OFF THE WIRE
The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, prosecutors say, trafficked in narcotics, money laundering and violent loansharking.
But what got them into trouble, it turns out, was a car insurance claim that didn't look right.
The federal authorities who led the raid on the Outlaws' Eastside clubhouse last week, arresting more than 40, describe a plot that was more "Three Stooges'' than "Law and Order.''
In 2010, six gxxg members paid someone to drive a U-Haul into the back of their car, and then they filed insurance claims. It was enough for the FBI to prove there was reason to investigate them further, and that investigation uncovered more crimes.
Forty-two people associated with the gxxg have been charged with 37 counts of federal crimes ranging from mail fraud and money laundering to drug-dealing and extortion. Forty-one were arrested Wednesday, and the final fugitive, 28-year-old Terrell Lamont Adams, turned himself in early Friday.
The investigation began in 2009, but authorities didn't have much to go on, said Brad Blackington, an assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case.
"Until that car collision, there was a lot of dormant stuff," he said. "(The car crash) was the first real conduct that we could get a hook into the organization with."
According to the indictment, six members of the Outlaws, including Joshua Bowser -- their "enforcer," tasked with making sure members followed the club's rules -- paid someone to crash a U-Haul truck into the back of their Chevy Avalanche on March 15, 2010. A police officer responded to the crash.
Bowser and the others collected more than $100,000 from insurance claims after the crash.
Blackington declined to say how federal authorities learned about the crash and potential fraud, but it helped them proceed with the investigation and eventually pursue wiretaps on gxxg members' phones.
The FBI also sent an undercover agent to pose as someone who owed money to a person who had hired the Outlaws to collect the debt.
The Outlaws sent Bowser and others to get the money, and Bowser told the FBI agent "it'll be ugly" if he didn't pay, according to the indictment. He also said he made people "disappear" if they didn't pay their debts.
In addition to concocting fraudulent schemes and using violence to collect debts, the indictment alleges that the Outlaws dabbled in other crimes, such as selling drugs, and ran an illegal gambling operation that took in thousands of dollars a day.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said the Outlaws were more sophisticated than most street gangs. They carefully screened members and dictated the types of crimes in which members had to participate.
"This is clearly a gxxg," he said, "but it is a very well-structured, very well-organized criminal enterprise."
More could be arrested, and more charges could be filed against those who already are in custody because the investigation is ongoing, Blackington said.
Four of the club's current and former leaders, including Bowser, were among those arrested. The others arrested were the group's former president, Bryan Glaze, who was kicked out for allegedly stealing money from the group; current President Michael . Knoll; and Treasurer Kent Whitinger.
Most of the people who were arrested will have detention hearings in federal court next week.
Blackington said federal authorities are looking for more victims of the Outlaws' crimes and could file new charges and make additional arrests.
The arrests in Indiana also could lead to arrests in other states because authorities here have shared information with law enforcement agencies elsewhere, he said.
"I think that most jurisdictions that have Outlaws active in them either are looking or should be looking at them," Blackington said.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120713/NEWS02/207130355/Insurance-claim-caught-feds-attention-Outlaws-probe
The FBI also sent an undercover agent to pose as someone who owed money to a person who had hired the Outlaws to collect the debt.
The Outlaws sent Bowser and others to get the money, and Bowser told the FBI agent "it'll be ugly" if he didn't pay, according to the indictment. He also said he made people "disappear" if they didn't pay their debts.
In addition to concocting fraudulent schemes and using violence to collect debts, the indictment alleges that the Outlaws dabbled in other crimes, such as selling drugs, and ran an illegal gambling operation that took in thousands of dollars a day.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said the Outlaws were more sophisticated than most street gangs. They carefully screened members and dictated the types of crimes in which members had to participate.
"This is clearly a gxxg," he said, "but it is a very well-structured, very well-organized criminal enterprise."
More could be arrested, and more charges could be filed against those who already are in custody because the investigation is ongoing, Blackington said.
Four of the club's current and former leaders, including Bowser, were among those arrested. The others arrested were the group's former president, Bryan Glaze, who was kicked out for allegedly stealing money from the group; current President Michael . Knoll; and Treasurer Kent Whitinger.
Most of the people who were arrested will have detention hearings in federal court next week.
Blackington said federal authorities are looking for more victims of the Outlaws' crimes and could file new charges and make additional arrests.
The arrests in Indiana also could lead to arrests in other states because authorities here have shared information with law enforcement agencies elsewhere, he said.
"I think that most jurisdictions that have Outlaws active in them either are looking or should be looking at them," Blackington said.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120713/NEWS02/207130355/Insurance-claim-caught-feds-attention-Outlaws-probe