Virginia, Biker gang was violent, used drugs, agent testifies

OFF THE WIRE
BY: LARRY O'DELL
Source: timesdispatch.com
A federal agent testified Thursday that he infiltrated the Outlaws motorcycle gang and watched members intimidate rivals, beat up a bar patron who hadn't provoked a fight, and use drugs including marijuana and cocaine.
Jeffrey Grabman is the government's main witness in the racketeering trial of Outlaws national president Jack Rosga of Milwaukee and four other current or former biker gang members. Rosga is being retried after his first trial last month ended in a hung jury. His co-defendants are being tried for the first time.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Outlaws committed a series of violent crimes, primarily in an attempt to gain an advantage over the rival Hell's Angels. Defense attorneys say the government is trying to justify the expense of a two-year investigation by hyping a few isolated bar fights and other incidents as the work of a well-organized crime machine.
Grabman, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified that he infiltrated the Mongols motorcycle club in Baltimore for a separate investigation before joining the Outlaws. He said the Outlaws were looking to expand into the Richmond area before the Hell's Angels could.
Outlaws leaders initially were suspicious of Grabman because law enforcement had infiltrated the Mongols on the West Coast, but ultimately he was able to win their trust and was tasked with establishing a chapter just south of Richmond in Petersburg.
Grabman testified about a couple of incidents he witnessed while still in discussions with the Outlaws about switching clubs. In one, he said, the Outlaws formed an intimidating semicircle around a merchandise booth run by a Hell's Angels support group at a drag-racing track in Dinwiddie. The goal, he said, was to establish the area as Outlaws turf.
The second incident was an assault at a bar in Fredericksburg. Grabman said he and another undercover agent were at the Hard Times Cafe with a group of Outlaws when they saw two of them, Mark Jason Fiel and Christopher Timbers, punch another bar patron. He said Fiel delivered the first blow unprovoked.
"It was probably one of the fastest punches I've ever seen anyone throw," Grabman said.
He said that as the man struggled to his feet, Timbers knocked him back down.
The victim, Clifford Diggs of Spotsylvania County, testified Wednesday that he suffered a broken nose, jaw and eye socket. His testimony differed from Grabman's, however, as he said both punches were thrown by Timbers.
Fiel and Timbers face federal civil rights charges stemming from the assault.
Grabman also said he saw Outlaws snorting cocaine or smoking marijuana on several occasions, including a member's funeral in Ohio.
"Drugs is an integral part of these motorcycle clubs, especially the Outlaws," Grabman said.
Grabman's testimony was disrupted for about an hour after a fire alarm forced the evacuation of the federal courthouse. Fire officials said the alarm signaled that a water pipe burst or a sprinkler activated, but firefighters found nothing amiss.
Being tried along with Rosga, Fiel and Timbers are Harry McCall of the Outlaws' Lexington, N.C., chapter and Dennis Haldermann of a Richmond-area Nomads motorcycle club. They are among 27 biker gang members indicted in June. More than half have entered guilty pleas. Two of Rosga's co-defendants at his first trial were acquitted and one was convicted.
One of the men charged was killed in a gun battle with federal agents trying to arrest him in Maine.