Posted on 04/11/2006 9:16:48 AM PDT by Clive
Biker massacre an inside job: OPP
5 from Bandidos circle face 8 counts of first-degree murder in shootings
By ALAN CAIRNS, TORONTO SUN
ST. THOMAS -- Four men and a woman, each facing eight counts of first-degree murder in what police call an "internal cleansing" massacre of eight bikers, appeared stunned during brief court appearances.
As forensic cops pored over Wayne Kellestine's Iona Station farmhouse seeking clues to the murder of the Bandidos members, the accused man told court he would ask a lawyer "to find out what it is all about."
Kellestine, 56, a former bike gang boss with the Annihilators and Loners who joined the Bandidos in 2001, is the only high-profile biker among the five accused.
FOCUS ON FARMHOUSE
His farmhouse is the sole focus of the investigation. The OPP believe all eight were slain there, sources say.
Insp. Don Bell of the OPP biker enforcement unit said there is "nothing to indicate anything outside the Bandidos."
"This was simply an internal cleansing," he said.
Initially bike gang experts believed the massacre signalled the onset of a Bandidos and Hells Angels turf war.
The other four accused -- Eric Niessen, 45, and Kelly Morris, 56, both of Monkton, Ont., Brett Gardner, 21, of no fixed address and Frank Mather, 32, who lived with Kellestine -- also looked tired and confused when they were brought into court one after another in police handcuffs and coveralls.
Meanwhile yesterday autopsies on the eight massacre victims began in Toronto.
Early results from the autopsies indicate they had all been shot to death, OPP Det.-Supt. Ross Bingley said.
The massacre victims are:
- John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, a full patch member.
- Frank "Bam Bam" Salerno, 43, of Oakville, a full patch member.
- George, or Gus "Crash" Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto, a full patch member.
- Luis Manny "Porkchop" Raposo, 41, of Toronto, a full patch member.
- Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton, a full patch member.
- George "Pony" Jesso, 52, of Toronto, a full patch member.
- Jamie Flanz, 37, a prospect member from Keswick.
- Michael Trotta, 31, an associate member from Milton.
Police sources say the massacre could be due to a long-simmering dispute between Kellestine and Muscedere, the national president of the Bandidos, over the club's leadership.
But one biker expert said the killings may have been the result of a drug binge at Kellestine's farm.
Kellestine, who has a long record of bungled and comedic bank robberies and weapons offences, was charged with shooting another biker in 1991 but was freed when that man refused to testify.
Hells Angels proxies tried to take him out in a drive-by shooting near his farmhouse in 1999, but they hit the wrong car.
Kellestine was once charged with conspiracy to commit murder and possessing automatic weapons and a rocket launcher.
Muscedere, a renowned fist fighter, at one time had aspirations to be a pro boxer.
SURRENDERED
The bloody massacre was discovered in a farm field on Stafford Line, near the town of Shedden, by locals out for a walk at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
The corpses had been unceremoniously stuffed into a high-end Infiniti SUV, a Grand Prix and a Volkswagen that was hoisted onto a Superior Towing tow truck.
An OPP tactical team quickly swooped down on Kellestine's farm, located on Aberdeen Line, 20 km from where the bodies had been dumped.
The five suspects surrendered without incident.
A charge of first-degree murder can be applied in killings that were planned or in which the victims were forcibly confined.
"There is some evidence that supports (the belief that) something happened at that location," Det.-Supt. Bingley said.
"We are trying to determine whether they were all killed there, or there may have been several places."
Bingley said there is still a "great deal of meticulous work" to be done by investigators at Kellestine's residence over an "indeterminate" period of time.
OPP Insp. Bell said the Bandidos first came to his unit's attention in December 2000 when they patched over from the Rock Machine, a Quebec-based biker gang created by traditional Mafia, who were opposed to Hells Angels infiltration.
Bell was quick to tell scores of reporters at a media conference that the mass murder should remind the public that bike gang members "are not the motorcycle enthusiasts they hold themselves out to be" but are criminals involved in drugs, weapons and violence.
When asked about Morris, the only woman charged in the case, Bell said in the biker fraternity women are merely "property."
Regional Coroner Dr. David Evans told the Sun last night the autopsies would likely take two days.
"We have to be accurate with wounds and injuries because they have to be reproducible ... in court," Evans said. He refused to divulge the nature of the gunshot wounds, saying that was the role of police.
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"An OPP tactical team quickly swooped down on Kellestine's farm, located on Aberdeen Line, 20 km from where the bodies had been dumped. "
And arrested them all in one fell swoop.
Mensa members they're NOT.
Exactly: "Muscedere, a renowned fist fighter...." showed up to a gunfight with his fists.
I can't see the term OPP without immediately thinking "yeah you know me."
Drugs and organised crime for sure.
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