Apparently, Captain America’s motorcycle didn’t really explode at the end of Easy Rider.

It just burned. And was restored by Dan “Grizzley Adams” Haggerty. And Peter Fonda, who designed the bike, told Haggerty, who was the on-set mechanic for the film, to keep it. So Haggerty did and he rode it for years – an experience he described as being like “going out with Marilyn Monroe.”

The bike, in case you are from Mars, is a panhead hardtail with a chromed frame, apes, a raked front end, one of those mile high, 60’s sissy bars, braided lines, fishtail shotguns and a gas tank painted to resemble the American flag. If you truly are from Mars and you don’t know what any of that means look at the photo above.

The Motorcycle

The bike was one of four identical rides built for the film. Three of them were stolen after production ended. Haggerty eventually loaned the remaining bike to the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, which is where J&P Cycles is headquartered. Last year Haggerty sold the bike to a man named Michael Eisenberg who was once in the restaurant business with Fonda who starred-in, co-wrote and produced Easy Rider, and Dennis Hopper who directed and also acted in the film.

The Captain America bike, named for Fonda’s character’s nickname, became so iconic that there are dozens of copies loose on the land. The one Eisenberg is selling includes three letters of authenticity – from the Museum, Haggerty and Fonda – that attest that this is the one, true Captain America bike. You can probably pick up one of the many copies for twenty grand or so. An auction house called Profiles in History will auction off the one with the letters of authenticity in Calabasas, just north of Los Angeles, on October 18. Profiles in History expects the one, true Captain America bike to sell for between a million and $1.2 million.

The Movie

“Easy rider” used to be slang for a man who consorts with prostitutes but it now refers to the most iconic biker movie ever and the biker magazine that appropriated the film’s name. The phrase refers to a scene near the end of the film where Fonda and Hopper split a tab of acid with a couple of whores in a New Orleans cemetery.

Originally, Fonda intended to make just another biker action film but American International Pictures had already committed to making Hells Angels ’69, starring Sonny Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels, so Fonda took the project to Columbia. Columbia agreed to fund the movie but on a limited budget which left Fonda and Hopper with a rushed shooting schedule and no money for a score.

The result of that was a number of long and cheap to shoot scenes of the main characters riding motorcycles through the badlands and deserts of John Wayne’s west while then cheap popular music played. Those scenes prompted many young men to dream of running away on a motorcycle. Probably some of the men reading this now were among them.

If you live on the West Coast it might be a good time to leave your support tee-shirts in the dresser. A series of violent and very public clashes between members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Mongols Motorcycle Club has become impossible to ignore.

The latest incident was a running gun battle between members of the two clubs that left one man dead and two others wounded.  The gunfight broke out on the 15 Freeway in Riverside County south of Corona near where the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was founded. All three victims were taken to Riverside Community Hospital where one of the wounded men was treated and released.

The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. Saturday night and caused the southbound lanes of the 15, the highway that links Los Angeles and Las Vegas, to remain closed until Sunday morning.

Reno

The Riverside County shooting came eight days after a very violent brawl and gunfight between members of the two clubs at Bar USA in Reno, Nevada about 11:45 p.m. on September 12. Witnesses described the bar as significantly damaged.

Bar USA is about nine blocks from the Truckee River and downtown Reno. It is the main registration point for two poker runs sponsored by the Nevada Nomads charter of the Hells Angels during the annual Fall Street Vibrations motorcycle rally. The runs are the Best Breast in the West Run which includes stops at gentlemen’s clubs and the Cat House Run with scheduled stops at brothels.

The Street Vibrations Rally begins this Wednesday and continues through the weekend.

Earlier

The Reno incident was preceded by two shootings on the 60 Freeway in East Los Angeles on August 29. One victim was shot six times in the back near Indiana Street in Boyle Heights at about 11:40 p.m. Twenty minutes later a second victim was shot in the arm on the 60 just east of the 710 Freeway in Boyle Heights.

On March 22, according to published reports, a knife fight between members of the two clubs by the side of the 15 Freeway in Temecula in Riverside County California resulted in injuries to two men. According to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. One victim “drove himself to a local hospital, where he was treated for superficial stab wounds and released.” A second victim collapsed and crashed on a freeway off ramp. He was transported to a hospital by ambulance.

The Sheriff’s Department spokesman described the knife fight as “a road rage incident.”

Paul Wayne “Dog” Smith began his defense today in his murder trial in Sanford, Florida. Smith is accused of three counts of second degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder that resulted from a gun fight in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30,  2012. He claims he started the minute long battle and killed Peter “Hormone” Schlette while acting in self defense.

Schlette was a member of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club as were the two other men who died that Sunday morning, Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Two more Warlocks named Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell were wounded.

Smith and three others named David “Tin Man” Maloney, Robert William “Willy” Eckert and Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro were all accused of murder. Those four were members of a completely separate Warlocks Motorcycle Club that has roots in Philadelphia. Members of the much larger Warlocks MC headquartered in Orlando wear a phoenix on their backs. Members of the smaller Philadelphia based club wear a harpy patch. The Harpy Warlocks have split into factions that are hostile to one another. For reasons having as much to do with advancing age and a desire to escape Philadelphia’s winters as anything else, members of the Harpy Warlock faction led by members of the Chester, Pennsylvania chapter, moved to Florida and founded a chapter of their club there. That chapter recruited several disgruntled former members of the phoenix patch Warlocks, which has led to news outlets in Florida repeatedly describing “the Philly Warlocks” as “an offshoot” of the “Florida Warlocks.”

Smith and Maloney are both former members of the Phoenix Warlocks.

The Defense

Smith’s attorney, Debra Ferwerda, has told jurors that Smith had a long standing and reasonably grounded fear of the Florida Warlocks and of Schlette in particular.

She has claimed, for example, that Smith (see photo above) was badly beaten on February 5, 2011 as retribution for daring to run for club president against winner John  Boudreau. At the beginning of her defense, Ferwerda called former Florida Warlock Steven Hammer, described as one of Smith’s “closest friends,” who was beaten at the same time with Smith. Hammer testified he was beaten for being rude to another club member

But an informed source suggests that Smith and Hammer were beaten for other reasons. That person describes both Smith and Hammer as methamphetamine abusers without jobs, income or motorcycles who were squatting in the Florence, South Carolina clubhouse and refused to leave and who were rude to everyone who visited.

Scary, Violent, Crazy, Rapist, Gang

Ferwerda has also told jurors that Schlette was “a scary, violent, crazy guy” who had threatened to rape Smith’s wife and who cathected “tough guy” body language just before he was shot and who may have actually been trying to “ambush” Smith. Smith shot Schlette in the arm as he sat on his motorcycle and then shot the dead man in the face as he rose to protest.

Ferwerda called Doctor William Anderson, a former medical examiner who testified that he inferred from the path of the bullet that wounded Schlette that was leaning forward when he was shot. The implication seems to be that Schlette was leaning forward to attack Smith rather than leaning forward to grasp his handlebars.

Another witness named Robert Chomiczewski testified that he left the Florida based Warlocks and joined the Harpy Warlocks because his old club “started changing from a club into a gang.”

The jury in the trial of Caius Veiovis will begin a third day of deliberations tomorrow. Veiovis is accused of the gruesome murders of David R. Glasser, Glasser’s roommate, Edward Frampton, and their friend Robert Chadwell in Springfield, Massachusetts in August 2011.

News media in Massachusetts have consistently associated the murders with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club because the architect of the murders, a man named Adam Lee Hall, was a former Sergeant at Arms for the Berkshire County Charter of the club.

Veiovis had no association with the Angels and did not own a motorcycle but Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless’ has repeatedly said that Veiovis participated in the murders because he thought that doing so would help him join the Angels.

Other Defendants

Veiovis is the third defendant to be tried in the case. Hall and David Chalue were convicted earlier this year in separate trials and both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A fourth man, heavy equipment operator David Casey, is accused of using his backhoe to dig the mass grave that held the victims dismembered bodies. He is charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder and an accessory after the fact of intimidation of a witness. He has said that he only dug the hole because he was “intimidated by Hells Angels.” He has testified against all three of the other accused men in the case.

Prosecutors have said Hall wanted Glasser dead so he couldn’t testify against Hall at an upcoming trial. Police say Frampton and Chadwell were killed because they were with Glasser when Hall, Chalue and Veiovis came to kill him.

Thin Case

The case against Veiovis was comparatively slim. There is no DNA evidence against the accused and the murder weapons have never been recovered. In his closing statement Capeless told the jury, “The case is not and should not be considered by you about what the defendant himself alone did. But what did the three of them do.” The prosecutor said, “The evidence in this case may not be overwhelming, but it is compelling. Together as a whole, it’s convincing beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Veiovis defense attorney told the jury his client’s grotesque appearance (see photo above) should not be held against him. The defendant is a self-proclaimed “vampire” and Satanist. He was born Roy C. Gutfinski Jr. but changed his name while in prison in Maine after slashing a 16-year-old girl and drinking her blood.

In his closing statement, Veiovis’ lawyer Gavin Reardon told the jury, “He shouldn’t be judged by his appearance. He shouldn’t be judged by what he keeps in his apartment.”

The jurors deliberated for almost three hours last Friday and all day today and appear to be unsure about what they heard. They asked to see a trial transcript today and were told the transcript is not yet available.

Jeffery S. Fisse of Versailles, Indiana was arrested this weekend and charged with pointing a firearm and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon after a chance encounter August 17 with members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club. Both charges are felonies.

The complainant in the case is a woman who was driving a chase car behind a pack of Iron Order riders headed for Madison, Indiana on the Ohio River. She told police Fisse cut her off near the intersection of State Road 46 and Highway 421 in Greensburg, Indiana southeast of Indianapolis. The woman told police that when she “instinctively” blew her horn Fisse pointed a pistol at her with his left hand before accelerating away from her toward the Iron Order pack. She called police and reported that the man who pointed the gun at her was wearing a white motorcycle helmet and a Hells Angels Motorcycle Club patch

An Iron Order member told police that riders in the pack saw Fisse at several points during their ride but that he seemed to disappear near Madison.

.45

After the chase car driver called police, a state trooper stopped Fisse near Olean which is about 25 miles from Madison. The trooper reported that Fisse seemed agitated when he was stopped. He was detained, cuffed and found to be legally carrying a loaded .45 caliber pistol, two knives and a collapsible baton.

Fisse denied pointing a gun at anybody. He told the trooper who detained him that he thought he had angered the Iron Order pack when he passed them and that the Iron Order had only called the police because they were afraid of Hells Angels.

Police eventually decided to press charges anyway and a warrant was issued for Fisse’ arrest earlier this month.

Fisse has been jailed without bond.

If statements made by a high ranking member of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club are true, the investigation into the murder of Black Pistons patch holder Zach Tipton was corrupted almost from the start by the special consideration given the Iron Order by Florida police.

In a letter to club members published on a members only section of the Iron Order website on July 5, John C. “Shark” Whitfield (photo above), who serves as “Director of the Division of Legal Affairs” for the three piece patch club as well as Nortonville, Kentucky City Attorney, advises his fellow club members about what he refers “to as the ‘Florida Incident.’” Whitfield’s club duties apparently include acting as a lobbyist and liaison with various police departments.

Criminal Situation

“I have been a litigator for over 30 years, dealing with both civil and criminal cases my whole career,” Whitfield begins. “Because of that experience, I know that in a criminal situation it is important… the client understand (sic) that after the facts are ascertained, they must let me do the talking publicly about it (if need be). The client needs to have no comment about any of this. The same applies here…. My clients in this situation are the IOMC and the brothers and prospects who may be close to this
situation.”

“I have been in contact with law enforcement there,” Whitfield states, “and offered my services in any way they deem appropriate. They are professionals and are doing a great job. So as to keep this investigation clean, we do not need to talk about this. Should they want to interview further any of you, I will make the arrangements for that to happen. Consequently, please be patient and wait for my call on this.”

After bragging that he had volunteered to collaborate with Florida investigators, and warning club members to let him do all the talking, Whitfield began spinning the murder of Zach Tipton to present his club in the best possible light.

My investigation so far tells me that had there not been reckless aggressive behavior by persons that started this, none of this would have happened. My basis for this comes from my time down in Florida, as I (accompanied by Associate Division of Legal Affairs Tracker) went to Jacksonville and interviewed the brothers/prospects in full. We went to scene and chronicled the information we needed there, spoke to law enforcement there to gain a better perspective and have taken other steps that I will not outline in this thread. Although much has been done, there is still a lot to do. We are prepared to do it with vigilance.”

Less sophistically stated, Whitfield interviewed investigators to find out where the case was going then used that knowledge to help the persons who were involved in the shooting construct their alibis. He was assisted by Major Darrell “Tracker” Robinson of the Marine Corps Logistics Command.

Stand Your Ground

This case is a clear “Stand Your Ground” case Whitfield announces.

The work that we have done there thus far indicates that this statute will be the primary avenue of defense should any legal proceedings against my clients ensue,” Whitfield announces. “Hopefully they will not, as the facts as we have uncovered them thus far fit squarely with this statute. Without getting into these facts in excruciating detail, rest assured that I am confident that our brothers and prospects reasonably feared for their life due to the reckless, unreasonable actions of others, and as such defended themselves as this law gives them the right to do. I have nothing to make me feel any different. The IOMC prides itself in being law abiding, and this principle was at play in Florida. Our brothers and prospects acted within their right and within the law.”

“Remember,” Whitfield concludes, “that because of our unfettered commitment to being law abiding, and our relentless teaching of same, that one of ours did what he had to do, and within the law. Let us all follow this law abiding example, and continue to make our club the shining star for all other MC’s to see and perhaps follow.”

A basic, if increasingly tortured, concept in American law is mens rea which is usually translated from Latin as “guilty mind.” It refers to the state of mind that accompanies a criminal act.

Mens rea doesn’t matter in crimes which are called malum prohibitum, which are crimes that are arbitrarily illegal like possessing prohibited drugs. But state of mind is an important component in crimes that are called malum in se, which are crimes like murder that are wrong in and of themselves. Mens rea is most important is legal defenses like self-defense so the state of mind of a man who kills another man is as important as the act of homicide.

Mens rea is the key element in deciding whether the death of Black Pistons member Zach Tipton in Jacksonville Beach, Florida last June was a criminal or an innocent act.

Self Defense

A week after Tipton died of a gunshot wound to the head John Whitfield, a small town lawyer and high ranking member of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, proclaimed the homicide to be a clear case of self defense so it might be constructive to look at exactly what “self defense” means.

The essential elements of self defense are:

First that the defendant must be free from fault, must not say or do anything for the purpose of provoking a difficulty, nor be unmindful of the consequences in this respect to any wrongful word or act.

Second, in general, there must be no convenient mode of escape by retreat or by declining combat. This second precept doesn’t apply in Florida which passed a specific law, called the “Stand Your Ground” law, that does not compel a person claiming self defense to try to escape.

The Florida statute reads in part: “A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be, has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm.”

The language of the statute above shouldn’t be misconstrued. Stand your ground is not a license to kill. In general deadly force may only be used when it is necessary to meet an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. It is not, for example, usually reasonable to use deadly force after somebody has punched you in the nose. In the most highly publicized stand your ground case so far, George Zimmerman argued that he shot Trayvon Martin because the teenager was beating his head against a sidewalk and Zimmerman thought his life was in danger.

The IOMC, AOL And BP

Most of the details about Tipton’s death have been hidden from public view, including the injuries the anonymous shooter suffered or the circumstances that led him to believe his life was in danger. Police believed the Iron Order shooter was innocent of murder because he had an innocent mind. And, at this point, three months after the murder, it is impossible to accurately determine what the shooter’s state of mind was when he pulled the trigger because he has had months to polish his alibi. But it his possible to examine the context within which he pulled the trigger by looking at some of what his Iron Order club brothers were saying immediately before and after the shooting.

One place to begin is with an unsigned Iron Order Motorcycle Club directive titled “One Percenter Club Patches and IOMC Relationship” which describes the Iron Order’s relationship with the Black Piston and the club the Black Pistons most famously support. In regards to the Black Pistons, the directive specifically instructs club members to not “take any BS from them or we will lose respect in the biker community.” The entries read:

“Outlaws MC – this club has been an adversary since day one with the IOMC. They have constantly been a challenge about territory and what they have said is ‘disrespect’ because we do not comply to protocol and do not ask them permission to do anything. Caution should always be taken whenever there is an Outlaw around. Do not ignore them and do not say anything negative to anyone outside of the IOMC about them. If they outnumber you it is best to leave in a nonaggressive way showing no fear. If they come up to you, offer to shake their hand and use a proper introduction for an MC. That means you say your name, your office and Iron Order MC. He will do the same. They spin all encounters or statements and lie to meet whatever goals they want. Never trust them to be truthful. If the OL starts intimidation tactics by asking, ‘Who the fuck are you guys?’ or ‘Who gave you permission to wear those colors’ etc. you need to refer them to your President or Regional Director. They only fight if they outnumber you or have no chance of losing a fight.”

“Black Pistons – a sub club to the Outlaws MC. They were formed in 2002 in Germany. They are owned by the OLs and now wear state bottom rockers. They do whatever the OL’s tell them. They are not a credible club and have no respect in the MC world. We cannot ever show fear or listen to any bullshit from these morons. The OL’s will not back them up. However most Pistons believe the OL’s will. They generally do not fight but will if they have to. They must check with the OL’s before they do anything. Do not confront them but do not show any fear. Whenever there is a bust of the OL’s or other Pistons they generally throw in their colors. These are guys that want to hang around with the OL’s but do not want to be 1%ers so they tend to be wannabes. Don’t take any BS from them or we will lose respect in the biker community.”

Mongols Fight

It also seems likely that the shooter was aware of a fight between members of the Iron Order and members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in Spokane less than two weeks before Tipton was killed. The incident took place on June 14. On June 17, a club officer named Alex “40Cal” Libori wrote the email transcribed below. Libori’s recitation of his version of events and his tone also point to the state of mind of the Jacksonville Beach shooter the next week.

“Brothers, pay careful attention to this email. Make sure it is discussed with each other ASAP. On Saturday night/Sunday morning the Eastside Crew (in Spokane) had an altercation with the Mongols. For some time now there have been rumors of the Eastside 1%er clubs forming a truce to rid the area of any IO presence. On this night the Mongols went directly to the ESC (East Side Crew) clubhouse to talk shit. Not only did they blatantly disrespect the chapter but they disrespected the entire nation. They posted up across the way to continue to talk shit. A few good brothers proudly walked over to address the situation. There are other details here that I will not go into because it can best be told by the brothers that were actually there, but brother Hallmark showing true understanding for his position as Sergeant at Arms stood tall. Regardless of who was around (including police presence) he took on the chapter president. Hallmark took his hits like a man and then laid this fucker out and put him on the ground sending a clear message that we will not eat shit. When all was said and done that mother fucker will know that this chapter will not back down.

“Few things you need to be aware of.

“This is far from over. This is just the beginning. Mongols are really good about recruiting people that do not even know how to ride motorcycles. It can be anyone, anywhere, at any time. Shit just got real.

“So if you have an ounce of doubt, do us all a favor and walk away right now. If you care for your brothers then avoid anyone getting hurt because you second guessed what action you should have taken.

“When dealing with opposition you have no one but you and your manhood. This night, the police stood around and watched everything happen. There was no time to make calls and wait for the masses to show up. If you are in a similar situation are you going to be like Hallmark and stand tall, or will you back down and tell stories later? Enough with the ‘if I was there I would have…’ bullshit.

“Either you are there or you are not.

“All SAAs need to do their homework on what is going on in their area and communicate it to their chapters. Know your roles. If you are an SAA your #1 priority is the safety of your President then the chapter. But it is the responsibility of every member to do the same.

“Start showing more respect for your brothers. This is the time that everyone should be dropping all the bullshit drama and organizing trips to Spokane to show numbers. If there is a chapter even, then get off your asses and show each area that there are a lot more of us than there are of them. And this is not a weekend thing. If you have to throw punches then fucking prove it. I cannot say enough about Hallmark. I have never heard him ‘talk the talk’ because that is not the type of man he is, but Goddamnit he walked the walk that night. He stared the opposition in the eyes and when it was apparent there was no civil way of dealing with the problem he charged and handled business with a man who’s reputation is bigger the man himself. To quote Yard ‘Hallmark,
when you care to send the very best.’”

Crisis Management

Finally, it is worth noting what Iron Order International President Ray “Izod” Lubesky was saying after the murder. Lubesky spent most of his adult life as a fast food executive and he reacted to the Tipton myrder as if someone in Florida had just found a dead mouse in his French fries. He sees Tipton’s death as a “public relations crisis” rather than as a criminal act.

This is what Lubesky told his club members on July 6. At the time, Lubesky and members of his club were very offended by The Aging Rebel’s coverage of Tipton’s murder, particularly by this page’s categorization of the homicide as a “murder.” What is most interesting is not that Lubesky disapproves of this site’s coverage but that he encourages members of his “law abiding motorcycle club” to keep quiet about what they know about Tipton’s death. And, as is also always the case with the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, one may be awed by how much club officers and members are willing to commit to writing.

Lubesky wrote:

“The link below is to a podcast from LAB (Law Abiding Biker). LAB is a couple guys from Yakima Washington who have a lot of maintenance videos on You Tube for Harley. They do a weekly podcast to the law abiding community. They are IOMC friendly and are covering the Jax incident in a fair and balanced way. You can hear their report at around the 26 minute mark. This is one avenue we will use to get the story out to the world when the time is right.

“It is critical that all brothers follow our directions on what is said to everyone outside our club. It is critical that we do not debate or make negative comments about what we are doing on our home page, the forum, press statements, public communications or anything else the Senior Leadership determines we need to do. This is not about censorship or dictatorship. This is about crisis management at a time we are protecting our club, our prospect, and our brothers. This is our area of expertise. This is our responsibility. Your responsibility is to follow the sheet music, march to the drum and keep your mouths shut, both internally and externally. Only say what you are told to say. If you post something stupid on the forum, Facebook, Topix or any other social media we will take it down or tell you to take it down. This is not a time in our history we will be asking. Asking sinks ships and gets people hurt in times like this. Let us do our job. Keep your negative opinions to yourselves. Keep the banter off the forum. If you have questions or comments, ask but don’t get pissed off if you don’t like the answers and start running amok because you think you know a better way.

If you have first hand experience in Public Relations specific to crisis management contact me directly. I will put you to work. I have first hand experience in crisis management of public relations and will use it to the best of my ability. Shark will handle the legal side. We will keep you informed. Let us do our job and you do your job; follow your leadership’s directives. Listen to the podcast. It shows the silent majority of law abiding motorcyclists are watching and waiting for the facts. They already have a good idea what this is about. The morons on the hater’s pages and Aging Rebel are a very small minority of vocal idiots. There are many interesting comments about Aging Rebel in this podcast I am sure you will find very amusing. Thanks go to Bonzo for sending this in. Continue to come back to the forum for future updates. Enjoy

You can listen to the Law Abiding Biker’s “interesting comments about Aging Rebel” here and here.

After deliberating for four and a half hours tonight, a six person jury in Sanford, Florida found Paul Wayne “Dog” Smith innocent of charges of second degree murder and attempted first degree murder. Smith had been accused of murdering Peter “Hormone” Schlette,  Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. He was accused of trying to kill Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell who were wounded.

All five victims were members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club. Smith was a former Warlock and a member of a separate and distinct Warlocks Motorcycle Club. The gunfight in which Schlette, Liddle and Jakiela died was the climax of an interclub dispute. The men died shortly after arriving at the assembly point for a charity poker run on September 30,  2012. Smith’s club sponsored the event.

Self Defense

Smith was one of four men charged in the homicides. David “Tin Man” Maloney was found not guilty on the same charges on April 11. Maloney fired three shots during an extended exchange of gunfire with Dyess and Mitchell but hit no one. Robert William “Willy” Eckert, who also shot no one during the exchange, was found guilty of manslaughter and other charges and was sentenced to 27 years in prison on May 1. Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro who shot and killed Liddle and Jakiela was sentenced to life in prison last May 29. Smith shot Schlette in the arm and face and killed him. All four defendants had claimed they acted in self defense.

Smith’s lawyer, Debra Ferwerda, convinced jurors that the dead men had come to hurt her client and that he had reasonably feared for his life. She told the jury that Smith had been badly beaten on February 5, 2011 after he ran for club president and lost. She argued that Schlette was “a scary, violent, crazy guy” who had threatened to rape Smith’s wife and who swaggered like a “tough guy” just before he was shot and that the dead men were actually trying to ambush Smith.

Smith Testimony

Smith may have saved his freedom today when he took the witness stand in his own defense. Smith testified that he thought he was going to die when he was beaten. “I really thought it was 10 to 15 people,” he said. “I was being stomped.” He said he had been threatened by Warlocks on multiple occasions.

He testified that he had been warned in advance that the Warlocks were coming to kill him and the other defendants and he testified that Schlette had dropped his motorcycle to the ground and charged him. “When he started coming up to come after me, I shot him in the arm. He looked up and said, ‘You shot me motherfucker!’ He was still coming after me. It didn’t stop him.” Smith said that after wounding Schlette in the arm, “Something hit me in the face, and I turned and fired my gun. There was bullets coming from everywhere.”

Smith told jurors he does not own or like guns and had borrowed the gun he used to kill Schlette from a friend.

Smith remains in custody on a drug charge. His current bail is $6,000.

Five of the six men convicted of the loony and tragic Shedden Massacre in Ontario in April 2006 have filed appeals to have their convictions overturned. The men were found guilty of eight murders on October 29, 2009. Mass media in North America have frequently called the murders “The Bandidos Massacre.”

The five convicted men are named Wayne Kellestine, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Marcello Aravena. A sixth man, Michael Sandham filed an appeal shortly after his conviction but has since dropped it.

The men were part of the only Bandidos Motorcycle Club chapter in Canada. They called themselves the No Surrender Crew. The chapter began when about a dozen members of the Loners Motorcycle Club in Ontario patched over to the Bandidos. About the same time, most Loners in Canada patched over to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Worst Chapter Ever

The Canadian Bandidos never appeared to integrate themselves into the big club and were often unresponsive to correspondence from national club officers. They were also dysfunctional as a chapter. Some of them did not own motorcycles. They just all really liked the idea of being Bandidos. One of the victims of the massacre was a former prize fighter named Giovanni “John” “Boxer” Muscedere, who eventually became Canadian National Presidente. One of the killers was a truly deranged piece of work named Wayne “Weiner” Kellestine.

On his own, Muscadere decided to start a chapter in Winnipeg and the big club’s national officers seemed to be the last to know. The big club threatened to expel the No Surrender Crew. In 2005, Bill Sartelle, the Secretario of Bandidos World, wrote to the chapter, “Well there is no easy way to put this, but I have been instructed to contact someone in Canada and find out why we have been getting no contact. Canada has not been meeting the requirements of belonging to this club, under the United States. I want to know how this can be remedied immediately. If I am wrong then explain. There are many criteria involved with Club Membership. One is monthly contact and mail sent to USA National Chapter.”

Two months later Muscedere sent Sartelle a Christmas card. Sartelle replied, “For the past year or more we, BMC USA, have attempted to make connections with Canada…. Up until now there has been no visit from the proper person. It has been decided that due to lack of participation, Canada’s Charter is being pulled. Effective immediately: Return all Bandido patches and property….”

One theory of the crime is that Kellestine tried to save the chapter’s charter by killing Muscedere and the members loyal to him.

The Murders

The eight men were killed over a lingering five hours at a Friday night club meeting at Kellestine’s barn in the country outside Shedden, Ontario.

There have been three books written about the Shedden Massacre. The worst is The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club written by the reptilian, professional informant Alex Caine. Toronto Star reporter Peter Edward’ 474 page The Bandidos Massacre: A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal appeared the day aftert the men were convicted and is the most exhaustively researched. By far the most compassionate and insightful book about the murders is Bloody Justice by a Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at Georgian College in Ontario named Anita Arvast.

Last Thursday, a federal judge named Richard W. Story finally put an end to a ridiculous federal indictment filed against three men named Larry McDaniel, Howard Brown and Sean King.

Judge Story dismissed Counts One and Three of an indictment filed on April 24, 2013 that accused the men of “corruptedly obstructing, influencing and impeding an official proceeding.” The official proceeding was an undercover investigation and entrapment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation intended to catch members of the Black Pistons Motorcycle Club and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club doing something illegal. Count Two of the Indictment was dismissed May 19.

Official Proceedings

Count One accused the men of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding. Count Two accused the men of aiding and abetting each other in the alleged obstruction. Count Three accused the men of obstructing “a federal grand jury investigation into criminal offenses investigated by the FBI, said FBI investigation involving D.B.S. acting as an undercover informant and Michael Griffin, a/k/a Griff,  a law enforcement officer, acting in an undercover capacity.”

The three accused men are now free until the FBI manufactures another bogus charge against them.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 13 months ago, on August 14, 2013, that FBI investigations are not court proceedings under the federal statute criminalizing obstruction of justice. That ruling applied to another motorcycle club case involving the Hells Angels. That case accused three men named Gary L. Ermoian, Stephen J. Johnson and David A. Swanson of obstructing justice by warning a fourth man that he was the subject of a federal investigation. The Supreme Court has not yet overturned that Ninth Circuit ruling so it has seemed clear for more than a year that the Georgia investigation was without legal standing. Nevertheless, United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates continued to use the accusation to punish the men by forcing them to defend themselves.

Back Story

When the FBI began investigating presumed illegal activity by the Black Pistons, Outlaws and other clubs in Georgia, McDaniel was the Regional President of Outlaws chapters in Georgia and Alabama; King was an Outlaw from Gordon, Georgia and Brown was the Georgia President of the Black Pistons. The three men learned that a member of the Georgia Black Pistons, identified in public documents as D.B.S., was a paid confidential informant working for the FBI and that an undercover cop named Michael “Griff” Griffin had also infiltrated that club.

Consequently McDaniel told Brown and King to “shutdown” the Black Pistons’ Cleveland, Georgia chapter. They did and they also collected “all Black Pistons and Outlaw Motorcycle Club vests, known as ‘cuts,’ patches, belts, rings, t-shirts, and other paraphernalia identified with the Black Pistons and Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs from those present at the clubhouse.”

According to FBI case agent Mark Sewell, “My 15 years of FBI investigative experience has proven that individuals, whether sworn officers or law enforcement employees, are often referred to as inside sources…traditionally sworn and uniformed officers, often maintain close and unprofessional relationships with members of outlaw motorcycle gangs. This is an unexplained phenomenon and continually comprises (sic) OMG investigations across America. With the popularity of current television programs that glamorize the OMG culture, the desire for some law enforcement officials to maintain close, unprofessional and sometimes criminal relationships with OMG members will not easily disappear. As an example, this investigation has previously uncovered three law enforcement officials that are maintaining close, unprofessional relationships with subjects of this referenced North Georgia OMG investigation. It is through these close and unprofessional relationships that OMG members often gain information that is obstructive to FBI investigations and dangerous to the safety of FBI Informants.”

Hello Larry

After the chapter was shutdown a conversation between McDaniel and one of the paid snitches in the case went like this:

Larry McDaniel: Hello.

Informant: Hey man.

McDaniel: What’s up?

Informant: What’s going on.

McDaniel: Well, we had information given us, given to us that is pretty much telling us to close that down and information saying…. You know anybody named Mark Sewell?

Informant: No! I don’t! Who….

McDaniel: Huh?

Informant: Who is that?

McDaniel: I have no idea. It’s saying…that’s a name that…that you have something to do with the Feds and that’s your contact name.”

Affiant’s Name

Subsequently case agent Sewell formally complained to a judge: “McDaniel is in possession of your affiant’s name. Furthermore… the Outlaws Motorcycle Club is in possession of CI-1’s real name and the information that he is, in fact, a FBI Informant. It is clear to your affiant that the OMC has shared the identity of CI-1 with McDaniel…. Furthermore, it is clear that the OMC has shared with McDaniel the name of your affiant to validate their accusation to McDaniel that ‘…there is a Fed in the Black Pistons house ….’ Your affiant’s 15 years of FBI investigative experience, which includes having achieved successful prosecutions in 2 public corruption investigations, leads your affiant to affirm that this investigation has a public corruption leak that is relaying sensitive information to the OMC. Furthermore, this leak is obstructing the FBI’s formal investigation into the OMC by hindering the ability of CI-1 to safely assist the FBI in the investigation of the Outlaws and the criminal activities of their members. Your affiant’s experience indicates that the name of your affiant, who is also one of two Contact Agents for the CI and the name of the CI are closely held secrets within the FBI. Only via direct contact with FBI agents or FBI documents can a public corruption leak gain the names of the Contact Agent and/or the CI. While the name of the Contact Agent may occasionally be used in non-sensitive FBI documents, the real name of the CI is closely guarded and can only be accessed by people with direct FBI computer access or direct access/overhear to FBI employees. All of the facts listed in this paragraph serve to strengthen your affiant’s allegation that there is a public corruption leak that is effectively obstructing this investigation.”

McDaniel, Brown and King actually went on trial on the charges last Tuesday and the trial continued for two days before the case was dismissed.

Caius Veiovis, who along with two others was accused of killing three men named David R. Glasser, Edward Frampton, and Robert Chadwell. was found guilty last Friday of the murder charges as well as kidnapping.

The jury in the case deliberated for 37 hours over six days before reaching the verdict. After hearing their judgment Veiovis, a Satanist who legally changed his named from Roy C. Gutfinski Jr. while in prison in Maine, screamed, “I’ll see you all in hell! Remember that! Every fucking one of you. I’ll see you all in hell.”

Monday, Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder sentenced Veiovis to three consecutive life terms in prison. Veiovis has six devil’s horns implanted in his forehead which is also decorated with a “666” tattoo. He has a previous conviction for slashing a 16-year-old girl and drinking her blood.

Appearances Aside

Veiovis lawyer James G, Reardon Jr. said at the sentencing yesterday that his client is not the man portrayed in the media.

Veiovis read a prepared statement in which he argued that he was innocent. “Let me make this clear. My hand wasn’t in this,” Veiovis said. He said people who want him to “hang my head…are just as deluded as the jury of my peers who convicted me.”

“You condemn an innocent man and I will appeal this,” Veiovis read.

He also argued that the prosecutor in the case, District Attorney David Capeless, “knew I did not kill these men” and wanted Veiovis to become an informer in order to win a lenient sentence. “I will not let this man sell me my own hide at the price of my integrity,” the convicted man said. “I would rather spend the rest of my life in prison rather than make that deal.”

Hall And Chalue

His alleged conspirators, former Hells Angel Adam Lee Hall and David Chalue, were convicted earlier this year and are also serving life sentences. The murders were motivated by Hall’s desire to keep Glasser from testifying against him. A fourth man named David Casey is accused of helping the three convicted men dispose of the bodies.

The case was widely identified as the “Hells Angels murders” because of Hall’s association with the club. Prosecutors had argued that both Veiovis and Chalue participated in the murders because they thought it would help them join the motorcycle club.

The press releases that announce the apprehension and prosecution of biker gangsters usually read like fiction – bad fiction – or the ravings of a drug addled lunatic.

Four cases spring immediately to mind: The Zach Tipton murder in Jacksonville Beach in June after which the confessed shooter was set free because his motorcycle club has branded itself as “law abiding;” the Georgia Outlaws case in which three men were indicted, for all practical purposes, because they refused to be entrapped; the recent murder conviction of a strange and pathetic man named Caius Veoivis – who did not own a motorcycle and who probably couldn’t fit a helmet over his skull implants – but who prosecutors said murdered in hopes of becoming a Hells Angel; and another Angels fiasco called “Operation Red Harvest” in which 34 people were hit with 226 criminal complaints that eventually turned out to be almost entirely imaginary.

That is not mention the limitless racketeering prosecution of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, many of whose members were convicted of “crimes” such as being a club officer, legally possessing ammunition or posing with a gun in a photograph that was reproduced in a book. Or the never ending questions of prospective jurors in biker cases about whether those good citizens understand that the television show Sons of Anarchy is a work of fiction.

So in that context it might be realistic to wonder how the United States Department of Justice intends to twist the strange tale of Keith Ditmore’s very bad day into a predicate offense in some future prosecution of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Busted

Ditmore, the owner of a motorcycle shop in Alto, New Mexico was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, shooting from a moving vehicle and possession of a controlled substance after defending himself against an unknown number of imaginary Bandidos.

Ditmore told police that the Bandidos were dressed like Swat.

His strange ordeal began about four Monday afternoon when he noticed people dressed like Swat members on his property and called police. Lincoln County Sheriffs responded but were unable to find the intruders.

Ditmore Tries To Escape

Five hours later Ditmore saw two more Swat intruders with assault rifles standing outside his door. He confronted the two men who refused to answer him. So, Ditmore loaded his AK-47 and killed a Swat Bandido in his garage then shot at a woman who seemed to be accompanying Diotmore’s tormenters.

In a panic, he tried to escape, crashed his truck into a ditch and shot at a Swat Bandido perched on his rear fender before running to the nearest house. “He gained entry claiming the Bandidos were after him,” Lincoln County Sheriff Robert Shepperd said in a report. “He shot six times inside the residence while the home owner and daughter had retreated into a bathroom and locked the door. After a brief standoff he was talked out of the house and taken into custody and transported to jail.”

After being convinced to leave the house, Ditmore told Sheriffs that Bandidos were on the roof of the house and wanted to kill him. Sheriffs found the engine of Ditmore’s truck still running with a bullet hole in the rear fender. Additional bullet holes were found in the rear of the house in which Ditmore had sought refuge.

According to the Sheriff’s statement, Ditmore admitted injecting methamphetamine and taking six Xanax before he realized he was being attacked.

Ditmore was later released on $71,000 bond.

Using trickery and deceit, the Department of Justice continues to torment a Vago named Jeremy “Maniac” Halgat with a spurious prosecution. Halgat was targeted for prosecution during a much ballyhooed law enforcement stunt called Operation Pure Luck in Las Vegas. The government declared victory on June 27, 2013 and if Halgat or his lawyer had more cooperatively played their parts he would have taken a bad plea deal. He did not.

One of the dirty tricks our government has used against Halgat is to charge him and make him defend himself in two, parallel federal prosecutions called USA v. Wickham et al. and USA v. Halgat et al. The idea was simply to provide prosecutors with a second chance to ruin Halgat’s life if they lost one of the cases. It is increasingly common prosecutorial game that has the added advantage of making it unreasonably difficult for the press, and hence the people, to make sense of what is going on in the courthouse

One of the unavoidable deceits in Halgat’s cases was that a cynical Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy named Agostino Brancato, who is an experienced casual employee for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – the ATF calls these clowns Tactical Field Officers – simply lied to make a case against Halgat. He lied more than two years ago. Prosecutors have known for more than a year that Brancato lied. He didn’t simply strew his victim’s path with banana peals in hopes he would slip. He lied.

I Can’t Help

This is exactly what happened, although for the sake of narrative brevity this is not all the unethical and possibly illegal things Brancato and the ATF did: Brancato patched into the Vagos Motorcycle Club in Vegas and for two years he tried to entice the Vagos and members of other clubs like the Mongols to do something more illegal than speeding. After two years the ATF had so much invested in the case that they had to justify the investigation lest all their precious, $200,000 a year careers be ruined.

In August 2012 Brancato tried to entice Halgat into trafficking cocaine and, on tape, Halgat replied, “I can’t…I can’t fucking, I can’t help.” Eventually in that conversation, Halgat reluctantly told his club brother he might know a guy who knew a guy. He said, “the only thing I can contribute is, hey this is my home boy, I trust him. This is my home boy, I trust him, whatever you do, and if it fucks up….”

More than a month later, on September 19, 2012, Halgat agreed to introduce Brancato to Udell Wickham, his future co-defendant in one of his cases. Wickham sold Brancato an ounce of cocaine and was recently sentenced to five years probation. Unfortunately for the ATF, Wickham was not a Vago and the whole point of the undercover investigation was to charge Vagos. So that night, during a tape recorded debriefing, Brancato proposed just lying about what Halgat had done.

Like As Far As I’m Concerned

“This is what I’m thinking,” Brancato mused. “Like as far as I’m concerned fucking Maniac sold me this fucking ounce, Bro. I mean, really. Yeah. Well, that’s what I’m thinking. Well, this is what I’m thinking, Bro is that on the QP, we do it the same way. Let Maniac…I give Maniac the money, he goes in there, brings it back to me,da, da, da. And then on the next one, I’m like hey, Bro, can I just go to him direct and I’ll still give you the money and now I have a sale of QP with him. You know what I’m saying? With Udell, without him, so now, he owns one and then this guy and Maniak owns one. Well, alright, so we may need a little bit more. We maybe have to do a little bit more. That’s…which is perfect. Yup.”

Brancato then discussed how he would falsify his Report of Investigation. Anecdotal evidence suggests that what Brancato did is standard operating procedure in ATF investigations. What makes Brancato unique is that most ATF employees aren’t so stupid or sloppy as to audio record themselves when they decide how best to frame some guy.

Outrageous Government Conduct

Eventually Halgat’s lawyer, the esteemed Melanie A. Hill, moved for a dismissal of the charges against Halgat on the grounds of “outrageous government conduct” and a Federal Magistrate Judge named Cam Ferenbach recommended the dismissal of  the indictment against Halgat in Wickham. And, since the two cases against Halgat were basically the same a dismissal in Wickham should lead, everywhere but Wonderland, to the dismissal of the second case titled Halgat. But Ferenbach was not the presiding judge in either case.

Those cases are being heard by two District Court Judges named Andrew Gordon and Jennifer Dorsey. And of course due process must be followed, particularly when due process works to the advantage of the prosecution. And the prosecutors both objected and stalled.

Finally Tuesday, Gordon and Dorsey held a joint status conference and agreed to hold a joint evidentiary hearing to determine whether both cases against Halgat should be dismissed. That evidentiary hearing is scheduled for November 5th, 6th, 7th and 13th before both judges. If the judges do not dismiss the cases against Halgat then he will stand trial on the charges in January.

A strange case is unfolding in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, a little southeast of New Orleans, that reads like the plot of a Coen brothers film and has attracted much more attention than it would have if the headlines didn’t say Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

The connection to the Bandidos is minimal. Two and possibly three of six people arrested on a variety of charges are members of a Red and Gold club called the LA Riders. And when the case was made public a Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman named Eric Becnel said details had been withheld about the case because his department was sharing “information on the Bandidos” with state and federal agencies.

Mojo

The merde tempête began when the unnamed nephew of LA Riders Plaquemines Parish chapter president Gregory Blanchard was helping a man David Bruce, who may or may not ride with the club, work on a car. Bruce confronted the kid about being high on Mojo, which some older readers might not know is a synthetic cannabanoid. When Bruce told the unnamed nephew he was going to tell his uncle Gregory about it, the intoxicated teenager called the police. Bruce, Blanchard and chapter sergeant at arms Michael Hahn returned before police arrived, escorted the kid to a barn and slapped him around.

When sheriff’s deputies did arrive Bruce told them they must have the wrong address. Reportedly, the three men were dismayed that the nephew was not only stoned but had called police. According to the police statement, “After the deputies left, Mr. Bruce went back to the barn where the victim was tied up in a chair with a rope, and Mr. Bruce actually strangled the victim, allegedly until he passed out.”

But of course the deputies were aware the men belonged to a motorcycle club so they decided to investigate further. When one entered the barn, according to Becnel, “The three suspects informed the deputy that he had actually suffered a seizure from the drug intoxication.”

Clandestine Drug Lab

The deputies then searched the house shared by Blanchard, his wife Amanda, Hahn, Lyndsey Fannin and another teenager named Brandon Franklin.

Police found small amounts of the ingredients – including one cold pack and one gallon of Coleman Camp Fuel – used to produce small amounts of methamphetamine implementing the so called “shake n’ bake method.” Police and the press in New Orleans have characterized the ingredients as a “clandestine drug lab.”

The Sheriff’s Office press release said, “Agents also seized four firearms, which included two pistols and two assault rifles, one of which was sawed-off.” The weapons might be more accurately described as an automatic pistol, a small caliber revolver, an M 16 carbine and a lever action rifle with a slightly shortened barrel. The release did not elaborate on the identity of the “agents.” Agents and deputies also seized LA Riders indicia.

Blanchard and Hahn were charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, second-degree battery, operating a clandestine methamphetamine lab and possession of a firearm with a controlled dangerous substance. Hahn was also charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Bruce was charged with second-degree battery. Fannin was charged with operating a clandestine meth lab and possession of drug paraphernalia. Franklin and Mrs. Blanchard were charged with operating a clandestine meth lab.

In early June 2011, a guy named James Bauman who at the time was the Public Information Officer for the Lake County, California Sheriff’s Office, issued a press release that began:

“A member of the Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang has been brutally beaten by a group of full-patched members of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang during a tattoo conference at the Konocti Vista Resort and Casino.

“On Saturday, June 4th at approximately 1:20 pm, sheriff’s deputies responded to the Konocti Vista Casino after security reported that four to five Hells Angels were involved in a physical fight. Deputies arrived within minutes of the call and stopped a group of fully patched Hells Angels who were walking out of the resort’s conference center.

“As the group of Hells Angels were telling deputies that they knew nothing about a fight, resort security personnel alerted deputies to a green SUV leaving the resort that was reportedly occupied by the victim. The green SUV was stopped by deputies a short distance from the resort. The passenger in the SUV, identified as 39-year-old Michael Anthony Burns of Lakeport, was bleeding about the head and face, his face was swollen and he had a laceration under his right eye. Burns however, denied being involved in any altercation and alleged that his injuries occurred as the result of a ‘fall.’

“Although Burns was a known validated member of the Vagos motorcycle gang, a rival club of the Hells Angels, he was released from further detention since he adamantly denied being assaulted. The group of Hells Angels also left the resort.”

The Prosecution

Nevertheless, because the alleged incident involved members of two brand name motorcycle clubs various law enforcement agencies were eager to make a case. “Deputies,” Baumann said, “reviewed footage from the resort’s security surveillance system” and “worked into the night” to find something for which they could arrest somebody.

In Baumann’s version, the motive for all this dedicated police work was public safety. Although no member of the general public ever seemed to be in danger, Baumann “reminded” the world “that the Hells Angels and the Vagos have a documented history of extreme violence and retaliation. Based on that history, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office expects retaliation and further acts of violence.”

The release included photographs of Vagos and Angels and Baumann told those whom he had pledged to protect and serve that “the patches depicted in the pictures are typical of these gangs. Individuals wearing these patches are members of these outlaw motorcycle gangs and should be considered dangerous.” Interestingly, the photograph of Hells Angels Baumann chose to include with his release depicted members of the club in Germany – which is very far from California.

The Story Continues

Eventually the FBI joined the investigation. Three alleged members of the Hells Angels Sonoma charter named Timothy R. Bianchi, Nicholas F. Carrillo and Josh L. Johnson were arrested and charged with battery and fighting in public and a grand drama ensued.

Superstar outlaw biker authority Jorge Gil-Blanco was booked to testify at trial. Prosecutors, as is the custom in biker cases, hid potentially exculpatory evidence from defense attorneys. One of the facts prosecutors hid was that the Lake County Sheriff at the time of the fight, Frank Rivero, had a documented history of lying under oath. Defenders raised the possibility that the incident had been provoked by a Vago who was working as an informant for the local sheriff. The charges against the defendants were amended to include a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon which made possible a “gang enhancement.”

Eventually the case became politically toxic. The original judge in the case, Stephen Hedstrom recused himself because, he said, he had discussed the case with someone outside the court. Because of what is practically inbreeding between judges and cops in Lake County, a judge named Andrew Blum felt compelled to quit the case in 2013. Then a judge named Richard Martin refused to hear the case when his son, Brian Martin, ran for Lake County Sheriff. Last week a fourth judge named Robert L. Crone quit the case citing his “long term friendship” with Judge Martin.

But the case continues. The three defendants are still charged with feloniously attacking a man who refused to file charges against them. They are still stuck with a gang enhancement. There may yet be a trial. Gil-Blanco may yet testify.

The obvious question would seem to be why.

The thin grey line between federal justice and a cheesy Bruce Willis movie just got a little fainter.

In a substantially redacted summary judgment, a federal district judge in San Diego named Gonzalo P. Curiel (above) ruled last Wednesday that a Hells Angel named Maurice Peter “Pete” Eunice could not sue the Drug Enforcement Administration for property damage caused by a very violent raid on the Hells Angels clubhouse in El Cajon, California on August 2, 2011. Eunice owns the property and has rented it to the motorcycle club since 1996. Eunice filed two suits against multiple federal and local policemen on June 29, 2012 and January 2, 2013. The court consolidated the two suits in September 2013.

The raid seemed to be clearly intended to dramatically punish the Hells Angels charter by destroying the clubhouse on television. Although the DEA told the television crews that covered the stunt that the Agency was serving arrest warrants, the only occupant of the building at the time of the raid was a dog named Molly.

Pete Eunice’s Version

In the suit filed in January 2013, Eunice told the story this way:

“At the time that the agents blew up the doors and windows to his property, they knew that Mr. Eunice owned these properties. These agents knew Mr. Eunice’s contact information and they knew how to obtain the keys to the properties. Agents knew that there were no tenants inside the building. They did not contact Mr. Eunice. They instead contacted members of the media and multiple media outlets came to the properties.”

“Instead of contacting Mr. Eunice, they blew up the doors and windows using multiple explosives. These agents knew that there was no reason to blow up Mr. Eunice’s property. They acted out of malice in order to intimidate Mr. Eunice. These agents held animus and ill will toward members of the Hells Angels. They wanted to punish, deter and intimidate Mr. Eunice who leased his properties to the Hells Angels to use as their club house. Mr. Eunice had a due process right to be free from the arbitrary exercise of the powers of government. These agents including Doe defendants made a deliberate decision to deprive Mr. Eunice of his property.”

“After they caused explosions and a fire at the property, causing extensive damage to the frame and foundation of the buildings, Patrick Ryan called Mr. Eunice to let him know that he should come out to the property. The explosion was of such magnitude that the City had to shut off the main pipes that run deep beneath the properties due to the damage to the pipes and water leaks. Agents Ryan, Kelly, Mervos, Watrous, Kingkade and DOE defendants knew that three-year old dog Molly, was in the courtyard of the properties. They knew that using explosives would frighten the dog and cause physical harm to her. After the explosions, these agents let Molly out of the property and out into traffic on El Cajon Boulevard.”

“After agents gained entry into the properties, they continued their destruction by smashing windows and throwing the photographs off of the walls and stepping on the faces of the people depicted in the photographs.”

“When Mr. Eunice arrived on his properties, he was met with six to nine law enforcement officers around the perimeter. Two officers carrying AR-15s and other law enforcement officials kept him outside for approximately thirty to forty minutes as they continued their destruction inside the properties. Patrick Ryan handed Mr. Eunice a copy of the warrant. Agents told Mr. Eunice that they were turning the building over to him to deal with the destruction.”

The Judgment

Eunice sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, trespass to land and private nuisance. For almost two years, the governmental defendants whittled down the case with a blizzard of motions until the only claims that remained were for trespass and nuisance. And, in the end Judge Curiel seemed to ignore common sense by ruling that there were flaws in Eunice’s case.

First, the damage was done during the service of a federal search warrant. Patrick Ryan, the DEA agent in charge of the operation, presumably because he was serving a warrant on Hells Angels, decreed that it was a “high risk” search. And, since Eunice did not legally “challenge the validity of the search warrant,” it was a legal search.

Next, Curiel made much of the fact that it was the El Cajon Police Swat Team that blew up the clubhouse, not the DEA. Eunice had argued that it might as well have been the DEA because the two police forces were cooperating. But Curiel wrote that, “based on the facts before the Court, there is no indication that the DEA and the Swat team worked jointly in the execution of the entry into the Clubhouse. Moreover, Plaintiff provides no legal authority or additional facts that liability can be imputed to the United States of America based on joint action. Accordingly, Plaintiff has not demonstrated that there are genuine issues of material facts as to whether Defendant United States of America can be liable….”

Eunice had also argued that blowing up the clubhouse was actionable because it was legally a nuisance. But again, for the third time in his judgment, Cruel decided that the left hand and the right hand in the destruction of the clubhouse were totally independent of one another.

Cruel wrote: “Again, the threshold issue is whether the DEA can be liable for the conduct of the Swat team. Plaintiff alleges that since the Swat team was under the DEA’s direction, it is liable for private nuisance based on the use of the flash bangs and breaching charges. However, Plaintiff has not demonstrated that there are genuine issues of material facts as to whether Defendant can be liable for a claim of private nuisance. The facts show that the Swat team, not the DEA, executed the flash bangs and breaching charges. Plaintiff presents no additional facts or case law that Defendant would be liable for the acts of the Swat team.”

What Cruel did, after 18 months, was legitimize the DEA’s plausible deniability. “Based on the above, the Court grants Defendant United States of America’s supplemental motion for summary judgment on the two remaining causes of action for trespass to land and private nuisance. The hearing set for October 10, 2014 shall be vacated. The Clerk of Court shall issue judgment and close the case.”

It is a judgment that will probably make official scoundrels everywhere smile. Victims of official overkill, not so much.

Print and electronic media throughout New York state have been pounding the drums the last two days about a month-old double murder in suburban Buffalo. And, considering the officials who are publically identified with the case it is not hard to connect the dots.

About three in the morning on September 6, two members of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club named Daniel “DJ” Szymanski, and Paul Maue were shot outside the Kingsmen’s North Tonawanda chapter clubhouse. Reporters crawled all over the crime scene the next dawn so some details of the murder and the events that may have led to them made it into the public record.

A woman named Jessica Willard who lives next door to the clubhouse told WIVB, “I was outside when I heard the shots and I come out front and I seen a bunch of people run.”

“There was arguing,” she said. “There was extremely loud arguing and then right after the arguing there was the two gunshots and then it didn’t take the police long to get here.”

Dispute

The Buffalo News reported two days ago that a month before he died Szymanski told friends,  “We had some problems down in Jamestown. Another club was trying to take over our Jamestown clubhouse.” The News also reported that Szymanski was the third ranking member of the Kingsmen in New York. Police have said the two men were both shot in the back of their heads “execution style” while sitting in the front seat of a car.

Police have also speculated semi-publically that the men may have been killed as part of a territorial dispute between two factions within the Kingsmen or as the result of a territorial dispute with some other club. Steve Cook, who describes himself as an “Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Expert and Documentary Television Personality,” thinks another club may be trying to patch over Kingsmen and the murder may have something to do with that.

The Feds

So far police are officially stumped which explains the press blitz.  The headline in the Houston Chronicle read “Cops: No cooperation in slayings of 2 bikers.” The Buffalo News screamed “Kingsmen Won’t Help,” and the New York Daily News said “Upstate bikers remain tight-lipped.”

William J. Hochul, Jr., who is the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, told WGRZ that the ATF and the FBI were both investigating the murders. “We are working with our law enforcement partners to try and assist the local police department in identifying those who killed those two members of the Kingsmen,” Hochul told the television station. “The case is being investigated right now by North Tonawanda police, but certainly the FBI and ATF have resources and experience in these kinds of cases.”

It seems unlikely that the authorities won’t eventually find somebody to blame.

This isn’t the first time Hochul (photo above) has tried to slap a Buffalo motorcycle club with a federal indictment. In March 2009 he brought a racketeering indictment against the Chosen Few Motorcycle Club which has had a strained relationship with the Kingsmen since at least 1997. That indictment was dismissed in December 2011.

No matter how bad you think the emerging American police state is, it is worse in Australia.

Yesterday Task Force Echo, the four-year-old police department formed to fight “gang violence” in Melbourne, arrested an alleged Hells Angel named Peter “Skitzo” Hewat (photo above) and charged him with 49 offenses after a car in which he was riding was stopped by the special police group. Charges include resisting police, possessing a dangerous article, handling stolen goods and possessing poison.

“In the vehicle in which Mr. Hewat was travelling was an aluminum baseball bat under the driver’s seat,” Task Force Echo spokesman Detective Acting Sergeant Chris O’Brien explained. Police also allege that Hewat was in possession of a blister pack of Viagra, which O’Brien characterized as a “poison.” O’Brien also said the car was stopped because it had “stolen wheels.”

Police subsequently searched Hewat’s home and tow truck business and his son’s home and claimed to have found closed circuit video footage of Hewat driving while his license was suspended.

Flight Risk

At his initial hearing police asked that Hewatt be held without bail. O’Brien called Hewat an “unacceptable risk.”

Hewat protested, “I’ve never not turned up on bail, I’ve never … been a flight risk.” He also told the judge “I run a business. I’m there seven days a week.” Hewat was scheduled to have a bail hearing later today.

Hewat has had previous brushes with the law and has been free on bail since last May. Police have attempted to link Hewat to corruption in the tow-truck business near Melbourne and have alleged that he is not “fit and proper” enough to drive a tow truck. At the time of that arrest Police said Hewat had stolen a tow truck and that he possessed equipment that could be used to restamp vehicle identification numbers. Hewat was also charged with threatening a police officer and possessing dangerous drugs. Under the terms of his bail, Hewat had to stay in the Australian State of Victoria, report to police five times a week, and stay home after nine at night.

Last September, Hewat was also charged with threatening and punching a woman who he believed had stolen his Shih Tzu Terrier. The woman said she did not initially believe Hewat owned the Shih Tzu and admitted to sending Hewat profanity laced text messages. The dog was later found to have been injected with a subcutaneous Radio Frequency Identification microchip that proved the dog belonged to Hewat.

The Buffalo News reported last night that the semiautomatic pistol used to kill Paul Maue and Daniel “DJ” Szymanski in the early morning hours of September 6 was recovered last month. The weapon was found near Route 219 south of Buffalo. The gun was found during a search that began on September 19 and ended September 24. The Erie County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are participating in the investigation.

Quoting a confidential police source, Dan Herbeck of the News reports, “The gun was found by a state trooper using a metal detector, and a police dog found some other evidence.”

The men were both shot in the back of the head after attending a party at the Kingsmen’s North Tonawanda chapter clubhouse. A witness said the shooting was preceded by “extremely loud arguing.” The same witness reported seeing “a bunch of people” running from the scene. Maue was a former president of the Buffalo chapter of the Kingsmen.

Ongoing Dispute

The News also reported that confidential sources, “believe the murders may be linked to ongoing disputes within the biker community. Those disputes include efforts by other biker clubs to recruit members to leave the Kingsmen and join other biker clubs.”

The September 6 murders was one of at least four repored incidents in what appears to be an attempted hostile patch over of the Kingsmen by another club.

On August 31, 2013 the Kingsmen’s Lockport clubhouse was damaged, a man sleeping inside was beaten with baseball bats and a motorcycle, several firearms, ammunition, beer, liquor and a cell phone were stolen.

In early August, Szymanski reportedly told a friend, “We had some problems down in Jamestown. Another club was trying to take over our Jamestown clubhouse.”

On August 24, an unnamed Kingsmen was attacked near the Niagara Falls Clubhouse and stripped of his colors. The man also reported that five rifles, a shotgun and two black powder rifles had been stolen from the clubhouse.

The Jeffersonville, Indiana News and Tribune and television stations WHAS and WLKY in Louisville have reported that 30 members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club held a fund-raising ride for a homeless, 12-year-old seventh grader named Ray Etheridge who was murdered by a homeless 21-year-old named Joseph Cambron on September 30.

The News and Tribune reported that Terri Collins, a family friend of the Etheridges, was surprised to learn about the ride. “I don’t know how it got started. I had no idea,” she said.

$3.100

R.J. Slaymaker, an Iron Order spokesman, told WHAS, “It was a tragic death that happened and we wanted to do something to pay respects to the child, to the family, and also bring awareness to this for future instances that child abuse and stuff like that. There’s always people willing to come together and maybe make the public more aware of when situations like this arise.”

Iron Order patch holder Greg Robinson, rode with a photo of the dead boy attached to his windshield. “It’s an important cause,” Robinson explained. “It never should have happened. Sure, it’s the same as it happens everywhere around the world, but it happened here. We’re coming out for the family.”

Slaymaker told the paper that the ride raised “more than $3,100.” He didn’t say how the ride raised the money and he didn’t know what the club would do with it. The paper reported “they might donate the money to a charity in Etheridge’s name.”

Braving The Elements

The weather was cloudy in Louisville Saturday. Jerod Clapp, who reported the event for the News and Tribune led with “Gray skies threatened to pour all day, but no matter the weather, the Iron Order wasn’t going to park their bikes and postpone their ride for Ray Etheridge.”

“We were going to do this rain or shine,” Slaymaker told the paper. “We rode (Friday) to plan the route and it rained the whole time.”

The ride began at a Louisville bar and restaurant called The Monkey Wrench and ended at restaurant called the 19th Green in Jeffersonville. Google suggests three routes for the ride between those two locations. The rides range from 8.6 to 9.7 miles in length. Google estimates the rides should take between 14 and 19 minutes to complete.