London Outlaws biker busted in murder-for-hire plot

A London man police say is a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club is charged in a murder plot, the third member of the biker club’s London chapter to be arrested in less than two weeks.

London police, working with the OPP, arrested two men Wednesday and seized a handgun as part of a probe into counselling to commit murder. Who was the target of the alleged plot, and when and how, police wouldn’t say, citing a continuing investigation.

The arrests come on the heels of the OPP’s biker enforcement unit charging two men, both identified as members of the London Outlaws, in connection with cocaine trafficking in the London region.

One biker expert says the string of arrests have dealt a death blow to the Outlaws’ attempt to re-establish a foothold in London, long considered the territory of the club’s bitter rivals, the Hells Angels.
“They were done from the start,” Yves Lavigne, the author of several books on outlaw biker clubs, said Wednesday.

A biker club with chapters across the world, the Outlaws opened a London clubhouse on Brydges Street in the spring after years of keeping a low profile in the city following the demolition of their Egerton Street clubhouse in 2009. Lavigne said the move to set up shop in London — seen by some as a challenge to the Hells Angels’ control of the city’s lucrative drug trade — was doomed from the start.
“The Outlaws don’t belong in London,” Lavigne said. “The cops will focus on them because they’re less organized than the Hells Angels.”

The Outlaws declined an interview request.
“Again, thank you for your interest to meet us. We respectfully decline your offer as Outlaws MC Canada does not do interviews,” a spokesperson said in an email to The Free Press. Ryan Mark Daigneault, 41, of London, is charged with counselling to commit murder. Nobody was injured, said police, who confirmed Daigneault’s membership in the Outlaws’ London chapter. Daniel Traquair, 30, of London, is charged with possession of a restricted firearm and another weapons offence.

Both men made brief court appearances Wednesday. Daigneault appears next on Oct. 24, while Traquair returns to court on Oct. 20. Earlier this month, the OPP’s biker enforcement unit laid a total of 18 drug and weapons charges against two members of the Outlaws’ London chapter. The charges against the two men, both 32, resulted from an investigation into cocaine trafficking in the London area.

The Outlaws opened their east-end clubhouse in May, but the bikers left the commercial space shortly after The Free Press reported on its opening, the woman who owns the building previously said. The motorcycle club has had an official London chapter since 1982, according to its national website.


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