CHARLESTON, W.Va - Pagans go on trial as alleged bodyguards

OFF THE WIRE
 Zac Taylor
 wvgazette.com
Jurors heard opening statements Monday in the trial of two high-ranking members of local chapters of the Pagans Motorcycle Club who are accused of acting as armed bodyguards for the violent club's national vice president.
Elmer Luke "Tramp" Moore and Richard Timothy "Lucky" Weaver face charges after federal authorities say both of the men carried firearms in an effort to protect Pagans National Vice President Floyd "Jesse" Moore, who is also Elmer Moore's father.
The trial marks another chapter in a widespread federal investigation into Pagan activities in West Virginia. Floyd Moore was one of the main defendants in a 44-count federal indictment, unsealed in 2009, against 55 Pagan members and associates.
Floyd Moore, 65, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in February 2011 and is serving a five-year sentence. He is one of the few indicted defendants to serve prison time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Loew told the jury that Floyd Moore, as national vice president, was responsible for Pagan operations in Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania. Because he served time for a previous felony, he is unable to carry firearms legally and instead ordered subordinates to stand guard for him.
"That's how he got around it," Loew said.
When Moore moved to St. Albans, where he is originally from, he ordered Weaver, president of the Charleston Pagan chapter, to serve as his bodyguard, Loew said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Jurors heard opening statements Monday in the trial of two high-ranking members of local chapters of the Pagans Motorcycle Club who are accused of acting as armed bodyguards for the violent club's national vice president.
Elmer Luke "Tramp" Moore and Richard Timothy "Lucky" Weaver face charges after federal authorities say both of the men carried firearms in an effort to protect Pagans National Vice President Floyd "Jesse" Moore, who is also Elmer Moore's father.
The trial marks another chapter in a widespread federal investigation into Pagan activities in West Virginia. Floyd Moore was one of the main defendants in a 44-count federal indictment, unsealed in 2009, against 55 Pagan members and associates.
Floyd Moore, 65, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in February 2011 and is serving a five-year sentence. He is one of the few indicted defendants to serve prison time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Loew told the jury that Floyd Moore, as national vice president, was responsible for Pagan operations in Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania. Because he served time for a previous felony, he is unable to carry firearms legally and instead ordered subordinates to stand guard for him.
"That's how he got around it," Loew said.
When Moore moved to St. Albans, where he is originally from, he ordered Weaver, president of the Charleston Pagan chapter, to serve as his bodyguard, Loew said.
A confidential informant recorded Weaver saying, "It's my job to watch after Floyd Moore," Loew said.
Elmer Moore was the president of the Pagans' Buckhannon-Weston chapter, and is alleged to have organized bodyguards to help escort his father to a "mandatory" Pagan meeting in Virginia, where Floyd Moore was expected to be the target of a fellow club member.
Weaver's lawyer, Deirdre Purdy, said Weaver and his tiny, 20-member chapter were targeted by federal investigators simply because Floyd Moore decided to move back to St. Albans. FBI agents watched the club headquarters 24 hours a day and planted two confidential informants, one of whom has since committed suicide.
"It's like if you were a member of the local Republican committee and Dick Cheney moved into the neighborhood," Purdy said.
Purdy said that despite prosecutors' claims, there is thin evidence that Weaver's chapter, which held cookouts and other family-oriented gatherings, operated like a gang. She said that most of the members who were allegedly bodyguards on Floyd Moore's behalf, including Weaver, had concealed-weapons permits well before the government alleged that the conspiracy took place.
Jim Roncaglione, Elmer Moore's attorney, pointed out that his client does not have a criminal record, and that it is not a crime to simply be a member of the Pagans.
The trial continues this week before U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston.
Reach Zac Taylor at http://wvgazette.com/News/contact/Mnpunel.Gnlybe+jitnmrggr+pbz+return=/News/201203200153 or 304-348-5189.