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Names like Fat Ass, Mountain Gorilla and Great White Chilean Ape followed accused Marcelo Aravena during his time with the Bandidos motorcycle club, the jury heard this morning.
"You guys made fun of him on a regular basis. You mocked him . . . You teased all the bottom people," Aravena's defence lawyer Tony Bryant asked M.H., the star witness now under cross-examination at the murder trial of six men accused of eight counts of first-degree murder.
"This is the kind of guy you could step on as opposed to climb over, someone you could take advantage of."
Aravena and another of the accused, Brett Gardiner, nicknamed Bull, were the two "low men on the totem pole" who were thought of as dim-witted and asked to perform menial tasks before and after eight Toronto Bandidos were killed in Wayne Kellestine's barn in April 2006, Bryant said.
"Wayne told Bull to go outside and get a pickle from the pickle tree and he was stupid enough to go outside and look for a tree, isn't that right?" Bryant asked M.H.
"These guys changed the brakes on the car, washed the dishes, got brush for the fire, cooked — well, by cooked I mean threw some stolen pizzas into the oven. Between the two of them, you'd have a hard time determining who was stupider," Bryant said to M.H.
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"Well, I believe that would go to Bull," M.H. replied.
This morning's cross examination of M.H. was focused on painting Aravena as grunt worker for the biker club.
Bryant also probed into M.H.'s past - much of which can't be published because of a ban that prohibits identifying the former biker turned police informant - asking him about his high-school days and his family.
Court heard M.H. dropped out of high school and did odd jobs - washing windows, painting, construction - and also dealt in cocaine.
"You survived on social assistance. You were on the dole. What you're living on now as part of the witness-protection program, that's of the same order but under a different name. Blood money," Bryant said to M.H.
Under the witness-protection program, M.H. has his rent, groceries, medical expenses and bill paid for. His travel expenses, accommodations, and legal expenses are also covered for the duration of the trial.
The testimony continues.
THE ACCUSED
Wayne Kellestine, 60, Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.
THE DEAD
George (Pony) Jessome, 52, George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28, Bandido Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, Luis (Chopper) Raposo, 41, Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, 43, Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, 30, Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31.
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Kate Dubinski is a Free Press reporter.