A Former Leader of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Gang Joins Trump in Court
Chuck Zito, who did time on drug conspiracy charges, has tried to recast his persona as a general-purpose tough guy around town.
Matthew Haag and Alan Feuer New York Times May 20, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/nyregion/chuck-zito-hells-angels-trump-trial.html
An entourage of more than a dozen supporters who joined President Donald J. Trump in a Manhattan courthouse on Monday included a former president of an outlaw motorcycle gang in New York City who spent years in prison on drug charges.
The man, Chuck Zito, helped found in the early 1980s the New York Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels, the infamous club that started in California. The Justice Department described the organization as a criminal enterprise and linked the New York chapter to the Gambino crime family. Mr. Zito later left the biker group to try become a movie star in Hollywood.
Mr. Trump has long shown an affection for macho bikers, and addressed a rally of them in Washington in 2016 before the election. (“Do we love the bikers? Yes. We love the bikers,” he told the crowd.) A group called Bikers for Trump took part in several so-called Stop the Steal rallies after Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election.
Mr. Zito was joined in the courtroom on Monday by several Trump allies who have been charged with crimes
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