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Numerous police and international intelligence agencies classify the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) as a motorcycle gang and contend that members carry out widespread violent crimes, including drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gunrunning, extortion, and prostitution rings. Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole.

The Hells Angels founded their first chapters in New York state on December 5, 1969 by "patching over" the Aliens motorcycle gang of New York City and the Hackers biker gang in Rochester. In 1975, another chapter was established in Binghamton. With additional chapters in New Rochelle and Troy, the Hells Angels have a presence in the Hudson Valley, as well as in Suffolk County on Long Island. The New York City charter is among the club's largest, and, along with the Cleveland chapter in Ohio, is responsible for coordinating all Hells Angels activities in the Eastern United States as well as those of chapters in Canada and Europe.

The Hells Angels have formed links with the Gambino and Genovese crime families in New York City and the Bufalino crime family in Western New York, providing security, transportation in narcotics transactions and contract killings for the Mafia in exchange for drugs. The U.S. Customs Service documented cases in which the New York Hells Angels partnered the Medellín Cartel in the smuggling of cocaine. The club also distributes methamphetamine in the state and smuggles marijuana into the United States from Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.

Mafia connections

The United States Department of Justice has stated that the Hells Angels have links with New York's Gambino and Genovese crime families; the mafia is afforded security and transportation in narcotics deals in exchange for drugs and contract killings.

Rape and sexual assault

Eight Hells Angels members, who were in New York City to attend the funeral of murdered club member Jeffrey "Groover" Coffey, were arrested on suspicion of the March 10, 1971 gang rape of a seventeen-year-old girl in a leather goods store in East Village, Manhattan. The bikers allegedly returned to the store, owned by Eugene Pritzert, to pick up goods they had ordered the day before. When Pritzert told them the goods were not ready, they began abusing him, waking Pritzert's girlfriend who was asleep in the rear of the store. While some members guarded the store owner, others took turns beating and raping the girl. After approximately six hours, Pritzert managed to escape and alerted police. The girl identified her alleged attackers in a police lineup. The eight men – Robert Cardner, Robert Marshall and Car Paretta from Massachusetts, Thomas Fusco, Edward Robinson and Kevin Seymour from New York state, Kurt Groudle from Ohio, and James Ordfield from New York City – were charged with rape, sodomy, unlawful imprisonment and criminal trespassing.

Assault, murder, and conflict with rival clubs

College student Bruce Meyer was shot five times in the head at point-blank range with a .22 caliber handgun fitted with a silencer in the parking lot of his apartment building in Brewster on December 14, 1975. Law enforcement sources stated that Meyer was murdered by the former president of the Connecticut Hells Angels chapter in retaliation for him killing a Hells Angels member in a car crash on July 3, 1975.ref name="Forget">Raymond C. Morgan (1979). The Angels Do Not Forget. Law & Justice Pubs, U.S.A. ISBN 9780960271801. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved January 29, 2023.</ref>

In September 1994, near Buffalo at the Lancaster Speedway drag races, there was a clash between the Hells Angels and a rival biker gang resulting in two deaths, and multiple injuries.

On January 28, 2007, a woman named Roberta Shalaby was found badly beaten on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' clubhouse at 77 East Third Street in the East Village, Manhattan. The resulting investigation by the NYPD has been criticized by the group for its intensity. The police were refused access to the Hells Angels clubhouse and responded by closing off the area, setting up sniper positions, and sending in an armored personnel carrier. After obtaining a warrant, the police searched the clubhouse and arrested one Hells Angel who was later released. The group claims to have no connection with the beating of Shalaby. Five security cameras cover the entrance to the New York chapter's East 3rd Street club house, but the NY HAMC maintains nobody knows how Shalaby was beaten nearly to death at their front door. A club lawyer said they intended to sue the city of New York for false arrest and possible civil rights violations.

Drug trafficking

A methamphetamine trafficking network run by members and associates of the Hells Angels' Rochester chapter operating in Western New York from 2002 through July 9, 2010 was dismantled after an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, the New York State Police, the City of Batavia Police Department, and the Village of LeRoy Police Department. James Henry McAuley, Jr., the vice-president of the Rochester chapter and the leader of the drug ring, was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison in July 2016. Richard W. Mar, the former president of the club's Monterey (California) chapter, supplied the Rochester Hells Angels with methamphetamine and trafficked the drug to New York from California; he was sentenced to ten years in federal prison in August 2016. Rochester Hells Angels members Richard E. Riedman and Jeffrey A. Tyler, and three associates – Donna Boon (McAuley's wife), Gordon Montgomery and Paul Griffin – pleaded guilty to drug trafficking offenses based on their roles in the conspiracy; Riedman was sentenced to thirty-seven months in prison, Tyler to eighteen months in prison, Boon to three years probation and twelve months of home incarceration, Montgomery to sixty months in prison, and Griffin to probation. Additionally, Rochester Hells Angels member Robert W. "Bugsy" Moran, Jr. was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and Gina Tata was sentenced to three years probation, while Timothy M. Stone was sentenced to twelve months in prison on charges related to the case.

Most Wanted

In 2018, the FBI and United States Marshals Service announced a reward for Hells Angels gang member Christopher Slightam.

References

1. "FBI Safe Street Violent Crime Initiative Report Fiscal Year 2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2001. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
2. Ibrahim, Youssef M. (March 3, 1997). "New York Times, Sweden's Courteous Police Spoil a Hell's Angels Clubouse Party". New York Times. Stockholm (Sweden); Sweden. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
3. "[Hpn] Hells Angels Mc Salvation Army Shelter Run". Hpn.asu.edu. July 6, 2003. Archived from the original on July 9, 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
4. "Under watchful eye, bikers aid charity – Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | midnight". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
5. Fallen Angel: The Unlikely Rise of Walter Stadnick and the Canadian Hells Angels Jerry Langton (2006)
6. History of the Chapter hells-angels-rochester.com
7. The beginnings Mike Gallagher, The Standard-Star (August 23, 1987)
8. Six Members And Associates Of The Hells Angels Charged In White Plains Federal Court With Racketeering, Narcotics, And Money Laundering Offenses justice.gov (March 16, 2017)
9. United States v. Robert P. Moran casetext.com (January 5, 2005)
10. Cops Arrest Hell's Angels After Chase Ray Quintanilla, Chicago Tribune (December 12, 1994) Archived November 26, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
11. Hells Angels are turning this Long Island church into a local headquarters Kenneth Garger and Chris Perez, New York Post (December 17, 2018)
12. Concern Grows Over Hells Angels’ New Chapter In Centereach Jennifer McLogan, CBS New York (December 18, 2018) Archived January 14, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
13. Officials say Pagans throttling up in New Jersey over rivalry with Hells Angels Jason Nark, The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 11, 2010) Archived July 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
14. 1986 Report of the Organized Crime Consulting Committee National Criminal Justice Reference Service (1986)
15. ^ "NCJRS Outlaw motorcycle gangs USA overview" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
16. Roughriders carried big stick: FBI spent 3 yrs. on road to 'Hell' Joseph Volz, New York Daily News (May 5, 1985)
17. New York Drug Threat Assessment National Drug Intelligence Center (November 2002)
18. Some praise won by hews angels Archived 2021-07-28 at the Wayback Machine Paul L. Montgomery, The New York Times (March 12, 1971)
19. 8 Hell's Angels Charged in Attack on Girl, 17 Archived 2021-07-28 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times (March 11, 1971)
20. Suspect in Slaying Of 2 Hell's Angels Killed With Shotgun The New York Times (July 20, 1976) Archived September 27, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
21. Silverman, Justin Rocket (January 31, 2007). "Hells Angels slam NYPD over clubhouse raid – Crime, Law and Justice, Manhattan, New York City Police Department". AM New York. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008.
22. Lueck, Thomas J. (February 1, 2007). "After Police Search, Hells Angels Brace for Fight". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
23. https://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn01/last-hells-angel-sentenced-for-local-meth-operation-20160817&&
24. "Hell's Angels Member Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Methamphetamine Trafficking". 14 July 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
25. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/law-enforcement-assistance/christopher-slightam
26. https://www.univision.com/amp/local/chicago-wgbo/fugitivo-del-fbi-podria-estar-viviendo-en-joliet

• Hells Angels
• Gangs in New York City
• Gangs in New York (state)