A lone member of the Grim Reapers MC sits on his Motorcycle
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Outlaws MC might take fight to Supreme Court
Illinois 3/3/2016
Members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club might appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court in their lengthy quest to get back their cuts confiscated after a bar fight.
The fight was in 2012, when a group of Outlaws wearing their colors got in a brawl with other customers at the Lizard Lounge near Wonder Lake. Three members who were arrested and charged with aggravated battery.
"It basically boils down to whether it's an effort worth making," Joel Rabb, an attorney for the Outlaws, tells me. "The patches are exceptionally important to my client. Just because they've been seized doesn't mean the organization ceases to exist."
Court says they are a “Street Gang”
The 2nd District Appellate Court in Elgin sided last week with a McHenry County judge who ruled the vests were used "to facilitate street gang activity" in the bar fight.
The appellate panel cited testimony from a McHenry County sheriff's detective who said while their vests didn't directly cause the violence, they contributed to it and enabled the Outlaws members to show dominance by "violent means, if necessary."
Rabb calls that a "stretch." The Outlaws' primary concern, Rabb says, is "the setting of precedent that allows for seizure and confiscation of club paraphernalia."
Source: Daily Herald
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Two identified as Hells Angels facing charges
Hells Angels Back Patch
Canton, Ohio Feb. 27, 2016 - Local officials say the Hells Angels, Pagans and Outlaws are active in Northeast Ohio but have a limited presence in Stark County.
Local men identified as Hells Angels members are facing several criminal charges, accused of having machetes, knives and other weapons at the biker clubs’s New Jersey gathering.
Canton resident Justin D. Morris, Massillon resident Kerry K. Kester and two other Northeast Ohio men are accused of stowing the weapons in a car trunk Aug. 22, according to a news release from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey. Officials observed their actions in the parking lot of a restaurant — the site of an “End of Summer Bash” hosted by the Hells Angels of Newark, New Jersey.
The news release identifies the men as Hells Angels members, but a spokesman from the prosecutor’s office did not elaborate on their ties to the organization.
Surveillance was conducted by New Jersey State Police, Clinton and Readington township police and the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force.
The prosecutor’s office reported that Kester rented the Chevy Malibu involved in the traffic stop and arrest in Clinton Township, which is about 50 miles west of New York City. He is charged with one count of possession of a prohibited weapon, 12 counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and 13 counts of certain persons not to possess a weapon, having previously been convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Morris is charged with 10 counts of unlawful possession of a weapon.
Joshua R. Woods, of Akron, is charged with one count of unlawful possession of cocaine and 12 counts of unlawful possession of a weapon.
Rocco P. Gullatta, of Aurora, is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, 11 counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, and 11 counts of certain persons not to possess a weapon, having previously been convicted of attempted murder.
They were indicted by a grand jury in December and were scheduled to appear in court Friday for a status hearing, according to the prosecutor’s office.
TJ Legg, the attorney representing Morris in New Jersey, declined to comment.
Anthony Iacullo, who is representing Kester in New Jersey, did not return messages seeking comment.
PRESENCE IN NORTHEAST OHIO
Local officials say the Hells Angels, Pagans and Outlaws are active in Northeast Ohio but have a limited presence in Stark County.
“None of the major outlaw motorcycle clubs has an official chapter here or clubhouse here at this time, but there are people that are present that live here and are part of other chapters or charters,” said Mark McMurtry, special agent with the Canton FBI office.