Motorcycle gangs in deadly turf war

LOS ANGELES — The deadly gun-and-knife fight in a Nevada casino last weekend was only the latest battle in an increasingly bloody turf war in which several motorcycle gangs across the country have lined up against the Hells Angels.

The bloodshed among the outlaw bikers began several months ago with the breakdown of a truce that largely had held for about a decade.

At stake are turf and the drug trade that comes with it.

Law-enforcement experts said they're not sure exactly what set off the round of violence, but it has put the Pagans, Bandidos, Sons, Outlaws, Vagos and Mongols on the same side.

"You have the Hells Angels basically going up against virtually every other motorcycle club," said Tim McKinley, a motorcycle-gang expert with the FBI in San Francisco.

The rising tensions over the past few months had led Sonny Barger, the legendary founder of the Angels, to organize a "peace powwow" in the Arizona desert that was supposed to take place after the gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts in Laughlin, Nev., last weekend, Arizona police said.

But the peace conference was scuttled by the brawl between the Hells Angels and the Mongols inside Harrah's Casino. Three bikers — two Hells Angels and a Mongol — died in the crowded casino, and a Hells Angel was shot to death as he rode away from Laughlin.

Barger, who lives near Phoenix, has declined requests for comment.

Tensions are high because gang membership nationwide has expanded during the past decade, leading to turf fights, said Lt. Terry Katz, a motorcycle-gang expert with the Maryland State Police.

The Hells Angels have more than 200 chapters worldwide and 1,800 to 2,000 members, about double the club's membership 10 years ago, McKinley said. The largest of its rival gangs is the Bandidos, with about 2,500 members.

Outlaw gangs in the United States long have had a major role in the production and distribution of methamphetamine, although they have been eclipsed in recent years by the Mexican Mafia. They are also involved in extortion, prostitution, and marijuana and Ecstasy smuggling.

The Hells Angels, founded 54 years ago in California, were mythologized as rebels without a cause by Hollywood in the 1950s and '60s but showed their murderous potential at the Altamont music festival in 1969, when the Angels, hired as security guards at a Rolling Stones concert, stabbed an audience member to death and beat others.

In recent years, as many Hells Angels entered middle age, the club has tried to polish its image with toy drives, food giveaways and support for Vietnam veterans.

The truce in the United States collapsed because many smaller gangs thought the Hells Angels were dictating conditions, and they had had enough, said New Hampshire State Police Lt. Terrence Kinneen, former president of the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association.

In February, police in Revere, Mass., arrested 23 heavily armed Outlaws outside a club where the Hells Angels were gathered.

Later that month, violence broke out between the Hells Angels and the Pagans at a motorcycle-and-tattoo expo on New York's Long Island, sponsored by the Hells Angels. The fight left one Pagan dead, five gang members shot and five stabbed.

In October, Hells Angels and Vagos fought during a swap meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds in California.

Biker gangs are not talking publicly. But on the official Web site of the Mongols, e-mails from other motorcycle clubs around the world offered support for the Mongols and condemnation of the Hells Angels.

"There is one group that wants everyone to bow down to them and lick their boots," said a man who identified himself as a member of the Nomads. "It's time for a stand to be made once and for all. If your club has the guts, stand by the Mongols or you may become extinct."

A similar turf battle in Canada between the Hells Angels and rival gangs has taken more than 100 lives during the past decade, Katz said. In Scandinavia, the Hells Angels and the Bandidos have fought it out with guns and high-tech weapons, including rocket launchers.

The fear of more violence has prompted the cancellation of motorcycle shows in Old Bridge and Asbury Park, N.J. And police in Laconia, N.H., said they may go to court to try to prevent bloodshed at a gathering in June.

Investigators said the war will not end soon. "Once violence starts, it will continue for a period of time until law enforcement can put pressure on the gangs to stop the violence," Katz said. "They are not going to stop it on their own."