Suspected Outlaws MC members arrested for guns, drugs

Brockton, Massachusetts, USA (January 5, 2020) BTN — State Police seized half a dozen guns, ammunition, and drugs Friday from five people associated with a motorcycle club.

Four suspected members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club and a suspected associate were taken into custody from the Motel 6 on Westgate Drive in Brockton, according to State Police. They were all from out of state and in the city to attend the funeral of a local member.

The investigation began when members from the State Police Gang Unit saw man suspected to be a member of the motorcycle club in Tennessee at the Motel 6. The man, identified as Matthew Miles, 41, of McMinniville, said he was carrying a pistol.

Troopers found that he didn’t have an active license to carry a firearm in Massachusetts or Tennessee, according to State Police. He was arrested and his gun was seized. A small amount of suspected crystal methamphetamine, ammunition, and brass knuckles were found in his car.

Miles was charged with unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm, unlawfully possessing ammunition, and possessing a Class A substance.

State Police learned that another Tennessee Outlaws club member, Pedro Tapia, 51, of Murfreesboro, was at the motel in a room with another gun that belonged to Miles.

Troopers and Brockton Police officers found a 45 caliber handgun on the nightstand, according to State Police. They determined that Tapia had a license to carry a gun in Tennessee but not Massachusetts. He was charged with improper storage of a firearm.

Other members of the gang unit and the Community Action Team helped with investigation. They saw a man identified as Matthew Ballingham, 43, of Waterbury, Connecticut who came to the motel and found that he was carrying a loaded gun with a high-capacity magazine, according to State Police.

Ballingham didn’t have a license to carry in Connecticut or Massachusetts, so he was arrested and charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and possessing a large capacity magazine.

In the evening, troopers from the Community Action Team stopped two cars near the motel that were occupied by suspected Outlaws members, State Police said. A total of three guns were found in the cars.

The owner of one of the seized handguns, Edward Mahon, 61, of Cornwall, Vermont, was arrested and faces charges for unlawfully carrying a firearm and possessing ammunition. A suspected club associate, Margaret Cahill, 29, of Westmont, Illinois, was charged for unlawfully carrying and possession the other two guns and unlawfully possessing ammunition.

During a search warrant of the motel room, State Police found a box of 45 caliber rounds and about four grams of crystal methamphetamine. They also seized the handgun previously seen in the room.

By Saturday, all five posted bail and are expected to appear in Brockton District Court next week.

SOURCE: News Boston

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Man loses appeal over Hells Angels support gear

Edmonton, Canada (January 5, 2020) BTN — A self-described “old hippie” arrested at West Edmonton Mall after being asked to remove a Hells Angels support shirt says he is disappointed after losing an appeal to the Alberta Law Enforcement Review Board in the case.

Paul Sussman was taken to the ground by mall security on a Sunday afternoon in 2016. The 74-year-old, who was with his teenaged son, said security guards overreacted when he refused to take off his Hells Angels support hoodie.

Paul Sussman holding the Hells Angels support hoodie that in 2016 got him in hot water with West Edmonton Mall security. 

Sussman also claims city police ignored his requests to file an assault complaint against the guards. He eventually filed a complaint against three Edmonton Police Service officers, which was dismissed Dec. 10.

The story begins Aug. 28, 2016, when Sussman was visiting the mall with his then 15-year-old son. Sussman wore a dark coloured hoodie. On the back in red lettering were the words “Support Your Local Big Red Machine,” emblazoned above a skull and crossbones.

Sussman and his son were eventually approached by two security guards, who asked him to remove the shirt or leave the property, citing the mall’s prohibition on gang paraphernalia.

Sussman refused. In an interview, he said he supports the motorcycle club for protecting him from an assailant in the 1960s. He picked up the shirt at the Hells Angels’ club house in Westridge, where he attends social functions at least a few times a year.

Related | Man arrested over Hells Angels T-shirt wins hearing

Additional security guards eventually arrived as Sussman exited a pet store. He locked arms with his son, but the guards managed to take him to the ground and handcuff him. Sussman was taken to the mall security office, where he spent several hours in a holding cell. His son was escorted off the property.

Police eventually arrived to deal with the mall’s trespassing complaint against Sussman. Sussman claims he told the police officers he wished to make an assault complaint against the security guards, but that they refused to provide him with a complaint form or investigate his allegations.

Sussman was released later that day without charges.

Sussman claims the mall had no publicly posted dress code in 2016, and that the guards acted arbitrarily (WEM’s dress code, posted on its website, prohibits gang-affiliated clothing).

“They (can) simply tell you to take your clothes off whenever they feel like it, I guess, and assault you if you refuse,” he said in an interview this week. “And the police don’t care.”

The day after the incident, Sussman and his son went to the west division police station and asked for a complaint form. Sussman, who was wearing the same shirt, said the officer at the counter refused to assist him and instead gave him the number for an EPS complaint line. According to Sussman, the complaint line dispatcher told him to contact the officers who attended the scene.

Sussman and his son filed a formal complaint with EPS one year later, alleging the three officers made no effort to investigate his allegations. In the complaint, he alleged the officers did not take him seriously, either because he was wearing a gang support hoodie or because the officers wanted to protect West Edmonton Mall security.

Chief Dale McFee dismissed the complaints in March 2018, saying there was insufficient evidence of misconduct on the part of the officers.

SOURCE: Edmonton Journal

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Shots fired at Hells Angels New Clubhouse

New York City, New York, USA (January 4, 2020) BTN — Several shots were fired at the Hells Angels new Bronx headquarters, sparking concerns that the motorcycle club has brought violence and chaos to a once quiet neighborhood.

Police said the clubhouse was damaged in the hail of bullets at the Longstreet Ave. building in Throggs Neck about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. No one was injured.

“Everyone’s worst fears have materialized,” Bronx Community Board 10 District Manager Matt Cruz said. “For this to happen after the holiday, and children are not back in school — it’s now a serious concern for this community.”

Related | New Hells Angels Clubhouse Upsets Nosy Neighbors 
Related | Former Hells Angels MC Clubhouse Sold

“The community is upset and scared,” Cruz said. “We are on heightened alert for this and we’re hoping the NYPD can get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible and we’re sure they will.”

Over 14 shots were fired, according to a post on the Facebook group “Friends of Community Board #10." Responding officers found shell casings in front of the building, but no arrests were made.


The Hells Angels bought the fenced-off, two-story brick building near Wissman Ave. in early December. The building sits on a quiet, tree-lined street of middle-class homes.

Neighbors had complained earlier this month about a noisy gathering at the Bronx headquarters — one of many clashes that have plagued the Angels in recent years.

SOURCE: Spectrum News 

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Regional Prez of Outlaws MC Pleads Not Guilty

Boston, Massachusetts, USA (January 4, 2020) BTN — An East Bridgewater man described by prosecutors as the regional boss of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal gun charge, records show.

Bruce “Monster” Sartwell, 48, entered his plea in US District Court in Boston to a sole count of possession of an unregistered firearm, according to legal filings. He was returned after the arraignment to federal custody, where he’s remained since his October arrest in the case. A federal grand jury indicted Sartwell last month.

In an October affidavit submitted to the court in Sartwell’s case, Special Agent Michael Belli of the Department of Homeland Security wrote that the Outlaws were locked in a “violent feud” with the rival Hells Angels.

Sartwell, a convicted felon with an arrest record dating back to 1987, is barred from possessing firearms, according to legal filings.

Prosecutors said in October that “a search warrant executed at Sartwell’s residence" resulted in “the recovery of an AR-15 styled ‘ghost gun’ — a firearm without any manufacturing or serial numbers — and firearm manufacturing tools and assembly parts including milling equipment, buffer spring, buffer tube, air-powered water dremel polish and a drill press.”

In addition, prosecutors said, two “firearm silencers concealed in false bottom compartments, a guide for assembly and disassembly of an AR-15 rifle, 20 knives, a black powder handgun, a flare gun, and various ammunition compatible with the AR-15 styled rifle were also found."

Related | Outlaws MC Prez indicted on firearm charges

In November, Sartwell’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to free him on bail, writing in court papers that he “has a loving wife and two young children, he is a local business owner in the city of Brockton, and ... his criminal history, such as it is, ended more than ten years ago.”

His lawyers wrote that while the charge he faces is serious, “he is not a ‘serious’ risk of flight or a danger to the community simply because he happens to be the Regional President of the Brockton/E. Bridgewater Chapters of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club (‘MC’) and or goes by the nickname ‘Monster.’ ”

The defense said Sartwell and his wife also runs a tattoo parlor. And, the defense maintained, the feds haven’t tied Sartwell to any recent violence.

A status conference in Sartwell’s case is slated for March 2.

SOURCE: The Boston Globe

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