons motorcycle gang and the Outlaws motorcycle gang. The Black Pistons had established a clubhouse at 80 Page Street in St. Catharines, police said. The clubhouse was one of the properties raided Wednesday.

Nine of the 11 Black Pistons members were set to become full-patch Outlaws by the end of November.

“The Black Pistons are a lower-level support club.,” Clarkson said. “The Outlaws call the shots. The Outlaws are a more powerful entity. The Black Pistons are there for support. They are trying to prove themselves worthy of becoming full-patch Outlaws. They are dangerous. They are looking to prove their loyalty and their willingness to deal narcotics on behalf of the club and be a financial and physical benefit to the big club.”

http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2013/11/07/watch-live-project-resurgence-news-conference