=> Hell's Angels Form Denver Chapter ... yeeeeeeee haaaaaaaa!
_Lilith_
Hells Angels form city chapter
By Lou Kilzer, News Staff Writer
The Hells Angels motorcycle club has started a chapter in Denver, and law enforcement
officials fear that the city may now have one biker group too many.
The move comes as the area's dominant motorcycle gang -- the Sons of Silence -- struggles
to recover from a massive federal indictment in late 1999.
Detectives are more worried about a national biker group called the Bandidos, which has a
chapter in Denver. The Bandidos and Hells Angels have a history of warfare.
In a fight over Canadian drug turf, Hells Angels, the Bandidos and an associate gang have
shot, bombed and even used rockets to try to wipe each other out, according to Canadian
news reports.
The five-year battle in Quebec has resulted in more than 160 homicides.
Although no one is predicting that local hostilities will reach that level, the situation
has officers sharing notes. It is rare to have two, much less three, major gangs on the
same turf.
The Sons of Silence is least equipped to meet the challenge, said Rich Marianos, the agent
in charge of the Colorado Springs office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
"The likelihood of them even having the resources to conduct some kind of outlaw biker war
seems to be strongly diminished," he said, pointing out that the government confiscated
hundreds of firearms when they raided the Sons of Silence in October 1999.
But he is concerned about the Bandidos, who have deep pockets and a national network to
rival the Angels.
So is Jim Wattles, an expert on bikers who tracked Denver clubs for 25 years as a Denver
police intelligence officer.
"The real problems are going to be with the Bandidos," said Wattles. "This kind of changes
things in the pecking order."
Wattles, who retired from the force last year to become an investigator for the Colorado
Division of Gaming, said the Hells Angels' sudden appearance in Denver came when a local
biker club called the Brothers Fast decided to "repatch" -- dismissing their club and
becoming members of the Angels.
"This little romance between the Hells Angels and the Brothers Fast has probably been
going on for a couple of years," he said. "The Brothers Fast were invited out to the Hells
Angels' 50th birthday party. They were invited to the Hells Angels' USA Run out in
California, which occurred about the same time -- a couple years ago."
Police began to see Brothers Fast members in small groups at a Hells Angels clubhouse in
Arizona.
About five or six months ago, Wattles said rumors began circulating that the Angels were
actively advising the Brothers Fast, which had not been known as an outlaw club, to
repatch.
On June 13, 33 members of the Brothers Fast removed their Brothers Fast patch from their
jackets. Only one member, who is in his 60s, declined, Wattles said.
The new Hells Angels will remain a "prospect chapter" for at least a year, during which
they will show the "Colorado rocker" -- a patch at the bottom rear of their biker jackets.
After that, they will wear a Hells Angels patch above the rocker.
"The Brothers Fast are no more," Wattles said.
The Sons of Silence, formed in Colorado in the late 1960s as a small gang, eventually
became one of the "Big Five" of America's biker gangs, joining the Pagans, Outlaws, Hells
Angels and Bandidos.
With chapters in seven states and one in Germany, the Sons number between 175 and 200,
according to the ATF's Marianos.
The Sons are much smaller than the other Big Five gangs, according to law enforcement
officials. The 1999 raids further endangered their membership in the elite of outlaw
bikers.
Those raids culminated a two-year ATF undercover operation in which agents worked inside
the Sons organization, buying machine guns and drugs.
The case resulted in 22 indictments against 49 individuals. Eighteen have pleaded guilty
and one was found guilty at trial. One was acquitted, and cases against six others have
been dropped.
Twenty-seven cases are pending, with the main conspiracy trial scheduled to begin Aug. 20.
The FBI estimates that the Hells Angels, with about 1,800 members, take in up to $1
billion a year in drug money.
The 33 new Hells Angels in Denver will outnumber the 15 to 18 Bandidos.
The outcome of any turf battle could hinge on whether the Sons of Silence remain neutral,
Wattles said. They have had peaceful relations with the Bandidos for years, he said.
Mariano doesn't think the Sons will take sides. "With the Sons, the wind is out of their
sails," he said.
Denver police have no plans to increase surveillance until there is evidence that crimes
are being committed, said Capt. Vince DiManna, head of the police intelligence bureau.
The State Patrol is taking a more active posture.
"We are actively pursuing this," said investigator Chris Schaefer.
--
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and
hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins;
all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken, 1923
