Hard Road by Peter Edwards

Author:Peter Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Published: 2017-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

The Big Split

I don’t like to say anything bad about anybody, but Garnet McEwen—he was a backstabbing fucking prick.

Former Satan’s Choice member VERG ERSLAVAS

Cecil Kirby quit the Satan’s Choice in a dispute over pizza with a member named Billy the Bum. Shortly before the big patchover to the Outlaws, Kirby felt he was being threatened by someone who was involved with him in motorcycle insurance scams, and he wanted the Bum to watch his backside while he went into a home to sort things out. Billy the Bum replied that he couldn’t at the moment because he had just ordered a pizza. That meant Kirby didn’t get the backup (or any pizza), and he quit the biker club in disgust. Not long after that, the Commisso crime family reached out to him to do some work as an enforcer.

Around this time, someone pulled up outside Mother McEwen’s home in St. Catharines and opened fire on him. McEwen considered his survival a miracle, and he credited it to a higher power rather than poor marksmanship. “That’s when I seen the Lord,” he later said.

Something bigger than patches was changing as international clubs were pushing into Canada. A love of motorcycles and riding wasn’t always at the core of life in outlaw motorcycle gangs now. Clubs revolved around business. “I don’t think the cops were ready for what happened afterwards, and they were certainly powerless to stop it,” Erslavas said. “After 1977, it became a much different game.”

Outlaw bikers had become an increased priority for police fighting organized crime. In June 1977, Inspector William Sherman of the RCMP told the press that 75 percent of drug trafficking in Ontario was controlled by biker clubs. As if to support his case, in August 1977, police seized more than a million dollars’ worth of drugs during raids in Toronto, Kingston, Wasaga Beach, Hamilton and other communities. Most of the people arrested were Satan’s Choice and Vagabonds.

Surprisingly, and to the chagrin of some of the remaining Satan’s Choice, the club maintained relations with the American Outlaws, and their fugitive exchange program continued. It was an uneasy balance, as the remaining Choice members valued their independence while the Outlaws wanted to further their expansion onto Canadian soil.

While Guindon languished in Millhaven, a couple of American newcomers appeared in St. Catharines. They seemed to ask too many questions, with the story that they were fleeing American charges relating to vaguely explained gun crimes. They were turned away by other Choice members who weren’t convinced by their stories. “You never know who the fuck they are,” Guindon said. “They’re going from chapter to chapter. They could be anybody. They could be a police officer. Undercover…He might be a pigeon…You always wonder.”

One visitor who came to Southern Ontario under the mutual aid pact with the Outlaws was Harry Bowman of Detroit. He was known inside the biker world as “Taco” because of his Hispanic appearance, and authorities also knew him as Harry Bouman, David Bowman, Harry J. Bowman, Harry Joseph Bowman, Harry Joe Bowman, David Charles Dowman, Harry Douman, Harry Tyree and “T.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.