Raid targets Mongols motorcycle gang
Dozens are arrested on federal racketeering charges after a multi-agency investigation. Federal agents also want to seize the Mongols' trademarked insignia: 'We're going after their very identity.'
More than 1,000 heavily armed federal agents and local police fanned out across Southern California and cities in five other states early this morning, arresting dozens of members of the notorious Mongols motorcycle gang on federal racketeering charges.
But the most lasting blow to the San Gabriel Valley-based bikers may be down the road: In an unusual maneuver, the feds are also seeking to seize control of the Mongols' trademarked name, which is typically accompanied by its cherished insignia -- a ponytailed Genghis Khan-like figure riding a chopper.
U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said if his plan is successful, the government would take over ownership of the trademark, and anyone caught wearing a Mongols patch could have it seized by law enforcement on the spot.
"Not only are we going after the Mongols' motorcycles, we're going after their very identity," O'Brien said in a telephone interview early this morning. "We are using all the tools at our disposal to crush this violent gang."
In addition to racketeering, the Mongols are charged with committing violent crimes -- including murder -- drug trafficking, weapons offenses and money laundering. They used guns, knives, brass knuckles, lead pipes and steel-toed boots to impose their will, often on rivals such as the Hells Angels, but also on unsuspecting members of the public who happened to cross their paths, according to a 177-page indictment unsealed this morning.
The indictment, the first three pages of which list 79 gang member defendants with menacing monikers such as "Monster," "Danger" and "Violent Ed," is drawn largely from the observations of four undercover ATF agents who infiltrated the gang and four current Mongols members who became paid informants for the government. Investigators also relied heavily on wiretapped telephone calls in which Mongols, usually speaking in coded language, discussed the gang's allegedly criminal operations.
The unidentified agents, who spent several years working to gain the Mongols' trust, were checked out by a private investigator hired by the gang and given polygraph exams before being formally admitted in 2007.
Though this is not the first time the ATF has penetrated the Mongols, having four undercover agents in the gang at once, coupled with the cooperation of four Mongols, provided authorities with a particularly broad view of its inner workings, officials said.
