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Three dead in biker gang shoot-out in Lahti
- Three men died and several others were wounded on Tuesday afternoon in a firefight between rival motorcycle gangs in a pizzeria in the centre of Lahti. The dead were all associated with the Bandidos MC club, and the alleged shooters came from the former Lahti chapter of Cannonball MC. First reports indicate that the incident was a revenge attack, after a member of the Lahti club was shot in the leg last October. The Bandidos gang members responsible for this were appearing in court in Lahti yesterday.
- Shortly after noon, Lahti police received a report of shooting in the pizzeria-kebab restaurant, which was close to the court-house. Members of the Bandidos gang had gone there for lunch, but there were also some diners who had no connection with the rival gangs. Two cars carrying three men had driven up to the doors of the restaurant, after which numerous shots were heard. Two of the victims died in their seats and four were taken to hospital, where one died later in the day from his wounds. Some of those in the restaurant escaped as best they could, but they later reported to police.
- The Lahti police rapidly arrested around a dozen members of the Lahti gang, of whom three are suspected of direct involvement in the shootings. The pizzeria was cordoned off immediately, and police took away a number of weapons. At no point did the police themselves have to resort to firearms, nor were they threatened at any time. The authorities had been on the alert for trouble when the court convened, but everything had gone peacefully.
- This is by no means the first such incident in Finland. In the autumn of 1997 the Hells Angels and Bandidos, two of the three biker gangs deemed criminal organisations in Finland, reached a widely-publicised truce. This had been preceded by sporadic outbreaks of violence, including a bazooka attack on the Hells Angels headquarters and the death by shooting of a Bandidos member outside their clubhouse in Helsinki. The truce did nothing to quell the crimes and violence associated with the gangs, but did prevent direct confrontations.
- The other party in the Lahti incident were former members of the Lahti chapter of a third (purely Finnish) gang named Cannonball MC. They resigned from Cannonball MC last September over internal differences. Also regarded as a criminal organisation by police, Cannonball MC has clubs in Helsinki, Turku and Kouvola. Last spring all of the then ten Lahti members of the gang were serving prison sentences. In the case of the two other international gangs, the work of the authorities is often hampered by the fact that high-profile criminal actions lead to honours from abroad. Finland's Hells Angels chapter received their official membership not long after the Helsinki shooting and incidents at Oslo and Copenhagen airports that left another Bandidos member dead, while the so-called “hangaround club” that became Bandidos mysteriously got its membership shortly after the bazooka-shell flew through the wall of the Hells Angels HQ.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 19.1.2000
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