Category: Gangs in the news…

Hells Angels attacked three Black men in San Diego’s Ocean Beach, an indictment says
Associated Press September 25, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/black-men-attacked-hells-angels-san-diego-1fa82c6de53d682291d157d8da32d2b6
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Seventeen people pleaded not guilty Monday to various charges involving an attack on three Black men by members of the Hells Angels biker gang in San Diego this year, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said.
The victims, ages 19, 20 and 21, were suddenly chased and attacked in San Diego’s Ocean Beach neighborhood on June 6, subjected to a racial epithet and told they didn’t belong there, prosecutors said in a news release.
One escaped injury by running, another was punched, kicked and knocked unconscious, and the third was stabbed in the chest by a Hells Angels leader after being beaten by other bikers but survived, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 13, a grand jury indicted 14 people for allegedly taking part in the assault, including an allegation that it was carried out in association with a criminal street gang. The grand jury included hate crime allegations against 11 of the defendants.
The most serious charge, attempted murder, was brought against the alleged gang leader accused of the stabbing. The grand jury added three more defendants on charges of being accessories after the fact for allegedly helping to drive the leader away from the scene.
“In San Diego County, we cannot, and will not tolerate violence and racism of any nature, much less crimes like this hateful, vicious, and unprovoked attack,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement.
All 17 defendants were arrested on Sept. 21. They entered pleas Monday during their arraignments on an array of charges that carry possible sentences ranging from three years to life in prison. Trial was set for Nov. 14.

OC Bikefest Organizer Turns Himself in on Charges of Writing Worthless Checks in Florida

Sean Curtis WBOC Salisbury, Maryland September 25, 2023
https://www.wboc.com/news/oc-bikefest-organizer-turns-himself-in-on-charges-of-writing-worthless-checks-in-florida/article_a90f522e-5be4-11ee-a063-8f0be08ecb68.html

OCEAN CITY, MD – OC Bikefest organizer Chase Micheal has turned himself in to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida on numerous charges of passing worthless checks, according to the Bay County Sheriff and court documents.
WBOC has obtained the warrant application filed by the Sheriff’s Office which alleges Micheal issued 22 worthless checks from October 24th, 2022 through May 31st, 2023.
Micheal was involved with the production of the Thunder Beach motorcycle rally in Panama City, Florida at the time the checks were issued, according to police. Authorities say he was responsible for booking entertainment, securing vendor contracts, and coordinating with Panama City Beach officials for the bike event.
ccording to the filed complaint, multiple individuals loaned Micheal money that he used to pay for various facets of the Thunder Beach Rally. Micheal allegedly entered agreements with these individuals and was responsible for issuing checks as repayment of those loans. Some of those checks, the charging document alleges, were returned as not having sufficient funds in the paying account.
One individual reportedly told Bay County police he had received a loan repayment check from Micheal totaling $50,000 for a loan given months earlier. Police say the account the check was drawing from had less than $5,000 when the check was issued.
“At no time during the month of May 2023 did the account’s balance exceed $9,000,” the Bay County Sheriff’s Office reads, “Clearly indicating that the defendant knowingly issued the check to the victim without having the funds in the account to cover it.
Authorities say they found 21 other checks Micheal issued that the account did not have sufficient funds to cover, totaling over $530,000.
Some of the individuals who loaned Micheal money were outside of Bay County, Florida, the charging documents also claim.
Bay County Sheriff Tom Ford told WBOC that some of the loans Micheal received went towards the Ocean City event as well as the Thunder Beach event. The Sheriff could not confirm specifically where the individuals who loaned Micheal were located, but said they were from various states.
Micheal reportedly turned himself in to Bay County police on September 22nd. His first arraignment is scheduled for October 2nd.

Federal government wants to seize Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club headquarters in Evansville

Jon Webb Evansville Courier & Press Evansville Indiana September 20, 2023
https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/local/2023/09/20/feds-seeking-to-seize-grim-reapers-headquarters-in-evansville/70863051007/
EVANSVILLE – After indicting and sentencing more than a dozen members of an Evansville motorcycle club accused of being affiliated with a large-scale methamphetamine ring, the federal government is now trying to seize the group’s clubhouse.
Zach Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, filed a civil complaint in December asking a judge to forfeit the building at 1104 E. Diamond Ave. “to the United States of America.”
The civil case, which has featured an amended complaint and the dropping of a defendant, is still winding through court. The latest filing came on Sept. 5.
The amended complaint, issued in late June, says the building is “subject to forfeiture … because it was used, or intended to be used, to commit, or to facilitate, the commission of drug-trafficking offenses.”
It’s the culmination of years of investigation. The feds kicked off the criminal portion of the case in November 2019, when members of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, among others obtained a search warrant and knocked down the club’s door.
They reportedly seized 10 pounds of meth, 23 guns, $35,000 in cash and even a few motorcycles. The drugs themselves reportedly had an estimated street value of more than $250,000.
That all led to a bevy of indictments over the ensuing months and years. The latest sentence was handed down in February.
What the civil complaint says
Aside from the club itself, the main defendant in the civil side of the case is former GRMC leader Gary Wayne Forston.
He was sentenced in October to 16-and-a-half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to four of the 12 counts leveled against him, including distributing methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
e’s currently serving his sentence in Texarkana, Texas, court records state.
As part of his plea deal – which he signed in July 2022 – “Forston agreed that the defendant property was subject to forfeiture and consented to the forfeiture of his interest in the defendant property,” the amended complaint says. Prosecutors claim Forston lived at the club while the meth ring was ongoing.
Prosecutors want the court to block GRMC members from using the building and ultimately hand it over to the U.S. government.
The Grim Reapers’ history in the Evansville area
According to Vanderburgh County Assessor records, the motorcycle club bought the building in 2017 after its former decades-long tenant, The Exotic She Lounge strip club, closed up shop. Members transformed it into the group’s home, painting the top of the façade red and black and brandishing it with the initials of the club: GRMC.
It was just the latest home for the Grim Reapers, who had spent decades bouncing from one Tri-State spot to another.
GRMC is a national group that formed in the mid-1960s. Its website lists chapters in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee and promotes recent charitable rides.
The Tri-State chapter materialized in the ’70s in Warrick County, inviting “white men” with Harley Davidsons to join. And it almost immediately caused consternation among locals.
In 1977, Newburgh residents erupted when the group rented the former This & That shop downtown for meetings. After they were there a few weeks, town officials tried to give them the boot, claiming the building had been condemned after a fire.
The chapter countered that if the building was condemned, and it had still been rented to them, the town was actually putting them in danger.
“Club members dressed in leather vests and wearing long hair and beards make the residents apprehensive, and they wonder what goes on at the parties thrown by the club” an Evansville Press reporter wrote. “The Reapers say the suspicions, anger, mistrust and fears are unfounded.”
“‘We like to ride and we like to party,’” one member told the Press then. “We’re not different than anybody else.”
By 1981, the Warrick County Sheriff’s Office raided a subsequent club location and arrested more than a dozen members on alcohol and marijuana charges. The cases were eventually dismissed.
And seven months before the 2019 raid in Evansville, a man rammed his truck into the building, jumped out clutching a gun, and fired at people waiting inside. Club members reportedly beat him back with pool cues until police arrived. The man was eventually found guilty but mentally ill on three charges and sentenced to more than nine years in prison

Lafayette man allegedly shoots at rival motorcycle gang
STAFF REPORTS Purdue Exponent September 21, 2023 Lafeyette, Indianna
https://www.purdueexponent.org/article_0b139070-57fd-11ee-86d0-f31b54dd2fc3.html

A 34-year-old Lafayette man riding a motorcycle allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot at two other motorcyclists at the intersection of 18th and Everett streets Sept. 14 between 5:30 and 6 p.m.
The victims reportedly told the man, Keylin Holly, to stop following them when they stopped at the intersection the shooting took place, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday.
When Lafayette police were on their way to the original shooting location, they reportedly received more calls of shots fired in the area of South 28th and Kossuth streets.
Holly was wearing a denim vest with “Abolafia” in red and white lettering on it, the affidavit said, and was driving a black Road King motorcycle. One of the victims was reportedly wearing a denim vest with “Mongols” written on it.
Police say this indicates the people involved were members of the Abolafia Motorcycle Club and the Mongols Motorcycle Club respectively, which are “rival biker gangs,” the affidavit said. Holly was reportedly identified previously as a member of the Norteño 14 gang.
Around the first intersection, officers reportedly found five spent cartridge casings.
After the shooting at 18th and Everett streets, the victims drove to the area around South 28th and Kossuth streets because they knew Holly sometimes goes to a residence there.
After they drove by, Holly reportedly came out of the house, pointed a gun at the bikers and fired, the affidavit said. The owner of the house told police he’d been speaking with Holly for a few minutes and after Holly left, thought the shots were fireworks.
One block away, around 17th and Perdue streets, surveillance footage showed a biker, who police believe is Holly, driving quickly on Perdue Street toward 18th Street, the affidavit said. Two bikers were reportedly shown turning north on 18th Street later.
Damage was later reported to a house on South 28th Street which appeared to be caused by a bullet, but the affidavit didn’t specify what kind of damage the bullet caused.
Around 17th and Perdue streets, shattered glass and a hole in a wall was reported to another residence. Police allegedly found a spent round of ammunition which had passed through the wall facing Perdue Street and hit the interior glass door across the room.
Police found Holly the next day in a silver Honda Civic, the affidavit said. A K-9 unit reportedly alerted police to the presence of narcotics, but after a search of the car police found only a round of ammunition and multiple “Abolafia” stickers.
Holly is charged with four counts each of attempted murder, aggravated battery and attempted battery with a deadly weapon, as well as unlawful carrying of a handgun, criminal recklessness and criminal organization activity.
He is being held in the Tippecanoe County Jail with $210,000 in bonds as of Wednesday evening, according to jail logs.

Carr Announces New Human Trafficking Indictment in Clayton County Involving Alleged Member of Outcast Motorcycle Gang

ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr today announced that Gerome McGriff, Jr. (aka Lil Savage), 43, of Morrow, has been indicted in Clayton County on charges of Trafficking of Persons for Sexual Servitude, Violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, False Imprisonment, Aggravated Assault, Armed Robbery, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. McGriff is an alleged member of the Atlanta Chapter of the Outcast Motorcycle Gang. He is believed to have recruited at least three women for the purpose of sexual servitude and to have provided the Outcast Motorcycle Gang with financial proceeds from the sale of the victims. McGriff is further alleged to have maintained the victims in sexual servitude by using his status as an “enforcer” in the gang to threaten them with violence.
“Across our state, gangs are actively engaged in human trafficking as a primary means to make money, and we are using all available resources to disrupt their operations and keep our people safe,” said Carr. “Whether a buyer or a seller, those who abuse and exploit another person for sex will be met with the full force of the law. Our top priority is to protect our fellow Georgians, and that is exactly what we are doing.”

This case was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) Gang Task Force, the GBI’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, and the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

“Our HEAT Unit and Gang Task Force are constantly at work to keep dangerous individuals out of our communities,” said GBI Director Chris Hosey. “This investigation clearly shows that often organized gangs commit serious crimes like human trafficking. Working with the AG’s Office and local partners, the GBI remains committed to disrupting these criminal networks.”

About the Outcast Motorcycle Gang
The Outcast Motorcycle Gang is considered an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang or a “One-Percenter” Motorcycle Gang. Other Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs include the Hell’s Angels, the Pagans, the Vandals, Sin City Disciples and Chosen Few.

The Outcast Motorcycle Gang has 67 chapters across the country, including four in Georgia. Founded in 1967 in Detroit, Michigan, the second Outcast chapter was formed in Atlanta. Additional chapters are located in Augusta, Hawkinsville and Savannah, Georgia.

The Outcast Motorcycle Gang is a highly organized structure with hierarchical leadership. Its national and local chapters are led by elected officers, such as President and Vice President.

In May, Carr’s Gang Prosecution Unit indicted 16 alleged members of the Southeast Georgia Chapter of the Outcast Motorcycle Gang in Bryan County. This is considered the largest motorcycle gang indictment in state history and its announcement followed the culmination of Operation Patronus, a multi-agency investigation targeting gangs and guns in Southeast Georgia and beyond. This operation resulted in the recovery of approximately $180,000 in cash and the seizure of 71 guns, two motorcycles and two cars.

Indictment of Gerome McGriff, Jr.

The Attorney General’s Human Trafficking and Gang Prosecution Units presented evidence to a Clayton County Grand Jury, resulting in McGriff’s indictment* on Aug. 30, 2023. Specifically, McGriff is facing the following charges:

 5 counts of Trafficking of Persons for Sexual Servitude
 10 counts of Violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
 1 count of False Imprisonment
 1 count of Aggravated Assault
 1 count of Armed Robbery
 1 count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony

Sonoma Hells Angels member sentenced to five years in federal prison as RICO case continues
Several others still await sentencing

By NATE GARTRELL The Mercury News Bay Area News Group September 8, 2023

Sonoma Hells Angels member sentenced to five years in federal prison as RICO case continues

SAN FRANCISCO — A longtime member of the Sonoma Hells Angels was sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to involvement in a racketeering conspiracy and an assault, court records show.
Russel Lyles Jr. pleaded guilty to a racketeering offense last November, but that doesn’t mean he agrees with the prosecution’s assessment of exactly what crimes he committed. Lyles’ lawyer submitted a 14-page court document filled with objections to a pre-sentencing report, in which Lyles either denies involvement in racketeering crimes, or clarified his motivation for committing various assaults.
“Lyles often used his fists to punish individuals for their behavior or to ‘toughen them up,’” his attorney wrote in a document that denies Lyles committed a particular assault to further the Hells Angels’ interest.
Nor, apparently, did Lyles agree with everything his fellow Hells Angels did. When he learned through a newspaper report that former Sonoma chapter president Ray Foakes had been arrested for sexually assaulting a former member’s wife, he was “deeply disturbed and angered … and reached out to an attorney to consider issuing a public statement” condemning the sexual assault, but ultimately decided against it, his attorney said.
While Lyles pleaded guilty, six other Hells Angels took their case before a jury in two separate trials. Five of those six members were convicted of crimes including multiple assaults, robberies, extortion plots and the murder of a former Hells Angel who’d angered high-ranking members. One was acquitted of witness intimidation.
Lyles’ 63-month sentence was less than what prosecutors asked for, and more than what the defense wanted. Prosecutors claim Lyles was involved in multiple assaults and extortion plots, including the beating of a Ghost Warriors Motorcycle Club member who’d angered the Hells Angels.
The sentence is the longest yet to be handed down in this large scale prosecution of the club, which started in 2017 and included members of chapters in Sonoma, Fresno and Boston. But several more members, including four convicted of murder, are expected to receive life or decades in federal prison. Earlier this year, a judge denied a motion for a new trial by three of them.

Hells Angels prospect arrested after Newtonville shooting
Police say one man injured after gun discharged on Sept. 9
By Clarington This Week Durham Regional Ontario, Canada September 12, 2023
https://www.durhamregion.com/news/hells-angels-prospect-arrested-after-newtonville-shooting/article_540f13cc-cfb0-5e1c-bc22-36073d64af9e.html

A prospect of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was among two men arrested following an investigation into an alleged Newtonville shooting that left one person injured.
According to Durham police, a man visited a home on Sept. 9 and discharged a firearm before fleeing in a red Ford pickup truck. Responding officers located a victim with a gunshot wound; however, that person was uncooperative with investigators, say police.
A day later, search warrants were sought for a vehicle and two residences and executed by Durham police and officers with the Ontario Provincial Police biker enforcement unit, with assistance from the Durham force’s gun and gang enforcement unit and tactical support unit.
As a result, officers seized 13 firearms, two overcapacity magazines and ammunition, say police.
A 38-year-old Clarington man has been charged with possess restricted/prohibited firearm with no license, possess restricted/prohibited firearm knowingly not holding license, discharge firearm into place reckless to others, possession contrary to order, fail to comply with release order and fail to comply with probation order.
OPP officers were involved with the search warrants because the accused from Clarington is a prospect of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle club, say Durham police.
Also charged was a 51-year-old Newtonville man, who faces single counts of possess restricted/prohibited firearm no license, possess restricted/prohibited firearm knowingly not holding license, unlicensed person possess prohibited/restricted weapon, possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon knowing its possession is prohibited/restricted and careless storage of a firearm.
Anyone with new information about this investigation is asked to contact Detective-Constable Gouldby or Detective-Constable Empey at 905-579-1520, ext. 1840

08/29/2023: Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) assisted Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (Alexandria, MN) with a search warrant at the Solid Brotherhood Clubhouse, along with the chapter presidents home and business. Previously, the Chapter President was arrested by the Sheriff’s Office for a threats/gun pointing incident. When arrested, he had dozens of empty sandwhich baggies containing cocaine residue.

Evidence of trafficking at the warrants. In the clubhouse, a small amount of cocaine was recovered with a firearm. The Clubhouse was a little “Unique” in that the president’s wife ran her side business out of it…in her office, gang docs were recovered. SOLID BROTHERHOOD CLUBHOUSE DOCS 2 SOS SUPPORT CLUB GUIDELINES SOLID BROTHERHOOD CLUBHOUSE DOCS SOLID BROTHERHOOD CLUBHOUSE

The Solid Brotherhood are a designated support club for the Sons of Silence. Attached are DRAFT power point slides with pictures

Dan Michener

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA)

Police: 2 injured after shooting between 2 rival biker gangs in Newark
The Newark Division of Police said the shooting happened behind a house in an alley on North 11th Street around 4:30 p.m.
Author: 10TV Web Staff Columbus, Ohio September 12, 2023

10tv.com/article/news/crime/2-men-injured-newark-shooting/530-beb98982-4668-425b-83ad-086ad70cffb5

NEWARK, Ohio — The Newark Division of Police says a shooting that left two men injured in Newark on Monday was between two rival biker gangs.
The shooting happened in an alley behind a house on North 11th Street around 4:30 p.m. Officers found two men, ages 35 and 50, who were shot, according to Newark police.
Both men were taken to a Columbus hospital by CareFlight. One of the men was in critical condition, but his condition later improved. The second man’s condition was described by police as “stable.”
One of the two men called 911 begging for help after he was shot.
He explained to dispatchers that he and his friend were outside a home when they were both hit by gunfire. He also said he doesn’t know who shot him, but Newark police told 10TV that they believe they know.
Newark Police Sergeant Chuck Wilhelm said they believe that the shooting was gang-related, between motorcycle gangs.
Wilhelm said that the two injured men were part of a group known as the “outlaw gang.” Police say the group is fighting with the “pagan biker gang.”
“It has been a growing concern with us. It is my understanding they have had more calls in Licking County than in the city of Newark,” Wilhelm said. “This is an issue between the two gangs. It doesn’t mean innocent bystanders can’t be hurt.”
Newark police are seeking information about two motorcycles leaving the area immediately after the shooting. No other suspect information has been released.
Anyone with information is asked to call Newark police at 740-670-7215 or Licking County Crime Stoppers at 740-349-6888.

Baltimore Police officer admits trading pills, information on homicide and ghost gun for cocaine
Dylan Segelbaum Baltimore Banner 9/12/2023

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/steven-angelini-baltimore-police-officer-pleads-guilty-CUNB7UTWFBHAZMBOIXHBVE45TA/

A Baltimore Police officer admitted on Monday to trading oxycodone pills, information about the homicide of a drug dealer and a ghost gun with the president of a motorcycle club in exchange for cocaine.
Steven Angelini, 43, of Middle River, appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone and cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Angelini, who joined the Baltimore Police Department in 2006 and has been suspended since 2020, wore a gray jail jumpsuit and sat next to his attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Sedira Banan, in an empty courtroom in the Edward A. Garmatz U.S. Courthouse. He responded to almost every question with, “Yes, your honor” or, “No, your honor.”
“Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty as charged?” U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Angelini replied.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Goo then went through a series of facts that both sides agreed that the government would have proven had the case went to trial:
On Jan. 6, 2022, Angelini offered to sell the president of the Infamous Ryders Motorcycle Club — who’s only identified in the plea agreement as “Co-conspirator 1″ — 90 oxycodone pills for $100 and one-eighth of an ounce of cocaine, or an eight-ball.
Next, Angelini twice offered to go to the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit to get information about the killing of “D,” a drug dealer who had worked for the group. The president of the motorcycle club asked Angelini for a copy of a video of the killing, which detectives had recovered from a surveillance camera that belonged to a business.
Later, Angelini texted him nine photos showing the screen of his work computer. The images captured intelligence and incident reports.
Though Angelini told the president of the motorcycle club that he had a copy of the video, that was not the case. Angelini later gave him a flash drive that was empty.
Angelini texted him again on Jan. 25, 2022, and claimed that he had contacted a detective to get the video. If that did not work, Angelini promised that he’d go to the business that had the surveillance camera and “show them his badge.”
On April 8, 2022, Angelini reached out again and proposed selling a “privately made firearm without a serial number” for $300 and an eight-ball of cocaine. He also offered to buy ammunition to make amends for the fact that he had not gotten a copy of the video.
“Hey bro it’s Steven Angelini I hope u ain’t still mad at me buddy,” Angelini texted at 12:55 p.m. “I tried everything to get the video.”
Angelini later met up with “Co-conspirator 2″ in the parking lot of Coach House, a bar on Belair Road near Kenwood Avenue in Northeast Baltimore, to carry out the deal.
Next, on April 25, 2022, Angelini agreed to provide the president of the motorcycle club with 20 oxycodone pills and met him outside Coach House.
Angelini texted him the next day seeking an eight-ball of cocaine and offered to purchase ammunition and “various other firearm accessories.” In total, Angelini spent more than $540 buying items for himself and the president of the motorcycle club.
And on May 4, 2022, Angelini agreed to sell 90 oxycodone pills for $170 in cash and $100 worth of cocaine. He later dropped the pills off at Coach House.
In one exchange, Angelini refers to the president of the motorcycle club as “Keith.” That’s a reference to Keith Dockins Jr., the owner of Killa Dogz, a hot dog stand that adjoins Coach House. Baltimore County Police allege that the motorcycle club used both businesses to sell drugs.
Dockins, 43, of Essex, is awaiting trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court on illegal firearms possession charges. He’s being held without bail, according to online court records.
Since his arrest in 2022, Angelini has been suspended without pay. From 2020 to 2022, he was suspended with pay.
In an email, Lindsey Eldridge, a police spokesperson, said it will “move to separate him from the agency.”
Angelini is set to be sentenced on Feb. 9, 2024.
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com