OFF THE WIRE
By Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An internal conflict within the Pagans Motorcycle Club forced a group from West Virginia to take guns and weapons to a club gathering in Virginia in 2008 to protect themselves from members of the Virginia chapter, the club's former national vice president said Monday.
Floyd B. "Jesse" Moore said that federal authorities warned him that his life was at risk if he went to the mandatory event called by Michael "White Bear" Grayson, a fellow member of the club's governing Mother Club. So Moore's underlings stood guard throughout the meeting, with a shotgun within reach of a chair at the door of the trailer where he stayed, he said.
Moore's testimony came during the trial of Kim H. "Bear" Berryman, a 51-year-old Pagan from Kentucky who has been indicted on charges of being a felon in possession of a gun. Prosecutors said Berryman was one of the group of Pagans who carried guns to protect Moore.
Moore, 65, of St. Albans, said that he and Berryman were old friends, having met in federal prison in Ashland, Ky., in the 1980s. They have gone on vacation together, he said.
In spite of the threat, Moore decided to attend the Virginia event. Unless a Pagan got permission well in advance, the only excuse for missing a mandatory event was being dead or in jail, he said.
But before Moore's group rode down -- in a formation designed to protect him -- he told them about the threat, he said.
"I let them know that there was a great possibility of violence, and that they should be armed accordingly," he said.
Unlike some mandatories, which were social gatherings where Pagans partied together, this was a tense affair, where Moore's contingent arrived better-armed and in greater numbers than Grayson's, he said. The members of Moore's group, more than 100 strong, were on constant alert, essentially standing guard throughout the visit, he said.
"They were there to make sure I didn't get my brains blown out," he said.
Grayson had a different philosophy regarding the running of the Pagans, Moore said. Grayson encouraged selling illegal drugs, which Moore didn't condone, he said.
Grayson pleaded no contest in Kanawha Circuit Court to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and was sentenced in July to two years' probation with a suspended prison sentence. He also served a federal prison sentence for his involvement in a fatal clash between members of the Pagans and the Hells Angels, a rival biker gang, on Long Island in 2001. While Grayson was in prison, Moore oversaw Pagans in Virginia, Moore said.
Moore pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in December. His testimony on Monday was a part of his plea deal, which required him to cooperate with the government.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Richard Weston, Moore admitted that he never saw Berryman holding a gun during the 2008 mandatory.
"I don't think Kim Berryman is a criminal," he said.
By Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
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Moore also said that in addition to the shotgun, there were other guns available in the bed of a truck with the tailgate down, he said.
"If [Berryman] stood guard, he knew where the [shotgun] was," he said.
He and Grayson were able to work out their disagreement, which involved patches on their clothes, without any violence.
Many of the Pagans had concealed-weapons permits, which Moore said he instructed Pagans under his command to get after a run-in with six members of the Hells Angel at a Pagans party in Philadelphia in 2005 or 2006. The six Hells Angels had 11 pistols between them when they were stopped a block from the party, he said.
"They weren't coming to the party to party," he said. "They were coming to raise hell."
The encounter made him realize that Pagans needed to carry guns to protect themselves, he said.
During his opening statement, Weston told the jury that the government didn't have any evidence, such as photos or recordings, of Berryman with a gun. The government couldn't even identify what kind of gun Berryman was supposed to have had, he said.
According to Berryman, the only person with a gun that weekend was a member of the Pagans later revealed to be a confidential informant, working undercover for the FBI, he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Loew maintained during his opening that James "Bones" Claypool, another Pagan who attended the event, would testify that he saw Berryman carrying a gun when he checked to make sure members of the West Virginia contingent were armed.
Berryman's trial continues Tuesday in front of U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.
Last week, in a separate trial in the Pagans case, a jury convicted a former federal prison guard of conspiring to retaliate against an inmate at the prison where he worked because the inmate, who was a member of the Pagans, had cooperated with federal authorities investigating a bank robbery in 2004.
The jury deliberated for around an hour Friday before returning a guilty verdict against Michael Lloyd Stevens, 38, of Huntington. Stevens admitted that he discussed hiring another inmate to attack Vincent "Hot Rod" Morris, but denied that he knew that Morris had provided information to federal law enforcement.
Stevens' first trial on the charges resulted in a hung jury. Last week, Loew and Assistant U.S. Attorney Miller Bushong III retried the case, and the second jury convicted Stevens.
Of the 55 members and associates of the Pagans named in the sweeping, 44-count racketeering indictment unsealed in October, only one defendant besides Berryman still has charges pending. Eric "Fritz" Wolfe, of St. Albans, is set to go to trial on charges of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun following the conclusion of Berryman's trial.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
