San Bernardino County, California, USA (April 16, 2025) - A alleged member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club was charged Tuesday with murdering a member of the Vagos Motorcycle Club in what federal prosecutors say is an escalating conflict between the two Motorcycle Clubs.
Julian Pulido allegedly shot to death Vicente Sandoval on March 4th at the Firewater Bar in Ontario, according to a complaint unsealed Tuesday and San Bernardino County coroner’s records. A second alleged Mongols MC member, Clifford Lavoy, is accused of choking Sandoval before he was killed. Lavoy pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of assault in aid of racketeering and is being jailed without bond.
Sandoval’s killing was the latest flame up in a three-year conflict between the Mongols and the Vagos that, according to court records, included a shooting at a Hooters restaurant, a brawl at a Harley-Davidson store in Marina del Rey and a homicide allegedly committed by a paraplegic Vagos MC member who rode a three-wheeled motorcycle.
The officer wrote in the complaint that Mongols leaders maintain an “arsenal” of assault rifles, handguns, shotguns, knives and bulletproof vests in their downtown Los Angeles headquarters. The Mongols allegedly kept the cache of weapons to use against rivals, including the Hells Angels, Outlaws, Sons of Silence and Vagos.
Prosecutors trace the Mongols’ conflict with the Vagos to December 19, 2021, when the latter club held a memorial for a dead member at a Hooters in Riverside. Some Mongols showed up and a fight broke out, the officer wrote. Shooting erupted from both sides. By the time Riverside police arrived, everyone had fled — but blood on the ground indicated someone had been wounded, the complaint says.
