Bruiser Bedlam arrested on street
By BILL DUNPHY -- Hamilton Spectator
|
|
Bruiser Bedlam on his way to the ring with manager Pandora on a recent ICW show in Hamilton. -- Greg Oliver, CANOE
|
The former president of a notorious bike gang was arrested on a downtown
street yesterday after a passing patrol sergeant saw a man being slugged in
the face.
The arrest of Ion William Croitoru, busted like some common hood in a street
brawl, is a measure of how far the former Satan's Choice motorcycle club
president has fallen in the three years since police decided to target local
bike gangs.
Croitoru, better known by his wrestling tags, Bruiser Bedlam and Johnny K-9, has been stripped
of his biker "colours" and his club disbanded, police say.
It's a major victory for Hamilton-Wentworth police, who as much as promised
to run the bikers out of town three years ago when the Satan's Choice
members opened up their Biggar Avenue clubhouse.
"This is a direct result of Project Dismantle," Inspector Dave Bowen said
yesterday after confirming Croitoru had been through the humiliation of
being stripped of his "colours" -- the distinctive grinning devil that only
club members are permitted to wear.
Dismantle was a multi-agency police task force that targeted Satan's Choice
for several years culminating in the April 1997 seizure of their clubhouse
under federal proceeds of crime legislation. "After the loss of their
clubhouse, the national organization disbanded the Hamilton franchise,"
Bowen said.
"The remaining members have mostly quit, and a small number have joined the
Toronto chapter."
According to police, yesterday's punch-up was between two ex-Choice members
and was witnessed by acting-Sergeant Steve Holt who was patrolling on Park
Row at 1:45 p.m.
"He noticed a man lunging at another and throwing a right cross which struck
the man in the mouth," police spokesman Sergeant Dennis Waddle said.
According to Waddle, the victim received a bloodied lip in the attack, but
told Holt he didn't want to lay a complaint.
Nevertheless, after an investigation, police charged Croitoru with assault,
possession of a concealed weapon, and failing to comply with recognizance, a
legal term for violating court-ordered release conditions.
The arrest has placed the bodybuilder behind bars facing the possibility he
may remain in jail until the start of an upcoming trial on charges he and
several other bikers planted a bomb at the Sudbury police station Dec. 15,
1996 that caused $133,000 in damages to the station and a neighbouring bank.
