Vagos Motorcycle Club

Hawthorne officials are worried that the city may be forced to cover at least part of a $1.95-million settlement with members of the Vagos motorcycle club while two insurance carriers battle over which one should pay. The city last week agreed to the settlement with 70 plaintiffs who claimed in a Superior Court lawsuit that their constitutional rights were violated during several raids conducted by Hawthorne police in 1983. The two insurers are arguing over who is responsible for payment.

The fatal shooting of a California Hells Angels leader during a casino melee with a rival gang Friday night has prompted the mayor of Sparks, Nev., to declare a state of emergency and cancel an annual motorcycle event, authorities said. "The safety and security of the public is our No. 1 priority," Mayor Geno Martini said in a statement Saturday. No suspects have been arrested in the fatal shooting of Jeffrey Pettigrew, 51, president of the San Jose Chapter of the Hells Angels, and the shootings of two members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club during the brawl at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino Resort, authorities said.

Federal and state authorities capped a two-year investigation into an international motorcycle club Tuesday by arresting 12 people in four counties on suspicion of drug and weapons charges, officials said. The investigation centered on a member of the Vagos motorcycle club who secretly cooperated with authorities, using government money to buy illegal firearms and drugs, said Jeffrey Ferguson, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

He made his mark as a self-styled activist against police brutality 19 months ago when he was apparently pushed into a plate-glass window by a Long Beach policeman. Network videotape of the incident made him an enemy of many police, but a hit in the black community, where he was hailed as an emerging leader. He later formed a private investigation firm and earned $300 an hour testifying in court cases. Now Don Carlos Jackson is changing direction again.

Read their lips: No new taxes. That was the message voters in Hawthorne and a neighboring county area gave to police and school officials who came with their hats in their hands Tuesday asking for extra tax dollars. For the second time in two years, Hawthorne voters rejected a measure to raise property taxes for added police, this time just 58 votes short of victory.

The parents of a schizophrenic man who was shot and killed by a Hawthorne police officer hours after escaping from the psychiatric ward of a local hospital have accepted $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed against the city and several of its employees earlier this year. Attorneys for the parents of Terrence Williams, 20, said they would have agreed to a settlement of $750,000 if the city had fired Officer Joseph Luper, who killed their son after a scuffle in which Luper suffered a broken nose.

The campaign for a Hawthorne ballot measure that would raise property taxes to pay for additional police officers appears to have suffered a setback since the city decided last week to settle a police brutality lawsuit for $1.95 million, supporters of the measure say. In the lawsuit, members of the Vagos motorcycle club and others alleged that police had violated their rights by harassing them in the early 1980s during a series of raids on their homes.

Frustrated by the third defeat in two years of a tax measure to raise money for additional police, the Hawthorne City Council this week voted to create a blue-ribbon citizens panel to study alternative funding methods for its Police and Fire departments. The 10-member committee, which will include prominent citizens and business leaders, will study staffing levels in every city department and recommend possible cuts to raise money for police and fire services over the next 20 years.

South Bay police departments have put the historic Christopher Commission report on their mandatory reading list for top officials. But local agencies have yet to conclude what lessons they will learn from the blue-ribbon commission that excoriated the Los Angeles Police Department for officer misconduct and administrative bungling.

It's obvious the instant a motorcyclist flips his lid and gives another rider the once over: Uncreased leathers straddling a Ducati 996 with center-worn treads? Sport-bike poseur. Clean-shaven mug all geared up on a Harley, rumbling fresh from the showroom floor? Rich Urban Biker (or more sneeringly, RUB). Flip-flops and shorts weaving through traffic at 90 mph on a Yamaha R1? Squid.