Hours before Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno was shot to death, he gave his baby son a kiss goodbye.

"Take care of your mommy," he told eight-week-old Mario before leaving his Oakville home after telling his wife he had been called into work.

It would be the last time Stephanie Salerno would see her husband. On April 8, 2006, his body was left in a vehicle on a rural road in Elgin County along with the bodies of seven other men associated with the Bandidos motorcycle club.

At the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, Stephanie Salerno testified yesterday she knew her husband had been a member of the biker club, but she thought it was "like a member of a sewing club."

When shown a photo of a Bandidos vest found by police in the large upscale Oakville home where she lived with her husband and baby, she said she didn't recall where it was in the house.

"The last time I saw the vest on him was the day I got married" (Oct. 12, 2002), when "a few of them were there," Stephanie Salerno testified.

The Crown has told the jury the men were killed because of a deep rift within the motorcycle club and orders that patches -- the biker symbol of membership -- be pulled from a group of rogue members from Toronto.

But Stephanie Salerno testified she believed her husband wasn't very involved, if at all, after they were married.

"Part of the reason he loved me was he saw a better life," she said.

At the time of Frank Salerno's death, the couple was living with their baby son in an upscale Oakville home.

"He was very liked by all the neighbours and a terrific father for the time he had," Stephanie Salerno said. "He was a wonderful man."

Salerno worked for a trucking company washing trucks and was putting in 60 hours a week at the time of his death.

Stephanie Salerno runs a hair salon and was just finishing a short maternity leave.

She testified she knew of Bandidos "T-shirts and stuff" found around the house, but the Bandidos people "were not part of their life."

Defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, who represents accused Brett Gardiner, suggested she was "wilfully blind" and their upscale lifestyle had been paid for from illegal funds generated from his biker activities.

"Not a penny," Stephanie Salerno said, noting all the credit cards were in her name.

The day before Frank Salerno was shot to death, she said she left her husband home with the baby while she ran errands.

When she finished, the couple was heading to dinner when Frank Salerno's cellphone rang. Salerno told his wife it was his boss, Gabe, calling him into work.

Frank Salerno dropped his wife and their son off at home before leaving. Stephanie Salerno testified she woke up twice in the night to feed her son and her husband wasn't home. She called his cellphone several times and there was no answer.

She filed a missing person's report late April 8, 2006.

Besides Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address, the other accused are Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were Salerno, 43; George Jessome, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Raposo, 41, of Toronto; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

The trial continues today.