Arrest of biker Pagans called uncharacteristic of mid-Hudson region

OFF THE WIRE
By Victor Whitman
Times Herald-Record

MONTICELLO — Last week's arrest that netted four local members of the Pagans motorcycle gang in a far-ranging murder and racketeering conspiracy to deal cocaine and kill members of the rival Hells Angels was out of the ordinary for the area, police say.

Motorcycle gangs with reputations for violence and drug dealing, such as the Pagans, Hells Angels and Outlaws, can be found at parties and biker bars in the Catskills and Hudson Valley, but the groups have largely coexisted without problems.

This doesn't mean that the police don't characterize these groups as "anti-social" and suspect some members of crimes, such as distributing narcotics.

"Some are violent," said state police Senior Investigator Mike Orrego, who is assigned to the state police's barracks in Liberty: "Some have a nose for making money. You can't go by the assumption that they are a couple of idiots on bikes. "» They have far-reaching tentacles that reach out to all communities."

Last week, the feds nabbed 17 members of the Pagans after a 21-month probe on charges of murder conspiracy, racketeering, extortion, witness tampering, drug distribution and firearms offenses.

Among those arrested were Tracy Lahey, 33, of Swan Lake; Douglas "Doc" Youmans, 49, and Robert "Comanche" Santiago, 40, both of Ellenville; and Walter Tarrats, 40, of Sussex, N.J. Along with Long Island and Trenton, N.J., members, they're accused of plotting to kill members of Hells Angels and affiliated clubs using grenades, and distributing cocaine, oxycodone and methamphetamines, among other charges.

In the news release, the feds called Lahey and Youmans "ranking members of Pagans chapters based in Sullivan County." Federal authorities wouldn't comment further.

Numerous Hudson Valley biker groups have friends in the Hells Angels and join events and party together, according to one source in the biker community. The Pagans, who don't get along with the Hells Angels, keep to themselves and hang in Sullivan.

Local police couldn't pinpoint how many hard-core biker gangs operate locally. The groups, by most accounts, aren't well organized and have remained quiet.

"Every once in a while you have a bar fight but when you get there nobody knows anything," Sullivan County Undersheriff Eric Chaboty said.

The Department of Justice estimates the entire national membership of the Pagans gang at 300-350 members operating mostly along the East Coast, with headquarters in Delaware County, Pa.

"It's a gang no different than the Bloods or the Crips or any gang," said Capt. Dennis Barry of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

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