N.J. Pagan enters deal with prosecutors

OFF THE WIRE
July 19, 2010
N.J. Pagan enters deal with prosecutors
By Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
Advertiser
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- One of the handful of remaining defendants in the federal racketeering case against members and associates of the Pagans Motorcycle Club entered a deal with prosecutors on Monday in which his charges will be dropped if he stays out of trouble for a year.

Dante T. Demarco, 49, of New Jersey, also agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in state court in New Jersey for his role in the January 2009 group beating of a confidential informant posing as a prospect for membership in the Pagans.

Demarco, known as "Victor" in the biker world, agreed not to possess a gun or break any laws during the one-year term of his pre-trial diversion.

In February, Demarco was the only defendant added to the 55 defendants charged in the original indictment, which was unsealed in October.

According to prosecutors, several Pagans from West Virginia and New Jersey performed a "bang check" on Wes Hudnall, which included hitting him on the head and searching him for a wire.

The bikers' suspicions that Hudnall was cooperating with the authorities were justified: the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recruited Hudnall as an undercover informant in May 2007.

In June, Hudnall was pronounced dead in a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, the victim of an gunshot wound to the head. Police believe his death was a suicide.

One of Demarco's co-defendants, Michael Stevens, is scheduled to go to trial this week. Stevens is accused of participating in a plot to murder a Pagan who was serving a prison sentence in a federal facility in Ashland, Ky., where Stevens worked as a prison guard.

A second trial, involving several co-defendants who face pending drug charges, is set to start in August.

Many of the original defendants, including Pagans national president David K. "Bart" Barbeito, 50, of Myersville, Md., have entered guilty pleas. National vice president Floyd "Jesse" Moore, 64, of St. Albans, pleaded guilty in December to racketeering charges in December.

About a third of the 55 defendants pleaded guilty to misdemeanor gambling charges in Kanawha County Magistrate Court and had their federal charges dropped in exchange for a $5 fine plus court costs. A few have entered pre-trial diversions similar to Demarco's.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.