Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman said Monday he didn't know the money spent by Hells Angels gang members in Toronto was probably gained through organized crime.

"This is blood money, over the weekend when I spoke with them, I didn't know that," Lastman said, after meeting with Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino.

Lastman provoked outrage by shaking the hands of a Hells Angels member on Friday. The picture of the handshake was splashed across newspaper front pages and on television over the weekend.

"I think these guys are here to have fun, and not hurt anybody," Lastman said after greeting the bikers Friday night. The 400 or so gang members were in Toronto for a celebration of the group's first anniversary in Ontario.

Lastman's critics saying the mayor's comments that the visiting bikers "seemed like a nice bunch of guys" demonstrates that he needs to learn more about how biker gangs earn their money.

The Hells Angels have been implicated in everything from drugs and murder to prostitution and protection rackets.

The mayor's handshake received a lot of media play in Quebec where the Angels have been battling rival biker gang Rock Machine in a turf war that has resulted in the loss of 160 lives in the last six years, including 20 innocent bystanders.

"I would never give my hand to a member of the Hells Angels," Montreal Mayor Gerald Trembley told Le Journal de Montreal.

Quebec's public security minister Serge Menard says Lastman's action is "a scandal."

Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, who called Lastman's handshake "unsettling," met with the Toronto mayor Monday to discuss the matter.

"They're a bunch of criminals, they're a bunch of organized criminals, and what they spend in the city is blood money," he said after the meeting.

Several city councillors have admonished the mayor for embracing the Angels.

"Well, I think he should have resigned a long time ago. I don't know of any politician the world over who's been able to get away with things the way that Mel has," said councillor Maria Augimeri.

In an effort to undo some of the public image damage, Lastman staged a photo shoot with a Toronto newspaper Saturday in which he's shown throwing into garbage can a Hells Angels T-shirt he was given by the bikers.