ST. LOUIS • Federal prosecutors scored a victory here Friday against what they called a violent “outlaw biker” gaxxx, winning various convictions against leaders, members and others linked to the “Wheels of Soul” on charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
After seven weeks of evidence and arguments and eight days of deliberations, jurors found all seven defendants — including St. Louis chapter President Dominic Henley and a former club lawyer Jerry Peteet — guilty of conspiracy through acts of racketeering. Several of the men also were convicted of other charges, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder. One, Anthony Robinson, was convicted of murder.
Prosecutors did not obtain convictions on seven of the 24 charges brought. Most of those were related to the Aug. 15, 2009, shooting of a rival motorcycle gaxxx member in St. Louis. Lawyers for Henley and the other member involved, Timothy Balle, claimed self-defense.
Henley, 34, and Balle, 58, both live in St. Louis.
Peteet, 49, is from Gary, Ind., and Robinson, 26, is from Chicago. Robinson’s
murder conviction requires a sentence of life in prison without parole. No
sentencing date was set. Others convicted Friday are: James C. Smith, 66, of
Philadelphia; Jerry Elkins, 49, of Aurora, Colo.; and Marshall Fry, 34, of
Lewisville, Texas.
Most of the two dozen men charged in connection with the case had already pleaded guilty of various charges.
In closing arguments Monday and Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sirena Wissler painted a picture of a gaxxx out to control every city in which it operated, targeting rivals with violent acts ranging from drive-by shootings to armed robberies of the leather jackets, vests and patches that mark a club member.
Their feuds spilled into restaurants, bars and private parties, where verbal disputes or minor, perceived slights would escalate to shootouts and nearly everyone, it seemed, was armed with a handgun.
They collectively faced accusations that they were involved in fatal shootings in St. Louis in 2009, Chicago that same year and Marion, Ohio, in 2011. They also were implicated in other violence, including an aborted plan to attack a rival gaxxx at a party in East St. Louis in January 2011.
Wissler noted that despite the gaxxx’s concerns about a racketeering investigation, some members and associates were caught on wiretaps — and a confidential informer’s hidden recording device — discussing plans to commit murder and other violent acts.
That informer, cooperating as part of an unrelated 2007 criminal case in Missouri state court, joined Wheels with Henley and others when they formed the St. Louis chapter in 2009. He taped Wheels meetings and private conversations in St. Louis and on the regional and national levels.
During the trial, Wissler and the prosecuting team were flanked by stacks of evidence in banker’s boxes, including the black leather vests of Wheels members, sinister-looking clubs, guns and bullet-resistant vests.
They also were flanked by security officers, as hints of a “contract” to kill them were received during the trial.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said, “Threats to witnesses and informants have been an undercurrent almost from the beginning and it has continued throughout the trial.” Aside from that, he said: “There were specific reports of possible contracts being out on the prosecuting team. They were investigated as thoroughly as you can run something down, and in the end we didn’t see the need for any greater security than we had provided for in advance of the trial.”
Callahan would not detail that security, but all electronic devices — including cellphones and iPads — were banned from the courtroom. Visitors, who must go through one metal detector to get into the building, had to go through a second one outside the courtroom.
In closing arguments, defense attorneys told jurors their clients did not have the requisite intent or advance knowledge to be guilty of conspiracy. Some said their clients were only interested in riding, not crime.
“Tell me what he did, not what he said,” challenged Henley’s lawyer, Donnell Smith. Smith suggested that government recordings captured only bluster. “This is a boys club,” he said at one point. “Not a prayer meeting.”
Henley testified that he fired in self-defense during the 2009 fatal shooting and denied other crimes. “I looked at it sort of like a fraternity,” he said.
One of those who testified for prosecutors was Allan “Dog” Hunter, 33, former president of the Midwest chapter. He pleaded guilty in March and said he authorized a hit on a rival club in East St. Louis last year and asked a Wheels member to make pipe bombs for another attack on rivals.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry dismissed charges against one defendant, Curtis “Tomahawk” Cole, 33, during the trial. His lawyer insisted that prosecutors provided virtually no evidence against him.
Among those who pleaded guilty before was Norman James “Justice” Vick, 46, who worked as a part-time security officer for the St. Louis marshal’s office and formerly was a Berkeley police officer, He was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Lawrence “Pac” Pinkston, 42, a part-time worker in the city’s forestry division, also pleaded guilty and received a 63-month term.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/members-of-nationwide-outlaw-biker-gaxxx-convicted-in-st-louis/article_3d674595-9e48-51fb-9ce2-92ceff903a37.html
Most of the two dozen men charged in connection with the case had already pleaded guilty of various charges.
In closing arguments Monday and Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sirena Wissler painted a picture of a gaxxx out to control every city in which it operated, targeting rivals with violent acts ranging from drive-by shootings to armed robberies of the leather jackets, vests and patches that mark a club member.
Their feuds spilled into restaurants, bars and private parties, where verbal disputes or minor, perceived slights would escalate to shootouts and nearly everyone, it seemed, was armed with a handgun.
They collectively faced accusations that they were involved in fatal shootings in St. Louis in 2009, Chicago that same year and Marion, Ohio, in 2011. They also were implicated in other violence, including an aborted plan to attack a rival gaxxx at a party in East St. Louis in January 2011.
Wissler noted that despite the gaxxx’s concerns about a racketeering investigation, some members and associates were caught on wiretaps — and a confidential informer’s hidden recording device — discussing plans to commit murder and other violent acts.
That informer, cooperating as part of an unrelated 2007 criminal case in Missouri state court, joined Wheels with Henley and others when they formed the St. Louis chapter in 2009. He taped Wheels meetings and private conversations in St. Louis and on the regional and national levels.
During the trial, Wissler and the prosecuting team were flanked by stacks of evidence in banker’s boxes, including the black leather vests of Wheels members, sinister-looking clubs, guns and bullet-resistant vests.
They also were flanked by security officers, as hints of a “contract” to kill them were received during the trial.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said, “Threats to witnesses and informants have been an undercurrent almost from the beginning and it has continued throughout the trial.” Aside from that, he said: “There were specific reports of possible contracts being out on the prosecuting team. They were investigated as thoroughly as you can run something down, and in the end we didn’t see the need for any greater security than we had provided for in advance of the trial.”
Callahan would not detail that security, but all electronic devices — including cellphones and iPads — were banned from the courtroom. Visitors, who must go through one metal detector to get into the building, had to go through a second one outside the courtroom.
In closing arguments, defense attorneys told jurors their clients did not have the requisite intent or advance knowledge to be guilty of conspiracy. Some said their clients were only interested in riding, not crime.
“Tell me what he did, not what he said,” challenged Henley’s lawyer, Donnell Smith. Smith suggested that government recordings captured only bluster. “This is a boys club,” he said at one point. “Not a prayer meeting.”
Henley testified that he fired in self-defense during the 2009 fatal shooting and denied other crimes. “I looked at it sort of like a fraternity,” he said.
One of those who testified for prosecutors was Allan “Dog” Hunter, 33, former president of the Midwest chapter. He pleaded guilty in March and said he authorized a hit on a rival club in East St. Louis last year and asked a Wheels member to make pipe bombs for another attack on rivals.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry dismissed charges against one defendant, Curtis “Tomahawk” Cole, 33, during the trial. His lawyer insisted that prosecutors provided virtually no evidence against him.
Among those who pleaded guilty before was Norman James “Justice” Vick, 46, who worked as a part-time security officer for the St. Louis marshal’s office and formerly was a Berkeley police officer, He was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Lawrence “Pac” Pinkston, 42, a part-time worker in the city’s forestry division, also pleaded guilty and received a 63-month term.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/members-of-nationwide-outlaw-biker-gaxxx-convicted-in-st-louis/article_3d674595-9e48-51fb-9ce2-92ceff903a37.html