A former full-patch member of the Devil’s Army told a close friend that he had made an agreement to co-operate with police and wasn’t coming home.
That information, contained in a police wiretap, was played for the jury on Wednesday at Richard Alexander’s trial for the March 2016 first-degree murder of martial arts fighter Dillon Brown.
The intercepted conversation took place on July 30, 2017, between former Devil’s Army member Mick Hargreaves and his friend, also a former member of the motorcycle club, who can only be identified as X.
It was the last time the two men ever talked, Hargreaves testified.
In the short excerpt played for the jury, Hargreaves asked X when he was coming home.
“I’m not going to be …,” he replied.
“Are you serious?” asked Hargreaves. “Holy [expletive] … I don’t know what happened.”
“Rick killed somebody and I cleaned it up,” said X.
With two sheriffs by his side and police officers in the courtroom, X took the stand Wednesday. He told Crown prosecutor Kimberly Henders Miller that he had been in the military but developed medical disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, and left his job in 2016.
His medical conditions affected his mood, appetite and self-esteem and he felt a huge sense of loss leaving his job.
In 2014, X became involved with the Falcons motorcycle club. Most of the time members hung out at Tim Hortons in Esquimalt, X testified. Members also went to the Fox strip club in Victoria. The club had a president, vice-president, a sergeant-at-arms and a road captain. Getting promoted to full member required just hanging around, he said.
X learned about the Devil’s Army from another member of the Falcons. The Devil’s Army was different from the Falcons because it was a “one-percenter,” said X. The term is commonly used to describe outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels because 99% of other motorcycle riders are law-abiding.
The Devil’s Army tried to emulate the Hells Angels and had a close association with them, X testified. The Devil’s Army is commonly known as a “puppet club” because the more dominant club pulls the strings, he said.
Four Devil’s Army members have gone on to become members of the Nanaimo chapter of the Hells Angels, X testified.
X first met Alexander in 2015. The more times he met him, the more interested X became in the Devil’s Army. The club seemed more organized than the Falcons and they seemed like a decent group of guys, said X.
“I felt the allure of it. A chance to start something new. A lot of it was status, reaching for something else for the loss of my career,” he testified.
X made a trip to the mainland to meet Alexander. They had lunch and X told him he was interested in going into the Devil’s Army program.
“It was just decided to come around more often, meet the rest of the guys,” said X, adding that his wife was supportive of him joining the club.
Eventually, X left the Falcons. He was invited to the Devil’s Army clubhouse with his wife and it went well, he said. In August 2015, he decided to join them.
“What role did you envision the Devil’s Army playing in your life?” asked Henders Miller.
“I thought they’d take a considerable role on the weekends, at the time,” said X.
“Did you ever think about becoming a member of the Hells Angels?”
“For a very brief time I did … I thought about it for a couple of months.”
His testimony will continue today.
