It’s a truism that organized criminals are as strong as their contacts in the mainstream world. The Mexican drug cartels are obviously extremely strong, and American authorities believe part of the reason is corruption on both sides of the border, including small town New Mexico, where a chief of police and mayor were just arrested and charged with gun running.

Last week, Italian authorities announced they had found links between the former mayor of Stirling, Australia and the ‘Ndrangheta, the Mafia group from southern Italy that’s now considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia. The former mayor dismissed the charges as ridiculous, but Italian authorities were confident enough to issue an arrest warrant against him.

Italian authorities have gotten used to charging mayors with organized crime offenses. Last year, they charged the former mayor of Siderno, Italy with Mafia-related offenses, including making a trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario to quell tensions between Canadian underworld groups.

This ex-mobster was found planting crops, not victims. If this was a movie, who should play him: Russell Crowe or Steve Martin?

Here in Toronto, the trial against a half dozen Hells Angels on a variety of (sometimes minor) drug and weapons charges. The case is framed around the testimony of David (Shaky Dave) Atwell, former sergeant-at-arms of the Downtown chapter. Exactly how much Atwell is being paid isn’t clear, but it’s far more than he made as a celebrity bodyguard. Not surprisingly, local Hells Angels have taken to call him “Ratwell.”

The Oshawa clubhouse is closed now, due in large part to the paid testimony of its former secretary  Steven Gault. He received more than $1-million. Last I heard, he still hadn’t paid a court-ordered penalty to pay for reconstructive surgery for a man whose ear he partially chomped off in a bar fight.

Now in Winnipeg, Hells Angels president Ernie Dew is on trial for weapons offenses. Again, the prosecution has a former insider testifying for money. This time the tab is $500,000.

Not that long ago, this sort of thing was unheard of. The only high profile biker informers in Canada that come to mind for the 1970s-90s are Cecil Kirby and Yves (Apache) Trudeau. Now they’re commonplace, although far too expensive to call a dime a dozen.

A little news from our southern neighbours. A man who was presiding over a restructuring of Buffalo police has been charged with tipping off cocaine dealers in a bust involving the Afro Dogs Motorcycle Club. A police officer has also been suspended. No comment from the mob, who must feel left out in this alleged biker-police love-in.

Plenty of material is still blacked out in these previously secret FBI files on the Hells Angels in the U.S. in the 1960s. Still, they’re an interesting snapshot on the decade of love-ins and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, with intelligence on long-forgotten rumbles like the June 19-20, 1965 Weirs Beach Riot in Laconia, New Hampshire. That report made it to the White House and Army Intelligence, with its conclusion: “No evidence of subversion, radical, radical or criminal elements involved.”

The August 16, 1965 report “RUMBLE TO BUST GUADALUPE RUEL” also fizzled, as the Hells Angels stayed home rather than bust the Mexican national out of jail in Chicago.

Another report, from July 1968, talked of the Hells Angels plotting to start a race riot in Mobile, Ala. Again, the anticipated bust-up was a non-starter.

What’s interesting is what’s not mentioned, like drug trafficking or organized crime. There is a mention of the funeral of James (Mother) Miles in January 1966. It’s interesting how many bikers are named “Mom.” And the name seems to be reserved for the really tough ones, who you’d never call a Momma’s boy.

Bored with CSI? Criminal Minds not enough for you? Fear not. My former Toronto Star co-worker Harold Levy has been running a blog on Charles Smith, the disgraced pathologist whose work has been blamed for a number of wrongful convictions. Harold’s blog has been listed in the top 50 forensic blogs out there.

It’s amazing how many wounds in a war are self inflicted. Quebec authorities seemed to have the upper hand on organized crime, until more than 80 per cent of the province’s prosecutors quit. The provincial government there may be losing votes, but not from mobsters.

A Concordia journalism student left me a message, wanting to talk. I couldn’t get the email connection to work. Could you please email me at pedwards@thestar.ca.

I’ve never heard of this before: a Hells Angel on trial in Toronto got to cross examine the star Crown witness, a former member of the same club chapter.

Larry Pooler, vice-president of the Downtown Toronto Hells Angels, did a good job too. Sometimes my job gives me a front seat to a great show and today was one of those days.

My thanks to Julian Carsini for helping me clean up the copy and make some corrections for the paperback edition of The Bandido Massacre, which is now on the shelves of good and not-so-good bookstores. It’s $10.99, which works out to about two cents a page.

Julian Carsini’s not the real name of this former Bandido insider. He chose the name from a character on the old Columbo series. His sharp mind and attention to detail reminds me of the Columbo character himself.