8 Sonoma County Chapter HAMC Arrested Along With Others For Charges Including RICO, Murder And Extortion

[Greg Carr]

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Federal authorities Monday announced the arrests
of multiple alleged members of the Sonoma County chapter of Hells
Angels. The FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office San Francisco held a
news conference Monday afternoon to announce a federal grand jury
indictment charging eight alleged associates of the Hells Angel Sonoma
County Chapter (HASC) for their alleged roles in numerous crimes
including murder, assault, maiming and witness intimidation.

In addition to the alleged Hells Angels associates from Sonoma County,
one alleged member of the Fresno Hells Angels chapter and one alleged
member of the Salem/Boston Hells Angels were also indicated in what
federal authorities called a "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations" (RICO) conspiracy, federal authorities said in a news
release.

The 11th defendant is an alleged HASC associate who was charged with
witness intimidation, authorities said.

The indictment against the alleged members of the international
motorcycle gang was filed Oct. 10 and was unsealed Monday following
the arrest of nine of the defendants — several of whom were arrested
Saturday in Santa Rosa as part of a criminal enforcement operation,
authorities said. The FBI, Santa Rosa Police Department, Sonoma County
Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol participated in the
investigation.

Federal authorities released the names of the following defendants in
the indictment:

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Jonathan Joseph Nelson, aka "Jon Jon," 41, of Santa Rosa

Raymond Michael Foakes, aka "Ray Ray," 54, of Rohnert Park

(Greg-SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) — A Hells Angels motorcycle club associate
will be arraigned in Sonoma County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon
for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and threatening her husband.

Raymond Michael Foakes, 53, of Rohnert Park, called the woman around
11 p.m. Saturday and told her to meet him at the Hells Angels
clubhouse off Frazier Avenue in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County sheriff’s
Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

The woman agreed and Foakes ordered her to drive them in her car to a
secluded area off Bennett Valley Road, where he sexually assaulted her
against her will and threatened to harm her husband if she refused,
Crum said.

After the assault, Foakes drove the woman’s car back to the Hells
Angels’ clubhouse, where he got out of the car and the victim went
home, Crum said.

Foakes knows the woman’s husband, who also is associated with the
Hells Angels, according to Crum.

The woman reported the assault to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office,
which obtained a search warrant for Foakes’ home in the 7500 block of
Monet Place in Rohnert Park. The sheriff’s SWAT unit went to the house
around 6:30 p.m. Monday but Foakes was not home, Crum said.

Foakes was later arrested at a meeting he was attending off Airway
Drive in Santa Rosa, Crum said.

Foakes was booked into Sonoma County Jail under $1 million bail on
suspicion of sexual assault, victim intimidation, stalking and gang
participation, Crum said.

Foaks, the former president of the Sonoma County Hells Angels chapter,
in 2012 was charged and sentenced in San Francisco federal court to
five years and 10 months in prison for his role in a $10 million
mortgage fraud scheme.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/11/29/hells-angel-arrested-on-suspicion-of-santa-rosa-sexual-assault/
)

(Greg-This HAMCer is no stranger to violence and death.

Marin woman arrested in Hells Angels slaying
By Gary Klien
POSTED: 05/30/08, 12:01 AM PDT | 0 COMMENTS
A 20-year-old Marin County woman was arrested Thursday in connection
with the slaying of a Hells Angels associate last weekend near Corte
Madera, authorities said.

The woman was detained at the Marin County Jail amid tight secrecy
pending an initial court appearance. Authorities did not immediately
release her name because of security concerns in the potentially
volatile case.

Prosecutors held the woman over until Friday before deciding whether
to file charges.

The sheriff's department released no details about her arrest as the
investigation remained active Thursday night.

William Crompton Maclean, 25, of San Leandro was shot to death
Saturday night while riding in a pickup truck driven by his
brother-in-law, Raymond Foakes, the top-ranking Hells Angel in Sonoma
County and one of the most prominent bikers in the region.

The shooting occurred when Foakes and Maclean were leading a
procession of Hells Angels to Sonoma County after a Hells Angels
funeral in Colma. Shortly after they passed Tiburon Boulevard on
northbound Highway 101, someone fired at their pickup truck from a red
sport utility vehicle described as a Dodge Durango.

Foakes, 44, drove the pickup to the Paradise Drive exit and called 911
from the California Highway Patrol's office on San Clemente Drive.
Maclean was taken to Marin General Hospital, where he was pronounced
dead.

(Greg-So Mr. 1%er biker hardcore club president calls law enforcement
when it gets too heavy :-) )

The sheriff's department is still investigating whether the shooting
was an intentional attack on Maclean or Foakes, or whether some other
motive was involved. Investigators are also exploring the possibility
the shooting was a random act of violence or a road rage incident.

The murder occurred just one week before the long-planned annual Hells
Angels "Poker Run and BBQ" ride through Marin County. Coincidentally,
the ride is scheduled to begin this year at the Golden Gate Harley
Davidson dealership in Corte Madera - about half a mile from where
Maclean was shot.

The annual ride, organized by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club's
chapter in Sonoma County, usually draws several hundred bikers and a
large contingent of police. This year, police are planning an even
larger presence in case the ride becomes a massive memorial event in
Maclean's honor.

Services for Maclean are pending. His survivors include his sister,
Desiree, who is Raymond Foakes' wife; and his father, William Maclean
Sr., a Hells Angels member who is serving a sentence at San Quentin
State Prison.

Foakes, the president of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club chapter
Sonoma County, is a well-known figure in the Hells Angels and law
enforcement communities.

In 2003, he and about 40 other Hells Angels were charged in connection
with a brawl at a casino in Laughlin, Nev., that killed two Hells
Angels and a member of the Mongols, a rival motorcycle organization.

The case largely fell apart on federal prosecutors and resulted in a
series of plea bargains, and Foakes received a one-year sentence.

In 2006, amid federal drug raids throughout the region, Foakes and
associate Michael Vargas, 58, were charged with methamphetamine
distribution. Also indicted in the case was Joseph Wilson, president
of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

The drug case is still pending in the federal courts.

http://www.marinij.com/article/zz/20080530/NEWS/805309964 )

Russell Allen Lyles, aka "J.R.," 36, of Windsor

(Greg-October 31, 2007

Russell Allen Lyles Jr., 26, of Windsor, was arrested in the Willits
area on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and driving with a
suspended license.
http://www.willitsnews.com/article/zz/20071108/NEWS/711089677 )

Jeremy Daniel Greer, 37, of Santa Rosa

Brian Wayne Wendt, 40, of Tulare

(Greg-Brian Wayne Wendt, 40, of Tulare was arrested Monday morning in
Fresno and is now facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit
murder in aid of racketeering.
http://abc30.com/federal-agents-arrest-hells-angels-member-in-fresno-as-part-of-3-year-investigation/2675259/
)

Russell Taylor Ott, aka "Rusty," 64, of Santa Rosa

Christoper Ranieri, aka "Rain Man," 49, of Lynn, Massachusetts

(Greg- So anti-social and not conforming to most of the norms of
society he didn't file income tax for two years.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 2, 2009
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA
CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617)748-3356
E-MAIL: USAMA...@USDOJ.GOV
LOCAL MEMBER OF HELLS ANGELS MOTORCYCLE CLUB SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN
PRISON ON TAX CHARGES
BOSTON, MA - A Lynn man was sentenced today in federal court for
intentionally failing to
file federal income tax returns for tax years 2005 and 2006.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and JoAnn Zuniga, Acting
Special Agent in Charge
of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations - Boston
Field Office, announced
today that CHRISTOPHER RANIERI, age 40, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was
sentenced today
by U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo T. Sorokin to twelve months imprisonment
and restitution to
the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $33,438.00
On December 8, 2008, RANIERI pled guilty to two counts of failure to
file federal income tax
returns. At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court
that had the case
proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that,
as part of a larger
investigation of local chapters of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club,
starting in January 2007
the Government initiated a financial investigation of RANIERI and
others. The investigation
revealed that, for tax years 2005 and 2006, RANIERI failed to file
personal income tax
returns despite having sufficient taxable income in those years.
RANIERI filed returns in
2001 – 2004 but, corresponding to a significant increase in income
earned from certain real
estate transactions, RANIERI filed no returns the following two years.
After executing a
search warrant at RANIERI’s home on September 20, 2007, federal agents
found various tax
forms as well as an article that attempted to justify, on legal and
philosophical grounds, a
U.S. citizen refusing to pay federal income taxes.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal
Investigations; the
Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives;
Massachusetts State Police; Lynn Police Department; and the Gloucester
Police Department.
It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew E. Lelling and
William J. Trach of
Sullivan’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit.
###

https://www.justice.gov/archive/tax/usaopress/2009/txdv09_RanieriChristopherSentencingPR.pdf
)

Damien David Cesena, 36, of Santa Rosa

Brian Allen Burke, aka "Bucky," 37, of Windsor

Jason Randall Cliff, aka "Agro," 50

David Salvatore Davis III, 45


"This week we have taken a significant step toward bringing to justice
an alleged conspiracy whose aim has been to commit violent crimes,"
said U.S. Attorney Stretch. "The indictment unsealed this morning
describes an array of serious offenses allegedly committed by the
defendants including conspiracy to commit murder, assault, maiming,
home invasion robbery, extortion and witness intimidation."

The indictment alleges that Brian Wendt committed a murder of an
unnamed victim on July 15, 2014, at the Fresno Hells Angels clubhouse.
The indictment alleges that co-conspirator Jonathan Nelson "directed
the victim to meet with Wendt and co-conspirator Russell Ott
accompanied the victim from the Northern District of California to the
Fresno clubhouse where Wendt committed the murder."

According to the indictment, some of the defendants were suspected of
their involvement in the alleged RICO conspiracy as early as July and
August of 2007, when Raymond Foakes allegedly committed bank fraud and
money laundering to obtain a residence in which to establish an indoor
marijuana cultivation operation. Additional crimes the indictment
accuses defendants of committing as part of the alleged conspiracy
include a home invasion robbery, extortion, assault, maiming and the
illegal possession of weapons and drugs.

Federal authorities also allege that HASC members "obstructed justice
by threatening, intimidating and retaliating against witnesses whom
they believed to be cooperating with law enforcement and by destroying
evidence and providing false information to law enforcement,"
according to the news release.

Further, federal authorities said, Brian Allen Burke is accused of
"attempting to intimidate and threaten and corruptly persuade a victim
by threatening to shoot the victim with a firearm," when he allegedly
"attempted to persuade the victim not to provide evidence" in a
federal case surrounding Foakes' alleged violation of the conditions
of his supervised release.

"This operation proves once again the value of pooling the resources
of the federal government with those of our state and local law
enforcement partners — it is only through this coordination that we
are able to stamp out violence in our communities," Stretch said. "I
commend and thank all of our law enforcement partners for their
extraordinary work in bringing this phase of the operation to a
successful conclusion."

https://patch.com/california/petaluma/feds-announce-sonoma-county-hells-angels-arrests
===============================================================
Looks good and congratulations law enforcement in California but the
RICO case against Sonny Barger and crew decades ago failed miserably.
Various Chapter Presidents in the Lower Mainland have been arrested on
serious charges but didn't end up being convicted of anything.

Google"Tom Strenja" to find out my beef with the son of a HA
associatte. A HA guy sitting with a friend at Kelley's Pub in Newton
(Surrey) today mouthed me off and said , "Don't mess with HA". You
guys are the ones that started it by having a full patch give me a
death threat as I was leaving work at 8400 River Rd, Delta, BC yonder
15 years ago.

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