Pagan’s Motorcycle Club Members Plead Guilty

Kansas City, Missouri, USA (May 17, 2025) - Three members of the Pagan's Motorcycle Club pleaded guilty this week before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays, for their involvement in a series of armed assaults against members of rival motorcycle clubs.

1. Christopher W. McGowen, also known as "Mac", of Platte City, Missouri pleaded guilty on May 13, 2025 to two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in air of racketeering, one count of attempting to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

2. Brandon S. Hodge, also known as "Youngblood", of Springfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty on May, 14, 2025 to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering.

3. Arthur L. Reynolds III, also known as "Straight Edge", of Independence, Missouri, pleaded guilty on May 15, 2025 to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and one count of felon in possession of firearms.

 

On May 30, 2022, McGowen and other members of the Pagan's MC and their support club, assaulted a lone rival motorcycle club member at a business in Grain Valley, Missouri. In addition to fists, one Pagan's MC member used an axe, causing physical injury to the victim.

On September 3, 2022, McGowen, Hodge, Reynolds and other members of the Pagan's and their support club, chased and forced a lone rival club member from the road in Blue Springs, Missouri. Various members of the Pagan's MC and their support club were armed with firearms and at least one axe handle.

McGowen, Hodge, Reynolds and the others confronted the victim on the side of the roadway and ultimately, the victim was shot seven times, with wounds to his knee, thigh, forearms, biceps, buttocks and back of his leg. Following these events, McGowen, Hodge, Reynolds and other present were awarded patches for their participation.

On May 11, 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant for Reynolds' residence in Independence, Missouri. Inside, officers located seven firearms, various calibers of ammunition, body armor and Pagan's Motorcycle Club related items.

On January 24, 2005, Reynolds pleaded guilty to felony aggravated robbery in the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, for which he was later sentenced to 61 months in custody. Under current federal status, McGowen and Reynolds are subject to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. Hodge is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison without parole. 

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney's Bradley K. Kavanaugh and Robert Smith. 

It was investigated by the FBI, the Independence, Missouri Police Department, the Blue Springs, Missouri Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.

SOURCE: United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri

Never Forget: Waco Biker Massacre Revisited

Waco, Texas, USA (May 17, 2025) - On this day, 10 years ago, on May 17, 2015, an ambush that resulted into a massacre erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas. More than 200 folks, including members from several motorcycle clubs like the Bandidos, Cossacks, and other allies were gathered for a planned peaceful meeting about political rights for motorcyclists.

 

Aftermath of the massacre on May 17, 2015 at a Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas  

The massacre was the deadliest and most high-profile event in the Waco area since the botched federal siege of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. The bikers said the agenda at the regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (COC&I), a statewide biker group coalition based in Tyler, involved political issues regarding the rights of motorcyclists.

 

READ MORE: WACO MASSACRE TIMELINE

According to several law enforcement agencies, trouble was brewing between the Bandidos MC and the Cossacks MC. It was reported that eighteen Waco police officers and four state troopers were there, monitoring the event from outside, when they alleged an altercation between two rivals led to a fight, then to open gunfire. When the gunfire finally ended, nine bikers were dead, most of them killed by the police, and 18 others were injured. No law enforcement officers or civilians were injured as a result of the gunfire.

 

Motorcycles seized after the Twin Peaks ambush on May 17, 2015

In the end, the event led to a five-year-long prosecutorial fiasco that ultimately resulted in not a single conviction, in spite of the fact that 177 bikers were arrested at the scene and 15 others were later charged, as well. The conflict began a little bit after noon, then Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Initial reports would suggest the conflict began over a parking spot where “someone had their foot run over”, Swanton would say at the time, and the brawl escalated from there. Then at precisely 12:24 p.m., the ambush began and gunfire erupted.

Lunchtime patrons crowded into Twin Peaks and other nearby restaurants began looking for cover, people were scurrying across parking lots, hiding behind cars, running as fast as they could from the gunfire. Police later would say it was amazing, miraculous no one was hurt.

Police snipers armed with rifles identified those bikers who were shooting in self defense and targeted them, which brought the gunfire to an abrupt end. Then officers, assisted by dozens of others who’d responded when the gunfire call was broadcast, began rounding up people and holding them, each one under arrest.

Not long after, busses were dispatched to transport those detained to the Waco Convention Center where police were trying to figure out who needed to be charged and with what. District Attorney Abel Reyna, soon took charge of the scene and instructed that each of 177 people would be charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and then Justice of the Peace Pete Peterson proceeded to set a $1 million bond on each defendant.



Peterson, at the time, said it sent a strong message: “We had nine people killed in our community. These people just came in, and most of them were from out of town. Very few of them were from in town.” 

Those comments started a media storm that continued for months as those defendants began hiring lawyers who began filing motions for bond reductions and other legal documents that brought justice to a halt in the county while all those issues were resolved.

Finally, in November 2017, Christopher “Jake” Carrizal went to trial, the first of those arrested that day to do so, and just a few days later the judge in the case declared a mistrial in the case after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked and could not render a verdict. Jurors deliberated for 14 hours before returning their decision against Carrizal, who was then the president of the Bandidos’ Dallas chapter.

Barry Johnson replaced Reyna as District Attorney in 2019 and began looking into the Twin Peaks cases that remained, by April 2, 2019, all of the remaining criminal cases were dismissed. Two and a half weeks after the massacre, more than 140 of those arrested were still held, unable to post the $1 million bonds. Law school professor and civil rights lawyer David Kairys characterized the attitude of police as “Let’s arrest them all and sort it out later.”

READ MORE: WACO MASSACRE TIMELINE

Indiana HAMC President Arrested in House Raid

South Bend, Indiana, USA (May 16, 2025) - The president of the South Bend Charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was arrested on drug charges Tuesday, according to the Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office. The Marshall County Prosecutor’s office announced the arrest of Norman Tackett after execution of a search warrant in Bourbon, Indiana.

 

On Tuesday, Officers with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department Drug Task Force, Indiana State Police, Net 43, Fulton County Sheriff’s Department, Bourbon Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, executed a search warrant in the 300-block of South Harris Street in Bourbon. 

During the execution of the search warrant, officers seized suspected methamphetamine, items indicative of dealing in methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. Arrested during the operation, was Tackett. 

He is currently being held at the Marshall County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond for dealing in methamphetamine, a level 3 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony; and maintaining a common nuisance, a level 6 felony.

The initial hearing date has yet to be set in Marshall Superior Court.

Hells Angels MC Cases Move Forward

Virginia, Minnesota, USA (May 11, 2025) - A judge declined to dismiss rape and kidnapping charges against two members of the Iron Range chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Judge Robert Friday said there was no breach of attorney-client privilege, as one of the defendants, Paul Anthony Debelak, failed to use proper channels to communicate with his attorney from the St. Louis County Jail, and there was no evidence that messages reviewed by investigators contained legal advice.

Additionally, the judge said, defense attorneys failed to prove their assertion that Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents intimidated witnesses into cooperating with the investigation. “The court finds there were no deliberate intrusions on privileged attorney-client communications,” Friday wrote in a 21-page order. “Assuming that there was an intrusion, the court would still deny defendants’ motion to dismiss because defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated.”

 

The ruling, in the cases of Debelak and Eric Anthony Newman, came five months after a contentious evidentiary hearing in which attorneys asserted that agents eavesdropped on private communications and three witnesses claimed they were threatened with prosecution if they did not comply with orders. The cases stem from allegations that a woman was sexually assaulted and a man was abducted and beaten at the Hells Angels’ downtown Eveleth clubhouse.

Authorities reported that the man escaped from the group on crutches on November 28, 2023, and ran to the safety of police, expressing fear that members could find him. Investigators said they went on to learn that both victims were visiting an Eveleth residence November 27 when club members arrived. It was reported that the woman was raped there by Debelak and Newman.

The man, meanwhile, was allegedly taken to the clubhouse in a van driven by Jake Douglas Novaczyk. He said he continued to be beaten by the chapter president, Jerand Paul French, as other members recorded video. Authorities have released few details about the alleged motive or relationships between parties, other than to say that French was allegedly upset about the man’s association with the woman.