Using Intelligence and Surveillance at Border Control
Part One

1. Summary

The Hells Angels are a sizeable and hierarchically organized criminal outfit with chapters throughout Canada. The organization’s primary source of profit is drug trafficking. The organization’s members use intermediaries so as to avoid close involvement in criminal activity. The key strategy to use for eradicating the organization is to adopt a three-fold approach, consisting 1) of conducting surveillance of lower-level actors who can be used to turn witness against high-ranking members; 2) investigating the crime of trafficking with emphasis on ports and borders; and 3) tracking of funds to show the money trail. This approach can lead to the arrest of many members of the club.

2. Introduction

This report examines the organization of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC). It describes the criminal organization; its organization commercial and behavioral characteristics in the first part. In the second part, it provides a law enforcement strategy for addressing this organization in order to achieve a targeted aim, which is eradication of the organization.

3. Criminal Organization Description

The HAMC originated in California in 1948, the name of the club inspired by the WW1 and WW2 flying squadrons. HAMC spread to Canada in 2000 where it opened its first chapter in Ontario when more than 100 men were “patched”—a term used to mean that a person has become a full member of HAMC by receiving the vote of confidence from existing members and then the four patches of the club’s insignia, which signify full membership (Katz, 2011). Attaining membership is an extended process that can last for many years.

HAMC was largely seen as an element of the counterculture movement in the 1960s and 1970s. It attracted interest from war veterans disillusioned by their experiences and looking for something that challenged the status quo of things. It was not simply an American phenomenon as the HAMC spread worldwide across 5 continents.

In keeping with the military hierarchy that its veteran members were used to, the HAMC was organized hierarchically, complete with divisions of labor wherein jobs were given to members based on skill and merit; communication via a chain of command, and rules/regulations that were published.

3.1. Introduction / Overview

This section examines in detail the organizational, commercial and behavioral characteristics of the HAMC. It shows that it is a rationally organized group, that its members engage in both legal and illegal activities, and that its behaviors include violence and intimidation.

3.2. Organizational Characteristics

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) (1994) has described an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang as “any group of motorcyclist enthusiasts who have voluntarily made a commitment to band together and to abide by their organization’s rules enforced by violence, who engage in activities that bring them and their club into repeated and serious conflict with society and the law” (Royal Canadian Mounted Police (p. 3). HAMC is Canada’s largest and most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang, with chapters throughout the provinces (CISC, 2004). The structure of organization is strictly hierarchical, similar to what is found in a military organization. Just as a military unit will conduct surveillance before initiating a plan, so too does HAMC conduct research on geography, law enforcement, rival gangs, and any other issues that might impact the club’s doings. Like a corporation, it assesses the market value of proposed services, such as drug trafficking, and makes decisions about what activities to pursue based on the collection of intelligence of this sort. The division of labor among the participating offenders is arranged according to individual members’ skills, knowledge and ability. HAMC insulates its organization and its members from law enforcement by hiding its criminal activities as best it can. It maintains an air of plausible deniability similar to that which intelligence communities like the CIA maintain when agents engage in covert actions. HAMC is not a criminal organization but rather an organization whose members are believed to engage in criminal actions. Their geographical scope is extensive, with chapters throughout the world; in Canada, they have chapters in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Maritimes. HAMC’s largest presence is in Ontario and BC.

3.3. Commercial Characteristics

The commercial characteristics of HAMC are based on a monopolistic scheme; in order to control an industry, HAMC has to absorb other organizations so that the threat of competition no longer exists. HAMC has members who have infiltrated commercial businesses and organizations, such as the Port of Vancouver, where they are employed by the legitimate organization but work surreptitiously to further their own criminal enterprises—drug trafficking, human trafficking, weapons trafficking and so on (CISC, 2004). As CISC (2004) notes, ports are “exploited to move illicit commodities into Canada as made evident by law enforcement seizures during 2003 including several incidents involving counterfeit products, in particular Canadian-brand cigarettes, and illicit drugs such as an 18-kilogram seizure of opium in December” (p. 25). HAMC is just one of several organizations within a network of organized crime groups that include Italian organizations and Asian organizations. It is impossible for HAMC to control the manufacturing, shipment and reception/distribution of counterfeit goods or illegal drugs all by itself; thus, there is some need to network and develop relationships with other groups. However, controlling or having workers at ports of entry is pivotal to part of the enterprise. Drug trafficking is the main source of illicit income for HAMC (CISC, 2004).

HAMC does engage in violence to intimidate and enforce its rules. Violence and intimidation are often used to prevent witnesses to crimes from testifying. Police are unable to obtain much assistance from the public in their prosecution of cases against HAMC members because of the fear of violent retaliation. With the illicit profits, HAMC will use mainstream industries to facilitate the laundering of dirty money (Silvester, 2006). New laws have been created to deter money laundering events, such as the Proceeds of Crime Act.

3.4. Behavioural Characteristics

HAMC incorporates and embodies subcultural norms, such as rebellion against the system, motifs (symbols of rebellion), code of honor (the ethical framework that supports their activities), and motorcycles for creating a culture of their own. Members must ride a motorcycle—typically a Harley Davidson. They tend to share a style of dress: leather jackets or vests and blue jeans, boots, long hair and beards. Their style of dress and grooming further symbolizes a spirit of rebellion and evidence of a counter-cultural narrative.

The sophisticated nature...…stop. Suspicious indicators can help agents flag cargo, such as where the cargo is coming from (a drug source country like Pakistan), the routing information (an unusual route suggests criminal activity), and no listing for the importer (Schneider, 2017). All of this can help border control establish a focus and should be implemented in the border control focus on this law enforcement strategy.

4.2.2. Operational Tactics

Operational tactics that should be used include putting agents in the field, developing informants from within the gangs, using surveillance, and tracking money flagged by financial institutions. Witnesses are of great aid, but because of the threat of violence and intimidation from HAMC, witnesses are hard to come by. Informants are helpful, but they have to be cultivated and it often requires flipping one who is already a member and convincing him to help investigators. However, HAMC has strict rules about ratting out other members and the fear of violent retaliation can also be felt here. The use of witness protection programs is a must if law enforcement is to have any success in getting witnesses or informants to help.

Surveillance can provide detailed information useful for intelligence; however, undercover operations—with agents acting as buyers of drugs—can help to catch members of the gang. Controlled deliveries is another option and can be used in sting approaches. Search and seizure to obtain physical evidence is an important tactic to use so that a case can be made against the members. Enforcing the Proceeds of Crime Act is a necessary tactic that helps prosecutors show the money trail. Multi-agency cooperation is absolutely essential for all of these tactics to come together.

4.3. Alternative Control Approaches

Alternative Control approaches include government commissions, tax enforcement, and civil remedies (such as civil forfeiture). Currency and suspicious activity reporting can be useful here, but so too can be the use of the armed forces in combating the HAMC. One of the strengths of HAMC is their use of intimidation. Law enforcement officers can be intimidated in stopping HAMC on the streets—but armed forces are going to bring their own level of intimidation that can be effectively used to counter any presented by HAMC. The final strategy for eradicating HAMC will be to use armed forces for making a mass arrest of all individuals in the HAMC who can be connected by way of evidence and witness testimony to criminal activity. HAMC will not be able to resist or intimidate armed forces.

5. Conclusion

The HAMC are a heavily influential and successful organized crime outfit that has been able to put some distance between itself and criminal activity so that it can plead plausible deniability. The key to bringing this criminal organization to justice is to use intelligence to show how the organization works, and to bring it down by catching it in the act. This will require both extensive surveillance as well as intricate collaboration between law enforcement agencies. The three-fold strategy for eradicating HAMC will be to focus 1) on lower-level actors who can be used to turn witness against high-ranking members; 2) on the crime of trafficking with emphasis on ports and borders; and 3) with tracking of funds to show the money…