Saturday, March 3, 2012
Missouri - 2 members of 'Wheels of Soul' biker gang plead guilty
OFF THE WIRE
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two Chicago members of a violent motorcycle gang pleaded guilty to federal racketeering conspiracy charges in St. Louis, prosecutors said Thursday.
Carlyle “Thundercat” Fleming and Allan “Dog” Hunter were among 18 members of the Wheels of Soul Outlaw Motorcycle gang in seven states indicted in June. Fleming pleaded guilty Wednesday and Hunter did so on Thursday. Both face sentencing in May.
Prosecutors described the gang, which is based in Philadelphia but has branches throughout the U.S., as well organized and extremely violent. Authorities say the gang distributed crack cocaine and heroin and committed robberies to raise money, and they blamed the gang for three killings.
In 2009, members allegedly shot and killed a member of the rival Sin City Titans gang in St. Louis. The shooting came weeks after a meeting in which members were told that the Mother Chapter had declared “open season” on the Sin City Titans, according to the indictment.
In January 2011, a member the Wheels of Soul allegedly shot and killed a person in Chicago during an altercation with the rival Street Soldiers gang. And in March 2011, a member is accused of shooting three victims in the back as they fled from a party in Marion, Ohio, killing one and seriously wounding another.
In his plea, Fleming admitted trying to kill two people in separate incidents in Chicago in 2009. Both victims survived, one after being shot in the stomach and one after being stabbed. Witnesses told police the stabbing victim was “nearly scalped,” according to the U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis.
Hunter, a former president of the Midwest Region for the Wheels of Soul, admitted he conspired to distribute crack cocaine in the Chicago area. He also admitted conspiring to kill rival gang members in East St. Louis, Ill., and that he intended to use pipe bombs against rival clubs.
Online court records show that at least five of the other suspects in the case have also pleaded guilty.
