OFF THE WIRE
LOS ANGELES >>
Five years after ATF agents rounded up 80 members
of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in a sweeping criminal indictment,
federal prosecutors remain locked in a struggle with the group over
control of its well-known logo, typically worn as a patch on members’
backs.
On one side of the battle is the federal government and a
44-page grand jury indictment levied against Mongols Nation, LLC., a
group prosecutors decry as an “outlaw motorcycle gang.” The document
details murder, attempted murder, drug deals and deviant sex acts.
On
the other side are Mongols and former Mongols who see the attempt to
take their patch as a serious limit on their free-speech rights. In
court papers, attorneys for club President David “lil Dave” Santillan
describe the Mongols as a club founded by Latino war vets who have been
misunderstood and stereotyped as criminals because they believe in
freedom and liberty.
After ruling last week that the government
could go ahead with its case and finding that a countersuit filed by
Santillan against Attorney General Eric Holder was invalid, federal
Judge Otis Wright set a March 25 trial date.
The fate of the
patch now rests in his courtroom. And, Santillan said that, for the most
part, Wright’s rulings have been “biased in favor of the government.”
“There
hasn’t been anything major in the news for years,” Santillan said.
“We’ve been pretty good about polishing our image and trying to get away
from that stigma that’s been hanging over our heads.”
In fact,
Santillan says Mongols aren’t too different from other large
institutions that he believes have also been mischaracterized by the
media after legal action.
“It’s like the LAPD or the Catholic
Church, the bad apples represent a small percentage — it’s not even 10
percent,” he added as he prepared to lead members of the club on a
weekend run to Palm Springs. “We’re paying for their mistakes.”
OPERATION BLACK RAIN
In
October 2008, acting on information contained in a grand jury
indictment, agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF) raided locations in six states and arrested several dozen
Mongols members or associates as part of Operation Black Rain. In the
process they seized guns, motorcycles and drugs.
Among those
arrested was then-Mongols President Ruben “Doc” Cavazos. It was Cavazos
who originally trademarked the club’s logo and filed paperwork
organizing the group as a legal California corporation. At each location
where agents served arrest warrants, they also sought out jackets,
patches and other items bearing the Mongols’ logo.
The
trademarked Mongols logo is unmistakable: The black-and-white image is
that of a sunglasses-wearing, bell bottom-clad man with a Fu-Man Chu
mustache and a long queue on top of his bald head. The man appears to be
holding a sword as he sits in the saddle of a chopper. On his vest is
what appears to be a three-stripped battle or combat ribbon that looks a
lot like those awarded to Vietnam vets.
At a news conference
announcing the busts, John Torres, special agent in charge of the ATF’s
L.A. field office, pointed out the significance of Mongols logo and the
seizures.
“They live by that Mongols patch,” he said. “We take
what’s most dear to them. ... We’re gonna break their back. We’ll do
whatever we have to do to stop the violence.”
In interviews,
Torres and other law enforcement officers promised to stop patch-wearing
members of the gang and strip them of their colors wherever they were
encountered.
The 100-page indictment Torres released in 2008
detailed a list of alleged drug dealing, extortion, assault and
attempted murder by members of the group.
Ultimately, everyone
named in the 2008 Black Rain indictment pleaded guilty and received
sentences ranging from a couple of months to dozens of years in federal
prison.
Cavazos, his son Ruben “Lil Rubes” Cavazos, and brother
Al “The Suit” Cavazos, were ultimately punished by the club and had
their memberships revoked — known as being put “out bad.”
But
there was a limited victory for Cavazos and the club. During the course
of the prosecution, federal Judge Florence Cooper ruled that the
government had no right to seize the Mongols trademark or take the
patch.
“The government lied in order to obtain an indictment,”
Doc Cavazos wrote in an email from federal prison critical of the
renewed effort to punish the Mongols. “If this were China or the old
Russia, it would be business as usual. But this is the United States of
America ... Judge (Cooper) has already ruled on this matter.”
Author
Donald Charles Davis, known as “Rebel,” said there are many
similarities between the 2008 case and the current indictment. Davis’
blog, “Aging Rebel,” is a sounding board for bikers and an online forum.
“The
current case against the word Mongols is being prosecuted by Chris
Brunwin and Steven Welk, the same two guys who prosecuted (Cavazos),”
said Davis, author of “Out Bad: A True Story About Motorcycle Outlaws.”
“I
have been following that case for five years, and the idea has always
been to find a way to ban motorcycle clubs in the U.S. This particular
incarnation of what is really one long war of attrition is about driving
the Mongols out of business by forcing the club to defend itself over
and over against successive prosecutions.”
KING DAVID
Judge
Cooper died in 2010 and portions of the case went before Judge David
Carter — known as King David to attorneys who practice before him.
Carter agreed the Mongols trademark was off limits, but suggested to
Welk and Brunwin a way to take the patch that might pass muster in
court. It required indicting the entire gang as an entity.
As a
result, Wright, who heard portions of the 2008 case, has the new
indictment to consider. It calls out the club for many of the same
criminal acts and seeks to define what it means to be a Mongol:
“(The
gang) issued incentives such as tattoos and patches to honor Mongols
for committing acts of violence on behalf of the Mongols gang and
performing specific sexual acts at Mongols gang events ...
“Many
full-patched members also displayed a patch with the designation 1
percent to distinguish themselves from the 99 percent of motorcycle
members who were legitimate and law-abiding and identify themselves as
being within the 1 percent who were not legitimate and did not adhere to
the law or the rights of others.”
In short, the 2013 indictment
in Wright’s court, which details shootouts, stabbings and small-scale
dope deals, equates being a Mongol with being a criminal. Which is along
the lines of Carter’s suggestion to prosecutors.
It could be a tough case for the Mongols to fight.
“Judge
Wright is particularly sympathetic to the U.S. Attorney’s point of view
and blatantly hostile to the Mongols,” Davis said. “Wright appears to
be emotionally invested in finding a way to outlaw motorcycle clubs.”
The idea that an “outlaw” club can be outlawed is exactly what Doc Cavazos believes is at the heart of the latest prosecution.
“It
is not just the Mongols and other motorcycle clubs that will have their
freedoms trampled,” he wrote. Any legitimate group or club can become
victims.”
TRADEMARK VS. FIRST AMENDMENT
At its heart, the
case poses some interesting legal questions, said Rebecca Tushnet, a
Georgetown law professor who specializes in trademark and intellectual
property law.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this in terms of
trademark law,” Tushnet said. “There’s no barrier to the government
seeking this kind of remedy, but there are some prohibitions.”
Tushnet
said taking the trademark — for example — wouldn’t give the government
the right to rip jackets off the backs of Mongols any more than it has
the right to rip counterfeit Louis Vuittons from the clutches of random
women shopping on Rodeo Drive.
And the point where trademark law
overlaps with protections for free speech outlined in the First
Amendment is “simply a mess,” Tushnet said.
It is likely the
government will argue that the Mongols are a “clear and present danger,”
and they will likely conclude that on that basis Mongols members should
forfeit their patch.
“But, it’s hard to imagine that a symbol
worn on someone’s back as they are riding down the highway meets that
standard,” she said. “What the government is trying to do — if I
understand correctly — it’s trying to do a little slight of hand in
terms of seizing that trademark.”
Which is exactly what Santillan
hopes to prove, and he says he has backing in the cause from
traditional rivals who belong to other groups.
“A lot of clubs
are taking the same stance and want to band together to fight this
thing,” he said. “It’s about everybody that wears a patch from Christian
bikers to one-percenters. This is going to be a big thing. There’s a
lot of constitutional issues involved in this.”
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20131026/us-to-use-trademark-law-to-go-after-mongols-patch
