OFF THE WIRE
The federal indictment accuses three Hell’s Angels members of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity and two others with being accessories to an assault after the fact.
The four arraigned Friday in Rochester all pleaded not guilty.
Police arrested 59-year-old Robert Moran Jr. at his home on Algonquin Terrace early Friday morning. William Hochul, the U.S. Attorney, says the Rochester Hell’s Angels clubhouse is right across the street.
The crime that Moran, James Henry McAuley, Gina Tata, Timothy Stone, and Richard Riedman are accused of taking part in dates back to May 31, 2006.
"Moran is alleged to have repeatedly struck a victim in a certain bar over the head and body with this baseball bat,” said Hochul. “All of the defendants in this count are accused of participating in this act of racketeering violence in order to increase their membership or their status within the organization itself."
"There were some phone calls made before the assault occurred and the assault occurred due to the fact that a patron at this particular bar, which is referenced as Spenders or what was then Spenders, 1600 Lyell Avenue, had threatened the Hell’s Angels, or threatened a Hell’s Angels member in general and that precipitated the attack,” said Brett Harvey, the assistant U.S. Attorney.
Moran, Tata, and Riedman are being held in the Monroe County Jail pending a detention hearing Monday. McAuley is already in prison serving time on a separate crime. Stone was released with conditions.
McAuley is a longtime member of the Hell’s Angels. In 2008, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering. Authorities said he conspired to murder members of the Kingsmen motorcycle club in Fulton. The Kingsmen were allegedly trying to establish a chapter in Hell’s Angels territory.
