Bandidos MC members charged in beating

Abilene, TX (December 6, 2018) BTN — A trio of Bandidos motorcycle members have been indicted for allegedly violently robbing a rival club member who drove through their 'turf' while wearing the rival club's vest.
Daniel Machado, Justin Aldava, and Jesse Trevino were all indicted for Aggravated Robbery in connection to the incident that took place in July of 2018. They have all been released from jail after posting a $150,000 bond each.

Court documents state the victim, a member of the Kinfolk MC was riding near the Bandidos Motorcycle clubhouse on the 1300 block of Butternut Street when he noticed three bikers - later identified as Machado, Alvada, and Trevino - leave the clubhouse and start to follow him.

He sped up, but the documents say the trio kept going, kicking him in the back when they reached him and eventually cutting him off and stopping his path, forcing him to turn into a small parking lot

Once in the parking lot, the victim drew a gun in self-defense, but the documents state the trio began shouting, "There are 30 more people coming to get you", "You can't disrespect the Bandidos", "This is our turf", and "We're going to shut you up like we shut Dusty*** up."

The victim then holstered his gun and attempted to flee, but the trio tackled him and began kicking, punching, and stomping him in the back, hips, knees, shoulders, and head, according to the documents.

They ripped the rival vest off him and took his cell phone and gun before ramming into him with a motorcycle then fleeing, the documents reveal.

When police arrived on scene, the documents state they saw the victim, "had some cuts, scrapes, and bruises all over his body and had fresh blood pouring from his face, hands, and elbows."

SOURCE: KTXS12

Pagans MC leader sentenced to life plus 30

Mays Landing, N.J. (December  6, 2018) BTN — Freddy Augello finally got his chance to speak his mind in court on Wednesday, and the Jersey Shore Pagans motorcycle club leader, guitar maker, and convicted murderer blamed the 2012 killing of April Kauffman on two other men: one who testified against him and another who died of an overdose years ago.

“I’m not John Gotti," he told Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury.

DeLury was undeterred. After listening to Augello for more than 20 minutes — a speech the prosecutor later called “the ramblings of a man who’s going to spend the next 55 years in jail” — he sentenced Augello, 62, to life in prison for being the leader of a drug ring, and 30 years for murder.

Augello would not be eligible for parole unless he lived to age 117. He plans an appeal of the verdict.

The sentencing ended the long drama of the April Kauffman murder, a crime set in motion by her husband, endocrinologist James Kauffman, who had also been charged with murder but hanged himself inside a Hudson County jail cell.

Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said after the verdict that the only things remaining unknown in the murder-for-hire scheme were the location of the gun used to kill Kauffman inside her bedroom -- and why authorities and others did nothing to solve the case for nearly six years.

“Shame on anyone who sat on their hands and did nothing while being content to allow murderers to go free, to walk the streets of our county,” Tyner said.

April Kauffman was an outspoken radio host and veterans advocate who counted politicians, police officers, and numerous veterans among her friends and admirers. Prosecutors believe that she was trying to divorce James Kauffman, and that he wanted her killed to protect his assets and to prevent her from revealing a drug ring he was running with members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

Augello downplayed the extent of the drug operation, which prosecutors said revolved around Kauffman’s medical office.

“It was not a drug ring,” he said. “It was a drug-addict ring.”

He accused Tyner of exploiting the case to advance a political career. Before the sentencing, the judge dismissed a motion to set aside the verdict, saying he found no evidence the Prosecutor’s Office had withheld exculpatory evidence, as one current and two former employees of the office have contended.

Here’s a clip of convicted murderer Freddy Augello addressing judge — here he turns to face Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner and accuses him of exploiting the April Kauffman murder for his own political career. Augello was sentenced to life + 30. pic.twitter.com/lvYe9d3jvU

— Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) December 5, 2018

Despite his impassioned speech to the judge, in which he said he felt “horrible” for what Kauffman’s daughter, Kimberly Pack, has gone through, but denied any connection to the murder, Augello showed little reaction to the sentence as he was led out of the courtroom.

At the trial, Joseph Mullholland testified that he drove the man recruited to do the killing for “the doc” — identified as Francis Mulholland — to Linwood on the day of the murder. Joseph Mulholland pleaded guilty to drug offenses but has not been sentenced. Francis Mullholland died after taking a lethal dose of heroin, which Augello said he believed had been given to him by Joseph Mulholland.

“I didn’t murder Mrs. Kauffman,” he said. “I didn’t send anyone to murder Mrs. Kauffman. This whole thing is a farce. There’s no justice for April until you can dig Francis Mulholland out of his grave.”

Pack detailed the dark years that have followed her mother’s murder, her life dogged by rumors and the burden of the unsolved crime in the death of a woman she said was her best friend.

“I do not wish anyone ill will in this case,” she said. "I am just so sad. "

Friends of Augello filled the courtroom and said they did not believe Augello had a role in the murder or was a drug kingpin as described by prosecutors.

“I’ve watched him build guitars," said Anna Caulk, who said she’d been friends with Augello for 40 years, first meeting as fellow motorcycle riders in South Jersey. “If it’s the world’s biggest drug ring, where’s the money? They didn’t follow the money trail. Freddy didn’t have a dime.”

SOURCE: The Inquirer

A Motorcycle Club can’t conspire with itself

Santa Ana, California  (December  5, 2018) BTN — A defense attorney for the Mongol Nation motorcycle club told a California jury Tuesday that federal prosecutors had not presented any evidence that the club ever violated racketeering laws or engaged in a conspiracy — indeed, he said, it could not be convicted of conspiracy because an entity cannot conspire with itself.

The Mongols MC are fighting the Feds for their trademarked logo

“There’s no evidence that the Mongol Nation conspired to do anything,” Joseph A. Yanny told the Orange County jury in his closing arguments.

“There are individual members” who have committed crimes, he acknowledged, but “there’s no evidence at all that the club joined in those activities.”

He said the club itself cannot be held liable for “isolated incidents committed by boneheads.”

Related | Mongols MC trademark trial wrapping up 

Related | Jesse Ventura defends Mongols MC in federal court

Related | Feds attempt to seize Mongols MC trademarked logo

Related | Mongols MC: Feds going after clubs colors at racketeering trial

Yanny described the prosecution of his client — which began with undercover investigations going back 20 years — as persecution of the largely Latino club by corrupt agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He implored the jury to “send a message that this type of prosecution against these men has got to stop.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher M. Brunwin countered that the Mongol Nation as a body encourages and rewards crime. “They are a violent organization that attacks people, that kills people and that distributes drugs,” he said during rebuttal.

“This is what they do,” Brunwin said as he displayed a photo of a man beaten to death by Mongols. “This is what they brag about. This is what they’re proud of.”

He said the Mongol Nation even rewards members who kill people on its behalf with special patches to sew onto their biker vests, including one he called a “murder patch.” It shows a skull-and-crossbones with a capital “M” on the skull’s forehead.

He scoffed at Yanny’s explanation that the M merely stands for Mongols.

Brunwin and co-counsel Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Welk charged the Mongol Nation, as an “unincorporated association,” with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and conspiracy to commit racketeering.

They have not charged any individuals with crimes. As Yanny told the jury at the beginning of the trial, “No one is going to jail out of this trial.”

In a 2008 case, however, 79 Mongols and associates pleaded guilty to racketeering and other crimes.

A major goal of the current case is to seize, through criminal forfeiture, the clubs’s trademark to its distinctive main patch, which full members wear on the back of their vests. The design shows the word “Mongols” in an arc above what has been described as “a cartoonish depiction of a Genghis Khan-like character” riding a motorcycle and waving a sword.

If the prosecutors succeed, “no member of the club would be allowed to wear the trademark that we believe is synonymous with the group,” a representative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office has said.

Prosecutors are also seeking a fine and forfeiture of the club’s assets.

A significant but technical legal issue facing the jury is whether the Mongol Nation as an entity can be guilty of racketeering and conspiracy to engage in racketeering with itself. Under the federal RICO Act, a “person,” including a corporation or association, can be charged with a crime only for engaging racketeering activities with an “enterprise.”

Brunwin and Welk say that criminal enterprise is the larger Mongol biker club, of which the formal Mongol Nation is only a piece. At one point in the case, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that “there is no meaningful distinction” between the two, but he was reversed in July 2017 by the Ninth Circuit.

On Monday morning, Carter instructed the jury that prosecutors must prove the Mongol Nation and the Mongol club are distinct entities. The Mongol Nation cannot be guilty of racketeering, the judge said, if there is only one entity.

Therefore, Yanny later told the jury, “If you find that there is no distinction, we can all go home. You just find the defendant not guilty.” After all, he argued, “Where did you hear testimony that the Mongol Nation is separate from the Mongol club? I don’t remember any testimony like that during the government’s case.”

In his closing argument Monday, Welk argued that only Mongols who have risen through the ranks to earn the right to wear the complete insignia patch on their vests are members of the Mongol Nation. Citing the group’s detailed, written constitution, he said that other associates, prospects and “hang-arounds” are only part of the club but not “full-patch” Mongols.

Yanny scoffed at the distinction. “They’re all members; they’re just members with different degrees of rights and responsibilities,” he said. “They all pay dues,” and they all owe loyalty to the club. Although they can’t vote on club business, men in the process of earning a patch do attend the group’s meetings to assist the full-patch members by guarding the motorcycles and running errands.

Brunwin countered that the Mongol Nation is a legal person because it can, and does, own property, specifically its trademarks in the patch design. Other members of the broader club have no property interests in the trademarks, he said.

The prosecutor spent most of his rebuttal, however, recalling evidence of several violent crimes attributed to Mongols, including the murder of a Hells Angels leader in San Francisco, beatings and knifings of enemies or men they believed had insulted them, and a deadly brawl between a large number of Mongols and Hells Angels in Laughlin, Nev., in 2002.

“Is this an organization that conspires to commit murder?” Brunwin asked. “You bet it is, and you heard it over and over” from witnesses and from Mongols themselves in audio and video recordings played during the five-week trial.

He ended by recounting again for the jury the death of local police officer Shaun Diamond, allegedly killed when Mongol David Martinez fired a shotgun as police broke down Martinez’s door at 4 a.m. in October 2014 to serve a search warrant. A slug from the shotgun entered the back of Diamond’s head and came out through his mouth as his partner watched, Brunwin said.

The jury began deliberating early Tuesday afternoon.

SOURCE: Courthouse News

Retired cop testifies about Hells Angels at trial

Vancouver, B.C. (December 5, 2018) BTN — The retired head of the Ontario Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit testified in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday that Hells Angels paraphernalia and “knick knacks” on display at clubhouses are there to intimidate those who visit.

Len Isnor, who retired last year, prepared a report on the motorcycle club for the B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture to be used in his efforts to get clubhouses in Nanaimo, East Vancouver and Kelowna forfeited to the provincial government as alleged instruments of criminal activity.

Kelowna Hells Angels president Damiano Dipopolo (center) 

But first, the director must get Justice Barry Davies to determine whether Isnor will be qualified as an expert at the long-running civil forfeiture trial.

A lawyer for the Hells Angels challenged Isnor in cross-examination Tuesday about parts of his report.

“You refer to memorabilia and knick knacks are for intimidation. Just looking at the pictures, which knick knacks are for intimidation in those photos?” lawyer Joe Arvay asked Isnor.

Isnor pointed to a photo and said, “A Hells Angel with the death head on his head on top of a dragon.”

“So someone going into the clubhouse and seeing that is going to be intimidated, is that your point?” Arvay asked.

Isnor replied: “Yes, sir.”

Isnor also said in the report that he believed some children’s books and toys had been placed on an end table inside the Kelowna clubhouse before his court-ordered inspection in order to make it seem family friendly. “This is the first time I have ever seen or heard of an area set up in a clubhouse for children. In my opinion, this was set up because of my inspection of the clubhouse,” Isnor’s report said.

Arvay asked Isnor if it was also possible that the toys were inside the clubhouse because “one or more of the members of the Kelowna clubhouse have children and that they may go to the clubhouse at times.”

Isnor testified that in 23 years of investigating the Hells Angels and other motorcycle clubs, he had never seen children in a clubhouse.

Arvay asked Isnor if he knew that Kelowna Hells Angels president Damiano Dipopolo “has eight children, and he might want to have some toys in the clubhouse when he is there with his children?”

Isnor pointed out that Dipopolo lives in Metro Vancouver.

“This clubhouse is in Kelowna, so I doubt that Mr. Dipopolo is bringing his children to this clubhouse. And the area in which these toys are set up is with the adult type entertainment in there. It just doesn’t mix,” Isnor said. “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.”

Arvay suggested that if the Kelowna clubhouse had a children’s play area, that would “distinguish” it from other Hells Angels clubhouses.

“Would you be prepared to concede that if in fact children were allowed into the Kelowna clubhouse and that’s the reason why there are some children’s books and toys, then that would demonstrate to you that you can’t paint with the same broad brush all the clubhouses in the world, right?” he asked.

Isnor said he would “hate to hear” of children being in a clubhouse “knowing how dangerous they are.”

His report also described bullet-proof windows at the East End clubhouse in Vancouver, and said the Kelowna clubhouse had similar-looking windows. He wrote that he thought the Kelowna bikers had emptied out most of the alcohol from the fridge prior to his inspection.

The report also said that most Hells Angels “are no longer passionate about motorcycles, but rather they hide behind the guise that they are an organization of motorcycle clubs.

“Though it is mandatory for all HA members to have a motorcycle, the passion for the motorcycle is secondary to the reputation and criminality of the organization,” Isnor wrote.

The trial continues.

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Mongols MC trademark trial wrapping up

Los Angeles, CA (December  4, 2018) BTN — A federal prosecutor Monday told jurors who were “witnesses to a lengthy parade of cruelty” for the past five weeks in a trial against a Los Angeles-based motorcycle club that they should vote to yank the Mongol Nation’s trademark while the organization’s attorney argued it has been targeted because its membership is primarily Mexican-American.

Members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club

“Over the past five weeks you’ve been witness to a lengthy parade of cruelty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Welk said of the evidence presented of the club’s criminal history since its founding in 1969. For the first time, federal prosecutors are trying to get a motorcycle club found guilty of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering in order to have its trademark taken away. It would mean the club’s motorcyclists could no longer wear the patches they wear on their “cuts,” slang for leather jackets.

Related | Jesse Ventura defends Mongols MC in federal court

Related | Feds attempt to seize Mongols MC trademarked logo

Related | Mongols MC: Feds going after clubs colors at racketeering trial

Welk argued that the club’s members commit a range of crimes from drug trafficking to murder, all in service to the organization and at the direction of its leaders.

He argued that “for the most part innocent civilians” are often the ones who become the club’s victims because they “had the misfortune to encounter members of this defendant organization.”

Mongol Nation’s members have a “twisted sense of honor” in its “codes” of conduct “that are inconsistent with the rules of civilized society,” Welk argued.

The trial featured about 40 witnesses, including former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, and about 200 exhibits, Welk noted. The patches Mongols wear on their leather jackets are meant to be “messages and signals” to rival gang members and even the general public that Mongols should be feared.

“A Hell’s Angel knows what that patch means,” Welk said. “When they see that Road King vest with a skull-and-crossbones patch they know what he did, that he killed… for his gang.”

A “civilian” might not quite understand the specific meaning of a “murder patch” featuring the skull-and-crossbones, Welk argued, but they get the general idea and are often the victims when they “offend” a Mongol.

“Their trigger mechanism is shockingly low,” Welk said. “So those (patches) are powerful, not just to the men who want to wear them, but to everyone.” Welk noted that Mongols are instructed to not wear their leather jackets with patches in a car, and when they drive a car they are taught to fold them in a way to conceal their affiliation with the club from police.

“It’s all about protecting themselves because they are a paranoid organization,” Welk argued. “They’re fearful and deeply suspicious of the government.”

Even if one of its members gets a motorcycle stolen they are told to not report the crime, but to instead report the vehicle missing so if it’s found they can retrieve it, Welk said. Instead, the Mongols would rather investigate a theft of their property on their own, he added.

“They consider themselves a law unto themselves,” Welk said. The club’s wives and girlfriends are considered “property,” Welk said. And the gang is noted for its prejudice against African-Americans, Welk argued.

Welk argued that Ventura testified that when his fellow club members were about to discuss any illicit activity he would leave the room so as not to be tied up with it.

“He was like I didn’t care, I didn’t know about it, I wasn’t going to jail,” Welk said. “And that’s messed up.”

The Feds are going after the Mongols MC's logo

Ventura said after his testimony that he considered the government’s attempts to seize the club’s trademark as a threat to the First Amendment. “This is bigger than the Mongols club,” Ventura said. “You’ve got the government… telling you what you can and cannot wear.”

He added, “The First Amendment is to protect unpopular speech… Some people may think the Mongols are horrible, but they still have equal rights under the Bill of Rights… Who’s next? The Shriners? Where does it end? It’s a First Amendment issue top to bottom.” Ventura said he didn’t know anything about the crimes federal prosecutors have alleged over the years.

“They did not have that when I was in it,” Ventura said of his active membership in the gang, beginning in the early 1970s when the ex-Navy SEAL returned home from the service. “There are cops who break the law, so do you devalue the whole police force?” Ventura said.

Ventura said he wears a denim jacket he received as Mongol when he goes out motorcycling. “That’s how old I am,” the 67-year-old Ventura said with a chuckle. Ventura wondered what would happen if the government wins its case. “Are they going to stop the 38th governor of Minnesota and take his jacket?” Ventura said.

Attorney Joseph A. Yanny argued that the government’s case is “the best book of fiction I’ve ever heard in my life.” Yanny said the government went after his client for racial reasons. “I believe this group has been targeted because they have a lot of Mexican-Americans in there,” Yanny said.

Yanny argued that much of the government’s case rests on testimony and quotes from documentaries from former members who made plea deals with prosecutors. “People will sign anything to get a better deal for themselves,” Yanny said, adding that one former head of the club denied in his testimony that he did any of the crimes he pleaded guilty to.

“And they all got less time,” he said of the 70 some former members who have pleaded guilty in cases stemming from undercover investigations in which FBI and ATF agents infiltrated the club. “It’s time to send a message for sure to the ATF and U.S. government,” Yanny said. “They shouldn’t afflict people this way.”

Yanny argued that the members who have committed crimes were kicked out for violating “zero tolerance” policies against illicit activity that draws the attention of law enforcement. Yanny even argued that one member convicted of murder was wrongly convicted and that he would like to help the man win his appeals.

“Rogue acts happen,” Yanny said. “Individual men have been convicted.” Yanny accused federal prosecutors of taking the “wrongful acts of a few individuals” and escalate it to a “group conviction.” “These are ordinary people,” he said of his clients. “They are hardworking people. You don’t see the Hell’s Angels here. You see the Mongols and minorities are easy to pick on and they typically don’t fight like these guys do.”

SOURCE: My News LA

Bandidos MC member busted with pot crop

Sydney, AU (November 29, 2018) BTN — A senior member of the Bandidos motorcycle club will face court today after Strike Force Raptor located an elaborate hydro set-up in a bunker under a Western Sydney home, NSW Police say.

As part of ongoing targeting of criminal networks operating in NSW, the Criminal Groups Squad’s Strike Force Raptor attended a property at East Kurrajong about 7.30am yesterday (Tuesday 27 November 2018) to conduct a Firearms Prohibition Order (FPO) search.

Officers spoke with the subject of the FPO – a 41-year-old man – and his partner and two kids before commencing the search.

During the search, police located a hidden trapdoor which lead to an underground bunker which contained an elaborate hydroponic set-up.

A crime scene was established, and a short time later, Strike Force Raptor, assisted by specialist forensic officers, executed a crime scene warrant to dismantle the set-up. Police were also assisted at the location by an agronomist, Integral Energy, and Fire & Rescue NSW.

During the warrant, Strike Force Raptor seized 164 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity, 2kg of dried cannabis, and equipment used in the hydroponic cultivation of cannabis.

The 41-year-old man was arrested at the property and taken to Windsor Police Station.

He was charged with enhanced indoor cultivation for a commercial purpose, two counts of supply prohibited drug, and operate drug premises.

The man, who is a senior member of the Bandidos motorcycle club, was refused bail to appear at Windsor Local Court.

Strike Force Raptor was established in 2009 and conducts proactive investigations and intelligence-based, high-impact policing operations to prevent and disrupt conflicts, and dismantle any network engaged in serious organised criminal activity.

SOURCE: Daily Telegraph

Jesse Ventura defends Mongols MC in federal court

Santa Ana, California (November 29, 2018) BTN — Former Minnesota governor and retired pro wrestler Jesse Ventura testified in a Santa Ana courtroom Wednesday about his longstanding membership in the Mongols Motorcycle Club, defending the organization against government allegations that it has operated as a criminal enterprise.

Ventura, the highest profile member of the Mongols, took the stand as an expert witness in the midst of an ongoing federal racketeering trial in which prosecutors are attempting to gain control over the motorcycle club’s trademark name, a move that would allow law enforcement to bar the bikers from wearing the patches that adorn their vests.

Jesse Ventura sitting on his Harley - Photo Credit: Alexia Wambua

“Are you a member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club,” Attorney Joseph Yanny, who is representing the Mongols, asked Ventura at the beginning of his testimony. “Yes I am,” replied Ventura, who later explained that he is currently an inactive member of the Mongols. “Are you member of a gang?” Yanny asked. “No,” Ventura responded. “Gangs generally don’t broadcast who they are.”

Related | Feds attempt to seize Mongols MC trademarked logo

Related | Mongols MC: Feds going after clubs colors at racketeering trial

During the trial, prosecutors have accused Mongols’ leaders of encouraging and rewarding members who commit crimes, including assault, drug trafficking and murder. The Mongols’ attorney has denied the allegations, telling jurors that the organization isn’t responsible for crimes committed by individual members or attacks carried out in self-defense, and claiming that law enforcement has entrapped some members into committing crimes.

Ventura said he joined the Mongols in 1973, shortly after returning from his second tour in Vietnam. The former governor testified that he was still an active duty member of the U.S. Navy when he became a “full-patch” member of the Mongols, recalling putting on his club vest as he left the base. “It was a stepping stone I needed to make the transition from military life back to civilian life,” Ventura said. “I owe them for being there for me when the rest of the world wasn’t.”

Ventura became an officer in the now-defunct South Bay San Diego County chapter of Mongols, but by late 1974 decided to step back from active membership in order to move back to Minnesota, where he had grown up. But Ventura said he has held onto his club vest and patches, including a “property of” patch he gave to his wife last year after more than 40 years of marriage.

Ventura denied that he had been ordered to take part in illegal activity as part of the Mongols.

“Yeah, there are some bad apples, that is true for any organization,” Ventura said. “But there are also a lot of damn good people in there. You can’t blame all for a few.” Ventura acknowledged he was not an active member of the Mongols when the clubs problems with the Hells Angels motorcycle club began in the late 70s, a rivalry that has led to repeated bloodshed on both sides over the subsequent decades. He said the Mongols had no choice but to retaliate. “I’d lose respect for them if they didn’t,” Ventura said.

During at times contentious questioning, a prosecutor challenged Ventura’s claim that he was unaware of any illegal activity. A clip of an interview between Ventura and podcaster Joe Rogan was played for the court, in which Ventura said the group’s president would tell him to leave their meetings if they were going to talk about illegal activity, since they knew Ventura was still in the military.

In the portion of the interview played in court, Ventura responded to Rogan asking him if it was weird to be in an organization involved in illegal activity by saying “No, because I thought at least I’m not going to go to jail.”

Ventura testified that he had no idea what the rest of the club’s leadership talked about during the meetings when he wasn’t present. At times, Ventura responded angrily or sarcastically to the prosecutors’ questions, at one point saying “are you kidding me” when asked if he knew what a SWAT team is.

What the Feds want

“I believe this trial is ridiculous because of the First Amendment,” Ventura said. During breaks in the hearing, a group of Mongols, dressed in suits and ties, gathered around to speak to Ventura in the hallway outside the courtroom.

The current federal trial stems from Operation Black Rain, a multi-agency effort involving law enforcement infiltrating the Mongols, which began in Montebello in the 1970s, and is now based in West Covina. An earlier racketeering case that targeted members of the Mongols rather than the organization itself resulted in 77 guilty pleas.

Among the incidents outlined by prosecutors during the trial have been the so-called 2002 River Run Riot in Laughlin, Nev. that left three Hells Angels and Mongols dead, a melee at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon near Palm Springs, and attacks, some fatal, allegedly carried out by Mongols in bars or restaurants in Hollywood, Pasadena, Merced, La Mirada, Wilmington and Riverside.

SOURCE: The Sun

Photo of Jesse: Artistry Work of Alexia Wambua

Secret recordings of Hells Angels played at trial

Toronto, ON (November 27, 2018) BTN — Clandestine recordings of Hells Angels members from a 2004 police investigation were played Tuesday at the civil forfeiture trial between the B.C. government and the motorcycle club. Former police agent Micheal Plante recalled in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday some of the conversations he had with Hells Angels about their conflicts and crimes more than 14 years ago.

Plante, in his second day of testimony on behalf of the director of civil forfeiture, listened intently as tapes of some of his intercepted conversations from 2004 were played for Justice Barry Davies. In one of the tapes, East End Hells Angel member Ronaldo Lising complained to Plante about other members of the club, including his fellow chapter mate, John Punko. Lising referenced Punko’s conviction for threatening a federal prosecutor in a Vancouver food court several years earlier.

The conversation happened in a drive to Kelowna in 2004 when Plante was working on behalf of the RCMP to infiltrate the East End Hells Angels.

Several Hells Angels and associates were later charged and convicted as a result of Plante’s work for the police on the E-Pandora investigation. Plante, who now lives under a new identity, was paid $1 million for his undercover work and for testifying at a series of criminal trials.

He told Davies Monday that he was being paid another $80,000 to testify in the civil proceedings between the Hells Angels and the government agency.

The B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture is trying to get Hells Angels clubhouses in East Vancouver, Nanaimo and Kelowna forfeited to the government as the instruments of criminal activity. The Hells Angels have counter-sued the government, claiming the Civil Forfeiture Act is unconstitutional. The case has been ongoing since November 2007 when police first raided the Nanaimo clubhouse.

The recordings played Tuesday highlighted the infighting and petty disputes between some of the Hells Angels. In one reference, Lising complained about two other Hells Angels that he was in the drug trade with at the time. Plante explained the references to Davies.

“He was saying he was doing all the work … but he was still paying those guys half the money,” Plante testified.

Cops also want the East End Hells Angels Clubhouse 

Lising also appeared to threaten an unidentified group of people, saying, “those guys are not welcome in this f–king province.”

“If we see them, we are going to f–king take care of them,” he said in the recording.

Lising said he liked “being around Hells Angels” and attacked other full-patch members who didn’t want to socialize much within the group.

“Why do you want to be a Hells Angel if you are not going to hang out with Hells Angels?” he told Plante.

Two lawyers for the Hells Angels, Joe Arvay and Greg DelBigio, both objected to Plante’s attempts to interpret what Lising was referencing in the 14-year-old conversation.

“When he is listening to his own voice, he can say this is what I meant,” Arvay said. “But actually interpreting the tape, I don’t know if he has any greater expertise than any of us.”

Davies said that “the tape is the evidence, not the interpretation and not the transcript.”

“Unfortunately I have been doing this business of listening to these kinds of tapes for a long, long time,” Davies said of the grainy recordings. “I am just very glad that they aren’t playing heavy metal in the background for a change in the car because that’s the usual circumstance.”

Plante will be on the stand all week before returning for cross-examination in February.

SOURCE: The Province