Feds used wiretap at biker hangout

MCs in the News

DETROIT (UPI) -- A federal crackdown on two Detroit-area motorcycle gangs got a major boost when a popular biker hangout was wired for sound and video, a prosecutor says.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Marion says members of the Outlaws, Highwaymen and other bike gangs frequented a west side bar called the Copa Lounge, The Detroit News reported Thursday.

The club's owner, a former boss of the Devils Disciples bike club, was so horrified by the 2002 execution-style slayings of a Livonia jeweler and his family that he allowed federal agents to secretly wire the backroom of his establishment, investigators said.

Evidence gathered there served as a starting point for an investigation of the Outlaws and Highwaymen, the newspaper says.

Six alleged leaders of the Highwaymen went on trial in federal court Thursday on charges of racketeering.

They are among more than 80 alleged gang members and associates charged in one of the largest cases every brought to federal court in Detroit

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