The Shedden massacre involved the gang-related killing of eight men, whose bodies were found in a field five kilometres north of Shedden, a small village in the Canadian province of Ontario, on April 8, 2006. Four vehicles, with the bodies inside, were first discovered by a farmer. The day after the bodies were discovered, five people, including one member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, were arrested for the murders, and three more people were arrested in June 2006. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said the killings were an isolated event and there were no fears for the safety of local residents. The name Shedden massacre is a misnomer. The killings took place at a farm outside of Iona Station and Shedden was the hamlet closest to where the bodies were discovered in a farmer's field.
Background
"Patching over": consolidation in the outlaw biker world
Unable to stand on their own against the Hells Angels, the Chatham chapter of the Loners joined the Bandidos on 22 May 2001 as probationary members, becoming full members on 1 December 2001. Wayne Kellestine and Giovanni Muscedere were two of the Loners that joined the Bandidos. On 5 June 2002, after a series of police raids led to the arrest of several Bandidos in Ontario and Quebec, Giovanni Muscedere became the group's new president. After the arrests, the remaining Canadian Bandidos consisted of 15 members in Ontario spread over three chapters who were consolidated into a single chapter based in Toronto, although its members were actually scattered across southern Ontario. Muscedere became president as the only senior Bandido not in prison or facing charges.
The new chapter
In July 2004, Muscedere opened a new Bandido chapter in Winnipeg, whose members were only probationary members. The leader of the new chapter was Michael "Taz" Sandham, an ambitious former policeman who resigned rather than be fired for associating with outlaw bikers, and who worked hard to keep his past as a policeman secret.
In August 2004, after being released from prison following his conviction on gun and drug charges, Kellestine became the sargento de armas of the Canadian Bandidos, and was displeased at the way his former protégé Muscedere now overshadowed him. Journalist Peter Edwards wrote that outlaw biker clubs claim that they are all about freedom, but in reality they are rigid, rule-bound organizations run in a quasi-militaristic fashion with a strict hierarchy and rules governing every aspect of the members' existence. It was a great source of resentment that Kellestine now answered to president Muscedere, a man to whom he used to give orders when he was the Annihilators' president. When Sandham indicated he wanted to join the Bandidos, one of the Bandido leaders, Frank "Cisco" Lenti, was highly suspicious of him, saying he kept hearing rumours that Sandham used to be a policeman and that he had been rejected by the Outlaws for that reason. He assigned Kellestine to investigate him, and Kellestine reported that the rumours were not true, and that Sandham had never been a policeman.
On 25 June 2005, Sandham visited Kellestine's farm to complain about the unwillingness of the Toronto chapter to make the Winnipeg chapter full members, asking for his support. The principal reason why the Winnipeg chapter were not granted full patches was that the treasurer of the Toronto Bandidos, Luis "Chopper" Raposo, accused Sandham of not paying the monthly membership dues that were owed to Toronto, with Sandham insisting that he had paid the dues.
Edwards wrote that Sandham had "a talent for ruthless politicking and manipulation" as his goal was to take over the entire outlaw biker scene in all of Canada. Sandham had behaved in a very sycophantic manner towards Muscedere, Luis Raposo and Frank Salerno when he wanted to join the Bandidos in 2004, but turned on them when they stood in his ambitions' way. Sandham began writing emails to the Bandidos' mother chapter in Houston denouncing Muscedere's leadership and accusing Raposo of embezzlement.