487 Ortono Avenue, Oshawa - Thread - Urban Exploration Resource

Neighbours from Hell
What's it like to live next door to outlaw bikers?

October 25, 2006
By Jeff Mitchell

OSHAWA -- You could say Bradley and Francesca MacKenzie have Oshawa's most notorious neighbours.

For almost 20 years the house beside them has been the home base for biker gangs -- first the Satan's Choice, and more recently the Hells Angels. The clubhouse, at 487 Ortono Avenue in central Oshawa, is an oddity: part ramshackle residence, part fortified bunker, it has stood for years in the shadow of Hwy. 401 as a symbol of the outlaw bikers' presence.

It is a structure that vexes the authorities, drawing constant police surveillance, eliciting the disdain of city officials and, lately, attracting the attention of none other than the provincial Attorney General. It is a blend of gleeful biker rebelliousness -- witness the brightly-coloured roof and the building's paint job, consisting of the Angels' trademark red and white -- and sinister tribalism, as evidenced by a nine-foot steel fence, outdoor security cameras and the ominous Angels' death head emblem emblazoned by the front door.

People living on Ortono have become accustomed to the bikers' presence. They don't feel threatened by the Angels so much as irritated by the heat they draw: talk to residents and they're more likely to mention being hassled by the police than frightened by the Hells Angels.

"We have no trouble with the bikers," said Gary Allen, who's lived near the eastern end of Ortono for 20 years. "We've never had a problem with them.

"We have more trouble with the cops."

The MacKenzies acknowledge a cautious but cordial relationship with the bikers.

"Honestly, they have been good neighbours," Ms. MacKenzie said one recent afternoon. Outside the front window of the MacKenzies' tidy bungalow two police cruisers sat at that moment, guarding the now-vacant clubhouse. The property has been frozen by the courts and the Angels, for now, evicted as the province pursues a motion to seize it outright.

"I would not be that upset if they moved on," Ms. MacKenzie said of her long-time neighbours.

"We would be just so happy for it to end."

That resolution may come via the Civil Remedies Act, a piece of legislation that empowers the province to demand the forfeiture of property and assets if it can be proven the assets are proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity. The Attorney General has launched such a motion in Superior Court in Durham Region, alleging that the Angels regularly convene at 487 Ortono to plot criminal enterprises, and that for years the bikers have been selling liquor illegally in a bar area that amounts to a booze can.

In late September the Attorney General successfully applied to have the property frozen pending the outcome of the Civil Remedies motion. The action coincided with a massive action by police across the province that resulted in the arrest of 27 bikers and associates, primarily on drug charges.

But Project Tandem also resulted in the arrest of two Angels -- Mark Stephenson, described as president of the Oshawa chapter and Remond Akleh, a former Oshawa Angel and now a member of the gang's elite Nomads branch -- on charges of conspiracy to commit murder.

Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Akleh, along with another Oshawa man who is identified as a member of the Toronto East HA chapter, are listed on title as owners of 487 Ortono. Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Akleh appeared under heavy guard, handcuffed and shackled, when the Attorney General's motion was spoken to in a Whitby courtroom Oct. 3. A judge ordered the freeze on the property be extended; the matter is back in court Nov. 21.

The bikers have decried the motion as an infringement upon their constitutional right to assemble and associate freely. They argue the authorities are unfairly equating membership in the HA with criminality, an issue that is being fought on a number of legal fronts, most notably in the appeal of a recent Superior Court decision that branded several Angels members of a criminal organization.

"Staples of justice, like the presumption of innocence, the burden of proof, and crazy ideas like equal justice for all have been swept away with one broad stroke," a post on the Angels' "Real Deal News" web page declared.

Brad and Francesca MacKenzie, now in their 40s, were a young, newly married couple when they bought their home at 493 Ortono. They were flush with pride and optimism as they moved in and began their life together.

"We bought the house in 1987 and the Satan's Choice moved in two weeks later," Mr. MacKenzie recalled. "You open the curtains one morning and see the guys there in Satan's Choice jackets -- and you can hear the property values dropping."

He laughs when he says things like this, but Mr. MacKenzie is keenly aware that having what's widely recognized as a violent criminal organization setting up shop next door can adversely affect the curb appeal of one's abode.

So the MacKenzies made the best of it. They were civil with their new neighbours and the Choice members returned that cordiality. When the Satan's Choice were absorbed by the Hells Angels a few years back the emblems on the building and the colours on the bikers' backs changed, but the relationship remained much the same.

The only real annoyance, they said, has been the occasional noisy bash. The Angels, aware of the attention police pay to them, are careful not to soil their own nest; in fact, neighbours will tell you they become something of a de facto neighbourhood watch. If new rental tenants move in and disrupt the street, someone from the clubhouse will drop by for a visit. If some fool speeds around screeching tires and endangering neighbourhood children, he's likely to be flagged down and spoken to.

"There's no crime in the neighbourhood," Ms. MacKenzie said.

Except, it could be argued, for the Angels themselves. That's where the police come in.

The MacKenzies know only too well how closely the clubhouse and surrounding properties are watched -- both claim to have been stopped and questioned by police, and can tell you stories of family and friends, leaving their house after a visit, being pulled over and interrogated.

Indeed, a perusal of court documents relating to 487 Ortono reveals reams of records of police surveillance, in which officers make note of vehicles and licence plates, as well as individuals coming and going from the street.

Mr. MacKenzie recalls once leaving the house for a night shift and walking to his vehicle only to have a spotlight from the police helicopter fall on him -- and then follow him as he got into his truck and drove to work.

"If you really want an experience you have to have the police helicopter follow you to work some night," he said. "That is a barrel of laughs."

The police make no apologies about the attention they pay the bikers. They consistently declare, as was the case with the announcement of the Project Tandem busts last month, that they are battling a criminal organization whose activities have a profound and adverse effect on the community.

"Project Tandem continues to support law enforcement's position that the Hells Angels are criminals and as such they are not welcome in our communities," OPP Superintendent Don Bell said. "Despite their rhetoric they are motorcycle enthusiasts our enforcement initiatives make it clear that the Hells Angels are involved in criminal activity including drugs, weapons and violence related offences."

Civilians get in on the act, too. Gawkers are constantly driving by the clubhouse, especially now that it's laid open and vulnerable by the court action. And there have been times people have walked right up to the door of the MacKenzie residence to enquire about the Angels.

"I've actually had people knocking on the door, asking, 'How do we join?'" Ms. MacKenzie said.

Ultimately, it comes down to this: The MacKenzies don't have a problem with the Angels so much as they are adversely affected by the way the world reacts to the bikers.

"I'm very bitter about the whole situation," Ms. MacKenzie said.

That bitterness includes resentment toward authorities who have allowed the clubhouse to remain on Ortono as long as it has, she said.

So she may take heart in a pledge made by Oshawa Mayor John Gray, who has vowed that if the current court action is successful, the city will tear the clubhouse down.

"We don't want it here in our city," the Mayor told This Week's Jillian Follert.

The MacKenzies have already indicated they'll be watching for the day a For Sale sign goes up. If the price is right, you never know: It might be nice, they muse, to live next door to a nice, open lot.