All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring s03e11 Bikers, Bombs & Bedlam Johnny K9.eng

You ain't true to no crew!
This is my crew.

I'm true to the crew.

You're gonna go down,
you punk!

Just like Macho Man,
you punk scab, rah!

Wrestler Johnny K-9
was a complex man.

In the ring, he played
a vicious heel.

To his fellow wrestlers
in the locker room,

he was a
big-hearted teddy bear.

But away from the ring,
he led a life of violence and

mayhem that was
shockingly real.

I tried to give him advice
about not being in crime,

to take full advantage
of the wrestling.

He wouldn't listen.

He could be laughing so hard
that you think he's gonna

pass out, and the
next thing you know,

he might have somebody
by the throat and

you're thinking, okay,
I'm about to witness like

a pretty heinous crime here.

He fed an insatiable appetite
for power and infamy

as a high-ranking member of the
Satan's Choice biker gang.

Johnny was very
power hungry.

He wanted to rise to the
top as quickly as he can.

Johnny K-9 is out on bail in
connection with charges

he's facing thanks to
the bombing of the

Sudbury Police Station.

You're reading the newspaper
article and it's like,

"Ah, yeah, that's Bruiser.
That's my guy."

And they're like,
"Yeah, well, apparently

he blew up a police station
in Sudbury, Ontario."

It's just like... what?

Double assassinations and
blowing up police stations,

like, really?

I just couldn't bring myself
to think that he's a

bad person that deserves to
be punished for anything.

That's what blows
everybody's mind.

Both sides of his dual life
would ultimately implode,

leaving a defeated and
broken man in the wake.

He fucked up.

He fucked up big time.

♪

[crowd chatter]

On the offensive.
Oh, turned around,

ducked underneath
that one, look out.

- Ah!
- Oh!

If you were a star in the
WWF in the mid to late 80s,

chances are you probably
beat Johnny K-9

somewhere along the way.

K-9 down!
This one is over.

I remember seeing him as
kind of a job guy on...

WWF TV, probably,
in '85, '86, '87.

So long, Johnny.

Johnny K-9 was one
of those, you know,

look, the term
offends some people.

It doesn't offend me
'cause I used to do it,

is jobbers, right.

They're the guys that lose
on television to the stars.

[match bell]

Hacksaw made quick
work of Johnny K-9.

Television was the opportunity
to get the stars over.

So, the big-name stars -
the Hulk Hogan's,

the Randy Savage's -
have to beat somebody.

WWF would hire local people
at all the TV tapings and

they would come in and you
would be the guy

that gets beat, the job.

You're not
under contract so,

you got labeled as a jobber.

Young John K-9,
something lacking.

He's like caught in The
Twilight Zone or something.

If you were a wrestling fan
watching WWF,

you knew who Johnny K-9 was.

You knew he was gonna drop
to his knees and do that X.

What is that thing he
does before each match?

- Crosses his arms?
- You got me.

- Significant of something.
- You got me.

He loved wrestling,
and was known for that.

But locally, he was also
known as this tough kid

who'd grown up on the
wrong side of the law.

He made money, legally.

And then he dipped
his foot in crime so,

there was this balance of...

you know, legal and
illegal activities.

This is Johnny K-9.

Is there a reason
for that name?

It's a long story.
I used to work at a bar.

One time I got arrested.
I had a assault police charge.

And, they threw me in
the back of a paddy wagon,

and I was looking, I saw
a dog car come up,

and I seen K-9. I go,
that's the name

I'm gonna use when I go in the
ring 'cause I'm a dog.

I know he had been
to jail and prison.

'Cause, when I met him,
he had just been released.

♪

My name is Tracy Edwards and
I was married to Johnny K-9.

I met him in 1993 in
Hamilton, Ontario.

I was an exotic dancer,
doing a rollerblading show.

And, the thing
with Johnny was,

when he walked into a bar,
the whole establishment

stopped what
they were doing.

And that blew me away.
I was onstage and

I could just see the way
the whole bar changed.

And I looked over and,
he just looked at me.

And I was like, whoa.

And, that was it.

From the moment I
looked at him...

I knew we would be together.

♪

Weighing 242 pounds...

After gigs dry up for Johnny
at regional WWF TV tapings,

he pursues stardom on

the independent
wrestling circuit.

K-9 follows it
with an elbow.

I first met Johnny K-9,
it was in Chatham, Ontario.

It was a show for
an older wrestler

by the name of Ricky Bolton.

I'm Scott D'Amore,
Executive Vice President

for Impact Wrestling,
and I was a long time

professional wrestler and
friend of Johnny K-9's.

I saw it on the card that
was posted outside in the

hallway that I was wrestling--
at that point he was,

he was K-9 Dog of War.

But I knew he
was Johnny K-9.

And I hadn't
seen him since his,

his WWF days.

And then I walked into
the locker room and,

I see, I'll call it the new,
improved Johnny K-9, right.

This isn't the 220 pound
Johnny K-9.

This guy is muscle
on top of muscle.

He's not that lean
bodybuilder muscle,

he's that big, thick,
like I'm gonna

cave somebody's skull
in muscle.

And he had the Fu Manchu.
He had the tassel of hair.

And he's got, like,
the gym shorts and

he's got the flip flops.

And he was just
sitting back and he's like,

"Hey, kid, yeah,
it's me and you tonight.

Yeah, me and you.
But it'll be good."

And I mean, I just about
shit my pants right there.

♪

And, we had a good match,
and that's what led to me

getting booked all the
time in the US with him.

[Tracy]
Johnny in the ring, to me,

was just unbelievable to watch.

He'd get in the ring
and start swinging

his head around,
doing this thing.

And the eyes would
be bulged out and,

he'd be screaming
at everybody.

You're all scabs!

Really coming
across like scary.

Johnny K-9 was one of the
toughest guys out there.

[crowd chatter]

He told the guys
all the time, "Hit me.

I don't care.
I want blood."

[crowd shouts]
Oh!

"If there's no
fucking blood,

then we're doing it again.
You gotta get blood."

Come and fight a real man!

He always wanted to be
tougher than everyone

around him, because of
his childhood.

He grew up in a
very abusive home.

At Christmas time, his dad
would get so drunk and

beat his mother and the kids.

He would chase them
around with a broom.

He...

was 5 years old and
he was so scared.

And he would climb his
little body under the steel

bed frame and hold on with
his little fingers and his feet,

so when his dad went with
the broom under the bed,

he couldn't
get his little body.

Johnny's traumatic
upbringing would eventually

fuel his tough guy persona
in and out of the ring.

You never quite knew when
that switch was gonna go off.

One time, me and him
were at a show in Ohio.

We wrestled each other and,
when you're young,

you're always scared to
check your envelope 'cause

back then, you always
got paid in cash.

I didn't want to disrespect
the promoter by

checking the money
in front of him.

So, you just go,
"Oh, thank you.

Thank you so much."
Well, I get in the truck,

I look at my envelope
and I'm like, ah...

And K-9's, "What's wrong?"
I'm like, "Nah, nothing."

He's like, "Did he short you?"
And I go, "Yeah."

I no longer get the words
out of my mouth and he's gone.

And for a 300-pound man,
he's moving.

And I'm chasing after him
'cause I don't know

what he's gonna do.

By the time I catch up to him
getting in the locker room,

he has the promoter
by the throat,

and he's holding him
against the wall.

The guy has gotta be
18 inches off the ground.

And it's gritted teeth,
"You're gonna short this kid

after he got in the ring
and wrestled me!

You want to get in the
fucking ring and

you wanna take fucking
shots from me, hah, punk?

You give that
fucking kid his money."

And I'm sitting there
going, oh, my god,

like, we're
gonna get arrested.

We're in another country.

He scared the hell
out of that promoter.

When he let him go,
he dropped to his knees,

gasping for air.

And this guy's just
throwing money at me.

We get in the truck and
K-9's got that big smile

on his face and he's
feeling good about himself,

and he goes, "Kid, I don't
think that guy's gonna

short you on money again."

And I'm like,
"No, no, but Johnny,

I'm also pretty sure that guy's
never gonna book us again."

And sure enough,
he never did.

This is a really big,
tough-looking guy,

and a lot of
people feared him.

But to me, he was a
gentle soul, you know.

He was like this
standup comedian type guy.

Like, he just always
made me laugh.

He would order a pizza,
and answer the door naked.

I'm like, what?

Put on some
underwear or something.

"No, no, no, watch this."

The door would
open and 300-pounds,

rock solid muscle,
completely naked.

And the pizza
guy would be like,

"Um, yeah, that'll be $20,
please, sir."

And I would laugh so hard.

[chuckles]
He was so funny.

I think Johnny K-9 needed to
be the center of attention

in some ways, and he
loved all eyes on him.

Whatever he had to do
to make the boys laugh.

There's this place
in Taylor, Michigan

where we used to
wrestle for MTW.

Midwest Territorial Wrestling,

and we have one hell
of a card here tonight.

There was a band that was
gonna play before the show.

K-9 walks up and,
of course, he's like,

"Hey, buddy, you mind
if I play the drums?"

So, he gets on there.

We do not believe he can
play the drums at all.

He starts actually
playing the drums and he's,

he's not half bad.

And he's just loving it 'cause
everybody's eating it up.

♪ [drumming]

Then he gets on the
microphone and

starts singing,
and of all his skills,

singing is not one of them.

♪ I SPENT THE
LAST YEAR ♪

♪ ON ROCKY
MOUNTAIN WAY ♪

Wrestlers are falling off
of chairs laughing so hard.

And the more we
laugh and put it over,

the more he's gonna do it.

[microphone feedback]

I can sing some shit.

And, that's actually the,
the territory or the company

where we were wrestling
the night that

Jim Cornette discovered K-9.

I'm Jim Cornette. I've been
a promoter, matchmaker,

announcer, manager in
professional wrestling for

40 years, and I was the
promoter and matchmaker

for Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling
was one of the last of the

pro wrestling territories
in the United States.

It was started specifically
to be an old-time territory

with southern
wrestling feel.

And to do that, we not only
needed established wrestlers

that the people knew,
that were stars to them,

but we also needed to
constantly find new names,

new wrestlers, new ways
to make matches.

[cheering]

The team that I
was managing,

the Heavenly Bodies and I,

were booked on an
event in Michigan.

When we got there and saw
the guys in the locker room,

I saw this big,
bald-headed, jacked up guy.

He looked like a turn of the
century carnival strongman.

He had a big,
round head. Bald.

These big bulging eyes that,
he could make that face.

He had this giant tattoo
across his stomach,

"True To The Crew".

I said, "There's gotta be
some way that we can bring

this guy to Tennessee where
they've never seen him before

and make a believable
animal out of him.

We need a heel.
We need a badass."

I sat down and talked to him
in the locker room that night.

I said, "Would you be
interested in coming to

Tennessee and
working for me,

3, 4 days a week if we can
come to some agreement?"

He said, "Yeah, Jimmy!
I'm all over it!"

We asked him one time
in the locker room,

the tattoo,
True To The Crew.

He said, "Oh, guys,
I was in jail one time,

and all of the guys in jail,
we decided we were gonna

get that tattoo
when we got out."

And I said, "Well,
once you got out of jail,

you know, is anybody
gonna check?"

"No, Jimmy,
you don't understand.

These guys, you say
you're gonna do something,

you do it."

That was the first time
that I got an inkling that

Bruiser had a
checkered past.

I don't know if Bruiser
chose a life of crime or

if the life of crime
just chose him.

♪

After a fortuitous encounter
backstage with Johnny K-9,

promoter Jim Cornette
prepares for Johnny's

arrival at Smoky
Mountain Wrestling,

in Tennessee.

I didn't think that
Johnny K-9 was

a great wrestling name.

I thought, what can
you call this guy?

Well, Dick the Bruiser was
one of the most famous

major box office
attractions in wrestling.

When his promotion
was in its dying days,

had a television show
called Bruiser Bedlam.

Jim rebranded a lot of guys.

It's like
The Thrill Seekers,

Jericho and I had
wrestled as Sudden Impact.

But, to him I think
The Thrill Seekers would

resonate better
with his audience.

We're gonna rock America.

I'm Lance Storm.

Spent time in Smoky
Mountain Wrestling in '94.

Lance Storm and
Chris Jericho,

The Thrill Seekers!

And the moves
you're seeing now,

you don't see many American
wrestlers making these moves.

These are
international moves.

Cornette's like, "Oh, I'm
bringing this new guy in,"

and it was Bruiser Bedlam.

And, everybody's going,
"Who's that?"

"Oh, he used to
be Johnny K-9."

I'm like, "Okay..."

I remember, he was on his
way down to the States.

It was a really cold day and

he was driving a
jeep at the time.

He had his tank top on
with no coat.

I go, "What are you doing?"
He says, "Don't worry.

It's gonna be so
hot so fuckin' fast,

I don't give a shit."

And he would pull up that
hill in that open-air jeep,

no matter how cold it was.

Wearing the most
minimal of shirts.

Maybe like a
string gym tank top.

And he's this gigantic
dude in the tank top,

shorts, and flip flops.

You're just like, oh,
my god, who is this guy?

You know, is he gonna be
a crazed maniac or what?

But, 10 seconds
of meeting him,

he's just like, "Hey,
buddy, how you doing?"

And it's like, "Hey!"

And, you know,
his demeanour was,

you know,
just big teddy bear.

To cement Bruiser Bedlam
as his new monster heel,

Cornette books him in a
main event match against the

promotion's top babyface,
Bullet Bob Armstrong.

His first night in, we had
a handicap match against

Bullet Bob Armstrong,
who was the all-time legend

in wrestling of that area.

[cheering]

And Bruiser beat him.

The cover, 1, 2, 3!

And people were like,
"He beat Bob Armstrong?"

Nobody beat Bob Armstrong.

That instantly gave him a little
credibility in their eyes.

We did videos with him
where he could drive a

10-penny nail through a board
with his bare hand.

One time, he said,

"Jimmy, I can break a beer
bottle over my head."

"Okay." So, we got
the camera rolling,

he's got the bottle
in his hand, and he's...

Bam!

It didn't break.

I'm like, "Bruiser, you
know we can gimmick that."

"No, I, I can do it."
Second take, bam!

Now the knot's coming up
on his head. "I got it."

Bam!
Now he's bleeding.

I took the bottle
and baked it,

put it in some cold water,
let it crack a little bit.

And handed it to him,
said, "Now break it."

Yah, yah!

This is what I'm about!

You got a guy
bleeding on television,

screaming,
"I'm gonna kill you."

I believed him.

I don't know. [laughs]

Johnny K-9 grew up in a
rough neighbourhood

where criminality was
another option.

♪

My name is Bill Dunphy.

I am a now retired crime
and justice journalist.

Hamilton was an
industrial powerhouse.

And in the 70s and 80s,
that has really declined,

so the opportunities for
someone of Johnny's age

were very different than
they were 10 years,

15 years earlier.

Johnny grew up
borderline poor,

barely making it.

So, the wrestling, you know,
he made a bit of money,

but not near as
much as he wanted.

So, that's why he
worked for a family,

I'm not gonna say the name.

The Gravelle family,

which was a big
family in Hamilton.

My name's Len Isnor.
I was a Detective

Staff Sergeant with the
Ontario Provincial Police.

He had acquaintances
among all the

traditional organized
crime families.

People who had debts would
give a percentage of the debt

to somebody like Johnny
K-9 and he would take

a profit off and he
would collect the money.

And it was a lot easier
for Johnny to do it because

basically of his appearance.

A few times he'd come home
with blood on his shoes,

wash his hands.

And that was one of the
ways he made his cash.

Despite his success as
a low-level enforcer,

Johnny has even bigger
dreams for his life of crime.

He told me his oldest brother
was with the Red Devils.

And he would always remember
stories of when he was a kid

and his brother and all his
bros would pull up on

their Harley's and pull
into the driveway.

And, he always wanted
to be with a bike gang.

And that's what happened.

He started hanging out
with Satan's Choice.

Johnny rapidly integrates
himself into the world of

outlaw biker gangs
when he joins

one of Canada's most
notorious groups,

the Satan's Choice
Motorcycle Club.

I guess they proposed the
offer of him opening up a

chapter in Hamilton and
he jumped right on it.

Johnny was right away
elected as the president and

he ran the show there.

♪

Mark Carlos is my name.

I knew Johnny from Satan's
Choice Motorcycle Club.

Nobody that I know of
ever came up that fast.

Even though I didn't like it,
personally, I understood.

Because if, if you wanted
to look at the big picture,

the big picture's money.

When people hear,
in that drug crime world,

you got Johnny K-9
backing you...

You make more money.

People are
fuckin' scared, right.

So, it was easy
for him to make 20,

30 grand in a matter of
20 fuckin' minutes, no joke.

Well, Johnny had heat
written all over him.

You know, extorting bars
and restaurants

in your home town.
The cops are called.

It was decided that some
attention has to go

on this new chapter.

So, I was
assigned to Hamilton.

And, the Johnny
K-9 investigation.

He was making a lot of money
illegally at that point,

but he loved wrestling.

He'd go and
wrestle for 200 bucks.

Johnny's two-sided lifestyle
was never more evident than

we when he left behind his
biker gang duties to

wrestle down south for
Smoky Mountain.

It was there that he would
find himself crashing

at a famous flophouse.

Yeah, the famed or
I guess infamous, more,

the Smoky
Mountain flophouse.

There'd be 4 or 5 of 'em
living there at any one time.

Chris Jericho was
flopping there for a while.

Some of the other guys
that were just

starting out in wrestling.

And then, suddenly, whenever
Bruiser was in town,

he just decided
to live at...

my house.

He goes, "Hey, buddy,
if I'm gonna live here,

I'm gonna do my share,
hey, buddy."

So, in his mind, his share
was washing the dishes.

I went into the cupboard
to grab a plate and

I pulled a plate out,
there's all these,

like, pieces of food
kind of crusted on and...

I watch the next time
Bruiser does the dishes,

and Bruiser's idea of doing
the dishes was just

holding the dish
underneath the water,

and then, going like
this and putting it back.

The dish is clean.
So, the next time he went,

"Hey, buddy, I'll do--"
"Dude, it's fine.

It's fine, you know, you're
the guest in the house.

You want to do your part,
take the garage out,"

or whatever, you know.
He was a good roommate

as far as someone
to hang out with.

As far as contributing anything
to the living situation,

absolutely not.
But, as a person,

he was always
a lot of fun.

The first month or so in
Smoky Mountain Wrestling,

we basically put Bruiser in
with all of the guys that

understood what to do
to get a monster over.

We were having
a big event at

the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts
was in one main event.

The other one was gonna be
Bruiser Bedlam versus

Randy "Macho Man" Savage.

Bruiser Bedlam, you gotta
understand that these are

glory days for Smoky
Mountain Wrestling.

Randy sat down
with me, said,

"This is your guy, right?

He's gonna be here,
I'm just coming in one time.

Let me put him over."

Randy "Macho Man" Savage,

one of the biggest stars
in wrestling...

Doing me a favour to come
down and appear on my show,

and now, he wants to
lose to my new top heel.

[cheering]

I tried to interfere...

Down goes Cornette!

Other people got involved.

[indistinct commentary]

But Bruiser Bedlam
pinned Randy Savage.

1, 2, 3.

Bruiser Bedlam
nails Macho Man!

That was, in a lot
of ways to Johnny,

like here I am.

I'm not, I'm not
that job guy anymore.

You're gonna go down,
you punk.

Just like Macho Man!
You punk scab, pah!

That was his biggest match
of his entire career and,

I think he did a very good
job with what he was given

to work with for that period of
time he was in Smoky Mountain.

By Thanksgiving,
Christmas time,

we had to change
talent over again.

I couldn't find
a spot for him.

He took it well, he said,
"Hey, Jimmy, no worries.

Hey, I've had a great time."

And he went
back to Hamilton.

There was not one single
issue that I can recall,

in 9 months, of having
Bruiser Bedlam in my

locker rooms or at the
Smoky Mountain flophouse.

...send you motherfuck...

[laughing]

I would almost have to see
videotape of him actually

blowing something up
before I could believe it.

♪

After Smoky
Mountain Wrestling,

he was doing smaller shows.

I'm the man
down in this area!

I beat them all!
[indistinct speaking]

I'm gonna beat ya!

He just wasn't happy,
the shows were smaller.

Tell the fans to
take their seats...

All...
[indistinct speaking]

please try to
remain in your seats.

His heart was truly broken.

All he wanted to do
was make it, you know.

[indistinct shouts
& screams]

Maybe he was
hoping that, you know,

a bigger break in wrestling
would completely

remove him from
that other life.

Or again, that could be
me trying to

make him the person
I want him to be.

He probably would have
made a great wrestling guy,

like that Hulk Hogan fella and
stuff like that, right.

He was a showman.

He loved the attention.

But, he went
down the wrong path.

This life isn't for somebody
looking to make it big.

As, as a biker,
it's not good.

So, we'll sit in
front of the clubhouse,

you know, monitoring
who's coming, who's going,

who's associating
with who, so on, so forth.

And, Johnny will
come out sometimes and,

and he'll say, "What
are you guys up to?

Wasting the tax
payers' dollars."

You don't talk to the cops.

What is the reason,
you know, other than...

thinking you're
more intelligent,

thinking that
you're untouchable.

I don't know. But, it's...

it's not good.

We'd get information from him
without him really knowing.

Like, his bike's
in the shop,

he has to go get
his bike later.

So, you know, little pieces
of intelligence

that always was handy.

Along with constant
visual surveillance,

Detective Staff Sergeant
Len Isnor and his team

utilize wire taps to
monitor the activities

of Johnny and his gang.

We noticed early in our
investigation that there was

a relationship between the
Hamilton Satan's Choice

and the Sudbury.

They seemed to
hang out more.

Johnny K-9 formed a
relationship with a member

of the Sudbury chapter by
the name of Michael Dube.

Michael Dube was probably

the most dangerous biker
that I've ever met.

♪

On one particular night,
they decided,

let's go to The Solid Gold.

And, The Solid Gold was a...

adult entertainment... place.

All the Sudbury members
fold up their colours and

they put them in
their saddlebags.

And, Johnny K-9 says,
"What are you guys doing?"

He says, "Well, you can't wear
colours in The Solid Gold.

It says no colours."

Johnny said,
"Hell with that.

We're gonna wear
our colours in here."

He went from,
"I'm just a wrestler,"

to he's Al Capone.

And, when you get the
Al Capone syndrome,

that means you can
do whatever you want.

Well, in The Solid Gold,
the staff said,

"We can't serve you.

There's a no
colours policy here.

And we'd like you to leave."

The Satan's Choice members
dug their heels in and say,

"No, we're not leaving."

Sudbury police are called
and there's a face off,

basically, between the
Sudbury police and

the Satan's Choice.

The Satan's Choice
backed down.

Johnny K-9 and Mike Dube
talk about how upset

they were with what
happened at The Solid Gold.

So, they decided that they
would bomb the strip club.

K-9 and another member of
the Hamilton group

offered to arrange the
explosives and the bombs.

Johnny doesn't know there's
been a change in the plans and,

Michael Dube decides
that this bomb is not

gonna go to The Solid Gold.

He decides that this
bomb is gonna go

to the Sudbury police station.

So, they went and they put
the bomb in an alley

beside police headquarters.

And, it blew a
hole in a brick wall.

♪

[bang]

♪

[bang]

A phone call is
basically made to Johnny,

another member
calls him and says,

"Yeah, the police station
got bombed in Sudbury."

You could tell in
this conversation

that Johnny's confused.

He didn't know he was
manipulated

I think until the downfall.

♪

Several months after the
police station bombing,

law enforcement prepares
for an elaborate takedown

of Satan's Choice.

This is getting
into 1997 so,

we have a lot of
the members in,

in Hamilton on
narcotics charges,

on extortion charges,
collecting money.

Plus, we also
have the bombing.

Now, when we go into
the Hamilton clubhouse,

they did everything they could
to prevent us from coming in.

And that was all
Johnny's doing.

He put barriers in front of
doors so we can't ram doors

and things like that.

So, we had to blow a hole in
the wall to enter the building.

[bang]

So, they're coming
in with flash bangs.

[bang]

♪

Laser sight.

♪

So, next thing you know,
we're in bed and...

I thought there was a hit.
I thought gangsters were

coming into the
house to kill us.

[sirens]

Then I realized.

I looked, I could
see all the boots.

♪

50 SWAT team members came
bursting into our home.

♪

Yeah, it was over
at that moment.

Yeah... yeah.

♪

The Hamilton Wentworth
Regional Police Emergency

Response Unit moved in on
the Satan's Choice clubhouse

on Lottridge Street.

Club president, Johnny K-9,
is out on bail in connection

with charges he's facing
thanks to the bombing of the

Sudbury police station
in December of 1996.

It was just so perplexing
having all of the personal

stories of, "Hey,
buddy, how you doing?"

It's like, "Hey, Bruiser,
how you doing?" Big hug.

And then you get
your stepdad going,

"Is this your friend?"
And I'm like, "Um... yeah."

[laughs] My friend,
the man that tried to blow up

a police station in Ontario.

There was a great moment,
and police arranged

this moment, where they took
the crane and they lifted

the Satan's Choice logo off
the side of the building.

I think it took a
lot out of him.

It was something he built.
That was his house.

It was his...

it was his life.

♪

Johnny made a spontaneous
utterance when he was

arrested where he,
basically,

turned to me and
he said, "Lenny,

that wasn't for
the police station.

That was for the,
The Solid Gold."

In this case, Johnny K-9
was interrogated by a

biker squad officer who
just knows how to

lean on him enough
to get him to...

point at someone.

With wiretap evidence and
Johnny K-9's statement

to authorities, Michael Dube
is implicated as the

mastermind behind the
police station bombing,

and Johnny is
released on bail.

One of their
unwritten rules is,

you don't make any
statement to the police.

You don't assist them
in their investigation.

So, when he
comes out of jail...

they remove him
from the club.

♪

He was...

being accused
of being a rat.

I would see a
friend of ours and,

"Hey, how's it going?"

And, this one guy
turned on me and said,

"Your man's a fucking rat."

And I just up and
fucking cracked the guy.

I mean, I stuck up for
Johnny no matter what.

I was so in love with him.

I was blinded by his love.

But I went from being proud
and happy to be with him...

to being really nervous
and scared for my life.

The police would
pull me over randomly.

An undercover officer
would just get out and

come to my window,
and I'd get really mad.

"What did you
pull me over for?

I'm not doing
anything wrong."

"Listen, I just
want to tell you,

your life's in danger."

Telling me there's a
hit on me and John.

Yeah, it was really scary.

It was really scary, yeah.

♪

In January of 2000,
he went off to prison

for bombing the police station.

Our baby was about
2 years old, I believe.

And, yeah, I had to get far
away from all the troubles

that Johnny brought.

Then I was like,
this is my escape route.

So, I left with
clothes on our backs,

basically, and off
to Vancouver I went.

While Johnny serves a prison
sentence of 33 months for

the bombing, Tracy flees
with her children to the

west coast of Canada in
a desperate attempt

to start a new life.

I divorced him.
I had moved on with my life.

'Til he followed me
out there, 2002.

He got released.

He told me that he
missed me and everything,

but honestly, I think that
he was being run out of

his own hometown and he
thought British Columbia

was the best thing for him.

He flew across, landed
at the Vancouver airport.

And as soon as I saw
him at the airport...

[sighs] I just, I was
so in love with him.

I wanted to believe
what he was telling me.

I told him, I said,
"You know,

let's turn something bad
into something really good."

He was at one time wanting
to open a wrestling school.

Instead he went
to prison again.

♪

After only a few months in
British Columbia,

Johnny's criminal past
as an enforcer

comes back to haunt him.

He's arrested for a double
murder committed in Ontario

back in 1998.

The Gilbanks were
murdered in 1998.

A lawyer and her husband.

Lynn and Fred Gilbank.

It looked like a stolen car
was used to drive the killer

to their house at
5 in the morning.

The killer went up the
stairs with a shotgun.

Fred Gilbank came out,

was shot twice and
died in the hallway.

The killer continued on
to the bedroom

where Lynn Gilbank
was still in bed.

And, she was
shot four times.

In searching for
motives for this,

they went through
all of Lynn's cases.

And, a Gravelle drug case was
one that had troubled her

and she had mentioned
it to someone else,

that she was concerned about
the safety of her client.

So, the police theory was
that it was an attempt to

intimidate the legal
community and other

criminals from ratting
on the Gravelle family.

Johnny K-9 and
Andre Gravelle

were charged with murder
about 9 years later.

I had a voicemail
message from Scott D'Amore.

And it was just like,
"Did you hear about K-9?"

And I'm like, oh, no.
I thought he died,

and I called Scott D'Amore
back and he's like,

"Yeah, he's been charged
with a double murder."

I'm just like, "What?!"

It's hard for me to picture
the guy who was willing to

stand beside me
through thick and thin,

no matter what, to
see how he, you know,

could do something
at that level. And...

Maybe I'm naive.

But, that's just
not the John I knew.

So, he spent 20
months in jail.

And got released.

The police didn't
have a strong case.

It was withdrawn and, Andre
Gravelle and Johnny K-9

are innocent of that crime.

In 2006, murder charges were
withdrawn against Johnny and

Andre Gravelle when
prosecutors determined there

was no real
prospect of conviction.

Gravelle subsequently
sues authorities in Ontario,

alleging
malicious prosecution,

and obtains an undisclosed
amount in the settlement.

Johnny never
killed the Gilbanks,

that was a load
of crap, okay.

So, he came back
to BC in 2007.

That's when I remarried him.

And...

Yeah.

Johnny was saying,

"What am I gonna
fucking do for money?"

I said, "Movie industry."

Sammy!
[shouts]

Little help, little help!

Not a great actor.
He tried his best and

he had a lot of fun
doing it, you know.

But, then he,
he was in a gym in

North Vancouver and
saw a Hell's Angel.

Then he, he started talking
to the United Nations and

he comes home bragging,
and I'm like, "What?

Wait a minute.
We're going backwards here.

You're supposed to be
changing your life.

What the fuck
are you doing?"

Out on the west coast he got
involved with the UN gang.

A multi-ethnic
organized crime gang.

He tried to hide it from me,
but it didn't last long.

I mean, we'd have 100 pounds
of weed in my kitchen

while my kids were at daycare.

And he'd go, "Wait a minute.

I'm gonna spray it with
whiskey and Coca-Cola.

It'll weigh more and
we'll make more money."

I'm like,
"You're fucking crazy."

So, we'd be there spraying
the weed all over

my kitchen floor, and I'd be
bagging and weighing.

He was coming home
with 20, 30 grand,

just stacking bank.
And I'm like,

"John, you're
doing the same thing

you were doing in Hamilton."

Police say these are
the faces of the UN gang,

and investigators
want them all in jail.

In 2008, a botched hit
on behalf of the

United Nations gang would
result in the death of

an innocent young man.

In the vendettas that were
going on between these

two BC gangs, John was
picked up by the police

in connection with
murders there.

Then he was charged in 2009
for first degree murder.

I was 9 months pregnant
when he was arrested.

And, that day that
he went into custody,

I didn't know at the time,
but that was the last day

he would ever be free.

♪

Johnny K-9 pleads guilty to
conspiracy to commit murder.

However, the first-degree
murder charge is stayed.

After serving 4 years
of his prison sentence,

Johnny is released to a
halfway house in Toronto.

And he was supposed to
come back to Vancouver

in 6 weeks.

But instead,
the police came to my door.

And, they said,
"Do you know Ion Croitoru?"

And I said, "Yeah."

Now, in my mind,
I'm thinking, oh, shit.

I said, "What's
going on?" And...

He said to me, "Ion
passed away this morning."

I went completely numb.

And, I was shocked.

It was so hard, so hard.

On February 21, 2017,

Ion William Croitoru,

aka Johnny K-9,
dies at the age of 53.

The cause of his death is
the subject of speculation.

He died of a heart attack and

probably because
of his lifestyle.

I know he was in...

in trouble on
the west coast.

So, either it was a hot shot

'cause they wanted him gone.

You know, and...

somebody gave him some,
some good stuff.

And, he went
for the big ride.

Or, he just couldn't
do it anymore.

The reason he died is
because he got maced

by the guards in prison.

They had to
scrape his lungs, so...

you know, there's a
lot more to that, but...

Somebody sent me
the headline,

"Natural causes succeed
where mobsters and

gangsters failed -
Johnny K-9 is dead."

And it looked like the
headline of a Chicago

newspaper for something
like Capone in The Outfit.

And I started laughing
and I just thought...

If Johnny K-9 could write
his own headline

for his death...

That's what he'd write.

Well, he, he had that
charisma that forms...

folk heroes.

Al Capone was a
very dangerous person,

and the fact that he
killed people and,

and was involved in
crime his whole life,

he made a
living in crime and,

and the fact that they,
they made him a folk hero.

And these types of
descriptions

sort of fit Johnny K-9.

I mean, we're still
talking about him.

I mean... yeah.

Johnny's death certainly
doesn't bring closure.

A horrible double murder
is still wide open.

We have lost one of our
opportunities to find out

what really happened when two
good people were murdered.

This was a guy that hurt a
lot of people in his life.

If you owed him money,
yeah, he'd smack you.

But he never killed anybody.

He was hanging out
with the wrong people,

trying to make money,
not realizing how deep

he was in with guys that
were killing people.

Um, no.

I, I totally disagree
with what Tracy would say.

Johnny K-9 is a
very dangerous person.

And, I...

believe that...

how can I put this?
[clears throat]

I don't doubt for a minute
that he's involved in homicide.

If you asked the wrestlers he
shared a locker room with,

couldn't be a nicer guy.

If you asked the families
of the people that

he's alleged to have been
responsible for killing,

you'd probably get
a different answer.

...Smash a beer bottle
over his head.

[indistinct chatter
& laughs]

We will try it today, Jimmy!

I can't canonize him as a
saint and just mourn his loss.

There's this other side and,
having those emotions

inside of who he really was,

who I wanted him to be, who...

in my experience, he was.

And then, hoping that he
could get at least closer to

the side of the guy
that I knew and wanted to,

to live out his days with
his wife would have been,

you know, that happy
ending that you want.

For guys that
you know, and...

when it doesn't happen,
it hits you pretty hard.

♪

If I could go back and
sit in the room with Johnny

again for his first night,
I would tell him,

"Go back and be a dad.
Go back and be a husband.

Go back to wrestling."

You know,
"You follow this life,

in three years...

you're gonna be
somewhere else."

His life is probably also a
life of thwarted ambition.

He tried to move from
enforcer to leader,

and failed miserably.

As a wrestler, he tried
to make it into the bigs.

And he got the edge of that,
but didn't stay.

He didn't have what it
takes to last there either.

There'll probably be a
million fans that have

no idea who he is.

Johnny K-9!

And, there's probably
someone that was in the

Knoxville Coliseum that saw
him beat Randy Savage that

thought he was the scariest
person they ever saw and,

you know, to this day
has nightmares about him.

[screams] What's going on?

Wrestling is, is subjective.
It is to you what it is.

In my opinion, he was the
baddest motherfucker

in the ring, and he had a good
time doing what he loved.

♪

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