Final Research Paper: Organized Crime Threat in Canada - CIA 440

This report provides a strategic analytical overview of organized crime in Canada, focusing on the Hell's Angels as a major threat to public safety. The report defines organized crime and its prevalence in Canada, highlighting the increasing sophistication and mobility of these groups. It specifically examines the Hell's Angels, detailing their criminal activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, and involvement in various violent crimes. The report discusses the gang's operations, membership, and the impact of law enforcement actions, such as Operation SharQc. It concludes that the Hell's Angels pose a significant and ongoing threat due to their extensive reach, lack of major rivals, and continued criminal activities, suggesting their potential to impact public safety in the coming years. The report references several sources, including academic articles, news reports and legal documents to support its findings.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
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Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
Organized crime in Canada has always been a threat towards the society. With time the
organized crime groups are seen to becoming more sophisticated and mobile. In the Criminal
Code of Canada Organized crime has been defined as a group consisting of three or more people
whose main intention is to be committing one or more serious offence that would likely be
resulting in directly or indirectly receiving material benefits by that group. In this essay a
thorough research has been done about the prevalence of organized crime groups in Canada and
which one of them can be considered as a major threat to the public safety in 2020. The group
selected for discussion in this essay is the Hell’s Angel.
Organized Crime Group
Organized crime group can be defined as a group consisting of three or more people
committing serious offences for the purpose of receiving material or monetary benefits
(Albanese, 2014). There are many such groups operating in Canada. They are considered as a
major threat to the safety of the people of the country. Most of these gangs have been involved in
serious and violent crimes like, sex trafficking, drug dealing, murder, theft, extortion, trafficking
of illegal goods, human trafficking, prostitution, terrorism, money laundering, counterfeiting,
gambling, kidnapping and many similar crimes (Paoli, 2014). The associations with organized
crime among the Canadian people are seen to be more prevalent than even the Italian crime
association. For a long time it was not believed that the organized crime groups were capable of
conducting sophisticated operations. However during the 1970s because of various court cases,
the inquiries of Quebec about the Mafia, a series of Mob killings and an overly publicized report

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of the Waisberg Commission about the construction violence, the public came to know about the
presence of highly organized criminal networks in Canada.
Hell’s Angel
Of all the organized crime groups in Canada, Hell’s Angel can be seen as one of the most
powerful gangs present in the country (Barker, 2014). The Hell’s Angels is a motorcycle gang
who, according to numerous police reports and the reports of the international intelligence
agencies, are guilty of carrying out many widespread and violent crimes such as drug dealing,
trafficking in stolen goods, gun-running, and extortion, and are involved in prostitution (Sher &
Marsden, 2010). As per a recent report a high-level drug trafficking investigation called the
Project Skylark, the members of the most notorious bike gangs including the Hells Angels had
been targeted. 18 search warrants were executed through which large quantities of illegal drugs
were seized along with cash, jewelries, vehicles and the patches of the Hells Angels and other
groups were found (Global News, 2019).
Although there had been various accusations members of the organization were seen to
be continuously asserting that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts joining the
organization for riding motorcycles together, organizing social events such as group road trips,
fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the
individuals who have been carrying them out and not of the organization as a whole. However
the members of this gang have been accused and convicted of many crimes even in other nations
such as Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Portugal, United Kingdom and several other nations.

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Although the organization is notorious for their involvement in criminal activities like
drug-trafficking, prostitution, murder-for-hire and such other crimes, yet in the recent years they
were seen to move into legitimate business like gyms, haulage companies, tattoo parlours, and
the security industry. As per the allegations made by the police, by using the mainstream
businesses existing funds are laundered by the gang for exploiting new streams of income. In
Canada the group operates in 34 chapters that include 1260 members who are full fledged. As
per an article published in CBC the group had almost 38 chapters in the states of Canada in the
mid-1990s. As per another newspaper report the only possible rival of the Hells Angel were seen
to be self-destructed with the Shedden massacre which left the Hell’s Angel as the only outlaw
biker gang in entire Canada. In the year 2009 an operation named SharQc was conducted by
Surete du Quebec, which was considered as the biggest strike on the Hell’s Angel in the history
of Canada. 177 strikes had been conducted by the police in which 123 members were arrested
and millions of dollar worth cash and drugs were seized. However in 2015 all the charges against
the Hell’s Angels were dismissed by the Quebec Superior Court stating that the right to speedy
trial that has been guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was violated (Vice, 2016).
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion it is seen that the Hell’s Angel has a high chance of being
a threat to the safety of the people of Canada in the coming years. The gang has almost no rivals
in the nation and is one of the most powerful gangs. As per various newspaper reports it can be
seen that the gang does not operate ‘under the radar’ and the members have been arrested on
various occasions and drugs and other illegal substances worth billions have been seized by the
police over the years. This can be a hindrance to the operations of the organization. The group

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does not only operate in Canada but also in nations like UK, Australia, Belgium, Portugal and
South Africa. There, however have been no implications of the group working with another
organization. Although the group had been targeted by the police multiple times since the
starting of the gang yet the gang is still considered as one of the most notorious biker gangs in
the entire nation of Canada. This is not going to change anytime soon. Hence there is no
implication of the position of the gang being taken over by any other gang. So there is very little
doubt for the gang not being a threat to the people’s safety.

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Reference
Albanese, J. S. (2014). Organized crime in our times. Routledge.
Barker, T. (2014). Biker gangs and transnational organized crime. Routledge.
Charter of Rights and Freedoms Canada
Criminal Code of Canada
Global News. (2019). Members of 3 Ontario motorcycle gangs face 195 charges in drug
trafficking probe. Retrieved 13 August 2019, from
https://globalnews.ca/news/5736493/3-ontario-motorcycle-gangs-195-charges-drug-
trafficking-probe/
Paoli, L. (Ed.). (2014). The Oxford handbook of organized crime. Oxford Handbooks.
Sher, J., & Marsden, W. (2010). The road to hell: how the biker gangs are conquering Canada.
Seal Books.
Vice. (2016). How the Hells Angels Conquered Canada. Retrieved 13 August 2019, from
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bn3vnq/how-the-hells-angels-conquered-canada