OFF THE WIRE
LOS ANGELES - On paper the case is called United States versus Assorted Firearms, Motorcycles and Other Personal Property.
In reality the reams of paperwork represent the latest round in the years-long battle between the federal government and the Mongols Motorcycle Club.
Boiled down to its basics, the case will settle who gets hundreds of rifles, pistols and shotguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, $178,361 in cash, 139 motorcycles, nine cartons of cigarettes, a Daisy BB gun, a Honda Civic, a GMC Yukon and assorted pieces of jewelry seized in 2008.
On one side, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claim the items represent booty and swag collected by a criminal organization over the course of several years.
In a May 2009 affidavit filed in federal court, ATF agent John Ciccone and a representative of the U.S Attorney's Office declared the "arsenal of firearms, including assault rifles, shotguns, and semi-automatic handguns, as well as bulletproof vests and knives" represented the ill-gotten gains of a vast, motorcycle-mounted criminal enterprise.
The affidavit characterizes the Mongol motorcycles as the method employed by club members to move drugs - particularly meth - and intimidate rival biker gxxgs such as the Hell's Angels.
In response, Mongols members and former members claim the stash is their personal property - all bought legally - and plan to fight in federal court for its return.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter ordered an Oct. 9 trial. But he didn't do it without admonishing the government, according to Donald Charles Davis, a blogger at agingrebel.com and author of "Out Bad."
"If I was the taxpayers, I'd tear down the courthouse," Carter said. "Thirty percent of these things have nothing to do with justice."
Which is why West Covina resident Al "The Suit" Cavazos, brother of Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, the Mongols' former president, said he plans get his bike, his brother's bike and his nephew's bike returned at trial.
He also wants his guns, a .38 and a Ruger Mini-14 he bought at Western Auto in Santa Fe Springs in 1991, long before he ever rode with the Mongols.
Even if he fails to get the bikes or the guns, Al Cavazos said he hopes the upcoming trial in Carter's courtroom will show that he and his brother, Ruben Cavazos, were railroaded in the government's racketeering case against the club.
Al Cavazos claims false testimony from Montebello police Sgt. Chris Cervantes and Ciccone relating to an April 2007 shooting in the parking lot of Nicola's - a Commerce topless bar - is responsible for the convictions.
"I want to go to court and prove that Ciccone and Cervantes testified falsely and put an innocent person in jail," Al Cavazos said.
Al Cavazos did a eight months in federal custody in the racketeering case against the Mongols after entering a guilty plea to a drug charge. Ruben Cavazos is serving a 14-year federal prison sentence after entering his own guilty plea in the case.
Ruben Cavazos' plea agreement with the government is under seal.
"They sentenced me to (14) years with the hope that I would later cooperate in exchange for my freedom," Ruben Cavazos said in an email from La Tunas Federal Correctional Facility near El Paso, Texas.
"This would have meant not only leaving men in prison for crimes they did not commit, but sending others to the same fate," he continued. "I am reminded every minute of every day of the choice I made; I would do it all over again, it was the right choice."
A complaint by Al Cavazos to the Montebello Police Department about Cervantes and his conduct at Nicola's remains under investigation, Montebello police Capt. Brad Keller said Friday.
"He's disputing the facts that were already tried in this case," Keller said.
To prove his innocence, Al Cavazos said he will bring 77 witnesses to the Nicola's shooting into federal court to testify in the property case. Cavazos believes that doing so will prove that the ATF's racketeering case against the Mongols rested on false testimony and therefore the guns, bikes and cash should be returned.
On top of that, both Ruben Cavazos and Al Cavazos maintain that their bikes were purchased legally, and the government has no rights to them.
Al Cavazos' bike, a custom Harley-Davidson, features a red flame paint motif. Ruben Cavazos described his chopper as "black in color" with "several skulls and the word Mongols engraved on it."
Ruben Cavazos, who was employed for 28 years at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center as an emergency room technician, maintains he retired from the club eight months before the federal raid.
"It would be like terminating an employee long after he resigns," he wrote. "My family and I were moving to a ranch in Texas at the time of our arrest."
The bike was his sole remaining tie to the group, he said.
The only reminder Al Cavazos has - other than ATF paperwork - comes from a handful of photographs that feature the Cavazos brothers and Ruben Cavazos's son Ruben "Little Rubes" Cavazos Jr. in happier times.
"The ATF - realizing that we have purchased our motorcycles with monies earned through legal employment - has creatively expanded its reasons to rob United States citizens of their hard-earned possessions," Ruben Cavazos wrote. "In this case (that's) our mode of transportation, our motorcycles."
Al Cavazos, Ruben Cavazos and Ruben Cavazos Jr. have been disowned by the Mongols club, according to current national President David Santillan, who calls their status "out bad."
Al Cavazos said he doesn't care what Santillan thinks, he's fighting for family possessions he says were wrongfully taken by the federal government.
Both Ruben Cavazos and Al Cavazos believe they have a good chance of winning. In civil court, the government hasn't fared well against the Mongols. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the ATF's seizure of the Mongols' trademarks was invalid.
Using stern language, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper termed the ATF action unlawful discrimination and a blow to free speech rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
"The Government contends the public should not be exposed to a symbol that `stands for murder, violence and drug trafficking..."' Cooper wrote. "Even speech advocating unlawful conduct is afforded protection under the First Amendment. On balance ... the public interest in protecting speech outweigh(s) the Government's interest in suppressing an intimidating symbol."
But trademark and forfeiture laws are different animals. Members of the Mongols who weren't charged or convicted in the racketeering case had property seized. And, the standard for such seizures is low, according to an attorney representing a member of the group.
"All the government needs to show is a preponderance of the evidence that indicates the items were used for an unlawful purpose," said the attorney, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. "We talking about the Mongols here, you don't need to show much to make that case fly."
Not so, Ruben Cavazos said.
"Now that the judge correctly ruled against the ATF in that case and the insignia was ruled property of the Mongols, the ATF is now attempting to steal our motorcycles on the premise that our motorcycles are what keeps us together as a group," Ruben Cavazos said. "Those of you who belong to a boat, flight or car club beware. What is even more troubling is that in past legal cases the ATF has argued that it is not our motorcycles that bring us together, but crime. Which court testimony is truth and which is perjury?"
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_20665499/mongols-hope-federal-trial-brings-their-motorcycles-back
