I have enjoyed this particular discussion more than most. I have been in a position where a public figure was abusing their power, and risked losing my job as a consequence of blowing the whistle. I chose to do what was right and things worked out for the better and the person was fired quite publically. But I can certainly understand the fear of losing a job and keeping things quiet. But in the long run, we will not see Rupert change until people decide the bigger picture is more important. After all to have knowledge of something shady or downright wrong and to not say something is not only unethical, but takes away the right to complain about it. You then become part of the problem and not the solution.
Thats just my rant. Like I said, I was in a position where I knew something was corrupt and chose to act on it. It was definately something I had to think about long and hard. And I am glad I chose to listen to my ethics.
Well said Sal , so what we have been told throughout this Subject is we are under the control of some city slickers, some who hide out at the Crest , some behind City Hall walls and that the Mafia is in existence in Rupert. That someone has made comments in regards to Mafia taking care of business. Now we must decide as concerned human being in this community who or when one must blow the whistle. What will happen when the bikes start rolling with their colors? Or have they already settled in? There many stories that could or will fit right in here. This has gotten so exciting.
With the port expanding, I would not doubt that some bike colours will be on the waterfront. They are there on the Vancouver port, so would not be much of stretch to find them here too.
Better them than some of the other hoodlums that deal their drugs in rupert.
White collar crime has been getting away free for some many years and not just in Rupert or the City Hall/Crest, it has been hidden very well. Now they are being recognized or becoming part of Prince Rumors. I heard that once upon a time there was a group of underage girls who were caught up in some bust which involved sex and that there was also a blackbook which was found containing names of well known businessmen but it disappeared without further questions being asked, I believe this was in the 90’s. I did hear this on the old Talk Live show which ran on our AM station. Those individuals who someone called Ollagians are mostly little wannabees.
Oh that book didn’t disappear (If it even existed at all). They used some of the “clients” to prosecute the case. A number of Rupert businessmen appeared in court and had to tell thier story of how and when they did what they did. The police didn’t hide anything away. They did what they had to do to make the case stick in court.
To this day I occasionally run into some the local people who testified in that case. They still can’t look me in the eye.
Mike
i love it…mafia in rupert…and briglio is the don i suppose? give me a break. what rupert has is petty street dealers, most of which are drug addicts them selves, then there are the guys who sell the larger amounts to the street dealers, and they dont’ make it known who they are. yes, with a container port comming…hopefully…there will be organized crime, probably bikers and other groups that already run the province’s drug trade…but no fucken mafia.
Motorcycle Gangs or
Motorcycle Mafia?
by Sergeant Steve Tretheway
Arizona Department of Public Safety
and Lieutenant Terry Katz
Criminal Intelligence Division, Maryland State Police
Once considered nothing more than rowdy toughs on two-wheelers, motorcycle gangs have evolved into crime units that are sufficiently well-oiled and well-organized to rival the Mafia. It’s not just police officers who lump these groups together. Documented evidence in state, provincial and federal courts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia suggests that motorcycle gangs have become organized crime entities equal to the Mafia on many fronts. Biker gangs are organized internationally, with chapters in Europe, Australia, South America and Africa. As retired Illinois State Police Sergeant Joe Satercier noted in 1993 at a Chicago-area Outlaw Motorcycle Gang training seminar, “Biker gangs are the only sophisticated organized crime groups that we export from the United States.”
Organized Criminals
Motorcycle gangs are recognized as organized crime not only by the FBI, but also by other police agencies and courts throughout the United States. Within the past two years, Australia and Canada have successfully used immigration laws to prohibit organized crime members–such as non-citizen members of Hell’s Angels–from entering their countries. Although Canada’s laws were initially designed to keep the Mafia out, they have been interpreted to include all organized crime, and these exclusions are based on documentation that outlaw motorcycle gangs are international criminal organizations.
Among the sources of that documentation are the following:
*
1984 CISC (Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada)–maintains that outlaw bikers are as much an organized crime threat as traditional Mafia operations.
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Organized Crime in Pennsylvania–A 1990 report by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission that explains the similarities between outlaw bikers and traditional crime groups.
*
International Criminal Police Review, March/April 1990–an Interpol report that identifies motorcycle gangs as an international crime problem, groups them alongside other international criminal threats and discusses why traditional law enforcement techniques may not be sufficient in combating outlaw motorcycle gangs.
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Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, June 1985–An FBI report that officially designates outlaw motorcycle gangs as priority No. 2, right behind La Cosa Nostra.
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“Organized Crime in America,” hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 98th Congress, January-March 1983–a 554-page congressional report that reveals similarities and relationships between organized crime and motorcycle gangs.
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Mafia Enforcer–1987 book by Thomas Renner and former Satan’s Choice Vice President Cecil Kirby, who left his motorcycle gang to become an enforcer for the Commission organized crime family in eastern Canada.
Conclusion
With more than 50 years to hone their criminal “skills,” outlaw motorcycle gangs have become a criminal force to be reckoned with. They have organized behind a hierarchical structure with bylaws and meetings. Some gangs are so concerned with their image that they have copyrighted and trademarked their logos and gang names. Members attend functions (runs) together to solidify their unity and brotherhood as a “family.” These gangs don’t simply work parallel to traditional organized crime; they cooperate on joint ventures and compete in other areas.
Furthermore, their inter-gang connections with prison gangs, the Ku Klux Klan, other white supremacy groups, street gangs and drug groups have enhanced their criminal networking–allowing their tentacles to reach all parts of society.
It is imperative that inter-agency joint law enforcement task force operations re-think their efforts to combat this threat, since no one agency has the means to investigate and prosecute outlaw motorcycle gangs successfully. Recent cases by ATF and DEA have resulted in multiple arrests of Hell’s Angels and Hessians. FBI agents have arrested members of the Devil’s Disciples and the Outlaws. The more successful cases involved the experience and expertise of local and state police who joined with the federal agents. There is no time like the present to devote the resources and develop effective strategies to combat the growing threat of today’s more sophisticated outlaw motorcycle gangs.
it’s amazing what you can find on google…congrats…that still does not change my point…a traditional ‘mafia’ and a bike gang are completly different…not to mention people tossing the name around…you can google all you want, but when you actually see what goes on and talk to the people involved it will make more sense. on a posative note…if you do get the bike gangs there, they will take care of all the crackpots selling dope on the street corners…hell, the town can’t do anything, you guys should almost consider hiring them, then you could tax them, and they could even enforce the laws…wow i’m onto something here…go rupert go
there the same look back east. or vancouver…
motor cycle gangs moves in small arms buisness to pay for protection, sets up swet shops or sells dope to the lower guys…hmmm sounds like mafia as well… we know mafia is a big word that hollywood has over used, but the point here is it is still organized crime…
people get killed, hits are put on people, there are rivels among groups, fighting for Territory…this all sound the fricken same to me…
here is where you are missing what i’m saying…and follow me here
a mafia is a family based crime syndicate, that goes for power and territory all over the world…what my original point was, that now seems to be lost, is that there is NO MAFIA IN PRINCE RUPERT…futher more, some deadbeat town councillor tossing that word around is a joke…yes there are gangs there, if there weren’t, there would not be so many drug addicts, obviously the drugs are supplied…but again…no mafia…none, i don’t care what you or tony brigglio say, it’s just not the case.
So what you are saying is there is no family related to the Mafia in Rupert but there are deadbeat counsellors who may have known a family but they have moved now. So all those rumours and tapes don’t count now because there are no organized deadbeat families. Now I am catching on, sort of.
I hear you dude, all Im saying is organized crime is organized crime whether it is mafia, bike gangs, Yakuza, Triads, HA we all know that there are idiots in our city hall that should not be there, but we the people of Rupert put them there. Lets go back 20, 30 40 years, Prince Rupert never grew during this time why because we had people in city hall who also owned business in town, or had there fingers in the pulp cookie jar.
I know there is no mafia in city hall, your right it’s a joke. But organized crime is not a joke, we all hear the stories from Vancouver the shooting’s in front of the night clubs, the beatings, the house invasions, things that don’t happen hear much…I for one don’t what this for our town, but if our town grows it will happen.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. [Our true enemy has not yet shown his face]”
I think the first thing we need for a gang must be a leader, then we must have some rules. The wanna besss in this community could not follow rules and they for the most part have never learned how to follow rules. Most of the street dealers are doing it for their own habit and one knows the real dealer will not do shit. Many of the so called olligans in this town would not survive Hastings street. No colors , no bike gangs plus ain’t no Mafia. I think we have it kind of nice for now and we must just watch for White Collar crime.