Hell's Angel Shooting

[skynyrd1911]

Back in my "younger days" I met some members of the Outlaws and though I didn't ride with them, they were always friendly towards me. Now what they did for a living is THEIR business. After making friends with a couple they treated me like a brother. This was on the east coast, primarily NC, SC, and FL. I do however know that they don't like Hell's Angels and visa versa. Infact the two Outlaws that I used to see occasionly are deceased because of the Hell's Angels.
Just another note.......Members of BOTH clubs usually don't bother citizens unless they are provoked. I witnessed a confrontation between a small group of Hell's Angels and some US Marines. The Marines were drunk and were taunting the bikers. Bikers remained calm sitting there eating their lunch until they just couldn't take it anymore. After a few short minutes ambulances were transporting the Marines to the hospital. Evidently the Marines let their mouths overload their ass.

 

[blackdragon]

Daytona Beach is Outlaw territory; all serious clubs here are outlaw approved..even some of the mom&pop clubs.

Last little while I've been hearing that HA graffitti has been showing up at a few of the neutral bars in town. Some guys I know (and know of) that didn't carry have started (all legally AFAIK).

These guys aren't even OLs, but since their patches ate OL-approved, they fear getting caught up in any HA/OL action.

A few HA have even been seen in the area.

I'm sure there is more that what I hear, but the OLs are anything less than pleased about a HA presence here. And a truck with Florida plates nailing HAs does not look good. Guess it could be coincidence....

 

[280PLUS]

Hells Angels roar in for gang leader’s wake
Chris Rhatigan, Register Staff
04/08/2006

BRIDGEPORT — Mourners came roaring in on motorcycles adorned with blue flames and sporting black leather jackets Friday to pay their respects to Hells Angels leader Roger "Bear" Mariani, who was killed in West Haven Sunday in a possibly biker gang-related shooting.


Mariani, 61, of Stratford, was shot to death while driving south on Interstate 95 in West Haven with a group of motorcyclists. Paul Carrol, a Bridgeport man who was riding with Mariani, was grazed by a bullet in the same incident.

On Friday afternoon, a police broadcast warned that sources said two hit men hired by the Outlaws motorcycle club were traveling north from the Southeast in a red Chevrolet Cavalier with California plates, and were carrying a cache of weapons, including pistols. However, there were no incidents at the wake Friday.

About a dozen Bridgeport police officers were staked out in the vicinity of the funeral home. However, police had said the presence was because of the high-profile nature of the case, which garnered national media attention.

The parking lot of Parente-Lauro Funeral Home on Bridgeport’s Washington Avenue was packed with Harley Davidson motorcycles, as men dressed in black leather jackets adorned with faded patches patted each other on the back, shook hands and smoked cigarettes.

Members of Hells Angels branches from far and wide, including Nevada, California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Quebec, attended the wake, each displaying the red and white patch with the group’s name on their back. Members from other gangs, such as Crossroads and the Red Devils, also turned out.

"He was a true Angel if there ever was one," said Cliff Edwards, a Stratford man who was a friend of Mariani. "He will be missed. It didn’t have to happen this way."

Edwards also is a motorcyclist who belongs to the Teamsters Horsemen association. He said that he was at a Harley Davidson dealership in Bridgeport when Mariani bought a motorcycle there three months ago.

One mourner, Chris Ottinger, called Mariani’s slaying "senseless."

"It’s a terrible loss. He was the friendliest guy around," said Ottinger. He said Mariani’s wife, Natalie, is his daughter’s godmother.

Mariani was a past president of the Hells Angels Bridgeport chapter and a decorated Army veteran. He also was an ex-federal prison inmate who served time after a federal crackdown that netted the arrests of 37 Hells Angels and associates from Connecticut in the 1980s in a case that included 125 arrests and seizure of $2 million in drugs. He was released from prison in 1995, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Some of the mourners didn’t know Mariani, but came out to show their support. A New Hampshire man, who did not wish to be identified, said he and his brother, both motorcycle enthusiasts, came to "give their respects."

Nicky Delgeo of West Haven said he saw Mariani and his friends around often at Black and Blue, a Bridgeport bar where Delgeo works.

"They’re good guys. They minded their own business," he said.

A woman who described herself as a family member of Mariani’s declined comment.

The slaying is being investigated as possibly gang-related, as Carrol allegedly told emergency responders that the four men in the car who fired at him and Mariani were members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, a rival group to the Angels. However, police have not determined any motive for the shooting, including whether it was gang-related.

Regarding the police broadcast on the Outlaws issued Friday, state police Sgt. J. Paul Vance said the agency is working with local police departments and paying attention to all possibilities.

"We’re putting it out there in the interest of public safety," he said, about keeping local departments informed about the latest chatter. Vance added that there have been no breaks in the Mariani case.

The two biker clubs have harbored animosity for each other for a long time. In mid-January, reputed Hells Angel Wilfred Duquette, formerly of East Haven, was convicted of assaulting a rival with a ball-peen hammer and taking his Outlaws medallion outside the Brother’s Harley Davidson dealership in Branford.

Funeral services will take place 9 a.m. today.

Register reporters Robert Varley and William Kaempffer contributed to this story. Chris
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhatigan can be reached at 876-6800 or [email protected].



©New Haven Register 2006

 

[280PLUS]

From the Hartford Courant

Justice Sought For Slain Biker
Condolences Come From Around The World For Hells Angels Leader
April 8, 2006
By GARY LIBOW, Courant Staff Writer Many of the roughly 170 electronic guestbook condolences for the slain Hells Angels leader known as "Bear" were resolute in their wish that "justice be served."

From as far away as Croatia, Austria, Germany and Italy, many of the condolences expressed hope that Roger Mariani, who was gunned down Sunday on the Connecticut Turnpike in West Haven and who will be buried today following a 9 a.m. funeral, rest in peace.

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Those attending services at the Parente-Lauro Funeral Home in Bridgeport and the burial at nearby Mountain Grove Cemetery also will notice a high-profile presence of local and state police and other law enforcement officers.

Hells Angels members from across the nation and abroad plan to attend, Bridgeport Police Lt. James Viadero said Friday.

"We expect a large number of attendees. We are going to have a special contingent of officers dedicated to that event," Viadero said. "We're not expecting any problems, but should one arise we will be prepared."

Some Hells Angels suspect members of the rival Outlaws motorcycle club are responsible for fatally shooting Mariani, 61, a member of the Hells Angels for more than three decades. Another biker, Paul Carroll, 39, of Bridgeport, was grazed by a bullet in the incident.

Two suspected Hells Angels members arrested in Enfield hours after the slaying were found by local officers with pages from a classified state police manual that identifies Outlaws by name and photograph.

Andover residents Jeffrey Richard and Trevor Delaware were apprehended Sunday in a vehicle close to the home of an Outlaws leader. The two had a loaded gun, six knives and other weapons.

Waterbury attorney Leonard Crone, who has represented several Outlaws, says the club is bothered by suspicions that the Outlaws may have been involved in the shooting.

"They insist that they had nothing to do with this incident," Crone said Friday. "It bothers them that the animosity now has festered in the state. They feel they had nothing to do with it, and yet that's the source of all this animosity and bad blood."

The Enfield arrest of the two suspected Hells Angels, who police say may have been seeking to retaliate, has his clients on edge, Crone said. "This has certainly added to a heightened sense of awareness," he said, adding that the Outlaws have moved at least one family member into a "safe house."

"That left a bad taste in their mouth," Crone said of the Outlaws. "...They're not afraid of anything."



Courant Staff Writer Jeffrey Cohen contributed to this report.

 

[280PLUS]

Interesting side note...

Hartford Courant April 8, 2006:

A federal lawsuit filed by members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club accusing the state of using excessive force and making unreasonable seizures during a raid of a club Christmas party in 2003 can proceed, a federal judge has ruled.

Ruling on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the state, Judge Janet C. Hall did dismiss some claims, including those alleging that the state lacked probable cause for its original warrant and that its decision to employ a "tactical team" was excessive.

But in a 108-page ruling, Hall found there was enough evidence to move forward on other claims, including allegations that police unreasonably seized photographs and the club spokesman's address book. Hall also allowed allegations of excessive use of force to go forward.

In executing a search warrant for guns at the club's Waterbury clubhouse on Dec. 20, 2003, state police officers forced people to the floor, handcuffed revelers, ripped open Christmas presents, and injured some detainees, the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs also allege that while state police said they were there with a warrant to find guns belonging to a club member, they were actually there to gather intelligence on the club. The lawsuit claims police individually photographed everyone at the party.

"If they wanted to find guns, they didn't have to do it in the middle of a Christmas party," said Kathleen Eldergill, the attorney for the plaintiffs. "Clearly, they went in the middle of a party and their purpose was to gather intelligence."

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in a written statement, said the ruling was good news for the state.

"This decision is significant in greatly reducing the scope and severity of the claims against the state police," Blumenthal said. "This decision confirms that the state had just cause for a search warrant - and executed its warrant without intent to harass or unfairly target those present at the time the warrant was executed."

State police officials said Friday there is no link between the information gathered during the Christmas party raid and intelligence on the Outlaws seized during the arrest of two Hells Angels earlier this week. The seized paperwork, which identifies Outlaws by name and photograph, was generated in the spring of 2003, half a year before the Christmas party, said state police Sgt. J. Paul Vance.

Last weekend's highway shooting in West Haven of two Hells Angels that left one man dead has revived interest in relations between the two organizations.

The night of the shooting, Enfield police arrested two men they identified as Hells Angels in a car with stolen plates. Police are investigating whether the men were on a mission to retaliate, they said. The men had a loaded gun, six knives, and pages from a classified state police manual that listed the identities and addresses of various Outlaws.

 

[CTrider]

With all this talk on here has anyone kept track of what has followed up? I happen to know both men that were shot. They were both nice guys, but they had their rough areas too. The survivor is now in jail for assaulting a 50something year old woman in a bar, this is far from his first charge. He happens to be someone that I considered a friend until I saw way too much I didn't agree with, we stopped talking about 10 years ago. It's too bad this garbage has to happen, but they live by the sword they will die by the sword, hopefully without too many innocents getting injured in the fallout.

The ice cream place used to be a fun place to meet on Sunday mornings and then take a nice ride to the north for lunch. I have seen a few fights there, but it is normally not the clubs or even the bikers starting it,I have seen a number of college kids trying to act tough and then threatening to call their lawyers when they are confronted. If you leave these guys alone, they will leave you alone, but at the same time you always have an idiot in the group no matter what type of group it is.

Was it a "gang war"? Who knows, as far as I knoiw there have been no follow up arrests made. We can all speculate on this but it isn't much different than closing your eyes and trying to aim.

Finally, I apologize for posting this so late after the last post but I just read the thread and joined after searching for something else.

 

[dtrBG]

Cool to see a thread from 2006. Must have being good back when threads weren't closed left & right for not being 100% firearm related.

 

[Sam1911]

I believe the applicable phasing is something like, "Just because an illegal act happens to be committed with a gun does not automatically make it "gun related" for the purposes of discussion here at THR," or words to that effect.

Still, amazing to see how much traction crap like this got here, even just three years ago.

-Sam

 

[DMF]

Wow, what's with the resurrected threads the last couple of days?

Anyway, since I missed this thread when originally discussed let me address a few things:

DILLIGAF?
??

Saying used by, and often put on shirts, sewn to vest/jackets, by people desperate to show how "bad***" they are. The reality being that if they are doing things like that to show how "bad***" they are they are really showing that they are just posers trying to look tough when they aren't.

For starters, the Angels are a club, not a "gang."

Talk about BS. That claim about the Hells Angels just being a "club" is total BS. While not merely a gang, they are most certainly not just a club. The Hells Angels along with a few other Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are more accurately a hybrid of a typical street gangs and organized crime.

OMGs, like the Hells Angels, are not really "clubs", just like La Cosa Nostra is not really a group for protecting the rights of Italians.

 

[jahwarrior]

let's hear it for thread necromancy.

and, who cares if these guys shoot each other to death? they're garbage, posing as a 'club' instead of admitting what they are: organized crime, involved in drug trade, extortion, racketeering, theft, and murder.

 

[divemedic]

I think it is funny that some get mad because of zombie threads, while others always get mad when others start new threads on subjects that have threads already. Make up your minds.

Also, at work we get briefings on area gangs once a year. The last one we got included information on motorcycle gangs. The dominant one in Florida along the I-4 corridor is the Outlaws. There are no MCs allowed to exist in the area, unless they pay dues (read: protection money) to the Outlaws, with the exception being the Blue Knights, and other LEO MCs. Wearing any colors whatsoever is likely to get you hassled by Outlaws. They have been known to pull over other bikers, and order them to remove their leather jackets, threatening them with violence if they refuse.

Even the firefighter one (Fire and Iron) pays dues to them. There is an Outlaw clubhouse less than 2 miles from my home, and I live in a nice neighborhood.

Friends of mine who ride have been pulled over by 4 or 5 Outlaws who are armed, and threatened.

The cops know about it, but little is done. I don't know why. The cop doing our briefing did not elaborate on why.

 

[Art Eatman]

This resurrection is certainly not related to laws pertaiining to firearms...

C'est finis.