The Crime Book

160

R

alph “Sonny” Barger was

an ex-military man who,

having forged his birth

certificate to join the army at 16,

had been discharged when his

deception was discovered. In 1957,

when Barger was 19, he began

riding his motorcycle with a gang

of bikers who bore a striking logo:

a “Death Head” skull flanked by

wings. The logo was brought from

Sacramento by biker Don Reeves.

Inspired by their insignia,

Barger’s group referred to itself as

the Hells Angels, unaware that

there was already a group of loosely

affiliated clubs in California with

the same name. When they

discovered these other clubs,

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

International

THEME

Motorcycle gang and

crime syndicate

BEFORE

1935 The Outlaws Motorcycle

Club is founded in Illinois;

while not considered a crime

syndicate, members become

involved in money laundering,

fraud, drug distribution, and

even murder.

AFTER

1966 Archrivals of the Hells

Angels, the Bandidos MC,

evolves from a biker gang into

a fearsome criminal group

involved in drug trafficking,

extortion, and prostitution.

1969 The Mongols MC – an

alleged crime syndicate with

links to the methamphetamine

trade – forms in California.

WHEN WE DO RIGHT,

NOBODY REMEMBERS.

WHEN WE DO WRONG,

NOBODY FORGETS

HELLS ANGELS, 1948–

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161

See also: The Triads 146–49 ■ The Yakuza 154–59 ■ The Medellín Cartel 166–67

Barger’s group joined forces with

them, and shared their Death Head

logo. In 1963, after a meeting in

Porterville, California, Barger’s

Oakland chapter assumed a

position of authority within the

wider Hells Angels – with Barger

as the club’s president.

Barger consolidated his power

by establishing a new code of

rules to replace the anarchy that

previously prevailed. He drew up

a charter for establishing a Hells

Angels chapter: each new chapter

had to be sponsored by an existing

club, and required at least six

“full-patch” members – the club’s

highest rank of membership.

Within 50 years the Death Head

adorned clubhouses all over the

world, as new chapters sprang up.

As with fraternities, each had its

own territory and leadership, but

was part of the larger organization,

ascribing to Hells Angels ideology

and identity. The establishment

of internal order, however, did not

lead to greater harmony with the

outside world. Better organized

under Sonny’s leadership, the

Angels became increasingly

involved in criminal activity.

Drug connections

At first, the Angels were chiefly

consumers of narcotics – the horse

tranquillizer PCP was referred to as

“Angel Dust” due to the bikers’

ORGANIZED CRIME

fondness for it – but in the late

1960s, their business interests

began to lean towards trafficking.

During the 1967 Summer of

Love, the Angels became major

pushers of LSD among the flower

children of San Francisco, but the

drug was too cheap to be profitable.

Meanwhile, Angel Dust gained a

reputation for “bad trips” and

psychotic violence. However,

methamphetamine (speed) seemed

to offer no such drawbacks and ❯❯

Club members rise from “associate”

to “prospect” to “full-patch” members.

Only “full-patch” members may wear

the Death Head logo and top “rocker”

bearing the Hells Angels name.

The association of motorcycles

with LSD is no accident of

publicity. They are both a

means to an end, to the place

of definitions.

Hunter S. Thompson

Operation Black Biscuit

In 2002, undercover agent Jay

Dobyns and two associates

achieved a feat deemed

impossible – they infiltrated

a Hells Angels chapter. The

agents worked for the Bureau

of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,

and Explosives (ATF). During

Operation Black Biscuit, the

covert operatives posed as

members of a Phoenix chapter

of the Solo Angeles – a club

allied with the Hells Angels.

Dobyns then faked the murder

of a member of the Mongols MC.

He presented the Hells Angels

with a bloody jacket from the

rival club, winning their trust,

and over the 21-month mission,

rose to become a “prospect” in

the Angels organization.

The Hells Angels eventually

disclosed drug- and gun-running

techniques to the undercover

agents. More than 800 hours of

bugged conversations and 8,500

seized documents were

gathered to prove that the Hells

Angels operated as a criminal

organization. As a result, in

2004, 16 Hells Angels were

charged and brought to trial.

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