former regional boss of the Outlaws motorcycle gang who led attempts to hunt down rival Hells Angels

A former regional boss of the Outlaws motorcycle gang who led attempts to hunt down rival Hells Angels with the intent of assaulting them was sentenced Friday to nine years and two months in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson rejected Leslie Werth's plea for a lighter sentence, saying the Outlaws became a more dangerous organization because of Werth's actions.

"You weren't just someone who sat there and listened," Hudson told Werth. "You exhorted people to commit violence."

In November, a jury convicted Werth, a member of the Rock Hill, S.C., Outlaws chapter, of conspiracy to commit racketeering and conspiracy to commit violence in aid of racketeering.

Prosecutors asked Hudson to sentence Werth to 10 years and one month, the maximum under sentencing guidelines computed by the federal probation office.

Werth was among 27 gang members indicted in June 2010 on racketeering and other charges. More than half pleaded guilty. Five, including Werth and Outlaws national president Jack Rosga of Milwaukee, were convicted and three were acquitted in two separate jury trials. Rosga and three others will be sentenced April 8.

Auckland police sent more than a dozen patched Rebels members back to Australia

Australian bikies have been caught up in a major crackdown on organised crime in New Zealand's North Island.

The operation, involving about 150 police officers, led to the arrests of 30 people and 29 vehicles, over $NZ120,000 ($A90,000) in cash, firearms, computers, drugs and drug precursors were seized.

Members of Australia's largest motorcycle gang - The Rebels - were caught up in the operation on Thursday, police said.

Advertisement: Story continues below

The gang have been trying to set up chapters in New Zealand and police were doing all they could to ensure they didn't get a foothold in the country.

"Today is a bad day to be a criminal drug dealer," NZ Police Minister Judith Collins said at a press conference on Thursday.

"The number of gangs involved shows they are putting aside their differences and working together in what is a highly lucrative, but evil drugs franchise."

Auckland police sent more than a dozen patched Rebels members back to Australia after they arrived at Auckland Airport on January 26.

The gang was formed in 1969 and has since grown across Australia, to now have around 2000 members in 70 chapters.

Copenhagen has witnessed an intensifying war between the notorious motorcycle group, Hells Angels, and the drug gangs. Bullets have flown

Copenhagen has witnessed an intensifying war between the notorious motorcycle group, Hells Angels, and the drug gangs. Bullets have flown and many residents are abandoning the troubled area.

Compounding the drug turf wars is a nasty streak of racism. The Hells Angels are currently recruiting prospects to "rid Denmark of the Muslim menace". Meanwhile, their opponents are seeking new members to "eliminate those who want to eliminate us".

A network of violent gangs is operating around town, directly targeting the "fortresses" where Hells Angels hang out. The Angels' response is typically unrestrained: "Hells Angels are a motorcycle club that bothers no one, but if someone steps on our toes we'll stamp back with a vengeance," they said on a website.

Despite these claims, the Angels are no angels. For years they fought an armed war with another motorcycle gang, the Bandidos, vying for control of Copenhagen's criminal markets. Scores of dead later, the conflict cooled down.

If the original motorcycle gangs consisted of misfits, this is even more true of their new enemies. Isolated from society, these kids' only claim to self-esteem is violence. Several well-meaning local groups and individuals have tried to reach out to these youngsters, but all attempts have failed and many of those who tried have had to move out of the neighbourhood, fearing for their personal safety.

Copenhagen and Denmark has turned into a hotspot for racial tension. Immigration is the single most populist political issue. Affluent Denmark has dramatically failed when it comes to integration. With Europe's most stringent immigration laws, an insistence on monoculture and assimilation, the once-pragmatic Danes have increasingly isolated themselves.

The famous Danish photographer, Jacob Holdt, who in the 1970s documented racism in the US and said in today's Politiken newspaper: "Denmark is today more racist than America."

Frightening indeed, and a largely self-created problem. The current centre-right government – supported by the nationalistic and right wing Danish Peoples party – has since 2001 marginalised and stereotyped immigrants.

The troubles on the streets of Norrebro can be traced back to that approach. This is not to defend or excuse the community's violent response – parts of the area are now a total no-go area and even the Danish Broadcasting Corporation is staying away from certain trouble spots as journalists have been threatened with beatings if they film in the area.

How did it come to this? Denmark has been through a decade of years of unprecedented economic growth. Our society is much fairer than the British with far fewer class divisions. As we say in Danish: "Why didn't we fix the roof while the sun was shining?"

The answer, unfortunately, is that there was no will to do so. An unwelcoming host will usually find he has impolite guests. This is the case in Copenhagen right now and it is hard to see how things will change.

A member of the Finks bikie gang has lashed out at WA's Chief Justice after being sentenced to two years jail for contempt of the Corruption and Crime

Tristan Allbeury was one of four Finks bikies jailed for refusing to answer questions at the CCC about a violent brawl with the Coffin Cheaters gang at the Kwinana Motorplex in October last year.

All were given two-year jail terms for refusing to cooperate with the inquiry.

Allbeury was given an extra three months for insulting the Commissioner by repeatedly swearing at him.

While he was being sentenced, Allbeury yelled and swore at the Chief Justice Wayne Martin telling him he lived in fairy land and had no idea about the streets.

Paul Eischeid, 39, is accused in the 2001 beating and stabbing death of Cynthia Garcia

Paul Eischeid, 39, is accused in the 2001 beating and stabbing death of Cynthia Garcia, a Mesa woman who was assaulted after insulting the Hells Angels while attending a party at the biker group's East Valley headquarters.

According to the Marshals Service, Eischeid was tracked to Buenos Aires and apprehended in a joint operation by Interpol, Argentine police and numerous U.S. law-enforcement agencies.


"Eischeid's crimes were horrendous, and his potential for continued violence made his arrest a priority," said Stacia Hylton, director of the U.S. Marshals Service."

Because of a clean record and his professional background, Eischeid was released from jail after his 2003 arrest, although he was required to wear an electronic monitoring instrument. After he removed the device and vanished, he was listed among the Marshals Service's 15 most wanted fugitives and featured on America's Most Wanted.

Tom Henman, a Marshals Service spokesman in Arizona, said Eischeid was arrested without incident. He said Eischeid was living under an alias and had changed his appearance.

"He put on some weight, had a goatee with the beard part down to his chest, and he'd shaved his head," Henman said.

Eischeid, a former stockbroker who belonged to the Hells Angels chapter in Mesa, was indicted in 2003 for drug trafficking and racketeering violations that included the kidnap-murder of Garcia.

According to court records, three men participated in the killing. One of them, a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in return for a sentence with no prison time. The other, Hells Angels associate Kevin Augustiniak, is awaiting trial.

All of the suspects were part of a major Hells Angels investigation, Operation Black Biscuit, which targeted more than a dozen members of the biker outfit statewide. The case in U.S. District Court mostly collapsed due to problems with informers and evidence, causing charges to be dropped.

The federal murder case against Augustiniak also was dismissed, but he subsequently was indicted in Maricopa County Superior Court for the same crime. It is listed as a death-penalty case. Defense attorney Daniel Raynak said he does not anticipate that Eischeid's arrest will influence the case against his client.

"We're ready to go, and we anticipate going in September," Raynak said.

Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office and Maricopa County Attorney's Office could not immediately say whether the prosecution of Eischeid will proceed in federal court, or whether that charge will be replaced by a state indictment as it was with Augustiniak.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/02/04/20110204hells-angel-member-arrested-in-argentina.html#ixzz1D14NrVvh

Patched members of the Rebels Motorcycle Club, which has been linked to violence and drug trafficking in Australia, have been spotted in Palmerston

Patched members of the Rebels Motorcycle Club, which has been linked to violence and drug trafficking in Australia, have been spotted in Palmerston North this year.

There have been also been reported sightings of the gang in Whanganui, Whangarei, Taupo and Auckland.

With an estimated 2000 members, the Rebels are the largest gang in Australia and are considered a criminal organisation by the Australian government.

The acting Palmerston North area commander, Senior Sergeant Brett Amas, said police had information about Rebels being in the city.

"We are aware that there are a couple and they'll be dealt with like any other gang we have," he said.

Bandidos have spread internationally to Europe and beyond.

"As with many original American biker gangs, the Bandidos have spread internationally to Europe and beyond. As The Hell’s Angels have tried to control drugs and vice in Scandinavia, Estonia, Latvia and Russia, satellites of original US outfits such as The Bandidos have fought back. In October 1996, the Bandidos attacked the annual Angels’ Viking Party at their clubhouse in Copenhagen with an anti-tank missile nicked from the Swedish Army. Attacks on Bandidos and Angels have taken place in airports, clubhouses, bars and prisons. Bandido leader Uffe Larsen was ambushed and killed at Copenhagen Airport and the subsequent retaliations and counter-shootings have left dozens killed and wounded on both sides."

Power vacuum opened door for Vagos | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun

Power vacuum opened door for Vagos | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun: "The move by the Vagos into Canada comes after major police actions against the Hells in Ontario and Quebec and the demise of the Bandidos in 2007 left a biker power vacuum.

“So all the Hells Angels in Quebec are in jail, a lot of big name Hells Angels in Ontario are in jail or are on some sort” of court restriction, Ontario Biker Enforcement Unit Det.-Sgt. Len Isnor says.

“So this is the perfect environment right now for somebody to try and establish a club in Ontario.”

Before that crackdown “either you’re a Hells Angel in this province, or you’re an Outlaw, or you’re a nobody because no one is allowed to start up a 1% gang” without their approval, he says.

The Outlaws and Hells weren’t going to sanction another biker gang in their territory unless it was a puppet gang “to do their dirty work,” Isnor says."

New biker gang moving into Ontario - The Whig Standard - Ontario, CA

New biker gang moving into Ontario - The Whig Standard - Ontario, CA: "There's a new biker gang in town, the Vagos — and it's growing fast.

And so is the threat of a deadly war with its traditional rivals the Hells Angels, law enforcement sources say.

'They're at war with the Hells Angels in California' and any other place where each have chapters, share the same territory, Ontario Biker Enforcement Unit Det.-Sgt. Len Isnor says.


'If they spread into Canada, the Ontario Hells Angels will do whatever it takes to support their brothers in California,' he says.

'So there could be violence.'"

Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, the former outlaw biker boss, figured he'd be out on bail in a snap when he waived extradition from Gloucester County

Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, the former outlaw biker boss, figured he'd be out on bail in a snap when he waived extradition from Gloucester County and agreed to be taken to Philadelphia last month to face attempted-murder and assault charges.

At first, that is how it played out for the 55-year-old ex-leader of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

But then, at a bail-modification hearing, an assistant district attorney started talking about a box of shotgun shells, a medieval jousting weapon, and a 7-inch knife found in the hulking ex-cop's South Jersey apartment.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Grady coupled that with the biker's alleged history of violence. And two days after he was released on $75,000 bail, Mondevergine was back in the slammer, this time with his bail set at a cool $1 million by a Common Pleas Court judge.

"There's just not a legitimate purpose to have any of this," Assistant District Attorney Brian Grady said last week in explaining the motion he filed two weeks ago that got Mondevergine's bail increased.

"This" was the contraband that Grady said authorities had confiscated Dec. 15 when they arrested Mondevergine at his apartment in Turnersville.

The box of shotgun shells presents an additional problem for Mondevergine because of his racketeering conviction. Convicted felons are prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. That offense alone could carry a five-year prison sentence.

Grady also pointed to the other items found in the apartment as he argued that Mondevergine was a danger to society and that his original bail was exceedingly low.

Laying the items before Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Palumbo during the Dec. 21 hearing, Grady pointed to what authorities described as a "boot knife," a weapon with a 7-inch blade and a leather sheaf. The sheaf had two straps that, Grady said, could be wrapped around an individual's calf to hide the knife under a pant leg.

He also showed the judge a three-foot ax handle and a medieval weapon known as a flail found in the apartment. A flail is a spiked steel ball attached to a chain that is attached to a short steel pole.

Grady said there was no indication that Mondevergine was either a collector of medieval weaponry or a participant in Renaissance fairs.

It also could not be determined if the flail was from Mondevergine's days as a Pagan leader and underworld enforcer.

"There's just no legitimate reason to have any of this," Grady said for a second time.

Arnold Silverstein, Mondevergine's attorney, declined to comment after a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday was postponed until Jan. 31.

Mondevergine, unable to post the higher bail, remains in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

He is charged with the shooting and stabbing of Timothy "Casual" Flood in a Pagans clubhouse in January 2008.

Flood, who took over the top spot in the biker gang after Mondevergine was sentenced to 27 months in prison in 2001, was shot once in a knee and stabbed in the back.

Authorities say they believe Mondevergine and several associates burst into the clubhouse, near Torresdale Avenue and Disston Street in Northeast Philadelphia. Mondevergine, they say, targeted Flood because Flood was part of a group within the biker gang that was trying to force Mondevergine to "give up his colors" and leave the club.

Flood, 47, who was recently convicted of a minor gambling charge linked to a broader investigation into Pagans operations up and down the East Coast, at first declined to provide information about the assault.

But sources say he may now be cooperating and helping the district attorney build the case against Mondevergine.

Besides the weapons and ammunition seized from Mondevergine's residence at the Country Place Apartments on Fries Mill Road, Grady introduced evidence about the Pagans' history of violence and Mondevergine's leadership in the group.

The allegations were similar to charges in a federal sentencing memo at the time of Mondevergine's 2001 conviction. These included references to the Pagans' involvement in drug dealing, extortion, and violence.

Mondevergine was described in the mid-1990s as a close associate and enforcer for then-mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Mondevergine had been fired from the Philadelphia police force in 1982 after being accused of accepting a bribe to protect a gambling operation. He denied those charges, which were dropped.

In 1999, he was shot nine times while walking home from a South Philadelphia bar. Authorities attributed the shooting to a dispute between the Pagans and a street-corner gang.



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20110110_Seized_weaponry_keeps_ex-Pagans_leader_jailed_on__1_million_bail.html#ixzz1Adp9x1av
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else