(CCPJ/IFEX) – According to CCPJ, on the evening of 2 March 1998, Vancouver-based Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reporter Greg Rasmussen came home to find that his house had been broken into and vandalized. The break-in occurred on the same day that a special report on the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club aired on CBC radio. The […]
(CCPJ/IFEX) – According to CCPJ, on the evening of 2 March 1998,
Vancouver-based Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reporter Greg
Rasmussen came home to find that his house had been broken into and
vandalized. The break-in occurred on the same day that a special report on
the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club aired on CBC radio. The report, prepared
by Rasmussen and Halifax reporter Kelly Ryan (f), dealt with the Hell’s
Angels’ involvement in criminal activity.
The Vancouver Police believe that Rasmussen was in all likelihood the victim
of a threat by the Hell’s Angels. Detective Constable Al Dalstrom, a biker
gang specialist with theVancouver Police, says the damage done is consistent
with the kind of intimidation used by the Hell’s Angels: “The door was
kicked… and more significantly, a radio was wrapped in a plastic bag and
submerged in a bath tub filled with water.” Dalstrom says that some of
Hell’s Angels’ murder victims have been found in bodies of water with
plastic bags around their heads.
In a 4 March press conference, police said they were not optimistic they
would be able to ever identify those responsible. Although police say there
is not enough hard evidence to definitively link the break-in to the biker
club, Dalstrom affirms that, if it was the Hell’s Angel’s, the message is
clear: “The message would be to communicate to Greg and the CBC, cease and
desist your reporting in respect of criminal activities of the Hell’s
Angels.”
On 4 March, a spokesperson for the Hell’s Angels denied any involvement by
the group, arguing that he himself had allowed Rasmussen to interview him.
Rasmussen has been under police protection. The CBC said it would not shy
away from continuing to report on the club and its activities.
The CCPJ expresses grave concern, pointing out that such incidents can have
a chilling effect on the press and on the public.
Background Information
Some police have called the Hell’s Angels the most serious crime threat in
Canada today. A report which aired on CBC television on 2 March detailed the
extent of the Hell’s Angels’ activities across Canada, which include drugs
and prostitution. The report cited police intelligence files which indicate
the Hell’s Angels’ infiltration of Canadian ports, such as Halifax and
Vancouver.
The province of Quebec in particular has long been the scene of a violent
biker turf war between the Hell’s Angels and rival club the Rock Machine. In
1995, Montreal reporter Robert Monastesse was shot in the leg after
reporting on the turf war (see IFEX alert of 5 January 1996).
