Hells Angels member from Romania gets 300 years in federal prison for drug trafficking
by: Chad Washington KIAH January 16, 2025
BEAUMONT, Texas (KIAH) — A Romanian national who was a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison for drug trafficking, money laundering and plotting to assassinate rival gang members.
Marius Lazar, 51, was sentenced in a U.S. District Court in Beaumont on Wednesday. He was convicted by a Beaumont jury of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S., and conspiracy to commit money laundering back in November of 2023.
According to court documents and evidence at trial, Lazar was a “founding member” of the Hells Angels in Bucharest, Romania, and through a relationship with a Hells Angles member from New Zealand, Lazar was part of a conspiracy to buy more than 400 kilograms of cocaine from who he believed to be a powerful drug trafficker in the U.S., but turned out to be an undercover DEA agent.
As part of the drug deal, Lazar also asked the undercover agent to kill two members of a rival motorcycle gang in Romania, while also offering to give the agent rifles, grenades and other military-grade weapons that he knew would be used against U.S. police officers.
Nearly $1 million was sent to the U.S. by Lazar’s group via bank wires and Bitcoin transfers to pay for the drugs and hits on the rival gang.
The DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, with significant assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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