Drive to break up outlaw bikie gangs is overdue. The gangs indulge in Australia-wide, hugely profitable criminality, including distributing drugs.State and federal attorneys-general have been given details of proposed South Australian laws to break up the gangs. Even before the laws take effect, SA's war on bikie gangs has led to the arrest of 22 gang members and confiscation of $120,000 in cash, cannabis, ecstasy tablets and amphetamines and 35 firearms. Victorian Police Minister Bob Cameron's office last night said he had no intention of signing on to the SA's laws. He believes specific bikie laws are not needed. But Operation Purana's success in ending Victoria's deadly underworld war demonstrates that targeted action works. The bikies are a national menace and require a similar response on a national scale.
William (Billy) Bowden pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom today to carrying a firearm in a careless manner in January 2007
William (Billy) Bowden, 33, pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom today to carrying a firearm in a careless manner in January 2007 and skipping out on his preliminary hearing about a year later. Other drug and weapons charges related to the 2007 incident were stayed as part of a plea bargain securing the two convictions. Bowden remains in custody though, charged with manslaughter in relation to the November 2007 killing of Jeff Engen, who was fatally stabbed at the Empire Cabaret, prompting the club to close. That charge remains before the courts. Bowden has been in custody since he was arrested Feb. 14 in Whistler, B.C., and returned to Manitoba. The Crown and defence jointly recommended that time be noted in his sentence for carrying the firearm. That crime occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, 2007, as Bowden was leaving the NV lounge in a truck with friend Ken Houston, court heard. Police discovered a Glock 9mm handgun loaded with 18 bullets in a pile of garbage close to where the...
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