Motorcycle Gang

A 36-year-old former member of a motorcycle gang testified Wednesday that he was so frightened after watching Thomas F. Maniscalco and a small band of killers leave three people dead in a Westminster home in 1980 that he hid for a year for fear he would be next. Robert Robbins, a bearded former member of The Family motorcycle gang in Michigan, was the leadoff witness at Maniscalco's murder trial in the Memorial Day triple slaying.

Authorities arrested 10 members of the Vagos motorcycle gang suspected of drug trafficking and a rash of violence during a series of raids early Thursday across Southern California, a crackdown that comes less than two weeks after a Vagos member allegedly killed a rival Hells Angels member at a Nevada casino. The arrests were the result of an 18-month investigation led by state investigators into one of the most "violent criminal" motorcycle gangs in the nation, authorities said.

A federal jury in Tampa convicted the leader of the Outlaws motorcycle gang of drug trafficking, racketeering and conspiring to murder rival gang members. Harry Bowman, 51, also known as "Taco," faces life in prison when he is sentenced July 27. He is the 29th member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club convicted since 1995 for crimes in Florida. Former gang members testified at the trial that Bowman gave orders to kill rival gang members and blow up the clubhouses of other gangs.

A federal judge has rejected a bid by prosecutors to seize the Mongols motorcycle gang's name and trademarked logo of a ponytailed man riding a chopper, according to a ruling made public Thursday. Prosecutors sought to strip the notorious gang of its name and logo as part of a sweeping criminal indictment three years ago that accused 79 Mongols members from six states of murder, assault, drug trafficking and robbery. Prosecutors asked the judge to bar Mongol members from using, distributing or wearing the name and logo, arguing that they were very closely associated with the gang and that removing them would prevent the Mongols from operating.

Suzanne Forster's new romance novel, "The Devil and Ms. Moody," was not an easy sell. When the Newport Beach author submitted a proposal for the novel in the mid-'80s, her publisher at the time was intrigued with her story but considered the subject matter--a motorcycle gang--too risky for a romance novel. "The Devil and Ms. Moody" (Bantam Loveswept) has proved to be a successful exception to the dictum that romance novels must avoid dealing with "grim, gritty and unpleasant reality."

The prison warden had ordered the dormitory roll call, and Thomas Chaney was missing. There was a sudden commotion in a side room, the pop of flashbulbs, a body hauled out under a blanket and pushed into a station wagon that sped off into the night. Within hours, the word was out that someone from the Safford, Ariz., prison was looking for Chaney's parents. A cryptic note arrived at the Hell's Angels clubhouse in Ventura: "The body work has been taken care of." It looked like Chaney was dead.

Hundreds of federal agents and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies fanned out over three states Friday to drop an investigative net over the Mongols motorcycle club, arresting at least 42 people in Southern California and seizing dozens of illegal guns, cocaine and stolen motorcycles, they said. The crackdown was the culmination of a perilous, 2 1/2-year investigation in which an undercover federal agent joined the club and rose into its executive ranks, officials of the U.S.

Police seized drugs, two sawed-off shotguns and suspected stolen vehicles in a raid on a clubhouse of the Vagos motorcycle gang, authorities said Friday. But when no arrests were made, several neighbors said they were shocked and disappointed. "They are nightmares--there's a lot of traffic," said one woman, describing the motorcycle club. Behind the small house and cluttered garage in the 18900 block of Arminta Street were two mobile homes and a large yard where gang members reportedly partied through the night.

While art critics throughout the world have rhapsodized about the Watts Towers, Los Angeles has a long tradition of abusing, neglecting and attempting to destroy its greatest art monument. In 1954, after 33 years of work on his grand obsession, Sabato Rodia turned the property over to a neighbor and moved to Northern California to live near relatives. The neighbor ended up selling the property to a man who wanted to use the towers as the setting for a taco stand.

Undercover agent William L. Queen came out of hiding Wednesday to accept the Federal Bar Assn.'s annual Medal of Valor award for showing "exceptional skill and dedication" in Southern California. Queen, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, had been hiding since May, when his secret role within the Mongols motorcycle gang ended with the arrest of some of the group's top members.

Federal prosecutors Monday requested a final judicial order to block the Mongols motorcycle gang from using its name and wearing or distributing its trademarked logo. If U.S. District Judge Otis Wright signs the order, the government will own the logo and club's name. This is the first time the U.S. government has sought control of a gang's identity through a court order, an effort three years in the making. The U.S. attorney's office said the insignia — a ponytailed man riding a chopper — is "very, very closely identified with the organization," and by removing access to the logo, the Mongols are further prevented from operating.

Mary Murphy, a film and television actress best remembered for playing the wholesome small-town girl opposite Marlon Brando's rebellious motorcycle gang leader in "The Wild One," has died. She was 80. Murphy died of heart disease May 4 at her home in Beverly Hills, said her daughter, Stephanie Specht. In "The Wild One," the 1953 film about two rival biker gangs that menace the citizens of a tiny California town, Murphy played Kathie, the daughter of the ineffectual local cop, who captures the attention of Brando's tough guy, Johnny.

National Pagans Motorcycle Club leaders and more than 50 members and associates were indicted on charges of plotting to kill and extort money from rivals to consolidate the club's power in the eastern U.S. Defendants include national Pagans President David Keith "Bart" Barbeito of Myersville, Md., and national Vice President Floyd B. "Jesse" Moore of St. Albans, W.Va.

John Quade, a veteran character actor who specialized in playing heavies and appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies, including "Every Which Way But Loose" and its sequel "Any Which Way You Can," has died. He was 71. Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in Rosamond, near Lancaster, said his wife, Gwen Saunders. In a more than two-decade career in films and television that began in the late 1960s, Quade played character roles in numerous TV series and in films such as "Papillon," "The Sting" and Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales."

In the 16 months since he was sworn in as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Thomas P. O'Brien has charged a former U.S. Marine with manslaughter for combat killings in Iraq, tried a Missouri woman whose alleged crime, many would argue, was committed halfway across the country and sought to strip a notorious outlaw motorcycle gang of its very identity. Now he has immersed himself in a grand jury investigation into Cardinal Roger M.

That I have never ridden a motorcycle is just one of the many ways in which I am not cool. But I have seen "The Wild One," "Easy Rider" and "The Great Escape," so I understand something about the symbolic weight, cultural import and really big noise of the hog, the chopper, the bike. And I grew up on the Hardy Boys and old Marx Brothers movies, so I know something about running with a gang. I have also watched cable television, where the success of "The Sopranos" taught TV makers that not only could successful series be made about bad, dangerous people, but that such series could at once earn critical respect and sexy up the brand.

The arrests of nine Hells Angels and 15 associates on drug charges over the weekend has some local officials and merchants hoping that the case helps the city shed its image as a magnet for the notorious motorcycle gang. "I can't say we've been particularly enamored with the fact that Ventura has been considered a haven for Hells Angels," said Mayor Sandy Smith, adding that City Hall often fields complaints about the bikers. Hells Angels leader George Gus Christie Jr.

A federal judge has rejected a bid by prosecutors to seize the Mongols motorcycle gang's name and trademarked logo of a ponytailed man riding a chopper, according to a ruling made public Thursday. Prosecutors sought to strip the notorious gang of its name and logo as part of a sweeping criminal indictment three years ago that accused 79 Mongols members from six states of murder, assault, drug trafficking and robbery. Prosecutors asked the judge to bar Mongol members from using, distributing or wearing the name and logo, arguing that they were very closely associated with the gang and that removing them would prevent the Mongols from operating.

New charges were filed Monday against Hells Angels members in connection with a double stabbing during a bar fight with a Christian motorcycle gang late last month, Newport Beach police said. Scott Guinn, 23, was charged with possession of a controlled substance. Brian Heslington, 35, was charged with possession of cocaine and a loaded firearm, and Rodrigo Requejo, 34, was charged with assault and battery.

A 54-year-old man was sentenced Monday to six months' house arrest and a year of mental health counseling and substance-abuse testing after pleading guilty to threatening an advocate for seals at the Children's Pool in La Jolla. Kent Douglas Trego had already served nearly five months in jail since his arrest. He admitted that he used the Internet to send messages threatening violence toward a volunteer from the Animal Protection and Rescue League who was videotaping two divers allegedly harassing seals in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In e-mails sent in December and January, Trego said that a motorcycle gang would take revenge on the witness "very harshly."