By: Berkeley Brean | WHEC.com
For the first time in years, the Hells Angels opened their clubhouse and invited News 10NBC inside. Why? They feel like they're getting harassed and unfairly treated by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office.
Hells Angels President J.C. Rogers called News 10NBC wanting to talk despite the fact that talking to the press is against the motorcycle club's rules. Rogers says he's fed up with what he calls the (expletive) his club faces from federal law enforcement -- especially over the last five years.
We spoke with Rogers inside the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Rochester -- a house on Algonquin Terrace that no one, other than Hell's Angels members and friends, is allowed to enter.
"Get our story out"
"I wanted to talk to you to get our side of the story out," Rogers told me. "It's been a one sided deal. The police put their side out to the press and in the papers and on the news and nobody denies anything or counters anything and it's just gotten to the point where it's like being steam rolled over."
The proverbial straw for Rogers and the Rochester Hells Angels was the arrest of two of the Hells Angels Vice Presidents and three of its associates in connection to an alleged baseball bat assault almost five years ago.
The U.S. Attorney's office says the alleged assault and cover up was part of the Hells Angels "enterprise" where members use "violence and threats of violence to promote and protect (their) criminal activity" including "narcotics trafficking and acts involving murder."
"Now we're drug dealers and murderers," Rogers said. "But murdered who? When? Where? Who was arrested for dealing drugs? Who when and where?"
Rogers says it's also against club rules to sell drugs.
One of the men arrested in connection to the beating, Hells Angels V.P. James "Mitch" McAuley, is in federal prison after he pled guilty to "conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering." The U.S. Attorneys office out of Syracuse said McAuley "a long time member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, had been charged with conspiring to murder members of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club in Fulton New York because the Kingsmen, who were affiliated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, were establishing a chapter in the Hells Angels territory."
I asked Rogers if his club and his members are law abiding.
JC Rogers: Basically yeah.
Brean: What do you mean basically?
Rogers: Basically I would say we don't break the law any more than anyone else does. We might go speeding here and there. We might get drunk now and then. (later) If it was true what they're saying about all this dealing and this and that, why hasn't someone been arrested for it? Why isn't someone charged with it?
The government's statement
U.S. Attorney William Hochul released this statement to us:
"With charges still pending, I cannot comment on specific aspects of this case. Speaking in general terms, the United States Attorney's Office and investigating law enforcement agencies follow the evidence in a case to where it leads and prosecute those who commit crimes as defined in the law and by Congress. Once charged with a crime, a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law."
We just spoke with Mr. Hochul today. You can hear what he has to say on News 10NBC tonight.
Click here to read the court papers
For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website http://www.whec.com./
