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Feds warn of increase of Outlaw Bikers in Florida

“We've seen them Outlaw Bikers riding colors with their jackets on. 

MARATHON, FL ( December 3, 2016)The FBI warned local law enforcement last month that Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are increasing their presence in South Florida, especially in the Keys.

And their presence has been particularly noticed at popular Motorcycle events like the Peterson Poker Run, held annually throughout the island chain in September.

“We’ve seen in the last couple of years, during events like the Peterson Poker Run, an increase in Outlaw Bikers participating,” said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay. “We've seen them Outlaw Bikers riding colors with their jackets on. Historically, you haven’t seen that.”

“Colors” for motorcycle clubs generally are a three-part arrangement of patches depicting the club name and its location.

The FBI in November sent a memo to Keys law enforcement agencies stating that various Motorcycle Clubs are trying to gain territory in South Florida. The Outlaws MC, regarded as the dominant Motorcycle Club in the region, likely would respond by making efforts to increase its presence and influence, according to the memo.

A member of the Black Pistons MC and Outlaws MC at an event

Ramsay said the document warned of an increased incidence of Outlaw Motorcycle Club activity in the Keys, and that there could be “conflicts between club members.”

“The information put out was an FYI and to be aware and mindful,” Ramsay said.

Nora Scheland, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment on the warning.

City of Key West Police Department Chief Donald J. Lee said that his department also received information about Outlaw Biker Clubs would take part in the Poker Run, but he would not elaborate on which agency shared the intelligence.

“We are constantly sharing intelligence information with other law enforcement agencies, but, in the interest of public safety, do not disclose active intelligence information,” Lee said.

“As far as shared information regarding Outlaw Biker activity, we were made aware both before and during the Poker Run, that there was a chance biker gangs would be in attendance,” Lee said. “This is not the first year they’ve come to the Keys for Poker Run, by any means.”

Ramsay said life for Motorcycle Club members has changed over the years. No longer are the organizations’ membership made up solely of men whose only job is in the club.

“It used to be that groups like the Outlaws and the Pagans were made up of guys whose sole job was being involved in criminal enterprises,” Ramsay said. “They didn’t have day jobs.”

Now, he said members have “dual roles, dual lives. They’re trying to blend into two different societies.”

Indeed, a member of the Outlaws MC involved in a barroom brawl in Key West during the Poker Run in September also is a Hillsborough County firefighter.

“A lot of them are just bad guys,” Ramsay said. “But others are also firefighters or something else, riding with their friends.”

SOURCE: Florida Keys News

Sentence of former Pagans MC National Prez overturned

Court overturns conviction, sentence of former leader of Pagans MC

WESTMORELAND, PA ( December 3, 2016) —  Police can't use a single search warrant to repeatedly send a wired informant into someone's home, a state appeals court ruled Friday in overturning the conviction and sentence of the former head of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

The ruling effectively suppresses all the evidence in the state's prosecution of Dennis “Rooster” Katona, 50, said Katona's lawyer, Paul Boas. While the Superior Court order remands the case back to Westmoreland County for a new trial, it's more likely the state will appeal the decision, he said.

“If they choose not to appeal, the case is over,” Boas said.

Katona could ask a judge to release him on bail pending any appeal. He is serving 40 to 80 months in prison for his 2014 conviction on drug charges.

“I fully anticipate we will file an appeal,” said deputy state Attorney General Michael M. Ahwesh, who prosecuted the case.

The state has two appeal options — requesting a new hearing before a nine-judge panel of the Superior Court or requesting a hearing before the state Supreme Court.

Dennis “Rooster” Katona

In a 2-1 ruling, judges Kate Ford Elliott and Jacqueline O. Shogan said a 1994 Supreme Court decision requires a judge to approve a search warrant when a wire informant enters someone's home as opposed to meeting them on the street, in a car or in a restaurant.

Based on that decision and subsequent state law, “a separate finding of probable cause was required for each in-home intercept.”

Judge Eugene B. Strassburger disagreed. He said requiring police to seek a judge's approval each time they sent the informant into the home would be a burden and the judge approving the order should be able to set the warrant's timeframe.

Most constitutional protections, including the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures, are supposed to be “burdensome,” Boas said. It is burdensome to get a warrant, read a suspect the Miranda warnings, pick a jury and hold a trial, he said.

“This is a democracy,” Boas said. “It's not supposed to be easy. We're in big trouble the day law enforcement stops complaining about how hard it is for them.”

SOURCE: Trib Live

Large Haul

A very happy Club Member celebrating life and showing off his haul