Open primary chopped Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, Bates headlight and girder front end
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Feds attempt to seize Mongols MC trademarked logo
Los Angeles, CA (November
21, 2018) BTN — For many years, federal
law enforcement authorities have been trying to take down the Mongols, a motorcycle club they consider one of the most dangerous criminal enterprises in the
country.
The pursuit of the patch was part of a criminal indictment against 79 Mongols that ultimately resulted in 77 guilty pleas. Over the years, the trademark part of the case has been punctuated by conflicting interpretations of intellectual property law, judges overruling their own orders and confusion over who even owns the rights to the logo.
In a 2016 letter to one of the prosecutors, Fritz Clapp, a lawyer for the Diciples, said that if the government gained ownership of the trademark, it would face a quandary because owners must periodically demonstrate that the mark is still in active use for the purpose registered.
They have infiltrated it with undercover agents. They have
hammered members with charges ranging from drug dealing to money laundering to
murder. They have conducted mass arrests that resulted in dozens of guilty
pleas, including one by a past president.
But after a decade of trying, they have failed to deliver
what they view as the coup de grâce: seizing control of the Mongols’
trademarked logo, a drawing of a brawny Genghis Khan-like figure sporting a
queue and sunglasses, riding a chopper while brandishing a sword.
Federal prosecutors want to seize the rights to the logo of
the Mongols Motorcycle Club
Now, in a racketeering trial underway in Orange County,
Calif., federal prosecutors believe they have their best chance yet to take the
Mongols’ intellectual property, using a novel approach to asset forfeiture law,
which allows the seizure of goods used in the commission of crimes.
Prosecutors argue that taking the logo will deprive the
group of its “unifying symbol” — the banner under which prosecutors say the
group marauds.
If federal prosecutors have their way, one of them boasted
at an earlier point in the court battle, the police could stop any Mongol and
“literally take the jacket right off his back.”
But legal experts question the prosecutors’ grasp of
intellectual property law. “Trademark rights are not tangible personal property
like a jacket. They are intangible rights,” said Evan Gourvitz, an intellectual
property lawyer with the law firm Ropes & Gray in New York. “But
prosecutors are treating a trademark like a jacket.”
The Mongols are equally mystified. The logo — also called a
patch — is emblazoned on the vests, T-shirts and motorcycles of hundreds of
members. “Lots of brothers have tattoos of the marks on their necks
and heads and everywhere,” David Santillan, the national president of the club,
said. “How do you regulate that?”
For bikers, the patch is key to belonging and the optics of
appearing tough, and members can spend months or even years proving themselves
before they earn the right to wear it.
“The patch is like the American flag to these guys and
speaks to the identity of the club, the individual and the culture,” said
William Dulaney, a retired associate professor who is an expert on motorcycle
groups. “Some clubs have the rule that if the colors even touch the ground,
they have to be destroyed.”
Mongols MC trial in California
The Mongols’ marks, like those of other biker groups, are registered
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Clubs have aggressively
protected their patches from unauthorized use.
The Hells Angels have gone after large corporations
including Toys “R” Us, the Alexander McQueen fashion line, Amazon, Saks, and
Walt Disney, accusing them of infringement on its death’s head logo — a skull
in a winged helmet — and other club symbols. They have usually been successful, reaching settlements that
require defendants to cease using the trademarks and to recall and destroy
merchandise, among other concessions.
The Mongols have had their share of run-ins with the law.
The group was founded in Montebello, Calif., in 1969 and has about 1,000
members in the United States, most of whom are Hispanic. About half of the
club’s membership is in California, though Mr. Santillan said 11 new chapters
were recently established in Texas.
In 2012 Christopher Ablett, a suspected member of the
Modesto, Calif., chapter, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2008 murder
of the president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels, Mark
Guardado. In 2014 David Martinez, a Mongols member in San Gabriel, Calif., was
charged with murder in the shooting death of a Pomona police officer.
Five months ago, 21 members and associates of the Mongols
chapter in Clarksville, Tenn., were charged with a host of crimes including
racketeering conspiracy, murder, kidnapping and robbery. The Mongols say that they are not a criminal operation and
that such crimes were largely the work of rogue members who are no longer in
the organization. They further contend that some violent acts were committed in
self-defense or in defense of others. Mongols, they say, are simply part of a
brotherhood who are exercising their constitutional rights by wearing the
patch.
“This is a case of guilt by association, an attempt to put
the liability on all members,” said Joseph A. Yanny, the Mongols’ lead lawyer.
“This is one of the most absurd cases I have seen the government pursue.”
But prosecutors argue that the patch is the flag under which
Mongols carry out unlawful acts and intimidate the public.
“The government will show that the marks served as unifying
symbols of an enterprise dedicated to intimidating and terrorizing everyone who
is not a member,” they wrote in a court filing, “and assaulting and killing
those who have sworn their loyalty to other outlaw motorcycle gangs.” A spokesman for the United States attorney’s office for the
Central District of California said he could not comment on the case.
The quest to gain control of the Mongols’ colors began in
2008, when the tactic was suggested by members of the prosecution team at the
United States attorney’s office, said Thomas P. O’Brien, who led the office at
the time. “We were looking for a way to have real impact and we knew this was
going to be a test case,” he said.
David Santillan, Mongols’ National President CreditJenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times
The pursuit of the patch was part of a criminal indictment against 79 Mongols that ultimately resulted in 77 guilty pleas. Over the years, the trademark part of the case has been punctuated by conflicting interpretations of intellectual property law, judges overruling their own orders and confusion over who even owns the rights to the logo.
“Justice is often a long and bumpy road and this case has
been particularly long and bumpy,” Mr. O’Brien acknowledged. During an early stretch of the case, Judge Florence-Marie
Cooper of Federal District Court in Los Angeles granted a sweeping order that
authorized the seizure of “products, clothing, vehicles, motorcycles, books,
posters, merchandise, stationery, or other materials bearing the Mongols
trademark” from members, their relatives and any associates.
In response, some members defiantly flaunted the marks while
others wore alternative Mongols logos. After further litigation, Judge Cooper
would then rule that the Mongols’ marks were not subject to confiscation. In
2009, Ramon Rivera, a Mongols member who had not been charged with a crime,
filed a lawsuit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Mr. Rivera argued that his First Amendment and due process
rights had been violated by the order, and asked that law enforcement
authorities be blocked from confiscating his property. He ultimately prevailed
and was awarded $252,466 in lawyers’ fees. In 2010, another federal judge, Otis Wright, preliminarily
forfeited the logo to the government after the lead defendant and former club
president, Ruben Cavazos, reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
But the Mongols argued that the club, not Mr. Cavazos, owned
the rights to the images. Judge Wright sided with the Mongols, “regrettably”
concluding that the marks were not forfeitable since they belonged to the
organization.
In a somewhat similar case in Michigan, prosecutors withdrew
their bid for the Devils Diciples trademark after six members were convicted at
trial for firearms offenses, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and other
crimes. The individual who owned the trademark, prosecutors had discovered, was
not among the defendants.
In a 2016 letter to one of the prosecutors, Fritz Clapp, a lawyer for the Diciples, said that if the government gained ownership of the trademark, it would face a quandary because owners must periodically demonstrate that the mark is still in active use for the purpose registered.
“Unless the government were to use the collective membership
mark to operate a motorcycle club, then it could not satisfy the requirement,”
Mr. Clapp wrote. “Trademarks, unlike copyrights and patents, have no enduring
value apart from their use.”
But in Los Angeles, prosecutors did not give up. In 2013,
they came back with a new indictment, this time against Mongol Nation, for many
of the same racketeering offenses as were in the 2008 indictments, plus some
newer ones. Again, they asked for the forfeiture of the trademarks. The trial
is expected to continue for several more weeks.
The Mongols are watching closely, saying they know theirs is
a test case. “They take our patch,” Mr. Santillan, the president, said.
“And then they take all the clubs’ patches.”
By Serge F. Kovaleski
SOURCE: The New York Times
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Pagan MC member files lawsuit against City and Police
Pittsburgh, PA (November
21, 2018) BTN — A member of the Pagans motorcycle
club who was injured in a bar fight with undercover Pittsburgh police officers
last month has sued the city and the officers on excessive force and false
imprisonment grounds.
Photo: Frank DeLuca after drunk cops beat him in Kopy's Bar
Frank DeLuca, 38, and his lawyer, James DePasquale, say in
their federal complaint that the officers were drunk and aggressive in
provoking the brawl at Kopy’s Bar on the South Side on Oct. 12. Mr. DeLuca, of Greenfield, is the man seen being punched
repeatedly in the head in a video of the incident.
Related | FBI investigating Pagans MC bar fight
In the suit, he says he suffered head and face trauma and a
dislocated elbow, among other injuries.
The suit names detectives Brian Burgunder, David Honick and
David Lincoln as well as the city of Pittsburgh and claims they violated his
civil rights by beating him and then accusing him of assault. Police had charged Mr. DeLuca and three other Pagans after
the fight but the Allegheny County district attorney’s office dropped the
charges. The U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI are examining the case for
potential civil rights violations against the officers.
Mr. DeLuca said in the suit that the three plainclothes
officers plus a fourth, Brian Martin, who is not a defendant, came into the bar
at 7:30 p.m. and drank “copiously” all night. By 11:30, they were all drunk,
the suit says. Mr. DeLuca and five friends came in at 11:41 and went to the
rear to play pool. He said the officers became “fixated and agitated” towards
him and his companions. He said Detective Honick was especially drunk. Mr. DeLuca said he didn’t know the men were policemen and
thought they were what they “appeared” to be: “Four drunks in a saloon who were
becoming obnoxious in demeanor for no reason other than their visible intoxication.”
The suit says the officers began to point at the men and
told the bartender they shouldn’t be allowed in the bar. The officers told the bartender they were on-duty police
officers and that the situation with the Pagans was “dangerous,” but they didn’t
tell Mr. DeLuca or his friends they were officers, according to the suit.
Mr. DeLuca said two of his friends left, but the situation
escalated when the officers positioned themselves between the men and the exit.
The suit says the officers began to “intimidate” the bikers,
with Detective Honick repeatedly showing a gun in his waistband and gripping
the handle. At 12:40 a.m., Mr. DeLuca pushed Detective Honick because of
the “intimidation” he felt and the fact that the officers were blocking the
exit, the suit says. The brawl then erupted, which the suit labels a “police
riot.”
Mr. DeLuca said Detective Burgunder held him by his hair and
arms while Detectives Honick and Lincoln punched him and a uniformed officer
who came to assist sprayed him with pepper spray. After the fight, he said, he and his friends were arrested
on assault charges and jailed. Mr. DeLuca is seeking compensatory damages for his injuries,
punitive damages against the officers and other costs.
A spokesperson for both the city of Pittsburgh and
Pittsburgh police declined a request for comment.
SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Hells Angels MC member targeted for murder
Surrey, B.C. (November 20, 2018) BTN — A man described by
homicide investigators as a member of the Hells Angels has been identified as
the victim of a suspected targeted slaying in Metro Vancouver.
He says detectives will be working with gang enforcement
experts to avoid any retaliation.
“We will go to wherever you are, we will sit down and speak with you and we will treat you with the utmost respect. We want to solve your friend’s — your associate’s — murder as much as you do,” Jang told a news conference in Surrey.
The cause of Wilson’s death has not been released but Jang says the homicide team is working with Ridge Meadows RCMP, forensic specialists, the BC Coroners Service and gang enforcement units from across Metro Vancouver.
Five people were hurt in an exchange of gunfire. Wilson told his trial that he fired in self-defence after the Outlaws started shooting.
Cpl. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation
Team says the body of 43-year-old Chad Wilson was found Sunday morning in Maple
Ridge, where he was living.
Jang says Wilson was a member of the Hells Angels and
describes the killing of a member of the biker-club as “unsettling news.”
Wilson had a previous criminal conviction in the United
States stemming from a shooting in South Dakota in 2006 that injured five
affiliate members of a rival motorcycle club and Jang says officers are looking
into his past.
Police are also appealing to Wilson’s friends in the Hells
Angels to come forward.
Jang said Tuesday that members of the Hells Angels may have
“intimate knowledge” of what happened and he urged them to speak to officers,
regardless of their current involvement in criminal activity.
The cause of Wilson’s death has not been released but Jang says the homicide team is working with Ridge Meadows RCMP, forensic specialists, the BC Coroners Service and gang enforcement units from across Metro Vancouver.
Wilson’s body was found near the banks of the Fraser River
under the Golden Ears Bridge.
Five people were hurt in an exchange of gunfire. Wilson told his trial that he fired in self-defence after the Outlaws started shooting.
Following his acquittal, Wilson was subsequently convicted
by the same South Dakota court of being a non-immigrant alien in possession of
a firearm and sentenced to four years in prison.
SOURCE: The Province
FBI investigating Pagans MC bar fight
Pittsburgh, PA (November 20, 2018) BTN — The district attorney of Allegheny County has questions about several undercover Pittsburgh police officers who got in a drunken brawl while on the job. Last week, Stephen Zappala decided to withdraw all criminal charges against the members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club.
The fight, which was caught on surveillance video on Oct. 12 at Kopy’s Bar, involved members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club and undercover officers.
Related | Charges dropped against Pagans MC members in bar fight
Related | Pagans MC: The cops were drunk and started the fight
The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Citizens Police Review Board are investigating the incident. "We had a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. I don't think they committed a crime," Zappala said.The cops that were involved are still on duty.
SOURCE: WPXI
Bar fight scene at Kopy's Bar
The fight, which was caught on surveillance video on Oct. 12 at Kopy’s Bar, involved members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club and undercover officers.
Related | Charges dropped against Pagans MC members in bar fight
Related | Pagans MC: The cops were drunk and started the fight
The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Citizens Police Review Board are investigating the incident. "We had a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. I don't think they committed a crime," Zappala said.The cops that were involved are still on duty.
SOURCE: WPXI
Monday, November 19, 2018
Cop's claim their winning the war on Bikies
Queensland, Australia (November 19, 2018) BTN — Police claim they are winning the war on bikies, but they admit the motorcycle clubs will never be completely defeated.
As the second anniversary of the Labor Government’s revamped anti-gang laws looms, the state’s bikie-busting top cop says bikie bosses are handing in their colours and fleeing the state.
Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe revealed police were providing protection for bikies wanting to leave violent gangs. “Patched” gang membership across the state has plummeted from 1158 in 2013, when the Newman Government ushered in the controversial VLAD laws in response to the infamous Broadbeach bikie brawl, to about 700 now. Supt Lowe, who heads the Organised Crime Gangs Group, says police are using the new legislation to score significant victories in the ongoing battle with bikies involved in violence and drug trafficking. Hundreds of bikies have been charged or hit with criminal consorting notices which could see them jailed for three years. Ten have been charged with habitual consorting.
More than 50 gang members have been charged with participating in a criminal organisation, which carries a mandatory seven-year jail term. Supt Lowe said police were using the anti-consorting laws to launch pre-emptive strikes against the gangs, while the ban on bikies wearing colours had taken away one of their main lifestyle lures – the ability to flaunt gang membership and intimidate the public.
More than 30 bikies have been charged with wearing gang paraphernalia in public. “The fact that they can’t ride (as patched bikies), they can’t have clubhouses and can’t wear their colours is a significant victory for the community,” Supt Lowe said. “There’s not that overt presence any longer that causes fear and concern to the public. “They can’t be in licensed premises or standing out the front causing fear and intimidation.” Supt Lowe said raids targeting the Rebels bikie gang in Mount Isa earlier this year had led to the club president handing in his colours and leaving town.
Not even jailed bikies are escaping attention, with a Mongols member recently charged with trying to recruit new members behind bars. “(Bikies) still exist in Queensland, I don’t think they’ll ever go away,” Supt Lowe conceded. “But our absolute main objective is limiting their ability to expand and be involved in serious and organised crime ... we’ve made some terrific inroads.”
SOURCE: The Courier Mail
A member of the Mongols MC stands with his motorcycle
Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe revealed police were providing protection for bikies wanting to leave violent gangs. “Patched” gang membership across the state has plummeted from 1158 in 2013, when the Newman Government ushered in the controversial VLAD laws in response to the infamous Broadbeach bikie brawl, to about 700 now. Supt Lowe, who heads the Organised Crime Gangs Group, says police are using the new legislation to score significant victories in the ongoing battle with bikies involved in violence and drug trafficking. Hundreds of bikies have been charged or hit with criminal consorting notices which could see them jailed for three years. Ten have been charged with habitual consorting.
Taskforce Maxima boss Supt Roger Lowe
More than 50 gang members have been charged with participating in a criminal organisation, which carries a mandatory seven-year jail term. Supt Lowe said police were using the anti-consorting laws to launch pre-emptive strikes against the gangs, while the ban on bikies wearing colours had taken away one of their main lifestyle lures – the ability to flaunt gang membership and intimidate the public.
More than 30 bikies have been charged with wearing gang paraphernalia in public. “The fact that they can’t ride (as patched bikies), they can’t have clubhouses and can’t wear their colours is a significant victory for the community,” Supt Lowe said. “There’s not that overt presence any longer that causes fear and concern to the public. “They can’t be in licensed premises or standing out the front causing fear and intimidation.” Supt Lowe said raids targeting the Rebels bikie gang in Mount Isa earlier this year had led to the club president handing in his colours and leaving town.
Not even jailed bikies are escaping attention, with a Mongols member recently charged with trying to recruit new members behind bars. “(Bikies) still exist in Queensland, I don’t think they’ll ever go away,” Supt Lowe conceded. “But our absolute main objective is limiting their ability to expand and be involved in serious and organised crime ... we’ve made some terrific inroads.”
SOURCE: The Courier Mail
Hells Angel MC member found dead under bridge
Vancouver, British Columbia (November 19, 2018) BTN — A full-patch Hells Angel MC member with the Hellside Chapter was found
murdered under the Golden Ears Bridge Sunday.
Police are saying only that Wilson’s death was targeted and
that he was known to police.
Wilson, however, pleaded guilty in April 2009 of being an alien in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to four years in jail.
Chad Wilson, a former Hells Angel in San Diego, then Haney,
joined the clubs’s newest chapter when it formed last year.
Hardside chapter of the Hells Angels, From left, Chad Wilson
(formerly of the Haney chapter); Suminder Grewal (formerly of the Haney
chapter); and Jamie Yochlowitz (formerly of the Vancouver chapter)
Firefighters were first called to the scene about 11:30 a.m.
Sunday. They immediately called in the Mounties when they found Wilson’s body.
Friends of Wilson’s, wearing their death head patched Hells
Angels vests, soon showed up at the scene.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is working with
Ridge Meadows RCMP on the case.
Wilson’s name had not yet been released by police, but
fellow bikers and family were already paying tribute to the dead 43-year-old on
Sunday night. Wilson was a high-profile and popular member of the Hells
Angels and his murder is expected to increase the volatility in the Lower
Mainland motorcycle club landscape.
In fact, he was known to police in several parts of the
world.
In 2013, Wilson was charged in Spain with B.C. Hells Angel
Jason Arkinstall and two associates after police there seized half a tonne of
cocaine from a sailboat that had arrived from Colombia.
The Spanish government said one of the B.C. bikers was on
the vessel, while the others were waiting in Spain. They were arrested in a
restaurant in Pontevedra, a port in the northwest of Spain.
Officials said the drug conspiracy was linked to a member of
the San Diego chapter of the Hells Angels – the same chapter that Wilson had
joined as a prospect on Jan. 28, 2005. Wilson became a full-patch Hells Angel a year later on Jan.
28, 2006.
Within a few months he was sitting in a jail cell in South Dakota, charged along with fellow HA member John Midmore, with attempted murder for an Aug. 8, 2006 gunfight with members of the rival Outlaws biker club.
Within a few months he was sitting in a jail cell in South Dakota, charged along with fellow HA member John Midmore, with attempted murder for an Aug. 8, 2006 gunfight with members of the rival Outlaws biker club.
Several bikers and passersby were struck. One Outlaw was
paralyzed by Wilson.
But both he and Midmore claimed self-defence and were later
acquitted.
Video on the Hells Angels put out by the Vancouver Sun
Wilson, however, pleaded guilty in April 2009 of being an alien in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to four years in jail.
In his letter to the judge, Wilson claimed that he would
have been killed if he had not shot at the Outlaws when he did.
“To have to go through this nightmare I have been through
for the past 983 days…to have people people think I am somehow at fault for the
extreme injuries that not just Mr. Neale, but others suffered as well –
psychological and physical – that is just outright wrong to do to me,” Wilson
complained. “Don’t think for one second that I don’t live with the nightmare in
my head.”
He said he had replayed the events that led to the shootout
“over and over again in my head.”
“I come up with the same answer every time. If I did not
have a gun that day – Auig. 8, 2006 – and I did not shoot back, I would be
DEAD!!” he said. “This situation was 100% out of my control. I have the right
to defend myself. I want to go home. I have everything great waiting for me, my
drilling job, my kids, my wife and my dog and the number one thing, my LIFE!!”
He said being in jail is “true hell that I’ve been through.”
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun
Sunday, November 18, 2018
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