The Northsider prison gang was formed in the late 1970's at Menard prison, that's located in Southern Illinois. The founding members were from Chicago. The prison administration called them "northsiders" because they came from the northern part of the state. Gang members adopted the name and began calling themselves Northsiders. The gang only exist within the prison system. Members use nazi symbols and claim white supremacy.

---

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=7th&navby=case&no=952901
No. 95-2901

EDWARD PAVLICK,
v.
JIMMY MIFFLIN,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, East St. Louis Division. No. 90 CV 3515--William L. Beatty, Judge.

ARGUED APRIL 23, 1996--DECIDED JULY 18, 1996

Before FLAUM, MANION and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge. While Edward Pavlick was an inmate at the Menard Correctional Center, he arranged a meeting between a prison guard, Lieutenant Spiller, and another inmate, Daniel Schoolcraft. During this meeting (at which Pavlick was not present), Schoolcraft confessed to Spiller that he had been ordered to "hit" a prison administrator, Superintendent Larry Hopkins. The gang that ordered the hit struck back: four days later, Pavlick was attacked in his sleep by a group of inmates and stabbed 21 times. This case concerns whether Jimmy Mifflin, a prison guard who, according to an eyewitness account, opened Pavlick's cell door and allowed the attackers to enter, may be held liable for Pavlick's injuries.

I.

In 1989, Pavlick was serving a seven year sentence at Menard for sexual assault (he was released from prison in 1991). By all accounts, Pavlick was a well behaved prisoner, and he obtained a maintenance job at the prison (repairing windows) for which he was allowed to work with power tools. He also had an uncommonly good rapport both with other inmates and with prison officials.

Menard is a maximum security institution, and many of the inmates belong to gangs. Pavlick and Schoolcraft were members of a gang known as the Northsiders. On the night of July 26, 1989, Schoolcraft approached Pavlick and asked him to "get an officer." According to Pavlick, Schoolcraft appeared scared. Pavlick went to Spiller, who was on duty that night, and asked him to go to Schoolcraft's cell. Spiller obliged.

During their conversation (at which Pavlick was not present), Schoolcraft confessed to Spiller that the Northsiders had ordered him to "hit" Superintendent Hopkins. /1 Spiller then removed Schoolcraft from his cell and placed him in protective custody. Pavlick, however, was left in the general population. The next morning, July 27, the prison was placed in lockdown status.

That morning, several officers came to talk to Pavlick in his cell. Pavlick testified that one of the officers, Captain Campanella, "thanked me for what I did." Pavlick responded by asking Campanella what he was talking about. This conversation took place in front of Pavlick's cellmate, Smith, who was also a Northsider.

Following Schoolcraft's confession, Hopkins stayed away from the cellhouse for over a week. Although it does not appear that the reason for his absence was ever officially announced, Hopkins stated that there were rumors circulating around the prison concerning the threat to his safety. The lockdown ended on July 28.

On the morning of Sunday, July 30, Pavlick returned to his cell after eating breakfast. Pavlick's cell was open because prisoners with details (prison jobs) are allowed out of their cells every day. Pavlick worked only Monday through Friday, but he was still allowed out of his cell on weekends. After breakfast, Pavlick decided that he wanted to go to sleep, so he asked his cellmate to leave. Smith left, and then Pavlick closed the door to his cell and went to sleep. Pavlick testified that he locked his door before going to sleep (apparently, prisoners have the ability to lock their own doors, but they cannot reopen the doors themselves), and he stated further that "[a]ny time I go to sleep, I always lock my door."

Pavlick awoke to find himself being attacked by several inmates. He described the assault as follows:

I woke up being attacked. . . . I was hit in the head first, and I started screaming, then I was getting stabbed in the back. There was a guy holding my legs down and was stabbing me, . . . stabbing me with his right arm, holding my legs down with his left, and his body was on my legs.

Pavlick started screaming, but no one came to help. He managed to free himself from his attackers, who then ran away. Pavlick walked to the guard station and asked Mifflin, the officer on duty at the time, whether he could go to the hospital. He was taken to the hospital and treated for "multiple stab wounds and lacerations." Pavlick testified that he received 21 stab wounds. The injuries left several scars: one on his finger, two through his eye, four on his right shoulder, two on his left shoulder, five on his back, four on the back of his neck, and nine on his head. In addition, Pavlick suffered an injury to his right eye that causes it to flutter. Two of the attackers, both of whom were members of the Northsiders, were eventually apprehended.

One inmate, Eddie Skaggs, witnessed the assault. After breakfast on July 30, Skaggs observed two inmates speaking with Officer Mifflin. Skaggs then, saw Mifflin go to Pavlick's cell, insert a key into the cell door, and open the door slightly. Mifflin left, and then the inmates "rushed into the cell" and started attacking Pavlick with 6-7 inch shanks (homemade knives). Skaggs testified that Pavlick, who was yelling and screaming, managed to escape, and then the attackers ran away.

Another inmate, Terry Kicinski, also viewed some of the events. At around 9:00 a.m. on July 30, Kicinski saw a few Northsiders standing in front of Pavlick's cell. In addition, Kicinski saw a correctional officer, whom he could not identify, open the door to Pavlick's cell. Kicinski then left the area and did not see anyone enter the cell.

Pavlick brought suit against Mifflin under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, claiming that Mifflin violated his Eighth Amendment rights by opening the door to his cell and allowing the attackers to enter. /2 A jury trial was held, during which Mifflin testified that he did not open the door to Pavlick's cell. The jury found in favor of Pavlick and awarded him $5,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000 in punitive damages. Mifflin appeals, arguing that Pavlick failed to present sufficient evidence of an Eighth Amendment violation. We affirm.

II.

Because Mifflin is asking us to overturn a jury verdict, he faces a difficult burden: we will uphold the verdict so long as " 'the evidence presented, combined with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from it, is sufficient to support the verdict when viewed in the light most favorable to the [winning] party.' " Gagan v. American Cablevision, Inc., 77 F.3d 951, 960 (7th Cir. 1996) (quoting Molnar v. United Technologies Otis Elevator, 37 F.3d 335, 337 (7th Cir. 1994)). To prevail on his Eighth Amendment claim, Pavlick must prove that Mifflin acted with deliberate indifference to his safety. Farmer v. Brennan, 114 S. Ct. 1970, 1979 (1994). A prison official acts with deliberate indifference if he "knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health or safety; the official must both be aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm exists, and he must also draw the inference." Id. The prison official need not believe or intend that the inmate will actually be harmed; rather, he is liable if he consciously ignores a substantial risk to an inmate's safety. Id. at 1981; Haley v. Gross, No. 95-1130, slip op. at 21-22 (7th Cir. May 29, 1996). The Supreme Court has equated deliberate indifference to "subjective recklessness as used in the criminal law." Farmer, 114 S. Ct. at 1980. /3

Pavlick's argument for deliberate indifference is simple: immediately prior to the attack, Mifflin was seen conversing with several Northsiders. Mifflin then unlocked the door to Pavlick's cell and left, allowing the attackers to enter. These facts, Pavlick contends, are enough to allow the jury to infer that Mifflin knew what was going to happen. Or, at the very least, Mifflin knew that opening a sleeping inmate's cell door creates a serious risk to that inmate's safety. (Both Hopkins and Mifflin testified that it is not standard practice to open an inmate's door while he is sleeping at the unauthorized request of a group of other inmates).

Mifflin contends that although the evidence might support a conclusion that he was negligent, it is not sufficient to prove deliberate indifference. He bases his argument on the following gaps in the trial testimony: (1) none of the witnesses heard the conversation between him and the other inmates before he opened Pavlick's cell, so there was no evidence concerning why he opened the cell; (2) Mifflin was not on duty when Schoolcraft reported the planned hit to Spiller, so there was no evidence that Mifflin even knew of the threat to Hopkins' life; and (3) even if Mifflin had heard the rumors concerning the planned hit on Hopkins, there was no evidence that he knew that Pavlick helped Schoolcraft contact prison officials, so there was no evidence that Mifflin knew that Pavlick was in any potential danger.

As an initial matter, although this case was litigated as one of deliberate indifference, Pavlick's allegations appear to go beyond simple "indifference" to his safety. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict (as we must), a reasonable jury could have inferred that, by opening Pavlick's cell door and allowing the attackers to enter, Mifflin actually participated in the assault. We have upheld convictions for aiding and abetting on similar facts. See United States v. Fountain, 768 F.2d 790, 798-99 (7th Cir. 1985) (upholding conviction of prisoner for aiding and abetting the murder of a prison guard where the defendant gave a knife - the murder weapon - to the inmate who killed the guard immediately prior to the incident), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1124 (1986); United States v. Ortega, 44 F.3d 505, 508 (7th Cir. 1995) ("One who, knowing the criminal nature of another's act, deliberately renders what he knows to be active aid in the carrying out of the act is . . . an aider or abettor even if there is no evidence that he wants the act to succeed."). In contrast, "deliberate indifference," at least as a matter of grammar, seems more appropriate to describe inaction: for example, a guard's failure to protect an inmate, see, e.g., Haley, supra, a prison official's failure to provide medical treatment to an inmate, see, e.g., Murphy v. Walker, 51 F.3d 714, 719 (7th Cir. 1995) (per curiam), or a municipality's failure to train its police force. See, e.g., City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 388 (1989); Harris v. City of Marion, 79 F.3d 56, 59 (7th Cir. 1996). In previous cases, however, we have applied the deliberate indifference standard even to allegations of unconstitutional action (e.g., a doctor's errors in providing medical care). See, e.g., Williams v. O'Leary, 55 F.3d 320 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct. 527 (1995). And the Supreme Court has stated that deliberate indifference is similar to criminal recklessness, see Farmer, 114 S. Ct. at 1980, which may be used to describe both action and inaction. Thus, the "deliberate indifference" standard applies to this case, even though Mifflin's actions (rather than inactions) are at issue.

We believe that the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict that Mifflin acted with deliberate indiffer- ence. As stated previously, a reasonable jury could infer from the evidence that Mifflin actively aided the assault against Pavlick. And even if he was not an aider and abettor, the jury could rationally infer that he knew he was exposing Pavlick to a substantial risk of serious harm. Contrary to Mifflin's assertion, the fact that Pavlick failed to produce a "smoking gun" (i.e., direct evidence of exactly what Mifflin knew) is not decisive in this case. Direct evidence of knowledge is difficult, and sometimes impossible to obtain; therefore the Supreme Court has held that deliberate indifference need not be proven by direct evidence. "Whether a prison official had the requisite knowledge of a substantial risk is a question of fact subject to demonstration in the usual ways, including inference from circumstantial evidence." Farmer, 114 S. Ct. at 1981; see also Haley, slip op. at 20-21; Grinder v. Gammon, 73 F.3d 793, 795-96 (8th Cir. 1996). In Farmer, the Supreme Court cautioned against "confusing a mental state [deliberate indifference] with the proof of its existence." Farmer, 114 S. Ct. at 1981 (citing Jerome Hall, General Principles of Criminal Law, 2d ed. 118 (Bobbs-Merrill 1960)). /4 Mifflin's argument appears to fall prey to such confusion: the fact that Pavlick's proof is circumstantial does not mean that it is insufficient for a rational jury to find deliberate indifference. /5

In essence, Pavlick's claim rests on two pieces of evidence. First, Mifflin was seen talking to a group of Northsiders immediately prior to the attack. Second, he was observed unlocking Pavlick's cell (an unusual action in itself) and promptly leaving the scene, allowing the attackers to enter and carry out the assault. Although a reasonable factfinder need not determine that Mifflin knew what was about to occur, the jury was entitled to conclude from these facts that Mifflin was aware that he was subjecting Pavlick to a substantial risk of serious harm. We have held similar facts sufficient to support liability in previous cases. See Watts v. Laurent, 774 F.2d 168, 173 (7th Cir. 1985) (evidence sufficient to hold three guards liable for attack on inmate because guards could have overheard threats made against inmate), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1085 (1986); see also Richardson v. Penfold, 839 F.2d 392, 394-96 (7th Cir. 1988) (reversing grant of summary judgment in favor of guard: guard could be liable for the rape of an inmate (Richardson) because he allowed the rapist (Birch) to enter Richardson's cell despite Richardson's plea not to be left alone with Birch). /6

As a final note, Mifflin contends that his knowledge of the danger to Pavlick may not be proven by the fact that rumors were circulating concerning the planned hit on Hopkins. At least one court has noted that the fact that rumors are circulating in a large office might not be sufficient to demonstrate that an individual official has knowledge of a risk. See Williams v. Borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania, 891 F.2d 458, 466 (3d Cir. 1989) (affirming grant of summary judgment: evidence insufficient to find officers deliberately indifferent for failing to protect prisoner who committed suicide even though rumors of prisoner's suicidal tendencies were circulating). We need not decide, however, the significance of the rumors of the hit, because Pavlick's case does not ultimately rest on rumors. Unlike Williams, Watts, and Richardson, this case is not merely one of a prison official's alleged failure to protect an inmate. In failure to protect cases, the debate often exclusively concerns what the prison official knew and when he knew it because it is important to insure that guards are not held liable for failing to prevent the unforeseeable acts of third parties. In such cases, a prisoner's lawsuit may turn on whether a guard heard certain rumors and thus knew that the inmate was in danger. Here, however, the focus is on what Mifflin did rather than on what he failed to do: he was observed conversing with the attackers and opening Pavlick's cell door immediately prior to the assault. As we have noted, these facts potentially show more than simply knowledge of or acquiescence to the attack; they could lead a reasonable jury to conclude that Mifflin actually participated in the assault against Pavlick. Thus, the rumors are not necessary to demonstrate that Mifflin possessed the requisite mental state; the jury was entitled to draw the inference from his actions alone. /7

In conclusion, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Pavlick, a reasonable jury could have found that Mifflin acted with deliberate indifference. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is

AFFIRMED.

Hate Rock music is now a major recruitment tool and source of funding for hate groups. Many hate group members, especially neo-Nazi skinheads, have been drawn to white supremacy by listening to hate rock on the Internet, on CDs, and at concerts, often promoted and coordinated online, where crowds violently slamdance to the music of bands such as Angry Aryans, Blue Eyed Devils, and H8Machine.


HATE MUSIC

* Racist Oi!/RAC: The oldest genre of hate music is derived from Oi!, an offshoot of punk music that originated in the 1970s and became heavily associated with the emerging skinhead subculture. In the wake of Skrewdriver, some racist Oi! bands emerged, sometimes calling their music RAC (Rock Against Communism).

* Hatecore: Hatecore is essentially a racist version of hardcore punk, a musical subgenre that emerged in the U.S. in the early 1980s. Some hardcore punk musicians later merged it with heavy metal music to create thrash or speed metal; there are racist versions of this as well.


LIST OF HATE ROCK BANDS

Argentina
Accion Radical
Comando Suicida
Razon y Fuerza
Ultrasur

Australia
Abyssic Hate
Battle Hymn
Blood Oath
Death's Head
Dissident
Fortress
Frontline Fighters
Honour Guard
Kommando
Open Season
Ravenous
Raven's Wing
Southern Cross
Spear of Longinus
White Lightning
White Noise

Austria
SS1488
Sudfront
Tollschock

Belgium
Donar's Krieg

Brazil
Brigada NS
Command
Defesa Armada
Evil
Goat Penis
Grupo Separatista Branco
Locomotiva 88
Resistencia 88
Thallium

Canada
Aryan
Battlefront
Cross
Excessive Force
Griffin
Involved Patriot
Kremator
Odin's Law
Rahowa
Stonehammer
Trouble Makers
Vinland Warriors
White Riot

Chile
Odal Sieg
Rockan Oi

Croatia
H8

Czech Republic
Agrese 95
Apartheid
Biely Odpor
Buldok
Conflict 88
Diktator
Excalibur
Hlas Krve
Nadoraz
Orlik
Prinz Eugen
SAD
Thodthverdthur
Valasska Liga
Vlajka
Wolfheart
Zast 88

Denmark
Chamber 88
Strike Force

England
Avalon
Battle Zone
Blackout
Blackshirts
Brutal Attack
Bulldog Breed
Chingford Attack
Croyden Criminals
Dragon Lance
English Rose
Eurocentrifugal Force
Eye of Odin
Grade One
Ian Stuart
Ken McLellan
Kindred Spirit
Legion of St. George
Lionheart
No Fear
No Remorse
Ovaltinees
Overlords
Paul Burnley
Public Enemy
Rage'N'Fury
Razors Edge
Rune Shield
Skrewdriver
Skullhead
Spearhead
Squadron
Stigger
Stormbringer
Sudden Impact
The Die-Hards
The Final Sound
The Klansmen
Thunderbolt
Vengeance
Warhammer
Warlord
White Diamond
White Law

Estonia
Preserve White Aryans

Finland
Arngrimmr
Brutal Skins
End Up Dead
Hate Crime
Mistreat
Pig Killer
Wiking Division

France
9eme Panzer Symphony
Bekhira
Bifrost
Blessed in Sin
Brutal Combat
Bunker 84
Chauves Pourris
Dernier Rampart
Durandal
Evil Skins
Fraction Hexagone
Kontingent 88
Kristallnacht
Legion 88
Legion A
Osculum Infame
Panzerjager
Patriotic Youth
Ultimatum
Ultime Assault
Veme Colonne
Viking

Germany
08/15
14 Nothelfer
A.B.
Absurd
Arisches Blut
Aryan Blood
Aryan Brotherhood
Asgard
Aufmarsch
Balmung
Barad Dur
Blutweihe
Body Checks
Bollwerk
Boots Brothers
Brutale Haie
Celtic Moon
Commando Pernod
Cotzbrocken
Deutch Stolz Treue
Die Harte
Die Moite
Die Separatism
Division Wiking
Doitsche Patrioten
Dragoner
Edelweiss
Endstufe
Entwarnung
Eugenik
Faustrecht
Foierstoss
Frank Rennicke
Freibeuter
Freikorps
Gestapo
Groilmeiers
Halgadom
Hate Society
Hauptkampflinie
Holsteiner Jungs
Jungsturm
Kahlkopf
Kraft Durch Froide
Kraftschlag
Kroitzfoier
Landser
Landsturm
Legion Condor
Legion of Thor
Legion Ost
Leitwolf
Macht Und Ehre
Might of Rage
Nahkampf
Noie Werte
Nordfront
Nordmacht
Odessa
Offensive
Oi Dramz
Oidoxie
Oithanasie
Ostfront AVK
Proissenheads
Radikahl
Reichssturm
Rungholt
Saccara
Schwarzer Orden
Schwarzes Korps
Senfheads
Sleipnir
Soldiers of Freedom
Solution
Sperrfeuer
Spreegeschwader
Stahlgewitter
Standarte
Storkraft
Storstufe
Stuka Attack
Sturmflagge
Sturmgesang
Sturmtrupp
Sturmwehr
The Betrayed
Thor's Hammer
Todesschwadron D.F.E.
Toitonen
Tollwut
Tonstorung
Triebtater
Unbending Bootboys
Veit
Volksgemurmel
Volkstroi
Volksverhetzer
Volkszorn
Voll die Guten
War 88
Weisse Wolf
Weisser Arischer Widerstand
Werwolf
Wewelsburg
White Aryan Rebels
Wotan
Zillertaler Tuerkenjaeger

Greece
Der Sturmer
Iron Youth
Legion of Doom

Hungary
Archivum
Egeszseges Fejbor
Junkers 88
Kozellenseg
Magozott Cseresznye
Mos-Oi
Nemzeti Front
Nimrod
Oi-Kor
Pannon Skins
Titkolt Ellenallas
Valhalla
Verszerzodes

Ireland
Celtic Dawn (Ireland)

Italy
A.D.L. 122
Aborym
Ars Occulta
Block 11
Corona Ferrea
Front Towards Enemy
Fronte 82
Gesta Bellica
Hyperborea
Injustice Side
Intolleranza
Londinium SPQR
Mors Summa
New City Rocks
Ondo D'Urto
Peggior Amico
Plastic Surgery
SS 20
Verde Bianco Rosso

Netherlands
Brigade M
Landstorm
Standrecht

Norway
Burzum
Hirdmen
Norhat
Norske Legion
Rinnan Band
Sonner av Norge
Trelldom
Vidkuns Venner

Poland
Capricornus
Defensor 14
Deportacja
Ekspansja
Falanga 88
Feniks
Fullmoon
Galgenberg
Gontyna Kry
Graveland
Grom
Honor
Infernum
Kataxu
Konkwista 88
Legion
Lord Wind
Nowy Lad
Odrodzenie 88
Odwet
Ofensywa
Ohtar
Perunwit
Salut
Selbstmord
Swastyka
Sztorm 68
Thunderbolt
Veles
White Fist
Wineta
Zyklon B

Portugal
Endovelico
Guarda de Ferro
Lusitanoi

Russia
Banda Moskvy
Branikald
Bulldog
Instruktsiya Po Vyzhivaniyu
Kolovrat
Korroziya Metalla
Krasnye Zvezdy
Kulturnaya Revolutsiya
Nocturnal Mortum
Radegast
Russian Ghetto
Sturm
Svetloyar
Temnozor
Terror National Front
Totenkopf
Ultimatum
Vandal

Scotland
British Standard
Nemesis

Serbia
Battle Flag
Drzavni Udar
Dzumbus
Kristalna Noc
Moleban
Providenje
Radikalne Patriote
Razor 88
Real Aggression
Revolt BGD
Sorab 18
Terrormachine
The Terrorist
Trijumf Volje

Slovakia
Dr. Martens Skinheads
Juden Mord
Justicia
Kratky Proces
Parabellum
Slovenska Liga

Spain
14 Palabras
7 Muelles
Batallon de Castigo
Celtica
Centuria Hispanica
Division 250
Estandarte 88
Estirpe Imperial
Gabinete Caligari
Hermanos Blancos
Klan
Legion Negra
Los Illegales
Ofensiva 88
Patria
Praxis
Rebelion
Reconquista
Seccion De Asalto
Toletum
Tormenta Blanca
Torquemada 1488
Zetme 88

Sweden
Asa
Barsarkarna
Blod Und Ara
Brigad Wotan
Dirlewanger
Division S
Enharjarna
Frigg
Germania
Heimdall
Heroes
Heroes in the Snow
Hets Mot Folkgrupp
Heysel
Jocke Karlsson
Ledung
Matti S.
Midgard
Midgards Soner
Nastrond
Nibelungen
Odalmannen
Odins Anglar
Odium
Phoenix
Pluton Svea
Pro Patria
Reichsmusikkammer
Saga
Sigrblot
Somalia Kickers
Spandau
SS Totenkopf
Steelcapped Strength
Storm
Svastika
Svitjod
Symphony of Sorrow
Totenkopf
Triskelon
Trueblood
Vit Aggression
Volund Smed
White Warriors
Wietze

Switzerland
Eisenwinter
Sturmtruppen

Ukraine
Aryan Terrorism
Hate Forest
SBS
Sokyra Peruna
Tsirulnya
Vengeance

Uruguay
Escuadron 88

USA
Acirema
Aggravated Assault
Aggressive Force
Angry Aryans
Angry White Youth
Anwyl
Arresting Officers
Aryan Tormentor
Attack
Battle Axe
Before God
Berserkr
Birkenau
Bloodstained Boots
Blue Eyed Devils
Blutkrieg
Bound for Glory
Brawlers
Bully Boys
C.I.S.
Carl Klang
Cenotaph
Centurion
Chaos 88
Code 13
Code of Violence
Crew X
Das Reich
Day of the Sword
Definite Hate
Dirty White Punks
Dread Moon
Eric Owens
Ethnic Cleansing
Extreme Hatred
Final Solution
Final War
Gestapo SS
Grinded Nig
H8Machine (formerly known as Dying Breed)
Hakenkreuz
Hammertown
Note: A mainstream Christian rock group also uses this name.
Hatemonger
Infantry
Infernal Hatred
Intimidation One
Johnny Rebel
Katharia
Kick to Kill
Kill or Be Killed
Max Resist
Midtown Bootboys
Mudoven
Mullet
Neo Hate
New Glory
New Minority
No Alibi
Nordic Thunder
Order From Chaos
Pantheon
Patriotic Front
People Haters
Platoon 14
Plunder & Pillage
Pure Rampage
Red, White & Blue
Riot Wing
Rival
Sedition
Shortfuse 76
Shutdown
Steelcap
Storm Section
Straightlaced Nightmare
Stronghold
The Voice
Vaginal Jesus
Vagrant the Noachian
Vanguard
Warfare 88
Weltmacht
White American Youth
White Wash
White Wolf
Youngblood
Youngland

Wales
Broadsword
Celtic Warrior
No Quarter
Retaliator
Violent Storm

Chicago's Almighty Gaylords - Grand Avenue Young Lords, is one of Chicago's oldest white street gangs, that started in the early 1950s. The gang was originally a neighborhood club. Like other clubs of that era, Gaylords had their own clubhouse and baseball team. The Gaylords clubhouse was on the corner of Ohio and Noble Street. The gang would eventually leave that area as the neighborhood's population became less white and more Hispanic.



The Gaylords experienced continual growth throughout the early 1980s, and held their neighborhoods while most white families moved to the suburbs (white flight). The gentrification of their neighborhoods diminished the gang's ability to recruit new members. In 1984, Gaylords joined the "People Nation" gang alliance, that's predominantly black and Hispanic.

Identifiers/symbols:

* initials "GL"
* numbers "7-12"
* latin cross w/two dashes
* wizard/grim reaper
* five-point star
* cane (seldom used)

Colors: black and light blue, or black and gray

Ethnicity: predominantly white

Territory: Chicago area, Midwest

Allies: Jousters, Freaks, People Nation (Latin Kings, Vice Lords, etc)

Rivals: Folk Nation (Simon City Royals, Gangster Disciples, Latin Disciples, etc)

Criminal activities: drug possession, armed-robbery, weapons violation, assault, murder

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a racist, anti-Semitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy. Of all the types of right-wing hate groups that exist in the United States, the Klan remains the one with the greatest number of national and local organizations around the country.


More than 40 different Klan groups exist, many having multiple chapters, or "klaverns," including a few that boast a presence in a large number of states. There are over a hundred different Klan chapters around the country, with a combined strength of members and associates that may total around 5,000.

After a period of relative quiet, Ku Klux Klan activity has spiked noticeably upwards in 2006, as Klan groups have attempted to exploit fears in America over gay marriage, perceived "assaults" on Christianity, crime and especially immigration.

* Founder: Confederate Civil War veterans Captain John C. Lester, Major James R. Crowe, John D. Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard R. Reed, Frank O. McCord
* Founded: 1866
* Headquarters: Each different Klan group has its own headquarters.
* Background: The Klan has fragmented into more than 40 separate factions of varying sizes. There is no "one" Ku Klux Klan.
* Estimated size: There are over a hundred different chapters in the various Klan organizations, with varying memberships. Overall, there may be as many as 5,000 members and associates of the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan is strongest in the South and in the Midwest.
* Criminal Activity: The Klan has a relatively high association with criminal activity, ranging from hate crimes to acts of domestic terrorism.
* Media: Mass mailings, leafleting and the Internet
* Strategy: Public rallies and protests, "adopt a highway" programs and other attention getting stunts, Internet
* Ideology: White supremacist ideology not far from that of neo-Nazis, although it tends to be more Christian-oriented and to stress American patriotism.
* Affiliations: National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations, Christian Identity groups
* Financial support: Little. Most funding comes from membership dues and sales of Klan paraphernalia.

The Ku Klux Klan first emerged following the Civil War as America's first true terrorist group. Since its inception, the Ku Klux Klan has seen several cycles of growth and collapse, and in some of these cycles the Klan has been more extreme than in others. In all of its incarnations, however, the Klan has maintained its dual heritage of hate and violence.


At first, the Ku Klux Klan focused its anger and violence on African-Americans, and white Americans who stood up for them, and against the federal government which supported their rights. Subsequent incarnations of the Klan, which typically emerged in times of rapid social change, added more categories to its enemies list, including Jews, Catholics (less so after the 1970s), homosexuals, and different groups of immigrants.

In most of these cases, these perceived enemies were minority groups that came into direct economic competition with the lower- and working-class whites that formed the core constituency of the Klan in most of its incarnations.

The Ku Klux Klan was overshadowed in the late 1990s and early 2000s by growing neo-Nazi activity; however, by 2005 neo-Nazi groups had fallen on hard times, with many groups collapsing or fragmenting. This collapse has helped create a rise of racist skinhead activity, but has also provided new opportunities for Klan groups.

The Klan produced a figurine during the 1920s called KIGY the friendly Klansman (KIGY = Klansman I Greet You). Klan members claim to have sold over a million dolls. In the 1970s, KIGY was reproduced as an action figure, but only a limited number were sold.

During the 2000s, many communities in the United States began to experience a significant influx of immigrants, especially Hispanics. A single-issue movement opposing immigration has helped create fear and anxiety about immigration in the minds of many Americans.

Many Ku Klux Klan groups have attempted to take advantage of that fear and uncertainty, using anti-immigration sentiments for recruitment and propaganda purposes, and to attract publicity.

See also: Neo-Nazis

The term neo-Nazi refers to any post-World War II social or political movement seeking to revive Nazism, or some variant that echoes core aspects of National Socialism. Members of neo-Nazi groups (excluding the NSM) prefer to be called "white nationalists, white separatists, or, white racialists," and object to the term neo-Nazi. The vast majority of neo-Nazis have beliefs that differ from actual Nazism, but they still advocate white supremacy.

During the 1960-70s, all racist non-Klan groups were labeled generically as neo-Nazis, and so were the racist skinhead groups that emerged during the 1980s. The Ku Klux Klan started as a domestic "homegrown" hate movement, and was not directly influenced by Nazi ideology.

There are a number of small neo-Nazi groups in the United States today. The earliest example of this ideological tendency can be traced back to the 1930s and the formation of the German-American Bund. The German-American Bund and similar groups achieved limited popularity. The zenith of the Bund's history occurred on President's Day, February 19, 1939 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Some 20,000 people attended and heard Fritz Kuhn criticize President Franklin D. Roosevelt by repeatedly referring to him as “Frank D. Rosenfeld”, calling his New Deal the "Jew Deal." The Bund's popularity rapidly faded with the onset of World War II. The groups either disbanded or were dismantled by force of law (such as the 1942 sedition trial) during the war period. After the war, new organizations formed, with varying degrees of support for Nazi principles.


In 1959, the first explicitly postwar American neo-Nazi group was founded by George Lincoln Rockwell. The American Nazi Party achieved high-profile coverage in the press through their public demonstrations.


Organizations which report upon American neo-Nazi activities include the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center. While a small minority of American neo-Nazis draw public attention, most operate underground, so they can recruit, organize and raise funds without interference or harassment. American neo-Nazi groups often operate websites, occasionally stage public demonstrations, and maintain ties to groups in Europe and elsewhere.


The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, which allows political organizations great latitude in expressing Nazi, racist, and anti-Semitic views. A First Amendment landmark was the "Skokie Affair", in which neo-Nazis threatened to march in a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago. The march never took place in Skokie, but the court ruling allowed the neo-Nazis to stage a series of demonstrations in the Chicago area.

Members of The Order were convicted of crimes such as murder, racketeering, conspiracy, violating civil rights and sedition. Matthew F. Hale of the Creativity Movement was imprisoned for soliciting the murder of a federal judge. Aryan Nations lost a $6.2 million dollar lawsuit after Aryan Nations members opened fire on a passing vehicle. Aryan Nations has since lost its headquarters and paramilitary training grounds, and has split into three separate organizations. Other neo-Nazi groups in the US, include the National Alliance, White Aryan Resistance (WAR), American Front, and the National Socialist Movement (NSM). The NSM was founded in 1974 by Robert Brannen, former member of the American Nazi Party before its decline. The group claims to be the largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in the United States.

Combat 18 (C18) is a neo-Nazi group based in the UK. C18 is an international group with chapters in Europe, South America, Australia, Canada, and the US. A former C18 leader, Del O'Connor, moved to the US and started TCB Hate Crew, a small skinhead group in Texas and parts of the Midwest (now defunct). Del O'Conner and his C18 splinter group, White Wolves, were initially believed to have been involved in masterminding the bombing of a gay nightclub and several other locations in London. He is now a representative for the group Volksfront.


See also: Neo-Nazi Skinheads, Ku Klux Klan

RACIST SERIAL KILLER: Joseph Paul Franklin (born April 13, 1950) is an American serial killer who may have killed 20 people between 1977 and 1980. He has been convicted of several murders, and has confessed to the attempted assassinations of two prominent people: the 1978 shooting of magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Flynt's attorney and the 1980 shooting of Vernon Jordan. Franklin shot and paralyzed publisher Larry Flynt because “Hustler” magazine dedicated an issue to inter-racial sex. Franklin also shot and wounded black attorney Vernon Jordan (Bill Clinton confidant) and former president of the “Urban League” because Jordan was jogging with a Caucasian woman. Franklin has not been convicted in either of those cases. Because Franklin has changed his story about some cases, the full extent of his crimes are unknown.


He was born James Clayton Vaughn, in Mobile, Alabama to a poor family. In 1976 he changed his name to Joseph Paul Franklin. He selected Joseph Paul in honor of Paul Joseph Goebbels and Franklin for Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin is believed to have suffered an abusive childhood at the hands of both his violent parents. As early as high school he had become very interested in neo-Nazism and later held memberships in both the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan. He also has one daughter from a 1968 marriage.

Franklin was a drifter, roaming up and down the East Coast, always looking for chances to "cleanse the world" of people he considered inferior, especially blacks and Jews. He sustained himself by robbing banks and often sold or traded the guns he used to kill. Despite being partially blind in his left eye and completely blind in his right eye, Franklin was a proficient marksman, and killed most of his victims from over 100 feet away. He did not touch or try to contact the majority of victims, instead assassinating them from a distance; thereby falling into the category of a mission oriented serial killer. He was a highly organized killer, who would plan several escape routes and anti-forensic techniques in advance. Despite his rare and inflammatory motives, Franklin's complete lack of murder ritual has excluded him from pop culture reference, unlike less prolific serial killers such as Ted Bundy.

Criminal career

Franklin's level of violence continuously escalated; before he committed his first known murder, he fire-bombed a synagogue and threw mace at a racially-mixed couple. Starting in 1977, he went on a continual murder spree, supporting himself by robbing banks. He admitted his racist ideology; God, he said, wanted him to start a race war.

Franklin killed at random, and may have begun in Madison, Wisconsin. His target of choice were mixed-race couples, which he called "MRCs." In interviews, he explained that he planned the murders and his exit in advance, often changing his hair style and colour, as well as changing clothes and vehicles often. He would listen to a police scanner during his escapes.

On one occasion, he threatened to kill President Jimmy Carter for his pro-civil rights views. He'd also intended to shoot Jesse Jackson, but Jackson's security detail made this impossible; he changed his target to Vernon Jordan in lieu of Jackson. An escape artist, he managed to elude law enforcement for years. He was eventually caught, however, when a nurse in Florida taking the blood he was selling recognised a bald eagle tattoo on his arm.

Arrested in 1980, Franklin provided detailed confessions. He has been tried in several states and, in Missouri in 1997, he was sentenced to death.

Franklin has been linked by either indictment or confession to 20 murders, 6 aggravated assaults, 16 bank robberies and 2 bombings. He has confessed to 8 murders, and has received several life sentences or capital punishment for others. He made several confessions in the late 1990's on the condition that he confessed to "an attractive white female investigator."

* July 29, 1977; Beth Shalom synagogue in Chattanooga is firebombed.

* August 7, 1977; Dressed in cowboy regalia, Franklin shot and killed a black man and a white woman, Alphonse Manning and Toni Schwenn, driving away from a bank robbery in Madison, Wisconsin. He had been wanting to drive faster, but was frustrated with the speed of Manning's driving. Manning stopped his car and got out, Franklin picked up a stolen handgun and shot him, then walking over to his car and shot his friend. In 1985, he received two life sentences for these murders.

* October 8, 1977; He hid in long grass behind a telegraph pole at a synagogue parking lot in Richmond Heights, Missouri, using a Remington 700 hunting rifle to kill one man, Gerald Gordon, and injure two others. He had earlier in the day bought some ten inch nails, a bicycle and a guitar case. He scratched the serial number from his gun, cleaned off his fingerprints and placed it in the guitar case. He hammered the nails into the telegraph pole to serve as a gun rest and used the bike for a quick escape. He then took the rifle out of the case and fired five shots. After killing Gordon and wounding Steven Goldman and William Ash, he cycled to his car. He was convicted of murder, and was sentenced to death by lethal injection in the Potosi Correctional Center in Potosi, Missouri.

* Franklin claims that, on March 6, 1978, he used a .44 caliber rifle to ambush pornographer Larry Flynt and his lawyer Gene Reeves in Lawrenceville, Georgia. In his confession, Franklin said this was in retaliation for an edition of Hustler displaying interracial sex. Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down. Flynt believes Franklin's confession, but there have been no charges in the case. The confession came years after the shooting, and it is not clear that there is any evidence besides Franklin's word.

* July 29, 1978; Franklin hid in the long grass around a Pizza Hut in Chattanooga, jumping out to kill Bryant Tatum with a 12 gauge shotgun. Tatum, a black man, was shot once, as was his white girlfriend Nancy Hilton (who survived.) Franklin confessed and pleaded guilty, being given a life sentence, as well as a sentence for an unrelated armed robbery in 1977.

* July 12, 1979; Taco Bell manager Harold McIver (27), a black man, was shot through a window from 150 yards in Doraville, Georgia, killing him. Franklin confessed but was not tried or sentenced for this crime. Franklin asserted that McIver was in close contact with white women, and the murder prevented him from having sex with any of them.

* August 18, 1979; He killed a black man seated in a Burger King with a rifle in Falls Church, Virginia. Later, this would be the scene of another sniper attack by the Beltway sniper. Franklin confessed to the murder on videotape.

* October 21, 1979; Franklin used a sniper rifle to kill a mixed race couple in Oklahoma City. He has not yet been tried for this murder. He fired five shots from 100 yards away, hitting Jesse Taylor, who was black, three times and Marian Bresette, who was white, once.

* December 5, 1979; Franklin killed 15-year-old prostitute Mercedes Lynn Masters, with whom he had previously lived in Dekalb County, Georgia, with a shotgun. Her fatal mistake was telling Franklin that she had black customers. DeKalb County was also the scene of four of the Atlanta child murders, which were initially thought to be racially motivated.

* January 8 or January 11, 1980; Franklin murdered a 19-year-old black man in a long-distance rifle attack in Indianapolis. The young man was standing with his father outside a fried chicken restaurant. Franklin awaits trial for aggravated murder.

* January 16 or January 17, 1980; He sniped a black man with the same rifle from 150 yards in Indianapolis. He awaits trial for aggravated murder.

* May 2, 1980; He shot hitchhiker Rebecca Bergstrom with a handgun in Monroe County, Wisconsin. He confessed to this murder in 1984.

* May 29, 1980; He says he shot Bill Clinton associate Vernon Jordan after seeing him with a white woman in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was initially acquitted, but later confessed.

* June 8, 1980; Franklin has confessed to killing cousins Darrel Lane (14) and Donte Evans Brown (13) in Bond Hill, Cincinnati. He was waiting on an overpass for hours to shoot a racially mixed couple, but grew impatient and shot the boys instead. He received two life sentences for these murders. During the trial, he taunted the Judge and claimed that the sheriff and his deputies were homosexuals [1].

* June 15, 1980; He shot and killed an interracial couple, Arthur Smothers (22) and Kathleen Mikula (16), from a woodland area in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Franklin has confessed, although Pennsylvania has not extradited him.

* June 25, 1980; He used a .44 Ruger pistol to kill two hitchhikers — Nancy Santomero (19) and Vicki Durian (26) — in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. He confessed to the crime after it was revealed that another man, Jacob Beard of Florida, was imprisoned in 1993 on these charges. He picked up the white girls, but decided to kill them after one of them admitted having a black boyfriend. He later said, "They told me they were into race-mixing, I just decided to waste 'em."

* August 20, 1980; He killed two black men from 40 yards with a Marlin Firearms lever action rifle as they jogged with white women in Salt Lake City. Franklin received two life sentences for this crime. The victims, Ted Fields and David Martin, died at the scene. [2]

* September, 1980; He escaped from police custody, but was recaptured in Florida.
Conviction and imprisonment

A recalcitrant and unrepentant prisoner, Franklin claimed after trial (for the murder of Gerald Gordon) that his only regret was that killing Jews was not legal. He made an escape attempt during a judgment. He made a reference to his escape attempts during the trial, thanking the jury for a fair trial and commending them on their verdict, claiming that if he had not been given the death penalty, he would probably escape again.

Trivia

William Luther Pierce's second book, Hunter, contains a dedication to Franklin.

Omar Portee, also known as O.G. Mack, was born in LA and was involved in the Miller Gangster Bloods in South Central before moving to New York City. O.G. Mack established the United Blood Nation while incarcerated at Rikers Island prison in 1993. The first set created in the prison was the Nine Trey Gangsters. Mack and O.G. Deadeye are considered the "Godfathers" or O.G. (Original Gangster) of the East Coast Bloods.

RELEASE DATE: 12-19-2044

See also: ADX Florence

Man shot dead refused to drop gun, police say
By Mark Bowes
October 7, 2009

A Pagans Motorcycle Club member was fatally shot by police trying to serve a search warrant at his home after he refused an order to drop a shotgun he held as state and federal officers entered, state police said today.

After announcing their presence, the officers were confronted by James M. Hicks Jr., 45, who was armed with a shotgun, state police Sgt. Thomas Molnar said this afternoon.

He was then shot multiple times after being ordered to drop the weapon and he refused to do so, Molnar said. He died of a gunshot wound to his torso, according to the state medical examiner’s office.

Molnar said the officer who fired the shot was a member of the Virginia State Police tactical team. The officers had to forcibly enter the home about 6 a.m. after no one answered the door, Molnar said.

The police account of yesterday’s events conflicts with a statement issued earlier today by Hicks’ attorney, who said Hicks was armed but he did not brandish, point or fire his gun as the officers entered. A family member who refused to be identified said today that Hicks was armed because he believed someone was trying to break into his house.

Defense attorney John Rockecharlie, who was representing James M. Hicks Jr. on a felony drug charge in Chesterfield County, also said federal agents didn’t find any contraband during a search of his home in the 10000 block of Halifax Road in northern Dinwiddie County.

Rockecharlie said he was advised of that information by a “reliable source” he declined to identify. Since yesterday’s shooting, Rockecharlie said he’s been in contact with Hicks’ family, including his wife, who was inside the house when her husband was shot.

“His family and friends are devastated by the events of yesterday morning,“ Rockecharlie said in a prepared statement after being contacted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “They are at a loss to understand why the police handled the situation in such a manner. James did not fire, point or brandish a firearm at any officer.

“In the chaos that was created by the police smashing down the door to his home, James was taken from his loved ones,“ the attorney added. “We hope the authorities look closely at the actions of the police officers involved.“

The attorney said he didn’t know whether yesterday’s raid by state police and agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had anything to do with Hicks’ arrest in July on drug and gun charges in Chesterfield.

A felony charge of possession of methamphetamine was certified against Hicks last month to a Chesterfield Circuit Court grand jury.

According to court documents and information provided by Rockecharlie, Hicks was arrested July 11 after a state trooper stopped him on northbound Interstate 95 near the state Route 10 exit in Chesterfield.

Hicks was riding his 1999 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and was wearing Pagans paraphernalia at the time, including a jacket with the club’s emblem on the back. He was stopped for wearing a non-approved helmet while riding his bike.

“He looked like he was right out of the Sons of Anarchy,“ said Rockecharlie, referring to a popular cable television series that chronicles the lives of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

According to court records, Hicks cooperated with the trooper who stopped him and told the officer “everything he had on him.“ That included a .357-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol in his motorcycle saddle bag, along with 0.068 grams of powdered methamphetamine, 3.8 grams of marijuana and four tabs of a pharmaceutical drug that Rockecharlie said he had a prescription for. Those pills contained hydrocodone and dihydrocodeine, according to a state laboratory report included in court records.

At a court hearing Sept. 18, Hicks was convicted of a reduced count of possession of drug paraphernalia for the marijuana offense and a concealed weapon charge was withdrawn by prosecutors. Hicks waived his preliminary hearing on the felony drug charge and it was certified by a judge to circuit court. A grand jury was to have considered an indictment on that charge in November.

Citing the search warrant that had been sealed by a federal court, state police and ATF officials have declined to provide details about their case, the nature of the search warrant they were serving or the circumstances that preceded the shooting. Authorities today said they may release additional information.

Court records list Hicks’ occupation as a mechanic/welder. On a financial disclosure form filed with his arrest papers, Hicks wrote that he had been employed eight years with Truck Service of Virginia in Disputanta. A company spokeswoman today confirmed Hicks’ employment and described him as a reliable, hard-working employee.

Jay Anthony Dobyns (born 1961), alias Jaybird, is a United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) undercover agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels motorcycle club from 2001 to 2003. He was offered membership into the gang after faking the murder of a rival Mongols Motorcycle Club member and providing 'evidence' of the staged murder to Hells Angels leaders.

Dobyns became a New York Times Best Selling Author in 2009 following the release of his book No Angel - My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels (Random House ISBN: 978-0-307-40585-2 (0-307-40585-0).

Dobyns was born in Indiana and was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He graduated from Sahuaro High School in 1980 and the University of Arizona in 1985. He was an All-Pacific 10 conference wide receiver and was named to Arizona's All-Century football team.

Dobyns became an ATF Agent in 1987. After only four days on duty he was taken hostage and shot through the chest. His trauma surgeon was Richard Carmona, who later became the 17th United States Surgeon General.

Dobyns spent the majority of his ATF career working in varied undercover assignments within the U.S. developing undercover expertise in violent crime investigation, narcotics, firearms, gang infiltrations, home invasion robbery cases, and murder-for-hire investigations.
In 2001 Dobyns was selected as the lead undercover agent during an investigation of the Hells Angels in Arizona and charged with infiltrating the gang. Although the investigation was deemed successful leading to the indictment of numerous persons for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations and other crimes, the prosecution was considered failed after internal government squabbling ultimately led to defendants receiving reduced sentences and some with charges dismissed.

---

Dobyns' exploits during Operation Black Biscuit are memorialized in the novels Angels of Death, written by authors Julian Sher and William Marsden, Running With The Devil written by author Kerrie Droban.


Dobyns portrays himself in television documentaries produced by The History Channel (Gangland: Behind Enemy Lines) and the National Geographic Channel (Inside: Outlaw Bikers - Hells Angels). Fox Television's America's Most Wanted also produced a segment entitled Operation Black Biscuit that details the work of Dobyns and his partners during the Hells Angels investigation.

Dobyns has appeared on the CNN program Anderson Cooper 360 discussing death threats he has received from the Hells Angels and his agency's failure to respond to or assist him in the defense of those threats.


In February 2009, Dobyns released his own book titled No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of The Hells Angels. Dobyns and co-author Nils Johnson-Shelton tell Dobyns's personal account of how the Hells Angels infiltration assignment changed his life.

No Angel debuted on the New York Times Best Seller List (non-fiction).

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Dobyns joins other former undercover agents such as Frank Serpico, Joe Pistone (a.k.a. Donnie Brasco), Bob Delaney (a.k.a. Bobby Covert), William Queen (a.k.a. Billy St. John), and Joaquin Garcia (a.k.a. Jackie Falcone) in becoming mainstream news stories following their undercover assignments.

In 2006, Dobyns was inducted into the Sahuaro High School Alumni Cougar Foundation Hall of Fame.

Dobyns owns and operates the Jay Dobyns Group, LLC, a motivational speaking / consulting business that provides presentations to private industry and business leaders.

Dobyns received death threats from Hells Angels members and associates. Dobyns' threats became public when he claimed that ATF did not sufficiently protect him or his family from the dangers.


Federal agent penetrated Hells Angels, fears for his life
February 5, 2007
- Kelli Arena, Scott Bronstein and Jim Spellman
CNN

MESA, Arizona (CNN) -- For nearly two years, Jay Dobyns led a double life. He rode alongside the Hells Angels, becoming a member of one of the nation's most feared criminal gangs. But at the same time, he was working as a federal agent in an effort to bring the Hells Angels down.

Jay Dobyns works for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation's gun laws. His deep undercover work with the Hells Angels from 2001-2003 ultimately helped bring the indictment and trial of 16 gang members and their associates.

As a result, Dobyns was awarded a top cop award by the National Association of Police Organizations. He also was hailed on America's Most Wanted as one of the "Good Guys" who brings down the criminals.

But today, just a few years later, Dobyns says that after risking his life on assignment, he has been left vulnerable by the very agency that he proudly served.

Feeling abandoned

With his undercover work done and his real identity as a law enforcement agent exposed, Dobyns says the Hells Angels and other gangs enlisted by it came after him, issuing death threats. Dobyns claims that the ATF -- rather than protecting him -- abandoned him.

"There was a murder contract on me and there was what was called a green light list, which was circulating in the prison, which was a list of people that various gangs wanted killed," Dobyns told CNN.

In response, Dobyns says, the ATF gave him a routine transfer with no special protection, despite his repeated protests. The ATF could have moved Dobyns and his family under what is known as a "threat policy" -- similar to the kind of protection the government routinely gives witnesses in organized crime cases.

But federal agents who go undercover don't automatically get a high level of protection, according to Dobyns and other ATF agents CNN interviewed.

"In order to save money, I was told it wasn't cost effective," Dobyns says.

Dobyns says he has moved himself and his family several times to elude those who've threatened to kill him. He has filed a claim with the ATF for the emotional stress and financial burden he says he's had to bear as a result.

The ATF responds

In a note to CNN, ATF acting director Michael J. Sullivan wrote that privacy and personnel matters prohibit him from commenting directly on Dobyns' allegations, but he assured CNN that Dobyns' allegations are being fully reviewed by the ATF and the Department of Justice.

"There is nothing more important to ATF and to me than the safety and protection of our employees and their families. We at ATF understand that we have a solemn responsibility to protect the people whom we charge to investigate and arrest the country's most violent criminals," Sullivan wrote.

But more than a dozen former and current ATF agents interviewed by CNN, many of whom have their own lawsuits, claims and serious concerns, said the ATF is failing to protect its agents.

Charlie Fuller is a 23-year retired veteran ATF special agent and a former top trainer of undercover agents, who wrote a manual on undercover work, "The Art of Undercover." He trained Dobyns and many other top ATF undercover agents.

"What happened to Dobyns is not an isolated incident," said Fuller. In many cases, he said, managers don't thoroughly understand the complexity of the undercover work or how to best work with and manage the agents once they're back in the real world.

He said agents are seen as troublemakers or retaliated against if they raise complaints or report problems.

"Threats like what Dobyns faced -- this is the most serious thing an ATF agent can face -- the threats against his family," said Fuller. "How could they ignore something like that?"

Asked about Fuller's claims, the ATF said it would have no further comment for now, saying it would stand on Sullivan's previous statement.

"As ATF executes its mission to prevent terrorism, reduce violent crime and protect the public, we will continue to place the highest value on ensuring the safety of our employees and their families," Sullivan said.



Undercover With Hells Angels
In his new book, "No Angel," ATF agent Jay Dobyns writes about his undercover mission with the Hells Angels -- and the subsequent fallout
By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Agent Jay Dobyns, a former star football player at the University of Arizona, had the size, attitude and tattoos to look the part of a Hells Angels member. In the summer of 2001, Mr. Dobyns, then a 14-year veteran at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was asked to join a task force focused on infiltrating the motorcycle gang and stopping the sale of illegal weapons in Bullhead City, Ariz.

The mission was code-named "Black Biscuit," and Mr. Dobyns left his wife and two children for weeks at a time to create a believable persona that enabled him to successfully penetrate a local Arizona Hells Angels chapter.

But Mr. Dobyns came close to crossing the line. In a bid to amp up his energy level, he developed a dangerous dependence on the weight-loss pill Hydroxycut during the 21 months he spent undercover. It was not the only decision he later regretted, as he describes in his new book, "No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels," written with Nils Johnson-Shelton. The work is now a best seller.

Mr. Dobyns, 47 years old, eventually had a public falling out with the ATF -- he is currently a plaintiff in a $4 million lawsuit against the agency in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, alleging defamation of character and the failure to protect him and his family, according to his attorney, James Reed, a partner in Baird, Williams & Greer, in Phoenix. Yet Mr. Dobyns remains an agency employee, now working in ballistics evidence. "I won't quit," he says.

The ATF declined to comment on the book and lawsuit. The agency said in a statement that it "does not, as a matter of policy, comment on personnel matters or pending litigation."

Interview

The Wall Street Journal: The Hells Angels you met seemed to take you at face value. Were you surprised that they weren't more skeptical?

Jay Dobyns: By the time the case started, I had mastered every skill and trick of the trade, the tradecraft of undercover work. In hindsight, they should have been more skeptical, but I'm good at what I do.

WSJ: Outlaw motorcycle gangs are often portrayed as drug couriers. Did you see any evidence of that?

Mr. Dobyns: Narcotics was a big part of our case. I won't say that I was hitting stash house after stash house. A lot of it was street level narcotics. I never got to the giant massive quantity of drugs that I believed were out there and that I expected to get to.

WSJ: You write that eventually warrants were served on 50 defendants, but in the epilogue you note that many received short sentences while others got off entirely. What happened?

Mr. Dobyns: The investigation was a success based on the evidence and testimony. But we lost the prosecution. The good guys couldn't get along. The agency and prosecutors disagreed over how to present evidence, and what evidence to present. The internal bickering got out of hand, and very sweet plea deals were offered and charges were dismissed. The good guys started attacking themselves. Unfortunately the risks I took and the sacrifices I made don't carry weight in the eyes of prosecutors and the court. It's a cold, calculated business.

WSJ: You had a major falling out with the ATF, where you still work, and have filed a lawsuit. Why?

Mr. Dobyns: After the case ended I began to receive death and violence threats against me and my kids. Contracts were being offered to kill me. And the ATF did nothing. The same agency that encouraged and sent me to go toe-to-toe on behalf of their mission of fighting violent crime, ran and hid. In essence, I've been left on my own to figure out how to defend myself. When I blew the whistle on how they handled it, that's when the falling out came. My story isn't unique I was just the first one to stand up and call them out on it.

WSJ: Your house in Tucson burned down. What happened?

Mr. Dobyns: It was a total loss, and everything in it was a total loss. I'm still rebuilding. It was definitely arson, which has become another point of contention. The ATF didn't react to the fire initially. They later sent a single arson investigator, who determined the cause was arson. Agency managers tried to get him to change his conclusion, but he refused. He wouldn't compromise his integrity. He was then removed from the case. Then the ATF named me as a suspect and handed the case to the FBI. The ATF alleged I set my own house on fire. And my family was in the house at the time. They were saying I tried to kill my family.

WSJ: How many times did you and your family have to move, and what is your living situation today?

Mr. Dobyns: Over the course of five years we have lived in 16 different houses. It's a transient lifestyle.

WSJ: Why are the Hells Angels such an iconic organization?

Mr. Dobyns: They are America's bad boys. And America loves bad boys. Not every Hells Angels member I met was a rapist or murderer. Some called me on Thanksgiving or Christmas because they knew I was alone and said, come on over and hang out. Most of them, most of the time, have a smile on their faces. But heaven forbid that you insult them, or get involved crossways with their business.

WSJ: Why did you want to write this book?

Mr. Dobyns: The public was left with the impression that the case failed -- that there had to be something wrong with the undercover guys. I wanted to set the record straight. The undercover case was magnificent. The agency and prosecutors left the undercover operators to be the scapegoats for the prosecution, and that wasn't the case.

WSJ: Any regrets? You seemed to like some of the gang members you met. And you put your family through hell.

Mr. Dobyns: My biggest regret is that I abandoned my family in pursuit of this mission. I take no pride in having turned my back on my wife and kids for the relentless purpose of infiltrating that gang. Do I apologize to the Hells Angels for getting inside their club? Absolutely not. My job is to handle America's business.

Key Players in Operation Black Biscuit

Informers

* Rudolph "Rudy" Kramer, 46, president of Tijuana-based Solo Angeles4 motorcycle club, infiltrated Hells Angels chapters statewide as Confidential Informant #790. Convicted of weapons violation.

* Michael "Mesa Mike" Kramer, 38, former Hells Angels member, helped sting fellow bikers in Arizona and California as Confidential Informant #376. Pleaded guilty to murder.

Bikers

* Kevin Augustiniak, 24, member of Hells Angels charter in Mesa, indicted for murder, pleaded not guilty, trial pending.

* Paul Eischeid, 33, prospect with the Mesa chapter, also indicted for murder, pleaded not guilty, trial pending.

* Robert J. "Bad Bob" Johnston Jr., 48, former president of Mesa chapter, indicted for racketeering and conspiracy, pleaded not guilty.

* Michael Coffelt, prospect at Cave Creek chapter in Phoenix, shot during law enforcement raid; charge of aggravated assault dismissed with prosecution appeal pending.

Agents

* Jay "Jaybird" Dobyns, Tucson special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; posed undercover as member of Tijuana-based Solo Angeles; supervised informer Rudy Kramer.

* Joseph Slatalla, Phoenix ATF agent; also worked with Rudy Kramer.

* John Ciccone, Los Angeles ATF agent, supervised informer Michael Kramer.

The task force included six special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, plus detectives from the Phoenix, Tempe and Glendale police departments.

Hells Angels Motorcycle Club

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club maintains chapters in 23 states and 25 foreign countries. There are 126 members in Arizona, plus dozens more associates, operating under six charters.

The list includes one Nomad group with no home base, plus chapters in Phoenix, Mesa, Cave Creek (north Phoenix) Tucson and Skull Valley near Prescott.

Sources: ATF reports and U.S. District Court records.


Hells Angels: The Federal Infiltration
The Arizona Republic®
by Dennis Wagner
Jan. 23, 2005

The man's body lay crumpled in a ditch, face down, unidentifiable except for a blood-soaked leather jacket bearing the Mongols Motorcycle Club insignia.

Burly, tattooed bikers stood around admiring their work, taking digital photographs under a blazing sun.Among them was Jay "Jaybird" Dobyns, who had told Arizona Hells Angels associates in advance that he and a companion were going to Mexico to kill a rival Mongols gang member.

Two days later in a trailer near Prescott, Dobyns showed off the jacket and snapshots to admiring Hells Angels brothers, who announced that he would be adopted into the world's most notorious outlaw biker club without a required year-long probation.One of the men grabbed Dobyns and hugged him, saying, "How does it feel to be a Hells Angel?"

The answer came six months later in the form of handcuffs and a criminal indictment. That's how Hells Angels learned that the Mexico homicide was a theatrical ruse: The Mongol was really a federal agent covered with cow's blood and very much alive. Dobyns was a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, working undercover.

Operation Black Biscuit was touted as "...the most successful undercover operation ever pulled on an outlaw motorcycle club." In July 2003, three dozen Arizona suspects were charged with gunrunning, murder for hire and narcotics violations. Five months later, indictments charged 16 Arizona Hells Angels members and associates, including three chapter presidents, in racketeering, conspiracy, murder and drug dealing. Those arrests were synchronized with raids in Nevada, California, Alaska and Washington state netting scores of additional suspects.

Today, there is little doubt that investigators risked their lives to penetrate the club known for its death-head logo and tough-guy attitude, or that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club across America's West was crippled. The National Association of Police Officers fetéd task force members with "Top Cop" Awards.

But officials failed to mention serious problems with bikers who worked undercover for the government during the two-year sting. One informer used drugs, beat people up and lied to his handler. Another was arrested by state police and had to be pulled off the street. Both received questionable plea deals.

While prosecutors and task force members declined comment, Hells Angels leaders and lawyers say Black Biscuit is a case study in the misuse of informers. As the case moves to trial this spring, records obtained by The Arizona Republic lend credence to that criticism and raise a question: Was Operation Black Biscuit an undercover success that took dangerous gangsters off the streets, an undercover sting that veered out of control or both?

The Informer

Hard-core detectives have a saying about going undercover: The best way to catch a sleazeball is with another sleazeball.

Operation Black Biscuit began, according to ATF Special Agent Joseph Slatalla, with a drug-abusing felon who belonged to the Solo Angeles, a biker club based in Tijuana. A search warrant affidavit written by Slatalla refers to the man only as "CW," initials for cooperating witness. But court papers submitted by defense lawyers identify him as Rudolph "Rudy" Kramer, 46, of Queen Creek, a pony-tailed biker with 10 aliases and a felony rap sheet. Federal agents and prosecutors have not released the identities of informers or commented on their roles in the case.

It is unclear when Kramer joined the Solo Angeles, but records show the sheetmetal worker moved to Arizona in the 1990s looking for a new life. According to a sentencing memo by defense lawyer James Park, Kramer found his answer in Jesus and a job making helicopters.

"He and his wife wanted, and began to have, a normal life..." Park wrote. "They attended church together...Rudy was on his way to walking away from his past and joining 'Middle America.'"

Instead, Kramer wound up walking into the arms of federal agents. Park blamed a sleeping disorder and a doctor's misguided prescription: Kramer, who suffered from narcolepsy, was given Desoxyn (methamphetamine) in September 2001 and promptly consumed a 40-day supply of pills in 48 hours. The result: psychotic behavior and an arrest by ATF agents for weapons violations.

Court records indicate that Kramer, with a baby at home and facing a long prison term, played the defendant's trump card: He agreed to become, in the criminals' vernacular, a "snitch", infiltrating outlaw biker gangs. In arraignment papers, a federal magistrate noted Kramer's long drug history and wrote, "Substance abusers, especially those who use meth, are inherently unreliable and untrustworthy."

That warning did not deter ATF agents. Two months after the arrest, charges were dismissed. Kramer was out of jail, on the loose and dealing in meth and guns again. Only this time he was operating under the color of law.

Getting in deep

As president of Solo Angeles, Kramer burrowed into Arizona's criminal biker world, making drug and firearm contacts in Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa, Bullhead City and Prescott.He was so busy, in fact, that a pair of Hells Angels intelligence gatherers showed up at his Queen Creek house in June 2002 and announced that they had been sent to interrogate him.

Kramer crafted an answer that appealed to the rivalry with the Mongols Motorcycle Club: According to ATF records, he said he was arming the Solo Angeles in Mexico to combat a Mongols chapter there. He also said he wanted the Solo Angeles in Arizona to collaborate with the Hells Angels on narcotics and weapons smuggling.

The story worked. In July 2002, Kramer met with Robert "Bad Bob" Johnston Jr., president of the Mesa club, and began introducing ATF agents as members of Solo Angeles to Hells Angels leaders statewide.Months of drug trafficking, gun dealing and partying ensued. Task force members set up undercover houses and used hidden cameras to film biker parties. They helped plan warfare with Mongols. They were offered drugs, frisked for wires and forced to strip before trafficking in methamphetamines and firearms.

One undercover agent got so tight with Hell Angels' leaders that Johnston treated him as a confidant, sharing information he hadn't even divulged to the club's Cice President. ATF records show that as operatives conducted black-market business for the investigation, Arizona Hells Angels chapters waged a secret recruitment competition, inviting the undercover agents to become prospects. They were guests at Hells Angels' funerals and weddings. They took part in an annual biker parade past Florence prisons.

They even posed for snapshots with Sonny Barger, the iconic king of outlaw bikers.Barger, who faces no charges in Operation Black Biscuit, declined comment except for a terse criticism of law enforcement tactics: "It's too bad they get away with what they're doing."

The Sting

In an undercover sting, security is essential. One slip-up could be fatal to informers and agents. And, as the case evolved, Rudy Kramer became a liability.

On Sept. 6, 2002, Department of Public Safety officers stopped his car near an Apache Junction meth factory and found drug paraphernalia inside. No new charges were filed, but within days the old firearm indictment was reinstated and Kramer was incarcerated. Word soon leaked from prison that Kramer was talking to federal agents behind bars. Johnston, the Mesa Hells Angels president, confided to an undercover operative that Kramer might have to be "shanked" in prison.

About that time, Hell Angels leaders in Arizona began hearing rumors from Southern California that the Solo Angeles in Arizona were imposters and should not be trusted.Black Biscuit task force members came up with an ingenious plan to ensure credibility. In mid-June 2003, Dobyns put out word that he and another Solo Angel were heading to Mexico to battle Mongols. After a murder scene was concocted in Phoenix, Dobyns called Arizona leaders of the Hells Angels to report that his lethal mission in Sonora was accomplished.

"The girl down here blew a head gasket.", he explained in code, adding that his companion was killed in the gunplay.The ruse solidified the Solo Angeles status with bikers.Meanwhile, Kramer filed a guilty plea in court and wrote a letter to the judge begging for leniency: "Your honor, I give my word I will never again come in contact with, own, buy, sell or in any way possess another firearm or weapon for the remainder of my life. I swear to you and my Heavenly Father, this is true."He was sentenced to five years in prison and vanished, apparently into protective custody.

Biker respect

Rudy Kramer wasn't the only government plant. Federal agents unwittingly signed up a murderer as well. On Oct. 27, 2001, the Mesa Hells Angel chapter held its weekly "church meeting": a membership assembly at the clubhouse in a residential area near the city's heart. After official business was completed, the bikers began to party. A Hells Angels prospect was instructed to go out and find women. He returned with 44-year-old Cynthia Yvonne Garcia, who joined the festivities.

As the evening progressed, Garcia began "talking trash" about club members and their patches. ATF reports say one of the bikers, 38-year-old Michael Christopher Kramer (no known relation to Rudy) grabbed Garcia by the hair and warned her be respectful. She kept lipping off, so Hells Angels member Kevin Augustiniak allegedly knocked her to the floor and began kicking her face, joined by Paul Eischeid, a prospect at the club.

ATF records say a semiconscious Garcia was loaded in the trunk of a car, driven to Usury Pass Road near the Salt River and dragged into bushes. Augustiniak and Eischeid purportedly stabbed her more than two dozen times. Michael Kramer heard gurgling noises and felt Garcia grab his pant leg. He was given a knife and slashed at her neck. Augustiniak allegedly tried to sever the woman's head, but failed. The corpse was found on Halloween.

Michael Kramer had been a Hells Angel for five years, and a member of Arizona's Dirty Dozen biker club before that. Yet, one month after the killing, he met with Los Angeles ATF Agent John Ciccone and, without disclosing his crime, offered to become an informer. It was an offer the lawman did not refuse.

Testifying at a federal drug trial in California, Kramer claimed he started working for the ATF to avoid prison and to be safe from his accomplices. "I got a conscience," he added. "...What happened out there in the desert was screwed up."

Despite pangs of conscience, Kramer told Ciccone only that he had information on a "hypothetical" incident in Arizona, without providing details. The upshot: On Dec. 1, 2001, the government enlisted a killer as a paid operative. Michael Kramer quit his job as a garbage-truck driver, moved to the San Fernando Valley and began to infiltrate the Hells Angels there, playing the role of an Arizona drug runner.

Federal taxpayers covered Kramer's rent, utilities and other living expenses. He was given cash to buy guns and drugs, plus an extra $500 a week. The informer contract prohibited him from breaking laws except when authorized by agents as part of the sting, a provision he ignored.

Behind Ciccone's back, Kramer repeatedly got high on meth and gave it to bikers, strippers and others. He beat a man with a baseball bat and left a biker dead on the freeway in a traffic accident. He also lured an untold number of people into drug deals.

Better Knives

Two months after Michael Kramer became a confidential informer, he offered to help solve the hypothetical crime in Arizona.He wanted immunity. Agents wanted to crack an unsolved murder case. A deal was struck.

Kramer came back to Mesa bearing a pair of expensive knives as gifts for his alleged accomplices. In a recorded conversation with Eischeid, he joked that sharper blades would make decapitation a breeze: "I figured this time, you know, instead of having to do it 50 times, we could just (take) one good one and a good (expletive) twist."

"Yeah," Eischeid agreed, "...these are (expletive) great knives."Kramer also brought a knife to Augustiniak, who discussed the likelihood of getting caught. "If you turn out to become a rat on the whole deal, well, then you'll get handled the way she was handled." he said."Same to you, brother." Kramer answered.

In January 2003, 14 months after Michael Kramer became an operative, he signed a plea agreement to serve five years of probation for murder, but not one day behind bars.Eischeid and Augustiniak, who pleaded not guilty, are awaiting trial.Family members of Garcia, the murder victim, could not be reached for comment.Michael Kramer was unavailable, apparently under federal protection.

Legal Battles

By midsummer 2003, Operation Black Biscuit had run its course. Top Justice Department officials decided to spring their enormous trap, raiding Hells Angels clubhouses, homes and businesses throughout the West. Hundreds of law officers were brought in to conduct searches, arrest suspects and turn the Hells Angels inside out.

D-Day was July 8. At 4:42 a.m., Glendale police SWAT officers with an armored vehicle and a videographer moved into position outside headquarters for the Hells Angels Cave Creek charter on a quiet residential street in north Phoenix. Club prospect Michael Coffelt was alone inside, on security duty, when bedlam struck. A voice yelled, "Police! Police!" The armored vehicle rammed through a wall. Officers shot a backyard dog. Flash-bang grenades sailed through the clubhouse window.

Coffelt opened the front door. Amid the confusion, Glendale police Officer Laura Beeler, stationed just outside with a rifle, pulled the trigger repeatedly, hitting Coffelt with bullets and shrapnel.The takedown, practiced at a mock clubhouse, lasted 14 seconds. Coffelt survived to face a charge of aggravated assault after Beeler reported he had shot first. A gun found beside Coffelt had not been fired.

Last month, Judge Michael Wilkinson of Maricopa County Superior Court ruled that the police raid was really an unlawful "attack" and dismissed charges against Coffelt, a decision being appealed by prosecutors. The judge found that Beeler's actions were understandable under the chaotic circumstances. Reviews by the Glendale Police Department and County Attorney's Office cleared the officer. Coffelt has filed a civil suit.

In the scheme of things, it was a minor victory for the Hells Angels. But club members and lawyers say the raid was symbolic of law enforcement practices throughout Operation Black Biscuit.

Truth by Trial

In Arizona alone, the government assembled 800 hours of bugged conversations, 92,000 phone calls and 8,500 seized documents to prove that Hells Angels is a criminal enterprise.

Investigators confiscated computers and files containing drug ledgers, membership lists, meeting minutes and bylaws. They seized 600 guns along with silencers, explosives, drugs, stolen vehicles, cash and a human skull. The combined evidence paints many Hells Angels as violent, cop-hating, drug-dealing, gunrunning criminals.

As the prosecution rumbles toward an April trial in U.S. District Court, some defendants are expected to cut plea deals. Others are trying to get charges thrown out because of government wrongdoing, especially the role of informers.

Defense attorneys argue that operatives who duped their ATF handlers may have entrapped Hells Angels suspects and are likely to lie under oath in court. They complain that task force members went on America's Most Wanted to brag about their big sting, yet prosecutors won't formally identify the snitches or divulge their deals.

"The conduct of the government violates, irreparably, the rights of the defendants to due process, to a fair and impartial jury.", defense attorney Mark Paige wrote.

Michael Kramer's character is especially problematic. In the California drug case, prosecutors were forced to admit that their paid informer used drugs, assaulted people and lied throughout the operation. If ATF agents cannot trust their operatives, Hells Angels lawyers ask, why should a judge or jury believe anything they say?

"Based on what I've seen, this is not a racketeering case," said Brian Russo, an attorney for Johnston, the Mesa charter president. "This is overstepping by the government."

In court papers, prosecutor Michael Kemp answered that informers were never asked to lie except as part of the sting. He said their testimony is backed by tape recordings, photos, statements from agents and physical evidence. He explained that agents appeared on America's Most Wanted for a legitimate purpose: seeking public help to track down fugitives. In short, Kemp argued, the deceit by informers is not grounds to squelch a huge criminal case.

Today, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club appears to be a shambles: leadership behind bars, mystique broken, organizational records in government hands. Prosecutors are trying to gain ownership of chapter houses by having the entire Arizona club labeled a criminal enterprise.

Legal jousting continues from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and elsewhere. In Phoenix, Judge David Campbell of the U.S. District Court in Arizona has sided mostly with prosecutors. But it remains to be seen whether Operation Black Biscuit will go down as a historic undercover success, or a sting that went bad.

Dennis Wagner - The Arizona Republic®

Judge detains Pagans motorcycle club president
October 15, 2009
By Andrew Clevenger, Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The national president of the Pagans Motorcycle Club will remain in custody while awaiting trial, a federal judge decided Thursday.

David K. "Bart" Barbeito, 49, of Myersville, Md., is one of 55 members and associates of the gang named in a sweeping, 44-count indictment unsealed last week. Prosecutors say Barbeito and other members of the group's ruling Mother Club led a criminal organization that controlled territory from New Jersey to Florida through violence and intimidation.

Stanley Needleman, Barbeito's Baltimore-based attorney, urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary E. Stanley not to get caught up in the outlaw biker mythology that surrounds motorcycle clubs.

Barbeito is a law-abiding, highly skilled professional who runs a successful construction business, not a renegade outlaw on a Harley-Davidson hell-bent on mischief and mayhem, Needleman said.

"He pays income tax. This is not a rolling stone," he said. "If he's a free spirit, then he's a free spirit. That doesn't make him a criminal."

Needleman acknowledged that Barbeito has been president of the Pagans since 1989, and participated in two Pagans events a year, he said.

"He's never going to run away from that. He has never done anything wrong," Needleman said, pointing out that Barbeito has no criminal record to speak of.

An Apache helicopter accompanied the FBI agents who searched Barbeito's compound, located less than five miles from the presidential retreat at Camp David, he said. The compound is gated to secure the expensive machinery, such as dump trucks and backhoes, that Barbeito uses in his business, he said.

Barbeito and his family can walk out of their door and hunt wild turkeys, which explained the 18 guns that agents found, he said.

Agents found four bulletproof vests; Barbeito and his children wore them when they hunted, Needleman said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Loew said the government does not believe that the guns, which included five handguns, one with the serial number removed, were used exclusively for hunting. He reminded the judge that one of the counts in the indictment alleged that another Pagan member who was a violent felon illegally wore a bulletproof vest.

"A deer don't shoot back," he added in response to Needleman's assertion about wearing the body armor while hunting.

Loew argued that as Pagans president, Barbeito could order his underlings to obstruct justice by intimidating and retaliating against witnesses.

"There are a lot of Pagans who are detained, but there are a lot more who are out there," he said.

FBI Special Agent Chris Courtright testified that Barbeito traveled to South Charleston in June 2003 to deal with a mini-rebellion by Charleston members who wanted to leave the gang. Barbeito told an unnamed confidential informant to guard the Charleston bikers with a shotgun while he and other Mother Club members questioned them individually, he said.

Needleman described the incident as a "mediation." Barbeito expelled the local members for selling speed, which was against club rules, he said.

In an unexpected move, Loew called William Grayson, who has been sitting in the gallery for several days while various defendants have had hearings, to testify as a witness.

Grayson is not named in the indictment. His brother, Michael "White Bear" Grayson, faces state kidnapping charges.

William Grayson said he was only there to help post bond for his brother. He did not want to proceed without an attorney, but Stanley instructed him to testify.

"Mr. Grayson, your obligation is to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," she said. If he felt he could not answer a question without incriminating himself, he should invoke his Fifth Amendment right, she said.

Grayson initially declined to say whether he was a member of the Pagans. Eventually, he acknowledged membership and that he was convicted on two counts of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering following a 2002 clash between the Pagans and the Hells Angels.

According to news accounts, between 80 and 100 Pagans, many from Maryland and Pennsylvania, brawled with members of the Hells Angels in a Long Island catering hall that was hosting the Hellraisers Ball, a tattoo and motorcycle expo.

One member of the Pagans was killed, and 73 were arrested, Loew said. Floyd B. "Diamond Jesse" Moore, a St. Albans resident who is the Pagans national vice president, was one of the first to charge into building, he said.

Moore has likely lost his position because he is in custody, Grayson said.

"He's retired because he's locked up," he said.

"And you took his place?" Loew asked, but Grayson refused to answer.

Grayson also refused to say if he and his brother had ever been members of the Pagans' Mother Club.

"I feel that some way, somehow, that could be used against me somewhere down the road," he said.

Barbeito, Moore and the other defendants' trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 15.

Staff Position: Senior Officer Specialist
Location: USP Marion
Last Watch: October 22, 1983

On October 22, 1983, at about 8:30 p.m., Officer Robert L. Hoffman was assigned to the Control Unit (H unit), when he observed two officers under assault. Inmate Clayton Fountain was being returned to his cell when he broke free, obtained a knife from another inmate, and started to attack the two officers. Officer Hoffman left a safe area to render assistance, then was repeatedly stabbed by inmate Fountain. Two other staff members were injured before the inmate was restrained. Except for Officer Hoffman, the other staff victims survived their serious injuries.

While it is believed that inmate Fountain was inspired by the killing of Officer Merle E. Clutts earlier that same day in the same unit, this murder was determined to be unrelated.

At the time of his attack on Officer Hoffman, inmate Fountain was a military prisoner (U.S. Navy) serving two life sentences for murder. He was responsible for 5 deaths during the 10 years he had been incarcerated, and four deaths (including Officer Hoffman's) while in Bureau custody. Inmate Fountain received a life sentence and died at MCFP Springfield on July 12, 2004.

Staff Position: Senior Officer Specialist
Location: USP Marion
Last Watch: October 22, 1983

On the morning of October 22, 1983, Officer Merle E. Clutts was assigned to the Control Unit (H unit), when he was attacked (at about 10:30 a.m.) by inmate Thomas Silverstein Although handcuffed as he was escorted from a shower back to his cell, Silverstein broke away from his escort and ran to the front of another inmate's cell. This confederate freed Silverstein from his restraints and gave him a knife. Silverstein attacked Officer Clutts, who was fatally wounded, then surrendered to other staff. Inmate Silverstein received a life sentence for murdering Officer Clutts.

Of interest, inmate Silverstein was incarcerated at USP Atlanta when the Cuban Riot broke out in November 1987. Although initially freed by Cuban participants, he was later put in restraints and led to the front of the institution, where he was turned over to authorities by his fellow inmates. Inmate Silverstein is currently incarcerated under maximum security.

The murder of Officer Robert L. Hoffman later that same day in the same unit, was determined to be unrelated to Officer Clutts’ murder.

Aryan Nations

Aryan Nations (AN) is a white nationalist neo-Nazi organization founded in the 1970s by Richard Girnt Butler as an arm of the Christian Identity group Church of Jesus Christ-Christian. As of December 2007 there were two main factions that claimed descent from Butler's group. Aryan Nations has been called a "terrorist threat" by the FBI, and the RAND Corporation has called it the "first truly nationwide terrorist network" in the USA.

The origin of Aryan Nations is in the teachings of Wesley Swift, a significant figure in the early Christian Identity movement. Swift combined British Israelism, extreme antisemitism, and political militancy. He founded his own church in California in the mid-1940s, and he had a daily radio broadcast in California during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, the name of his church was changed to the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian, which is used today by Aryan Nations churches.

From the 1970s until 2001, the headquarters of AN was in a 20-acre (81,000 m²) compound 1.8 miles north of Hayden Lake, Idaho. There were a number of state chapters, only loosely tied to the main organization. The group ran an annual World Congress of Aryan Nations at Hayden Lake for both AN adherents and members of similar groups.

August Kreis, an aspiring revolutionary with ties to the Aryan Nations, the Posse Comitatus, and the Ku Klux Klan, has reportedly attempted to forge an alliance between white supremacists and al Qaeda, hoping to exploit their shared hatred of the American government and Jews.

In September 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $6.3 million judgment against Aryan Nations from an Idaho jury who awarded punitive and compensatory damages to a woman and her son who were beaten with rifles by drunken Aryan Nations security guards in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in July 1998. The woman and her son were driving near the Aryan Nations compound when their car backfired, which the guards misinterpreted as gunfire. The guards fired at the car, striking it several times, leading the car to crash, after which one of the Aryan Nations guards held the Keenans at gunpoint.

In February 2001, the group's Hayden Lake compound and intellectual property, including the names Aryan Nations and Church of Jesus Christ Christian, were transferred to the Keenans. The Keenans sold the property to Greg Carr, a Southeastern Idaho philanthropist who donated the land to North Idaho College, which designated it a peace park. The watchtower was demolished, and the church and meeting hall were burned to the ground during a firefighting exercise. Now tours are occasionally given on the property.

Until 1998, the leadership of the AN remained firmly in the hands of Butler, but he was over 80 and had been in poor health for some time. At the annual Aryan Nations World Congress, Neuman Britton was appointed as the group's new leader. In August 2001, however, Butler appointed Harold Ray Redfeairn from Ohio, who had been agitating for control since the mid-1990s. Previously, Redfeairn brought in Dave Hall, an FBI informant, who exposed the group's illegal activity. Afterwards, Redfeairn was distrusted by some in the group. Nonetheless, Redfeairn and August Kreis III, propaganda minister of Aryan Nations, formed a splinter group, and as a result were expelled from the organization by Butler. A few months later, Redfeairn returned to form an alliance with Butler. Redfeairn died in October 2003, and Butler died of heart failure in September 2004. At the time of Butler's death, Aryan Nations had 200 members. Butler's World Congress in 2002 drew fewer than 100 people, and when he ran for mayor, he lost, garnering only 50 votes against over 2,100 votes.

There are three main Aryan Nations factions. One is led by August Kreis III and Charles John Juba. In 2002, Kreis' group was on a 10-acre (40,000 m2) compound in the rural town of Ulysses in Potter County, North central Pennsylvania, which was host to the 2002 Aryan Nations World Congress as well as the Aryan Nations World Congress in July 2000. Juba resigned in March 2005, announcing his successor Kreis as the group's new leader, with a headquarters in Lexington, South Carolina. In 2005, he received media attention by seeking an Aryan Nations-al Qaeda alliance.

Another faction claims to have remained loyal to Butler's wishes after his death, continuing to call itself Church of Jesus Christ-Christian, led by Jerald O'Brien, and located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Another faction relocated to Lincoln, Alabama. Jonathan Williams, Aryan Nations' communications director in Atlanta, claimed that the Alabama leader was Clark "Brother Laslo" Patterson. A new website lists two Coeur d’Alene residents, Jerald O’Brien and Michael Lombard, as leaders of Aryan Nations.

Like many other extreme racist groups, AN has produced many small, transitory subgroups. Rob Mathews formed a group called The Order, which committed a number of violent crimes, including murder. Their mission was to bring about a race war. Dennis McGiffen, who also had ties to the AN, formed a cell called The New Order, based on Mathews' group. The members were arrested before they could follow through on their violent plans.

Non-aligned members of AN later convicted of serious crimes include Chevie Kehoe, who was convicted of three homicides, conspiracy, and interstate transportation of stolen property. He had spent some time at the AN compound. Buford O. Furrow, Jr., the man accused of the 10 August 1999, shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, California, and the murder of Filipino American postal worker Joseph Ileto, also spent some time at the AN compound working as a security guard.

Prison Outreach

Since 1979, Aryan Nations was engaged in prison outreach. This is an important aspect of the Aryan Nations' agenda, given that so many members of The Order (Brüder Schweigen) and Aryan Nations are now serving long prison sentences. Aryan Nations corresponded on an ongoing basis with prison inmates through letters and the forwarding of its periodicals. In 1987, Aryan Nations began publishing a "prison outreach newsletter" called The Way, which has facilitated recruitment and connections between Aryan Nations and the Aryan Brotherhood.

See also: Aryan Brotherhood; Neo-Nazi; Aryan Brotherhood of Texas

Volksfront is a white supremacist group that evolved from a prison gang, founded in 1994 by Randal Lee Krager and Richard Arden in the Oregon State Penitentiary. It has been called "neo-Nazi" and a "racist skinhead group" in press reports. The Anti-Defamation League has called the group "one of the most active skinhead groups in the United States." The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has added Volksfront to its list of hate groups.

EXPANSION

Volksfront has expanded to four continents and seven countries: Spain, Portugal, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Official supporter chapters abroad exist in Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, and New Zealand. Volksfront has chapters in states such as Oregon, Massachusetts, Arizona, California, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Virginia. As of 2009, they had approximately 600 members worldwide.

A VF member that joined the gang in prison

ALLIANCES

The gang formed an alliance with the violent European Kindred prison gang in 1997 and has gained the support of the Hammerskin Nation and Aryan Nation.

INTELLIGENCE DATA

In 1994, the Volksfront is founded by Randal Lee Krager and Richard Arden in the Oregon State Penitentiary. (Gang Intelligence 101)

In December 2000, Volksfront members brutally attack an African-American man in Jacksonville, Florida. (Associated Press)

In April 1998, Volksfront member Brian Zauber is charged with ordering a brutal assault on three lesbian women in Arizona. (Associated Press)

In 2001, Volksfront members and Richard Butler of the Aryan nation host a skin head rally in Arizona. (Associated Press)

On January 25, 2003, five Volksfront members brutally beat a 17-year-old black youth in Vancouver, Washington. (Associated Press)

On March 23, 2003, several members of the Volksfront gang brutally beat and murder Randy Townsend, a black homeless man in Tacoma, Washington. (State v. Monschke, 135 P.3d 966 (Wash. App., 2006)

On June 4, 2004, Volksfront member Gabriel Kurtis Monschke is sentenced to life in
prison for the March 23, 2003 murder of Randall Mark Townsend.

In 2004, Stuart McBeth establishes a Volksfront chapter in Australian. (Associated Press)

On October 5, 2007, Volksfront and the Hammerskin Nation organize a skin head rally. (Associated Press)

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National Gang Threat Assessment 2009

Prison Gang Tattoo Recognition

Aryan Brotherhood FBI File

Aryan Circle FBI File

Gang Intell Poster-General 11x17

Gang Intell Poster-Aryan 11x17

Gang Intell Poster-Norteno 11x17

Gang Intell Poster-Sureno 11x17

Texas Gangs (recognition)