Mark "Papa" Guardado, 45, president of San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels; shot
ZapRatz
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
(09-03) 20:54 PDT San Francisco, CA (AP) --
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/03/state/n205407D97.DTL&hw=hells+angel&sn=002&sc=519
San Francisco police are investigating the slaying of a Hells Angels
leader in the city.
Mark "Papa" Guardado, 45, the president of the motorcycle club's San
Francisco chapter, was shot Tuesday night about a mile from the
group's clubhouse. Guardado died at San Francisco General Hospital.
Police think Guardado may have been in fight with a rival in another
motorcycle group before he was killed. Witnesses told investigators
that he and the gunman struggled before the shooting and that the
suspect fled on a motorcycle.
The San Francisco chapter is one of the oldest Hells Angels branches
in the country. The half-century-old club is known for an outlaw
image, and its members have been a target of police anti-gang and
anti-drug efforts.
Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfgate.com/chronicle
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ZapRatz
Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/BAVG12UGSR.DTL
Ten photos of the event and participants:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/BAVG12UGSR.DTL
(09-15) 18:41 PDT -- Papa's final ride was a Viking funeral, his body
borne to his final resting place by a river of chrome and thunder.
Mark "Papa" Guardado, 46, was killed Sept. 2 outside a Mission
District bar. At the time, he was president of the Frisco Hells
Angels, royalty of the outlaw biker realm. He was shot to death,
police say, by Christopher Ablett, 37, of Modesto, a member of the
rival Mongols Motorcycle Club, whose bad blood with the Hells Angels
goes back in history. Ablett is still being sought.
But there was little talk of the Mongols as the Hells Angels gathered
to remember Guardado at a vigil Sunday night and funeral Monday
morning; little more than a passing, irritated reference to a Sonoma
County prosecutor who had charges pending against Guardado stemming
from a bar fight and who called him a dangerous gang member with an
assault conviction on his record.
Instead, those gathered remembered their Guardado, the friend or
surrogate father, the man who many said bought them their first
Harley-Davidson - or helped them get the job they needed to buy their
own.
"To me, and everyone that knew him, he was the epitome of Hells
Angels," said Richard Goldammer, who rode from his home in British
Columbia to honor the man he called his mentor.
"He set an example for a lot of people, being straight up, honest and
respectful to everyone," he said. "People form their own opinion about
our club ... we are who we are. We stand in our own social circle."
It is a circle with many intersecting rings that pulled together in
Daly City for what many hailed as an event of unprecedented scale.
Well over 1,000 motorcyclists gathered at Duggan's Serra Mortuary for
the two-day memorial: Hells Angels chapters from Alaska to Maine, from
Rhode Island to Hawaii, and from overseas - Norway, Germany, England,
Australia, Italy and more.
And not just Hells Angels showed up. Duggan's parking lot hosted a
collection of motorcycle clubs rarely seen outside events in Hollister
or Sturgis, S.D., - the Mecca and Medina of biker culture. Top Hatters
and Henchmen, Vampires and Devil Dolls, representatives of large
groups and small, they all slapped leather-clad shoulders and shared
tears and tales of Papa Guadardo, or just exchanged stories from the
road.
Overall, despite the continuous rumble of motorcycles arriving and
departing, the farewell to Guardado was as quiet and thoughtful as any
funeral. Police expected and reported few incidents. A few beers and
flasks were raised in the assemblage, but most drank water and soda or
coffee as they waited and mourned.
As the vigil began Sunday evening, mourners packed the main room at
Duggan's and several smaller rooms, where they watched on closed
circuit television. Huge, grizzled men wept as one of their number
sang Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,"
accompanying himself on saxophone.
An emotional pastor described Guardado as a friendly, supportive man,
a good son, father, uncle and godfather whose independent streak began
with a runaway attempt as a 5-year-old. He described Guardado's good
acts - donning a Santa hat to take gifts to children in the hospital
at Christmas, or to children whose fathers were in prison; taking food
left over after club events to feed the homeless.
"When you do right they never remember," the pastor said. "When you do
wrong they never forget."
The vigil ended with Guardado's goddaughter singing Alicia Keys'
"Prelude to a Kiss."
"It's a long long way to heaven
But I gotta get there
Can you send me an angel to guide me?"
The caravan escorting Guardado's coffin to Colma's Cypress Lawn
Cemetery on Monday morning went by way of San Francisco's Mission
District, a river of thunder that flowed through the urban canyons for
more than an hour. The caravan didn't stop for signals; it set its own
speed limit. Some onlookers waved, some took pictures, some pressed
hands to ears and waited for the end. And for a brief period on
Interstate 280, as police halted all other freeway traffic, the
mourners took over the roads.
They buried Papa not too far from where former Daly City Hells Angels
President Harry "The Horse" Flamburis is buried with his motorcycle.
The Frisco Hells Angels and a sea of red-and-white-clad others formed
a close group around Guardado's grave. A few words were spoken as a
biker on the outskirts cranked Metallica's somber ode "Nothing Else
Matters."
The ceremony over, the Angels picked up shovels and buried their
leader. Then they returned to their motorcycles and roared away.
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