Watching their backs

Hells Angels MC member killed in shooting

Hells Angels member killed in Riverside gas station shooting

Riverside, California (May 22, 2017) – A member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was fatally shot at a Riverside gas station, and police are searching for his killer.

Officers responded to a call of a shooting at a Shell gas station at 3502 Adams St. in Riverside shortly before 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

A gas station employee, who made the 911 call, said the gunfire took place directly in front of gas pumps, Riverside police said.

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According to authorities, five motorcyclists who appeared to be part of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were passing through town and stopped at the gas station to fuel their motorcycles.

Suddenly, a silver four-door sedan pulled up, a passenger got out and started shooting at the group.

Two people were hit. One motorcyclist was grazed by a bullet that hit his helmet. Authorities said he will be OK.

A second motorcyclist was also struck by gunfire. Emergency crews from the Riverside Fire Department provided immediate medical aid and transported the victim to the Riverside Community Hospital, where he later died from his injuries, police said.

The coroner's office later identified him as James Duty, 31, of Orange.

After the shooting, the suspect got back in the passenger side of the sedan and the car fled westbound on the 91 Freeway.

Police are still trying to figure out why the gunman opened fire. Police do not have a description of the shooter.

"Right now, we don't know what the motive is. We are confident that these five had some type of affiliation with the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, but we're looking into where they were at. Was there some type of problem earlier? We don't know that yet," said Officer Ryan Railsback with Riverside police.

Investigators have collected surveillance video from the gas station but have yet to release the footage to the public.

Detectives from the Robbery-Homicide Unit and the Gang Intelligence Unit were investigating the incident.

SOURCE:  ABC7

Demented Rejects MC Members Arrested

Members of NC’s ‘Demented Rejects’ Motorcycle Club facing drug & gun charges

THOMASVILLE, N.C. (May 18, 2017) – After a four-month investigation, Thomasville Police arrested three members of the Demented Rejects Motorcycle Club for distributing drugs and weapons to the Piedmont Triad.

Thomasville police, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security helped with the investigation.

On May 10, officials found 1.57 lbs. of methamphetamine, 2.01 ounces of marijuana, 17.5 grams of synthetic cannabinoid, 34 dosage units of Oxycodone, 10 firearms and $24,461 in cash.

Guns, drugs and cash were confiscated (WFMY)

Trace William Bostick, 38, Brandie Scarlett Saunder Bostick, 35, and Clifton Scott Peeler, 31, are facing multiple charges including making, possessing, transporting, and selling methamphetamine as well as possession of other drugs like LSD, synthetic cannabis, weapons, and more.
Guns, drugs and cash were confiscated

CLICK FOR MUGSHOTS OF THE SUSPECTS

According to police, they are still looking for Adam Nicholas Badgett, 30, for charges that include possession of drugs and weapons, and having a firearm by a felon.

SOURCE: CBS North Carolina 

Man who admitted to shooting biker claims self-defense

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (May 17, 2017) BTN — The man who shot a motorcyclist in March told officers it was self-defense. Several calls flooded 911 in less than five minutes.

"Hurry. Hurry, please," one caller told dispatchers.

The caller was referring to the scene at the "Hose It" car wash near Coors and Quail. A man had just been shot three times.

Earl Roybal (Center)

One of the callers was the shooter himself.

"There was a shooting over here at the car wash. Hose It Car Wash. The guy said he had a gun. Hit me in the face. I had a gun too," he said.

Earl Roybal, 59, had just been shot. One of the people who ran to his side was Shawn Tillman. He told officers on scene that he was trained in first aid and ran over once he heard the shots.

Just minutes before the gun shots rang out, surveillance video from the car wash showed Roybal washing his motorcycle, while his girlfriend stood by his side. A black car pulled up near the front of the stall. Witnesses told police Roybal and the man from the car got into an argument.

Then you see a flash from the gun shots.

When officers detained the man who admitted to shooting Roybal, they found a gun and a knife in his pocket. But the entire time, he insisted he shot Roybal in self-defense.

"He said he had a gun. He hit me first," he said.

The Albuquerque Police Department has finished its investigation. The District Attorney's Office will now decide if the shooter should face charges or if it was self-defense.

Roybal did have a gun, but according to documents he never pulled it out.

 SOURCE: KRQE News

Members of Outlaws MC arrested

Outlaws MC members arrested in fatal shooting during Bikefest 

LEESBURG, FLA  (May 17, 2017) - A multi-agency operation this morning resulted in the apprehension of two Outlaws Motorcycle Club members for their suspected involvement in a shooting that left one man dead last month three miles west of where Leesburg Bikefest was being held, police said.

Marc Edward Knotts, 48, was arrested during a calm “face-to-face” meeting with a Leesburg detective at the fences of the Outlaws motorcycle clubhouse in Ocala, Leesburg Lt. Joe Iozzi said.

RELATED | Man in Leesburg MC shooting dies from injuries

“It is a fortified location with walls around it and surveillance cameras and all they did was pull up and all Knotts did was walk up,” Iozzi said.

Knotts was shot three times in April during a confrontation with Kingsmen Motorcycle Club members at a Circle K gas station three miles west of the annual biker bash, Iozzi said. He was wearing a leather vest embedded with bullet-proof panels at the time, Iozzi said.

At the clubhouse, Knotts asked the detective for “10 minutes to put boots on and make a phone call,” which the detective allowed, Iozzi said. Knotts then “came back out and surrendered himself,” he said.

Mark Edward Knotts

He and three others were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping in the April 29 shooting of David Donovan, 41, at a Circle K gas station at 3300 W. Main St. Donovan died over the weekend from his injuries at a Sanford hospital, where he had been transferred from Leesburg Regional Medical Center for what Iozzi believes were security reasons.

Jesus Alberto Marrero, 35, was also arrested during today’s operation at an undisclosed location assisted by Lee, Volusia and Brevard county sheriff’s offices, the FBI and the Ocala Police Department.
Gregory Alan Umphress, 32, and Miquel Angel Torres, 37, who face the same charges, are still at large. Police are still trying to determine who shot Donovan, Iozzi said.

“These are nationwide Outlaws motorcycle gang members,” he said.

Outlaws MC  vest showing the Florida rocker

Pictures of Donovan’s Facebook show him wearing Kingsmen Motorcycle Club gear. Last year, 16 Kingsmen members were indicted for what the U.S. Attorney’s Office said was a “major racketeering operation.”

SOURCE:  Orlando Sentinel 

Man in Leesburg MC shooting dies from injuries

LEESBURG, FLA  (May 15, 2017) - A man involved in a shooting between two motorcycle clubs at a gas station during Leesburg Bikefest last month died over the weekend, police said Monday.

David Donovan, 41, whose Facebook pictures show him wearing Kingsmen Motorcycle Club gear, died from three gunshot wounds he incurred during a shooting about 8 p.m. April 29 at a Circle K gas station at 3300 W. Main St., Leesburg police Lt. Joe Iozzi said. He said he learned of Donovan’s death Sunday morning at a Sanford hospital.

Police said the shooting started from an argument between members of the two motorcycle clubs. The Circle K is about three miles from downtown Leesburg, where the annual biker extravaganza was being held.

RELATED | Shooting after fight between rival Motorcycle Clubs

Marc Knotts, 48, who was identified in a Marion County arrest report as a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club also was shot in the back, arm and leg during the shooting and recovered from his wounds, Iozzi said.

Knotts was wearing a leather vest embedded with ballistic-proof panels, Iozzi said.

Two handguns, several ammunition magazines and weapons, such as clubs, were found at the scene, he said.

The Outlaws have 1,700 members and about 180 chapters worldwide, including in Orlando and Osceola County, according to the FBI.

In New York, 16 Kingsmen members were indicted by the U.S. attorney for its “major racketeering operation” in 2016.

SOURCE:  Orlando Sentinel 

Hells Angels MC members arrested during traffic stop

Shooting after fight between rival Motorcycle Clubs

Outlaws MC and the Kingsman MC involved in shooting 

LEESBURG, FLA. (April 30, 2017) -- A dispute between members of the Outlaws and Kingsmen Motorcycle clubs led to a shootout Saturday that left two men injured in Leesburg, according to records.

The shooting happened as members from both clubs started arguing about 8 p.m. at a Circle K gas station at 3300 W. Main Street. Guns were drawn and two men were shot, both three times each, police said.

About three miles east of the shooting, Leesburg was hosting its largest event — Leesburg Bikefest — in its downtown area. The event was expected to bring more than 200,000 bikers to the Lake County city.

The injured men have been identified as David Donovan, 41, and Marc Knotts, 48. Police say one of the men was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting.

Various clubs roll through Leesburg annually for the event, and officials said they typically don’t have issues with them.

Scene outside the Circle K in Leesburg, Florida

Leesburg Police Lt. Joe Iozzi said there was a sizable police presence around the city Sunday.

“I would like to reiterate that this was an isolated incident which occurred far outside the downtown venue area,” Iozzi said Sunday. “ … There will remain an enhanced law enforcement presence in and around the greater Leesburg area throughout the event.”

No arrests have been made, but Iozzi said they are looking for one primary suspect who fled after the shooting. The man is not from this area.

Leesburg police say both Donovan and Knotts are in stable condition at area hospitals.

Donovan’s Facebook page is filled with photos of him wearing Kingsmen gear. He doesn’t have a criminal history in Florida besides a drug arrest in 1998 in Naples where the charges were dropped.

Federal authorities last year arrested 16 members of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club, including one member in Tavares, in an effort to dismantle the group after an execution-styled killing in New York.

Those arrested were active in club chapters in Leesburg, DeLand and Daytona Beach.

Knotts was a member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, according to an arrest report in Marion County.

He faced charges in 2013 after he was accused of threatening a driver who cut both him and another Outlaws member off, according to a report in the Ocala Star-Banner.

Both motorcyclists were armed with guns and charged with aggravated assault, deputies said. Authorities noted both were members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, the newspaper reported. It’s unclear what the results of the charges were.

The Outlaws were also connected to a bar fight in April in Daytona Beach that led to one of its members being fatally stabbed, several weeks after Daytona Bike Week, authorities said. The fight was between the Outlaws and Pagans, according to a report by The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Motorcycle clubs have been linked to violence across Central Florida over the years.

Last year, two motorcycle club members were shot and killed (link is external) outside an Orange County strip club several months apart.

In 2012, three people died after a shootout with members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang in a Winter Springs VFW parking lot.

SOURCE: WFTA9

Alleged Snitch complicates Federal MC Investigation

Evidence shows defendant in Motorcycle Club trial served as a police informant.

DETROIT, MI. (April 29, 2017) -- When the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted 91 alleged members and associates of Detroit's Highwaymen Motorcycle Club on allegations of racketeering, drug trafficking, theft and murder for hire, a central thread in the case was club leader Aref (Steve) Nagi's attempts to root out suspected snitches.

Nagi's preoccupation with informants inside the storied and homegrown motorcycle club — whose violent history is credited with keeping the Hells Angels out of Detroit — was evident in his rambling, late-night phone conversations, which were secretly recorded by the FBI and introduced as evidence at the 2010 trial in federal court in Detroit.

And when the FBI raided the Highwaymen's Michigan Avenue clubhouse in southwest Detroit in 2007, they discovered a photograph of one of their two confidential informants —with  the word "rat" scrawled in black marker across his face.

The Highwaymen's Clubhouse in Detroit, MI

The case sent more than 30 Highwaymen to prison —- many, including Nagi, for lengthy sentences.
But some of those convictions are now being challenged because of new revelations that Nagi himself — a former Highwaymen vice president and the lead defendant — had worked as a confidential informant for federal and local police agencies.

Convicted Highwayman Gary (Junior) Ball Jr., who from his federal prison cell used Michigan's Freedom of Information Act to uncover Nagi's hidden past, says Nagi and his Detroit attorney, James Thomas, led defense strategy meetings in the massive case. Among the concerns: Whether what he and other defendants thought were confidential disclosures made to attorneys may have been fed, through Nagi, to the FBI and prosecutors.

The Highwaymen, founded in Detroit in 1954, gained infamy in the 1970s when some members were convicted of bombing and raiding homes and clubhouses of rivals. The outlaw motorcycle club, which at least until the indictments was Detroit's largest, was seen by many as an outlaw among outlaws — banned from a federation of Detroit clubs founded by a former Outlaws president.

Aref "Steve" Nagi

Records released by Troy Police Department under the Freedom of Information Act show Highwaymen leader Aref "Steve" Nagi had acted as a police informant.

In a March 29 court filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goetz highlighted some of the Highwaymen lore, alleging the club had "terrorized southwest Detroit for decades" through drug dealings, beatings and theft and "got away with everything." He described an incident in which several club members pulled up in front of an occupied southwest Detroit home and fired 15 rounds into it, as well as beatings administered with fists, beer bottles and chairs on occasions when club members encountered a suspected snitch, or someone who was significantly behind on his drug payments.

Ball, 51, who is serving a 30-year sentence and wants a new trial, has a May 17 hearing scheduled before U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.

The hearing is to explore other irregularities Ball uncovered, such as the fact that his own defense attorney, Lawrence Shulman of Birmingham, without Ball's knowledge, also represented a codefendant, Randy McDaniel, charged in connection with some of the same crimes as Ball. Court records show Shulman cut a deal for McDaniel in another federal case that resulted in his charges in the Highwaymen case being dropped.

The Shulman conflict alone, which Shulman denied existed in an e-mail to the Free Press, is grounds for Ball — convicted of racketeering, conspiracy to transport stolen vehicles, drug trafficking conspiracy, and conspiracy to obliterate vehicle identification numbers — to get a new trial, said Ball's Alabama attorney, David Schoen.

But the Nagi revelations, he said, have the potential to also undo other convictions.

"The case is a mess," Schoen said.

Attorney James Thomas

Thomas, well-known in Detroit as the lead defense attorney in former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's federal corruption case, vehemently denied Nagi ever acted as a police informant. He swore an affidavit to that effect in November.

Ball must have Nagi confused with some other Aref Nagi, Thomas insisted, pointing out that the Aref Nagi he represented, sometimes known as "Steve" or "Scarface," has a birth date of Aug. 17, 1963.

That, however, is the same birth date as the Aref Nagi who, in 1992, arranged for delivery of 2 kilos of cocaine in a shopping center parking lot, then gave the signal for Troy police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to swoop in, according to records Ball obtained using the FOIA. Booking photos released by Troy Police also match Nagi's image.

In the Highwaymen trial, "the defendants agreed to have Mr. Nagi's defense attorney serve as a sort of defense team leader and Mr. Ball would have never agreed to the same had he known all relevant facts," Schoen said in a court filing.
Federal prosecutors, unlike Thomas, aren't denying the truth of what Ball discovered, including Nagi's past role as a police informant. But they are downplaying its significance, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Graveline told the Free Press on Wednesday he wasn't even aware at the time of the Highwaymen trial of Nagi's past role as an informant.

Nagi, who was convicted of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon, use of a firearm in committing a violent crime, conspiracy to transport stolen property, drug conspiracy and other charges, was sentenced to 37 years in prison, later reduced to 27 years on appeal. In 2016, Edmunds further cut Nagi's sentence to 20 years, based on submissions from Thomas about his "exemplary" conduct in federal prison.

Nagi's "conviction at trial and lengthy sentence should be enough proof of the fact that he did not cooperate," Graveline said in an April 5 court filing.

"However, the government can aver that the case agent never interviewed Mr. Nagi as part of his investigation and both the undersigned and the case agent are unaware of any attempts by Nagi to cooperate, at any time, with law enforcement, in their investigation of the Detroit Highwaymen Outlaw Motorcycle Club."

But Schoen said it's important for Ball to know the full history of Nagi's cooperation with federal and other police agencies, and who decided to conceal Nagi's past from Ball, even if it turns out Nagi wasn't a "spy in the camp" during the Highwaymen trial. At a minimum, he wants a chance to question Nagi and Thomas under oath.

"The overriding point is, the defendants are entitled to know this stuff," and it was never disclosed, Schoen said.

Since Ball raised the issue, two other imprisoned Highwaymen — Leonard (Dad) Moore, who was dubbed the club's "godfather" at trial, and former national president Joseph (Little Joe) Whiting — have filed court papers making similar arguments.

"Mr. Ball and Mr. Moore were constitutionally entitled to know that Nagi had been in the government's employ as a cooperating witness," Moore attorney Martin Beres said in a December filing.

While Nagi's history has implications for the entire trial, attorney Shulman's simultaneous representation of Ball and another Highwaymen defendant, McDaniel — which was concealed from Ball — is in some ways even more troubling, Schoen said.

Shulman was admonished — but not charged or disciplined — by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission in 2014 for not responding to Ball's 2013 complaint alleging a conflict of interest.

But Shulman said the commission never made a determination that Ball's conflict of interest allegation had merit.

Shulman, who first made an appearance as Ball's attorney in June 2008, made his first appearance for McDaniel just a few weeks earlier, in March 2008, in a 2006 criminal case in Monroe County. Shulman also represented McDaniel beginning in 2009 in a separate drug case in front of a different federal judge in Detroit, and it was pursuant to the 2010 plea deal Shulman negotiated for McDaniel in that case that Edmunds dismissed McDaniel as a defendant in the Highwaymen case, in April 2011, records show.

Graveline told the Free Press he is limited in what he can say before the May 17 hearing, but he denied that McDaniel's charge in the Highwaymen case was negotiated away as part of McDaniel's plea deal in the other federal case. Instead, McDaniel's guilty plea meant he was already facing more prison time than he would have received in the Highwaymen case, so he was dropped as a matter of efficiency, Graveline said. Shulman said that's his understanding, also.

Shulman never made an appearance for McDaniel in the Highwaymen case, where McDaniel was represented by another attorney. Schoen and Ball believe that was to conceal his dual and conflicting representations. Schoen told the Free Press that McDaniel told him that Shulman in fact represented his interests in both cases. Shulman said that's "simply not true."

Schoen says prosecutors must have known, and Edmunds should have known, that Shulman was representing both Ball and McDaniel. Both had a duty to inform Ball, who was kept in the dark, Schoen said.
Ball and McDaniel weren't just charged in the same wide-ranging case. Two of the charges Ball faced related to the same set of facts under which McDaniel was charged — the alleged theft of motorcycles in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2006, and their transport to Michigan to receive false registration titles.

In fact, evidence shows McDaniel was the go-to guy for changing vehicle registrations — an offense for which Ball was ultimately convicted, Schoen argues.

Ball and Schoen allege Shulman pulled his punches in cross-examining certain witnesses, not wanting to explore areas that would help Ball but implicate McDaniel.

"For Shulman, there was a clear risk to his other client's (McDaniel's) interests if he were to pursue plea negotiations with Mr. Ball or if he pursued certain lines of defense that would have well served Mr. Ball, but would have inculpated his other client (McDaniel) or undermined stories McDaniel had told the government in his cooperation," Schoen said in a court filing.

Shulman told the Free Press there was no conflict. Ball knew he was representing McDaniel in the other cases and there was no need for Ball to sign a conflict waiver because no conflict existed, he said.

"I didn't represent Mr. McDaniel in the Highwaymen case, and Mr. McDaniel was not indicted in that case until well after Mr. Ball was indicted," Shulman said in an e-mail.

"McDaniel had another attorney appointed to represent him in the Highwaymen case. My cases with Mr. McDaniel were unrelated."

Shulman said Ball's 30-year sentence was excessive, and he wishes him well in getting a new trial, but "I went to the mat for him during trial and left it all on the floor."

Prosecutors argue that the federal case in which Shulman represented McDaniel had nothing to do with the Highwaymen and McDaniel was never called as a witness against Ball. They also say in court filings that they had strong evidence against Ball on the drug conspiracy charges — including direct sales by Ball to a police informant — which had nothing to do with McDaniel.

"Despite his best efforts to conflate the lengthy timeline of this case and assume certain facts about his defense counsel, there was no conflict of interest in the defendant's case," Graveline said in a court filing.

But there's more.

Ball's first attorney in the case, Lee O'Brien of Troy, represented Ball from the start of proceedings in October 2006 until May 2008, after O'Brien himself was charged in the case, with making false statements.

Prosecutors knew O'Brien, who could not be reached, was under investigation and should have let Ball know he needed to get another attorney, Schoen argues.

"For O'Brien, who, according to investigative reports was suspected of being involved with illegal conduct with Mr. Ball, he risked being inculpated if he were to have Mr. Ball pursue plea negotiations," he said.

Graveline said in a court filing that the 19 months during which O'Brien represented Ball were not a crucial state in the proceedings and Ball can only argue, quite speculatively, that O'Brien's representation prevented a possible plea deal at that time. However, "of the 17 individuals charged in the original indictment, none of them resolved their cases between October 2006 and May 2008," he said.

SOURCE: Detroit Free Press

Propaganda: Motorcycle Gang 1957

Synopsis : A troublemaker returns to town only to find his old tearaway pals have joined a supervised motorcycle club. Friction erupts between him and the new leader about this goody-goody setup, and about the charms of gang moll Terry.

Cops detail shooting at Diablos MC clubhouse

Five men arrested; victim listed in critical condition

Terre Haute, IN. (April 1, 2017) – An earlier fight or beating at the Diablos Motorcycle Club apparently led to a shooting Thursday evening near the group’s clubhouse on Eighth Avenue between 26th and 27th streets.

In a court hearing Friday, Terre Haute Police Department detectives Keith Mowbray and Brad Rumsey testified witnesses gave information about a running altercation Thursday between the shooting victim — 54-year-old Kenny Pitts — and members of the Diablos MC.

The cops also said members of the motorcycle club also tried to cover up evidence.

Cops outside the Diablos MC Clubhouse in Terre Haute Indiana

Mowbray said Pitts suffered two gunshot wounds and was in critical condition at an Indianapolis, Indiana hospital.

The testimony prompted Judge Michael Rader to find probable cause to hold five Diablos MC members. Those arrested, initial charges and their bond amounts are:

• Brian Gosnell, 45, Terre Haute; aggravated battery, criminal gang activity, obstruction of justice; $75,000, no 10 percent allowed.

• Jack W. Schultz II, 57, Terre Haute; aggravated battery, criminal gang activity, obstruction of justice; $75,000, no 10 percent allowed.

• Corrie E. Robinson, 32, Terre Haute; assisting a criminal, obstruction of justice, criminal gang activity; $50,000, no 10 percent allowed.

• Vernon Cheesman, 52, Brazil; assisting a criminal, obstruction of justice, criminal gang activity;$50,000, no 10 percent allowed.

• Jeremy M. Yates, 40, Clinton; assisting a criminal, obstruction of justice, criminal gang activity;$50,000, no 10 percent allowed.

Members of the Diablos MC being escorted to court

Mowbray said witnesses told officers that Pitts had been at the clubhouse earlier on Thursday and had battered someone there. He also reportedly uttered threats against the club’s president before leaving in a red Pontiac Firebird.

Mowbray cited multiple witnesses in his testimony, and he said those people asked to remain unnamed in police reports for fear of retaliation.

The detectives said Pitts later returned to the area of the clubhouse with two other people in the car. A witness in the car said Pitts wanted to fight someone, Mowbray told the court.

Pitts was reportedly doing burnouts in the street outside the Diablos MC clubhouse shortly before 6 p.m. when club members came outside because of the commotion.

When Pitts sped past the clubhouse driving erratically and jumping the curb, gunshots rang out, a witness told police. Pitts turned and drove up 27th Street and stopped the car at Beech Street, where he fell out of the vehicle.

Police tape around the Diablos MC Clubhouse in Terre Haute Indiana

Mowbray said a witness at a nearby convenience store told police he heard two gunshots, followed by five or six more gunshots. A person in the car said she was struck by broken glass from two gunshots, Mowbray testified.

Witnesses also reportedly told police they saw members of the motorcycle club picking up shell casings, and two guns were taken from the clubhouse area to a nearby property and hidden in a shed.

Rumsey said he sought search warrants, and police located two guns and shell casings in a locked shed. Some of the shell casings were .40 caliber, and some were 9 millimeter, Rumsey said.

SOURCE: Tribune Star

Club Members

Rouge Club members in Europe 

Virginia Going After Biker Bars

Virginia ABC Cracking Down on Biker Bars in Central Virginia 

ORANGE, Va. (March 28, 2017) – Motorcycle Clubs in Central Virginia are the focus of a new campaign by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is trying to put the brakes on biker bars in central Virginia. The ABC is warning restaurants and bars they could lose their licenses by becoming a hangout for motorcycle clubs.

The ABC says this crackdown comes in response to concerns from law enforcement in Greene County, Louisa, and Orange.

An unknown biker on his Harley

John Nagro, the owner of CJ’s at Byrd Street in the town of Orange, is trying to shake off that reputation for his bar.

“The windows aren't black, there's nobody undressed in here dancing. It's not a biker bar,” Nagro explained. “Don't just say because you have a motorcycle patch on there that you're a bad guy, because it's not true.”

Nagro believes police and the ABC are targeting bikers after a dust-up between a member of a motorcycle club and another customer

“You know, they all like to play dress up with their jackets and who they are, what they are,” Nagro said. “They're good guys, they don't bother me. They don't bother anyone in this town.”

Nagro got a letter (LINK) calling his restaurant a rendezvous for an outlaw motorcycle gang.

“Next thing I know, the big boys from ABC came in and basically threatened me that I was going to lose my license,” Nagro explained.

ABC agents are handing out the letter to 30 bars and restaurants around Central Virginia, including in the town of Louisa. It describes an increase of outlaw motorcycle gang activity, but these aren't just your weekend riders.

Police describe the groups as the "one-percenters".

“Those one-percenters, the ones that create the problems for us in law enforcement and the criminal activity, is the area we need to focus on,” said Chief Ronnie Roberts with the town of Louisa police.

The ABC warns it can revoke the license of a business that becomes a meeting place or rendezvous for outlaw motorcycle gangs.

A pub in Louisa posted the letter and a sign warning bikers not to wear their colors or cuts.

“What we've done is try to make sure everybody is on the same page and not leaving anyone out, so everyone knows what the regulatory issues are,” said Roberts.

Nagro says he's losing business in this battle over rights.

“If the ABC wants to take my license, I guess they can take my license. There's nothing I can do about it, but I do believe that Constitutional rights are being violated here every day,” Nagro said.

Members of motorcycle clubs and their supporters are sending letters (LINK) to the governor and members of the General Assembly about this issue with the ABC.

The letter calls the department's actions "intimidation" and an "infringement of freedom of speech."

Statement from Virginia ABC:

Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement Region 9 distributed a letter addressed to Region 9 on premise licensees advising them of an increase in outlaw motorcycle gang activity in on premise ABC licensed establishments. This letter was created in response to information received from four local law enforcement agencies within the Charlottesville region. The letter was provided as an educational resource for licensees and was hand-delivered to approximately 30 licensees in the region during inspections and day to day interactions. Special agents are continuing to distribute the letters.

The letter includes applicable sections of Virginia Code and states that all Virginia ABC licensees should take reasonable measures to prevent their establishments from becoming a meeting place or rendezvous for members of a criminal street gang or from becoming a place where patrons of the establishment commit criminal violations. The letter also advises licensees of potential penalties that could be incurred in the event of a violation. It does not state that licensees should decline service to certain individuals and does not require any specific actions on the part of the licensee.

At their request, Virginia ABC is working with the following local law enforcement agencies on this effort: Town of Orange Police Department; Town of Louisa Police Department; Louisa County Sheriff’s Office; and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

SOURCE: NBC29

Keeping it steady