Pittsburgh - Judge orders biker gang president held for trial

OFF THE WIRE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The national president of the Pagans motorcycle gang was held for trial Thursday on drug charges in Westmoreland County.

Dennis "Rooster" Katona, 45, of Hempfield, was arrested last week after state police executed a search warrant at his house on Ember Lane, where he lives with his wife.

Troopers with the organized crime unit said they found cocaine, a digital scale, an owe sheet and other evidence of drug dealing.

District Judge Roger Eckels ordered him held on a $750,000 bond pending trial.

Mr. Katona was released from federal prison in 2006 following his conviction for a leadership role in an attack on the rival Hells Angels in New York in 2002. He and other gang leaders have long been under investigation.

The former sergeant-at-arms and later treasurer of the gang, Mr. Katona took over as president after the former top Pagan, David Keith "Bart" Barbeito, was arrested in a federal racketeering case in 2009 along with 55 other Pagans.

Mr. Barbeito, 51, of Myersville, Md., is in federal prison on charges stemming from illegal motorcycle raffles and two weapons offenses.

The Pagans, which have always had a large presence in Western Pennsylvania, maintain their national headquarters in a farmhouse in Washington County.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11190/1159238-59.stm#ixzz1RewXqJrD