Satan’s Choice, an outlaw motorcycle gang with a violent history, has spread to Finland.
Open image viewer
An image posted on Satan’s Choice MC Helsinki’s Instagram account on 24 January showing the club’s patch and bullets. Image: Kuvakaappaus SCMC Helsingin Instagram-tililtä
The notorious motorcycle gang Satan’s Choice MC has started operations in Finland.
Since January, several photos have been published on the social media service Instagram by an account operating under the name SCMC Helsinki.
The account claims to be the official page of the “Northern European National Chapter” of Satan’s Choice MC.
The pictures show about 10 men posing in gang vests and holding weapons, some with their faces obscured.
In early January, Satan’s Choice MC’s official international support club Instagram page welcomed “the Finland chapters”.
Open image viewer
Weapons seized in a police raid on the Satan’s Choice clubhouse in 1967. Image: Dick Darrell / Getty
Images posted by SCMC Helsinki show gang vests with the “one-percent” symbol. It is used by outlaw biker gangs such as Hell’s Angels, Bandidos and Outlaws MC, signifying that they are among the supposed one percent of motorcyclists who are not law-abiding.
“We don’t want to comment anything about anything”
Yle asked for comment from an email address associated with the Instagram account. It received satirical responses at first, before a final message saying: “We don’t want to comment anything about anything”.
According to his social media posts, Guindon has visited Finland as a guest of his club’s local chapter. In a Facebook update in early January, Guindon wrote that he was very proud of his club’s new chapters in Finland. He poses in a photo with Finnish members of the gang.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) tells Yle that it is aware of the group and is monitoring the situation, but declined to discuss any details.
Violent six-decade history
In the 1970s, Satan’s Choice was the world’s biggest outlaw motorcycle club besides the Hells Angels.
Open image viewer
Satan’s Choice was formed in 1965 in Ontario, Canada. Photo from Toronto in 1967. Image: Frank Teskey / Getty
It was started in 1965 by boxer Bernie Guindon, who later served 15 years in prison for indecent assault on a minor and drug trafficking.
The gang was involved in drug dealing, pimping, extortion and other crimes, and took part in Canadian gang wars from the 1970s on that left hundreds of people dead.
Specifically, it fought a drug-market turf war with another biker gang, the Popeyes, in the mid-70s, that left around 20 people dead over a two-year period. Satan’s Choice was also involved in the bombing of a police station in 1996.
The club merged with the Hells Angels in 2000, and Guindon announced his retirement in 2006.
Last summer, his son, Harley Davidson Guindon, relaunched the club. He is a former Hells Angels member who has also served prison terms for violent crimes.
In October, Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported that Ontario Police were monitoring “the outlaw motorcycle gang that once dominated northern Ontario streets and appears to be making a comeback”.