OFF THE WIRE
Rick Barrett
jsonline.com
Laconia, Mass. -- Authorities have spent months planning for when up to 2,000 Hells Angels members will descend on Laconia for an international gathering in late July.
"We have to plan for the worst, and everyone hopes it goes off without a hitch," Laconia Police Chief Mike Moyer said last week.
The chief called a similar World Run event in Laconia in 2003 "very low key," and he was planning to have fewer police officers on duty this time around.
U.S. Attorney John Kacavas, who has made cracking down on outlaw motorcycle clubs a top priority, said, "We're always concerned about a crowd of that size.
"I'm not sure that there will be fewer law enforcement individuals this time around," Kacavas said. "We're going to see how Bike Week goes (June 11 to 18 in Laconia). I think that's going to define a lot of what our response is going to be for World Run."
P. Scott Bratton, the legal representative for the Hells Angels, said the event will take place on several acres of property that contains the Hells Angels' clubhouse on Fillmore Avenue and should draw 2,000 members.
"The last time the World Run was held in Laconia, there were very few problems," he said. "No problems are anticipated this year."
Bratton expects the event will include live bands. "The Hells Angels provide their own security for their own people," he said.
Kacavas said authorities have been working to better tackle outlaw biker clubs, the "1 percenters" of motorcycle riders who are involved in illegal activities. He said authorities track increases in drug activity and violent crimes, but he declined to share statistics. He also declined to say how many Hells Angels members live in New Hampshire.
According to a federal report titled the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club had between 2,000 and 2,500 members belonging to more than 250 chapters in the United States and 26 foreign countries. Of that number, a total of 900 to 950 members belonged to more than 69 chapters in 22 states.
"HAMC poses a criminal threat on six continents," said the report, released by the National Gang Intelligence Center and the National Drug Intelligence Center. The club produces, transports and distributes illegal drugs and is involved in other criminal activity, including assault, extortion, homicide, money laundering and motorcycle theft, according to the report.
Bratton took issue with authorities.
"They're a fraternal organization devoted to the Harley-Davidson motorcycle riding, and that's the center of what gravitates them toward each other is their involvement in Harley-Davidson motorcycles," he said. "We take strong exception to them being classified as a gang. They're a motorcycle club, not a gang."
Eddie Edwards, chief of enforcement and licensing in the state Division of Liquor Enforcement, said more people holding liquor licenses are contacting police to sound off against outlaw bikers.
"We've seen a significant increase in the number of complaints from licensees themselves and patrons themselves about motorcycle gang activity," he said.
"Some of it has been intimidation. Some of it has been assaults on licensee establishments.
"We've had some owners complain about being muscled that way or fearful of property damage or retaliation. Of course it has a negative impact on their business."
The commission, meanwhile, has an open case on a brawl allegedly among motorcycle club members at Luigi's Pizza Bar & Grille in Manchester in April 2010.
According to authorities, seven men were charged with riot. Five men had alleged affiliations in some fashion with the Hells Angels and two with another club, the Outlaws.
Co-owner Peter Kostakis is charged with reckless conduct for allegedly firing his gun in a parking lot after the fight. Jury selection for Kostakis is scheduled for Aug. 29 in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua. A Chester man is scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing July 20, with the others facing trial in either August or January, according to the clerk's office.
Rochester police Capt. Paul Callaghan said the Seacoast city has a motorcycle club called the Mountain Men, which has a club in neighboring Farmington. Police have tied a few assaults over the years to the club, which has about 20 members, he said.
The Diablos Motorcycle Club has been in the city for nearly two years, but members are not rivals with the Mountain Men, he said.
Kacavas said sometimes small clubs play a big role supporting the Hells Angels.
"The puppet clubs create a buffer between the main target club, the Hells Angels, and the criminal activity," Kacavas said. "They are people 'apprenticing,' for a lack of a better word, in these puppet clubs, performing illegal activities to prove themselves."
Bratton declined to discuss how a person gains membership in the Hells Angels or cite membership figures.
Chuck Schoville, president of the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, said it "appears most of the major clubs are making a pretty big recruiting push" across the country.
Schoville said federal prosecutors have had success in applying federal racketeering charges against some groups, not just the person committing the crime but also the organizers.
He said that has forced the motorcycle clubs to take a lower profile and talk more with each other.
Gaining membership in an outlaw club typically takes three or four years, during which a person becomes "a prospect" and gets sponsored by a member, Schoville said. "That's generally when criminal activity gets involved," he said.
Most people won't come in contact with an outlaw biker, but that doesn't mean the public shouldn't be aware of what's happening.
"I think the average person should care because of the criminal activity that comes with these gangs," Schoville said. "They're in to make money."
