OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
The Mongols Motorcycle Club is suing United States Attorney General Eric H.
Holder. The government agency Holder administers is ironically called the
Department of Justice. And through its support, or puppet, agency called the
office of the United States Attorney for the Central District of California, the
“Justice Department” has been trying to seize the Mongols name and the club’s
logo since October 2008.
The idea has always been to outlaw membership in the Mongols, and eventually
all motorcycle clubs, by criminalizing the use of the club’s principal
identifiers. Five years ago, to celebrate the arrests of former club president
Ruben “Doc” Cavazos and 78 other people, the Justice Department grandly
announced.
“The racketeering indictment seeks the forfeiture of the trademarked
‘Mongols’ name, which is part of the ‘patch’ members wear on their motorcycle
jackets.
“’In addition to pursuing the criminal charges set forth in the indictment,
for the first time ever, we are seeking to forfeit the intellectual property of
a gang,’ said United States Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. ‘The name “Mongols,”
which is part of the gang’s “patch” that members wear on their motorcycle
jackets, was trademarked by the gang. The indictment alleges that this trademark
is subject to forfeiture. We have filed papers seeking a court order that will
prevent gang members from using or displaying the name “Mongols.” If the court
grants our request for this order, then if any law enforcement officer sees a
Mongol wearing his patch, he will be authorized to stop that gang member and
literally take the jacket right off his back.’”
John Ciccone, the ATF agent who spent eight months in 2008 and 2009
enthusiastically trying to prove that government press releases carry the power
of law, put it more succinctly in a national television appearance two weeks
ago. “You know, if you take the patch off them, they’re nobody,” Ciccone
said.
Unfortunately some things still aren’t legal even if when they are announced
at a big press conference and on television.
The Very Stupid Indictment
Three federal district judges, Florence Marie Cooper, Otis Wright and David
Carter have all ruled that the government cannot seize the marks that advertise
membership in the Mongols but “Justice,” which literally has all the time and
money in the world, was not deterred.
Last February, an Assistant United States Attorney named Elizabeth Yang
date-raped a grand jury into indicting “Mongol Nation, an unincorporated
association” for racketeering and sought to seize the Mongols insignia yet
again. The 44-page indictment was so embarrassingly half-assed that no federal
judge would allow it to be filed. Almost five months later this forty-four page
thing which cost at least $1 million to create still hasn’t been filed. But
there is no guarantee that the big justice machine won’t just keep creating
similar nuisance indictments against the Mongols and any other motorcycle club
until eventually some prosecutor gets lucky with some judge.
The Mongols law suit, filed by a limited liability corporation named Mongols
Nation Motorcycle Club, is intended to put an end to the government’s obsession
with stealing the Mongols patch.
The Suit
The Mongols suit asserts:
“Mongols Nation Motorcycle Club has an actual, well founded, and reasonable
fear that based on the government’s current and prior actions the government
will attempt to take ownership of the marks and thereby unconstitutionally
infringe on the Club’s First Amendment rights. If the government seizes
ownership of the marks then MNMC will have suffered irreparable harm by
chilling, deterring and infringing his First Amendment rights. MNMC has no
adequate remedy at law. An actual controversy has arisen and now exists between
MNMC and Defendants (which is to say the Department of Justice) regarding
Defendants’ ability to seize rights to the marks through RICO forfeiture.
“Wherefore, Plaintiff (the Mongols) respectfully requests the Court enter
judgment against Defendants as follows: A. By declaring that the government has
no interest in the marks; B. By declaring that the marks are not subject to RICO
forfeiture; C. By declaring MNMC and the Club are the rightful owners of the
marks; D. By granting costs and attorney’s fees pursuant…(to) applicable
law.”
The Mongols are represented by a Burbank attorney named Bob Bernstein.
