Luis Manny Raposo (1964–7 April 2006), better known as "Chopper" was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster, one of the victims of the Shedden massacre of 2006.
Loner
Raposo was born in Toronto, the son of Portuguese immigrants. Raposo was considered to be a "ladies men", but the people he loved the most were his parents, whom he was still living with at the age of 41. In the late 1990s, he joined the Loners motorcycle gang. As a hang-around and then as a prospect with the Loners in the 1990s, Raposo had been repeatedly called out by his mentor James "Ripper" Fullager for not having matches and toothpicks on him at all times for the benefit of the full patch members, a test he now applied to the others when he reached "full patch" status, who usually failed it.
Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of The Toronto Star, described Raposo as a dangerous drug addict whose eyes had a "glassy, crazed quality". Edwards wrote some of the members of the Bandidos Toronto chapter such as Paul Sinopoli and Jamie Flanz were more pseudo-gangsters who had joined the Bandidos out of a misguided belief that this would make them attractive towards women, but that Raposo was a hardened career criminal who was comfortable with violence in a way that Sinopoli and Flanz were not. Raposo was the cousin to the gangster Johanny Raposo, who murdered in Toronto in 2012.
Bandido
On 22 May 2001, Raposo joined the Bandidos motorcycle gang. Raposo became the national treasurer of the Bandidos. One biker from Edmonton who considered joining the Bandidos, Joe "Crazy Horse" Morin, was not impressed with Raposo, who was "stoned" at a party hosted by Wayne Kellestine in October 2001. In June 2002 as part of Operation Amigo Raposo was charged with trafficking in ecstasy and Viagra. On 18 July 2003, Raposo refused the Crown's offer of a plea bargain, saying in a Montreal courtroom: "I'm not guilty and I'm not going to plead guilty. It's not a crime to go to parties and to go to funerals. Yes, I am a member of the Bandidos, but it's like priest of the Catholic church. There are some who are pedophiles and others who are not. It's like the police. There are some who are honest and some who are corrupt". The Crown's principle witness, Eric "Ratkiller" Nadeau, the former national secretary of the Bandidos had proved to be a poor witness in the courtroom and the judge dismissed the charges against Raposo before the trial was due to be start, saying the Crown did not have a case with a witness like Nadeau. In 2004, Raposo together with Frank Lenti created the website for the Canadian Bandidos.. On 30 January 2004, a member of the Edmonton Bandidos chapter, Joey "Crazy Horse" Morin was murdered by the Hells Angels. Raposo attended the funeral in Edmonton despite being his financial problems and much to his disgust, no-one from the new Winnipeg chapter led by Michael Sandham attended the funeral, even through Winnipeg was far closer to Edmonton than was Toronto.
In October 2004, when the Bandidos national secretary, Glenn "Wrongway" Atkinson resigned, Raposo was present. As Atkinson was beaten bloody by Giovanni Muscedere and Wayne Kellestine for his resignation, Raposo looked the other way and pretended not to see the beating.. On 24 November 2004, William Sartelle, the world secretary of the Bandidos emailed Raposo, writing: "You can't come here, we can't come there, but you do want to answer any questions. There are issues that need to be resolved. I have attempts to get these answers, but I have not". Raposo wrote: "All is good, but of course we have the odd [that could be] easily resolved". Raposo knew that the Canadian Banadidos had taken in new members without informing the American leadership, had not paid their monthly dues for some time, and had refused to answer any questions from the leadership in Houston, but in what appeared to be an act of insolence blithely assured Sartelle that the concerns in Houston would soon be resolved.
