drug dealer explained Monday how he had to shell out up to $30,000 to a Vancouver Hells Angels member after a large shipment of marijuana went missing."I made three small payments, between $20,000 and $30,000," the man testified at the trial of four members of Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels: Ronaldo Lising, Randy Potts, John Punko and Jean Joseph Violette.The 28-count indictment alleges the Hells Angels chapter is a criminal organization and that the accused committed such crimes as extortion and uttering death threats "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit the East End chapter of the Hells Angels."B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly imposed a ban on the name of the witness, who testified he tried to explain to Lising that the shipment was seized by police, but Lising believed the load had been ripped off.The witness recalled Lising demanded payment of "50 grand" for the missing load, which was shipped to the U.S. through Alberta. The man explained he phoned his lawyer, who made some calls to police and wrote a letter explaining the 140-kilogram shipment of marijuana, contained in nine hockey bags, was seized by the RCMP in Alberta and police in Montana.The witness, who has a minor criminal record for assault and possessing marijuana, recalled he got a friend to give the lawyer's letter to Richard Goldammer, an East End Hells Angels member, "to prove my innocence."
He said he later got a text message from Lising saying, "Good luck. We don't want your money."The jury trial, which began last September, continues in a high-security courtroom at the Vancouver Law Courts.