Feds Charge Bikers; U.S. Targets 73 Pagans in NY Melee
Ken [NY
Plainview, NY - 2/26/2002
By Robert E. Kessler and Theresa Vargas
STAFF WRITERS; Staff writer Keiko Morris contributed to this story.
Federal charges were lodged yesterday against all 73 members of the
Pagan Outlaw Motorcycle Club who were arrested Saturday in the
aftermath of the bloody melee at a Plainview convention sponsored by a
rival biker club.
One Pagan was shot to death in the battle with Hells Angels, four
other Pagans were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and five with knife
wounds, according to the federal complaint. Two people also suffered
heart attacks.
The 73 charged yesterday with federal racketeering, conspiracy,
assault and firearms violations have been broken into three groups and
are scheduled to have hearings today, tomorrow and Thursday at U.S.
District Court in Central Islip. If convicted, they could face up to 8
years in prison.
Insp. Pete Matuza, a spokesman for the Nassau Police Department, said
different chapters of the Pagans had organized the assault on the
annual Hellraiser Ball at the Vanderbilt catering hall, scheming
beforehand and meeting locally before driving there Saturday
afternoon.
The Pagans put together a large operation, drawing about 90 members
from chapters in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and five other
states. According to the federal complaint, among the Pagans arrested
were Dennis Katona, 36, of Pennsylvania, the club's national
sergeant-at-arms, and six chapter presidents. Katona had a map
showing, among other things, the location of the Hells Angels exhibit
booths and exits inside the Vanderbilt.
Police sources said yesterday the Pagans were arrested on gang assault
and riot charges because they went to the building with the "intent of
causing a disturbance." The two Hells Angels who were arrested,
including Raymond Dwyer, 38, of Oceanside, who was charged with
murder, were the only ones identified at the scene as taking part, the
sources said.
Dwyer is charged with shooting to death Pagan Robert Rutherford, 51,
of Lancaster, Pa.
Chuck Zito, a star of the HBO series "Oz" and a 23-year member of the
Hells Angels who appeared at the event, said he doesn't believe Dwyer
was the shooter and he is confident that if the case goes to trial, a
jury would find him not guilty.
"It's clearly a case of self-defense," he said, whoever did the
shooting. "You have a man come in here with over a hundred of his
friends to cause harm to people. Most of them were wearing
bullet-proof vests. They had guns, they had knives, they had baseball
bats. If they got shot for their troubles, all that's on them.
"Probably, the gunshots is what kept it down to a couple minutes, or
it would've been worse."
At the Hells Angels clubhouse in Hempstead, Joe, who wouldn't give his
last name but said he was vice president of the club, said, "We were
trying to do something good and have something people enjoyed. And it
turned into something else."
He said his 15-year-old daughter, who was there with him, asked,
"'Dad, what just happened?' I don't want her to think this is the way
us motorcycle clubs are ... People sometimes think we're monsters or
something. We're all normal family people."
Federal authorities decided to take over prosecution of the Pagans
because they have experience trying Pagans on Long Island and because
the defendants face potentially stiffer sentences if convicted in
federal court, sources said.
Noting that his office had convicted more than 30 Pagans in 1999, U.S.
Attorney Alan Vinegrad said in a statement, "Federal law enforcement
will work aggressively to prosecute and punish violent outlaws ... who
... wreak havoc in our community through organized acts of gang
violence - even those perpetrated against members of a rival gang."
The three assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the case - Joseph
Conway, Gary Brown and Leonard Lato - declined to comment.
Investigators are trying to determine if the Plainview incident was
part of continuing fighting between the two clubs or was touched off
by a recent event, according to several sources.
One theory is that the Pagans noticed the convention advertised on the
Hells Angels Web site and believed the Angels were encroaching on
traditional Pagan territory. Long Island was long considered Pagan
turf until a series of 1999 federal convictions sent almost the entire
membership to prison.
Another theory is that the Pagans were outraged by the defection of
members and associates in Pennsylvania to the Hells Angels and decided
to strike back at the first major Hells Angels event. The federal
complaint says the Pagan attack was organized by the "Mother Club," or
national leadership.
The Hells Angels have been making inroads on Long Island, the sources
said. While the Angels' membership on Long Island has not increased
from more than a half dozen or dozen, it has taken in a number of
associate clubs, known as "duck clubs," the sources said.
These clubs, which operate under the leadership of the Angels, include
the Wicked Wheelers in Island Park, the Demon Knights in Ronkonkoma
and the East Legion in Mastic, the sources said. The East Legion is
particularly galling to the Pagans, the sources said, because many of
its members originally belonged to a Pagan affiliate, the Black Rose.
Yves Lavigne, a Toronto-based journalist who has written three books
on the Hells Angels, describes Saturday's incident as a display of
underworld politics. "The Angels were making a public display of
humiliating the Pagans by taking their territory, and the Pagans had
to make a public display to save face," Lavigne said.
George Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research Center in
Chicago, predicted that payback will not take place in New York but in
Pagan strongholds in Maryland, Pennsylvania or New Jersey. "This means
warfare on a national level," he said. "The retaliation is not if, but
when ... The Pagans made them look ... [bad] on national news."
Staff writer Keiko Morris contributed to this story.
Ken (NY)
--
Chairbeing, Department of Redundancy Department
Assistant Grand Poobah, Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
___________________________________
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cliff jamison
> One Pagan was shot to death in the battle with Hells Angels, four
> other Pagans were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and five with knife
> wounds, according to the federal complaint. Two people also suffered
> heart attacks.
This is what homicide investigators describe as a "win-win" situation.
Half the parties go to the morgue and the other half goes to prison.
Either way, boils on the ass of society get lanced.
M. Simon
jamison) wrote:
When you think of all the cops and officials who won't get their drug
money payoffs it doesn't look quite so good.
Simon
Do you favor drug prohibition because it finances criminals at home or do you favor it because it
finances terrorists abroad?
http://sites.netscape.net/constitutionkids/homepage
cliff jamison
> On 26 Feb 2002 12:23:46 -0800, cliffj...@hotmail.com (cliff
> jamison) wrote:
>
> >>
> >> One Pagan was shot to death in the battle with Hells Angels, four
> >> other Pagans were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and five with knife
> >> wounds, according to the federal complaint. Two people also suffered
> >> heart attacks.
> >
> >This is what homicide investigators describe as a "win-win" situation.
> > Half the parties go to the morgue and the other half goes to prison.
> >Either way, boils on the ass of society get lanced.
>
> When you think of all the cops and officials who won't get their drug
> money payoffs it doesn't look quite so good.
>
> Simon
In fact, the only thing that would have been better is if one of the
Pagans had fired a stray round or two that took out a meth addict.
M. Simon
jamison) wrote:
>msi...@rsa.com (M. Simon) wrote in message news:<3c7c1932...@news.inwave.com>...
>> On 26 Feb 2002 12:23:46 -0800, cliffj...@hotmail.com (cliff
>> jamison) wrote:
>>
>> >>
>> >> One Pagan was shot to death in the battle with Hells Angels, four
>> >> other Pagans were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and five with knife
>> >> wounds, according to the federal complaint. Two people also suffered
>> >> heart attacks.
>> >
>> >This is what homicide investigators describe as a "win-win" situation.
>> > Half the parties go to the morgue and the other half goes to prison.
>> >Either way, boils on the ass of society get lanced.
>>
>> When you think of all the cops and officials who won't get their drug
>> money payoffs it doesn't look quite so good.
>>
>> Simon
>
>
>In fact, the only thing that would have been better is if one of the
>Pagans had fired a stray round or two that took out a meth addict.
Killing customers is a bad business proposition. Nt likely except in
the case of non-payment of debts. Cash and carry I say.
cliff jamison
> >> > Half the parties go to the morgue and the other half goes to prison.
> >> >Either way, boils on the ass of society get lanced.
> >>
> >> When you think of all the cops and officials who won't get their drug
> >> money payoffs it doesn't look quite so good.
> >>
> >> Simon
> >
> >
> >In fact, the only thing that would have been better is if one of the
> >Pagans had fired a stray round or two that took out a meth addict.
>
> Killing customers is a bad business proposition. Nt likely except in
> the case of non-payment of debts. Cash and carry I say.
Yeah, but we were dicussing the lancing of boils. A few less
crank-users would represent a lancing and thus a "win-win-plus" for
decent folk.
M. Simon
jamison) wrote:
As long as people want drugs they will get them.
The question is do you want criminals running the distribution system
or Walgreens?
If you prefer criminals lancing boils will have no long term (past 3
days) effect.
RAM
"cliff jamison" <cliffj...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b4e5b16.02022...@posting.google.com...
cliff jamison
> >crank-users would represent a lancing and thus a "win-win-plus" for
> >decent folk.
>
> As long as people want drugs they will get them.
>
> The question is do you want criminals running the distribution system
> or Walgreens?
>
> If you prefer criminals lancing boils will have no long term (past 3
> days) effect.
I agree and for the record, I'd much prefer that Walgreens distribute
the goods. Unfortunately, any politician that makes such a proposal
will go down in flames. Until this society takes responsibility for
itself, this is the system we are stuck with.
With that said, criminals are not alleviated from their responsibility
to respect property rights. As we all know, one does not support a
$400 a day heroin habit through gainfull employment. AT LEAST 80% of
property crimes (burglary, theft, shoplift, etc) are driven by this
system.
So, it is my opinion that having a few less boils wandering around at
3am, looking inside car windows for an easy stereo boost, is a good
thing.