http://groups.msn.com/Moncton101
2006/09/28
Biker barks back
Matt Foley,Bacchus Member
"I have children, everyone in this chapter has children, we all work. My kids go to school ... I work six days a week." says Matt Foley, a Bacchus club member.
SAINT JOHN - After a weekend media report that connected the Bacchus Motorcycle Club to a drug bust on Pitt Street, the club has decided to break its years of silence.
The raid took place at 56 Pitt St., next door to the clubhouse and wasn't connected to Bacchus.
Outside the clubhouse and anxious to talk, Matt Foley sits at the picnic table in front of the setback grey-sided house. It's the clubhouse for Saint John's only motorcycle gang - Bacchus. The only thing that identifies the house, other than the Harley-Davidsons often lined up out front, is a crest with Bacchus on it - the Roman god of wine, women and song - hanging over the front door. The yard is clean, but gravel replaces where most people have grass and a tent covers the picnic table and a barbecue. The only thing out of place is a dishwasher pushed up against the wall of a neighbouring house.
"The people next door get raided for drugs and there's a little blurb about them and the rest of the article is about us. To me, I don't find that fair." said Foley, massive gold rings on each finger of his right hand and tattoos peaking out from under his shirt collar.
Convincing some residents the clubhouse is anything other than a gathering of law-breaking bikers riding earsplitting-loud motorcycles is akin to pushing a boulder up the side of the CN Tower.
Well-spoken and media savvy, Foley is still the personification of a biker - big and intimidating.
In September 2006, the release of the Criminal Intelligence Service New Brunswick report on organized crime said the province is home to more than 50 organized crime groups, including the Bacchus motorcycle gang.
"The Bacchus motorcycle club itself is 35 years old and there's never been a member charged with murder," said Foley.
On the CSIS website, the club is flagged as an Outlaw Motorcycle Club listed among far more notorious gangs such as the Hells Angels, The Bandidos, The Pagans and The Outlaws - Canada's big four.
"We are an outlaw motorcycle club," said Foley in a matter-of-fact voice. "We don't hide that."
From the police point of view, outlaw motorcycle gangs are involved in organized crime - drugs and prostitution. Bachus members see the term differently - outlaw by lifestyle and not by profession.
"I have children, everyone in this chapter has children, we all work. My kids go to school and they get ridiculed by other kids. I'm not a drug dealer, I work six days a week."
In fact, Foley was on his way to Fit for Life to get weighed and then on to open his uptown tattoo shop. A regular life, he said.
"We don't claim to be saints. I chose this lifestyle. I'm not sniveling about it. I know the crap that comes with it. The (expletive) in the paper, if it has got something to do with us, write it."
The wake-the-dead roar of the bikes is something he said they can do little about. He thinks most of the complaints come from King Street East residents.
"It doesn't matter, if it's not us, do you know how many guys go racing by here on bikes or little Japanese cars with those mufflers, fire trucks and sirens going every five minutes?"
The 20-year plus bike gang member said he'd even be willing to sit on a neighbourhood committee to try and act as a liaison with residents.
"We're not even really thinking about (moving), but if these people are upset with us, buy the place, we'll move."
Foley said they'd rather be out in the country, but couldn't say what the asking price might be, though, the clubhouse does have a pool table and a bar as selling points.
Under surveillance by police and residents, Bacchus also watches with its own video surveillance pointed out into the street.
"We're not the neighbourhood police. We're not going to go kicking doors in and kicking dealers out. But if you do (expletive) in front of our house or on our block, you're going to hear about it."
Bacchus doesn't do itself any favours. It's chapter president in Hillsborough is currently up on charges for possession for the purpose of trafficking.
"I only speak for this chapter, I don't speak for the whole organization. As a club, we're a group of guys that ride together. We're not a criminal enterprise as they paint us to be. We don't do anything as an organization like that - if somebody does something illegal, he does it on his own."
Foley, who was the president of the now-defunct Loner motorcycle gang and a member of the nefarious Satan's Choice in Ontario, has a lengthy criminal record.
But those days, he said, are past. Other than a noise charge, the 44-year-old maintains his record has been clear for more than a decade. The same amount of time he's been free of cocaine, a drug that used to run his life and almost ruined it.
"I (had) to turn my life around, but I still like riding and I like the club theme."
Police contend that Bacchus is an affiliate club of the world's biggest and nastiest motorcycle gang, The Hells Angels. The gang's criminal exploits are legendary, subjects of sensational books and B-movies.
In 2005 and 2006, the Angels came to town and were hosted by Bacchus. They came and left without trouble, other than the deafening roar of their bikes.
Tiny compared to the Angels' more than 3,000 full-fledged members worldwide, Bacchus only has 15 members that are known to police. Foley wouldn't discuss numbers or open the clubhouse doors.
"They're just friends. We're not a puppet club or anything,I don't like to talk about the Hells Angels,that's their thing."
The Angel's thing, according to police, is prostitution, drugs and murder.
"This is a whole different scene than Ontario, this is Saint John, New Brunswick, know what I mean?"
Credit to- Telegraph Journal
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