Paltry haul in biker bar raids

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by Kristian Gravenor

It is believed that you can walk into any bar on the island and score the drug of your choice (the dealer's usually the guy playing video poker... or so we've heard). Competition for the control of individual bars has led to a bloody turf war between biker gangs that has sparked a general panic in the southwest after several lowerland watering holes were recently torched. So why haven't police dropped by our pubs and discos and simply hauled dealers off to the slammer? Glad you asked.

Since May, 400 coppers including undercover and uniformed MUC police officers dropped by 1,400 of the 2,000 island bars in an operation that Captain Serge Frenette vowed would end biker intimidation of bar owners. "The reign of terror is over," he vowed to journalists this spring. The 29-year MUCPD vet, who heads the Organized Crime Division, says the operation was no excuse to allow cops to drink on the job. "We didn't go in with hands in our pockets whistling," he says. Yet at the end of the operation, the cops had raided a paltry total of nine bars and made just 32 arrests, apparently failing to prevent the escalation of the bar turf war, which is thought to be at the root of a recent civilian arson death.

Frenette disputes the notion that biker drug dealers are omnipresent in our bars. "It's easy to say that, but then prove it to me," he says. Bar owners are urged to report biker dealers to cops by calling 800-659-GANG.