A group of about 100 Hells Angels rode through Metro Vancouver Saturday on an annual trip billed as a memorial to honour fallen members.
The bikers travel from East Vancouver to Burnaby’s Ocean View funeral home each year.
“Every year we get together - this is the 26th year - and we just go up to the graveyard and celebrate the life of all the brothers that died,” said John Bryce, president of East End Hells Angels.
Over the last 10 years several senior members and associates of the B.C. Hells Angels have disappeared or been murdered. Some owed money to the club while others were involved in police investigations.
Hells Angel member Cedric Smith disappeared in 2008 and Billy Moore, president of the Renegades was shot to death in Prince George in 2005. Both men worked with a police agent that saw several senior Hells Angels members convicted of drug trafficking.
A police presence was noticeable at the East Vancouver clubhouse but Bryce said it was not necessary.
“We don’t even need them here,” Bryce said. “We do [the ride] every year. I don’t know why there’s so many of them here.”
According to police, club recruitment is declining and the Vancouver Hells Angels membership is aging. When asked about the health of the organization in the wake of legal troubles Bryce said problems are inevitable.
“We always have to go through battles like this just to survive. It’s the way it goes in any organization,” Bryce said. “What are you gonna do?”
The BC government has frozen several assets of the B.C. Hells Angels as it tries to seize property it says is linked to organized crime. The East Vancouver clubhouse cannot be sold until suits with the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office are settled.
Officers followed the bikers on their ride to Burnaby and watched as they gathered in the cemetery. Police say the intent of the ride is to assure rivals that the club is still dominant.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Lisa Rossington
