Friends of Ours

Motorcycle Club News

***  Tenants claim landlord has hired bikers from The Forbidden Ones to force them out of their  apartments in Brooklyn, NY.

***  An association of motorcycle clubs and 78 individual bikers have filed a federal lawsuit claiming violation of civil rights against the Las Vegas and North Las Vegas police departments:

In papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, an attorney representing members of the Mongols and other clubs allege that law enforcement pressured bars and hotels in Las Vegas to cancel events with members of the Mongols and the Vagos.  Police also improperly detained a member of the Stray Cats group; defamed a member of the Bandidos biker group who was fired from his job as a paramedic; and falsely arrested another Bandidos member, the lawsuit alleges.

***  Several suspected members and associates of the Bandidos are arrested for their alleged roles in attacking rival bikers for wearing unapproved colors in El Paso, TX:  "law enforcement officers have said that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club is the dominant outlaw motorcycle gang in the El Paso region."

***  Reputed Hells Angels member arrested after three years on the lam outside Montreal, QB Canada:  "he will reportedly be charged with murder, gangsterism and drug trafficking."

***  The FBI arrested twenty suspected Hells Angels members and associates in raids across the Carolinas following a two-year investigation:  the "91-count indictment alleges that the members and associates of the York County-based Hells Angels group engaged in narcotics distribution, arson, trafficking in stolen property, money laundering, extortion, prostitution and firearms violations."

Motorcycle Club News

***  Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, former Mongols national president, was sentenced to fourteen years in prison pursuant to secret court hearing after pleading guilty to racketeering:

Calls to Cavazos' deputy federal public defender, John Littrell, were not returned. Littrell requested the judge to seal documents regarding his client, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Brunwin. The reason for sealing was due to underlying issues that Brunwin couldn't talk about.

***  Fifteen bikers from Hells Angels and its puppet club AK81 convicted of attempted murder and assault against rival immigrant gangs in Copenhagen, Denmark:

The 15 individuals were charged with having carried out four shootings, planning a further two as well carrying out assaults using weapons. Their victims were mostly young  men with immigrant backgrounds.

***  Police warn of escalating gang war with some Hells Angels on one side in Vancouver, BC Canada.

***  Prosecution drops several charges in upcoming Hells Angels mega trial in Montreal, QC Canada:  "the court was to hear the cases of over 100 bikers, each charged with 22 counts of murders, but . . . it was reduced to nine counts."

***  Bikers on the rise in Alberta, Canada:  "according to Sgt. Marc Labonte of the Edmonton Integrated Intelligence Unit for the RCMP, during the last two years, Alberta has seen one of the largest increases in outlaw motorcycle gangs across the country."

***  Hells Angels members allegedly involved with debt collection firms in New Zealand: 

Detective Inspector Grant Wormald, of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand, said some debt collectors traded on their gang membership. "More often than not the gangs are used to collect debts in the knowledge that people will pay up through fear and intimidation," he said.

***  Gypsy gangs hook up with motorcycle clubs to deal drugs in Australia.

***  The Chosen Few clubhouse is in the crosshairs of city officials in Los Angeles, CA.

***  College professor accused of leading the local chapter of the Devils Disciples in San Bernardino, CA pleads not guilty to heading a methamphetamine ring.

Cops: College Professor Breaks Bad

A tenured professor at the San Bernardino campus of California State University may not be returning to classes this fall.

Steve Kinzey has been accused of leading the local chapter of the Devils Disciples motorcycle club and separately heading a methamphetamine ring, and now the bald-headed funky-bearded academic whose expertise is kinesiology or the study of human movement is on the run from the law as reported by Phil Willon for the Los Angeles Times.

Authorities "said the probe stemmed from a federal undercover operation of another biker gang, the Mongols, in which Kinzey was identified as being involved in criminal activity" as reported by CBS News.

One former student said the good professor "never drank, never smoked, etc.," and Kinzey's father described him as "a good Catholic boy" as reported by Melissa Pinion-Whitt for Contra Costa Times.

Apparently the AMC series Breaking Bad in which high school chemistry teacher and family man Walter White turns to cooking meth is inspiring nerds everywhere.

Earlier this week a Dartmouth College grad student with a chemistry background was charged in Hanover, NH with running a meth lab out of his apartment as reported by Philip Caulfield for the Daily News.

Motorcycle Club News

***  The DEA raids Hells Angels clubhouse in El Cajon, CA to arrest 10 members but finds the premises empty.  The wanted are later rounded up at other locations on a variety of charges, and an eleventh member who already was in custody is charged with the 2010 murder of a rival Mongols at a taco stand.

***  A Hells Angels member in Spokane, WA pleads guilty to a weapons charge and faces two years in prison.

***  A Hells Angels member from the New York chapter pleads guilty to a weapons charge in Providence, RI, and faces an enhanced sentence of up to fifteen years in prison if declared an armed career criminal by the court.

***  Three suspected Hells Angels associates charged for their alleged roles in the beating death of a man in Kelowna, BC Canada are released on bail.

***  A former Philadelphia, PA cop and Pagans member gets three-to-ten years for violent January 2008 assault against the club's then local president who now is cooperating with law enforcment.

***  Police Department in College Park, GA fires cop for allegedly "associating with a notorious motorcycle club and for doing drugs."

***  Law enforcement authorities in Riverside County, CA settle defamation lawsuit filed by Vagos motorcycle club by "admitting that statements that linked the group to attacks against Hemet police officers were 'unfortunate' and inaccurate."

***  Feds raid Sons of Silence clubhouse in Indianapolis, IN:  "authorities didn't release additional information, but indictments are possible after the raid."

Motorcycle Club News

***  Four suspected Hells Angels members and three accountants charged with $5.5 million tax fraud in Sydney, Australia, and one investigator said the alleged crime "heralded a new era for bikie gangs" by "using professional advisers or facilitators, like accountants and lawyers, to assist them with their money laundering and financial activities."

***  Reputed Hells Angels boss charged with $2.3 million mortgage fraud in Sydney, Australia, and the police's fraud squad commander said:

The notion of your stereotypical fraud offender being dressed in a pin-striped suit and carrying a briefcase is well and truly gone. It's certainly becoming a new trend. Not just outlaw motorcycle gangs but all forms of organised criminals are currently working with people with experience in the financial sector and learning from their experience. 

***  A judge in Sydney, Australia rejects police bid to declare Hells Angels a criminal organization.

***  Police investigate suspected turf war between Rock Machine and Hells Angels-affiliated Redlined Support Crew in Winnipeg, MB Canada:  "these organizations are in a battle for control of the drug trade and other criminal behaviour, the city's top cop said."

***  Two RCMP cops plead guilty to a brawl with Hells Angels at a strip club in Kelowna, BC Canada:  "the officers were given an absolute discharge and neither will have a criminal record."

***  Alleged boiler room operator in Vancouver, BC Canada used Hells Angels connection to promote his rock band.

***  Hells Angels in Hamilton, ON Canada get a new clubhouse.

***  Hells Angels in Toronto, ON Canada may get their seized clubhouse back from police after court declares the motorcycle club is not a criminal organization.

***  A Hells Angels member pleads guilty to drug charges in Spokane, WA.

***  An unsolved 1974 murder of a Hells Angels in Lynn, MA gets another look.

***  Police officer in Santa Clara, CA convicted for giving confidential information to a Hells Angels member in payment of a debt.

*** The LAPD targets the Chosen Few in Los Angeles, CA:  "The city attorney’s office is seeking charges against nine Chosen Few members for crimes including sale of cocaine and marijuana, assault weapons violations, and gang enhancements, officials said."

***  In South Warwickshire, England a former Outlaws biker who was convicted for role in murder of a Hells Angels now fears for life from his ex-comrads after disowning the club:  "The Outlaws live and die by a code of honour and it is almost unknown for any member to break away."

***  Undercover informant who infiltrated the Mongols and Hells Angels dies at 58.