US Senate To Vote Imminently On Budget Amendment to Defund Medical Marijuana Raidsf

OFF THE WIRE
by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
Senate members are expected to vote imminently in regard to language that seeks to bar the US Justice Department from interfering in activities that are compliant with state medical cannabis laws.

Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) will introduce the bipartisan amendment, which will be similar to language approved by the US House of Representatives earlier this month. As with other legislation, the amendment must be approved by majorities in both legislative chambers before it is sent to the President for approval.

This will be the first time in recent memory that US Senators have ever decided on provisions specific to liberalizing America’s marijuana policies.

It is time that we allowed our unique federalist system to work the way it was intended. Patients and providers should be permitted to engage in state-sanctioned, medical cannabis-related activities free from the threat of federal interference or federal prosecution.

Please write or call your members of Senate today and tell them to stop using taxpayer dollars to target and prosecute state-authorized medical marijuana patients and providers. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to your Senators when you visit here. http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51046/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14003

- See more at: http://blog.norml.org/2014/06/19/us-senate-to-vote-imminently-on-budget-amendment-to-defund-medical-marijuana-raids/#sthash.CbcpU7wA.dpuf

by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

Queensland bikies to have fighting fund after South Australian Government loses High Court gang challenge

OFF THE WIRE

Robyn Wuth and Sean Fewster

Gold Coast Bulletin

QUEENSLAND bikies will have nearly $180,000 in taxpayer money to fight the state’s tough criminal motorcycle gang laws after a landmark High Court decision.

The Bulletin has discovered the South Australian Government has been ordered to pay the Mongols outlaw club $178,000 in legal costs after losing a high-profile court battle four years ago to banish gangs from its borders.
Bikie sources said the money would be tipped straight into the bid to challenge the Vicious and Lawless Association Disestablishment laws pushed through by the Newman Government.
A senior bikie bearer told the Bulletin the legal bill represented only a small amount of money the government had “wasted” pursuing the club “unconstitutionally”.
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“Millions of dollars of taxpayer money has been spent, not just the $178,000 to cover our court costs,” he said.

Police swooped on a Bandido bikie who was simply having a coffee at Nerang on the weekend. Pic: Richard Gosling Source: News Corp Australia

“All those years compiling the history and putting it together before the court cases in the Magistrate Court, the Supreme Court and ultimately the High Court, and for what?
“They ended up with nothing and the legislation was declared repugnant.”
He said the $178,000 would be used to cover legal bills, and any remainder would go into a “fighting fund” to challenge similar laws being used in Queensland and NSW.
“There is no value in (governments) pursuing this ... if a guy is breaking the law, they he will be caught and charged — you don’t need a special bikie law for that,” he said.
“The courts have been tougher on bikers than they have on anyone else — we know that, we expect it.”

Gold Coast’s biggest drug blitz 3:39

• Play video

Nightclub players, bikies arrested in three days of raids on the Gold Coast.

High profile critic of the laws, criminal lawyer Bill Potts of Potts Lawyers, said focused policing would be a more effective use of taxpayer money.
“Costs follow the event and the loser, in this case the South Australian taxpayer, has to foot the bill,” Mr. Potts said.
“How much simpler if governments had worked out that tougher laws don’t make a difference but more focused policing is the best deterrent.”

Motorbike riders have been heavily targeted on the Gold Coast since the Broadbeach brawl last year. Pic: Richard Gosling Source: News Corp Australia

In 2010, SA’s bikie gangs — including the Finks, who later became the Mongols, formed a united front to challenge the state’s anti-association laws in the High Court.
The High Court ruled the laws obliged the state’s courts to impose control orders on bikies at the request of the Attorney-General and police, without any evidence.

It dubbed the legislation “constitutionally repugnant” and said it undermined the independence of judges and forced them to find guilt “based on assumptions”.      

IT` STARTS - Berlin bans MOTORCYCLE CLUB, logo

OFF THE WIRE
 Jason Overdorf
Source: globalpost.com

Germany - Outlawing the motorcycle club's symbols represents the latest weapon in a fight to stop Germany's 'biker wars.'~~~~ BERLIN, Germany - In the latest salvo of a battle to rein in outlawed motorcycle clubs, the authorities here are hitting the global Hell's Angels brand where it hurts most: the logo.
Last month, the signature winged death's head and "Hell's Angels" label featured on the motorcycle club's "cut," or leather vest, were banned in the capital as the symbols of a criminal organization.
Although a tough-minded Hamburg judge outlawed Germany's first Hell's Angels charter in the city in 1983, the Hell's Angels as an organization have never been banned across Germany.
Now the prohibition of the iconic logo has come about through an ironic twist.
When a former member of the banned Hamburg charter appealed to the court in April to be allowed to wear the club's "colors," the judge interpreted the original ruling to mean that the Hell's Angels logo is illegal not only in Hamburg, but throughout the country.
"Now, all the other regions in Germany are thinking about that judgment," said detective superintendent Matthias Frohn, deputy head of the Berlin police division responsible for curtailing the city's motorcycle gangs. "Some, like Berlin, said, 'If that deadhead is forbidden, then I guess it's forbidden.'"
Since the ban of its first charter, the Hell's Angels have taken advantage of an organizational structure that mimics global chains such as McDonalds and Starbucks to gain a big following in Germany. Just check out their website.
The California-based motorcycle club immortalized by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson has charters across Germany and boasts as many as 1,000 members, according to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office.
The police allege that the loose-knit organization is involved in human trafficking for prostitution as well as dealing in drugs and guns.
Although specific charters have been banned in a handful of cities besides Hamburg, prosecutors have been unable to push through a blanket ban on the parent organization.
As soon as local authorities bring the hammer down on one outfit, another one crops up.
"You have individuals who work their way through different outlaw motorcycle gangs," said Frohn, whose bearish build and thick beard make him look a little like a biker himself.
"Nowadays, they even sometimes switch between the Bandidos and Hell's Angels," he added, naming another biker club.
As with other groups allegedly involved in organized criminal activities, bikers, or "rockers," battle for control of legal and illegal businesses mostly among themselves. The US-headquartered Hell's Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws and the homegrown Gremium motorcycle club all compete.
Over the past five years, however, a "rocker war" between the Bandidos and Hell's Angels - reportedly fought not only with chains and knives but also guns and hand grenades - has spilled into Berlin's streets.
In the latest case, the Berlin state prosecutor this month indicted 10 Hell's Angels members for the alleged murder of a 26-year-old rival in a sports betting parlor.
Video footage from a surveillance camera shows the perpetrators striding purposefully into the establishment and gunning down the victim as "civilians" nearby plugged euro coins into slot machines.
"It's become pretty dangerous for the regular person," Frohn said.
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"We don't like the term 'rocker war,'" he added, "but when the Bandidos and Hell's Angels started stabbing and shooting each other in 2009, that is something that does affect the general public."
If convicted, the alleged killers could face life in prison. The Hell's Angels Berlin-City charter has already been banned under laws that allow German states to prohibit groups that are expressly organized for criminal purposes.
Frohn says it remains to be seen whether the broader ban on the club's logo will be enough to finally scatter the gang.

NEW YORK - Did The Iron Order Do It Again

OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
Each and every member of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, a kind of anti-motorcycle club, should regularly pray a prayer of thanks that this is no longer, oh say, 1979. You know. Back in the day. Before CSI and DNA.
The club seems to delight in provoking the members of other motorcycle clubs that wear a three-piece patch. It may simply be that the club attracts men who are flamboyantly neurotic, as Richard Simmons and Perez Hilton are flamboyantly gay. It is also possible that the Iron Order is a club of agents provocateur acting on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and that the club exists largely to create some future RICO case. Maybe these guys have just gotten a bad rep.
This page mostly ignores the Iron Order because they are not really members of the motorcycle club world and they don’t make much news. But sometimes the club does something, or appears to have done something, that The Aging Rebel can’t ignore
This week, club president Ray “Izod” Lubesky may have, in anticipation of this week’s Laconia motorcycle rally, sent Laconia, New Hampshire Police Chief Christopher Adams the following email. The email has been slightly edited to eliminate the most annoying syntax and grammatical errors.

Mommy!

Dear Chief Adams Laconia PD
I represent a law-abiding motorcycle club called the Iron Order MC. I would like to inform you that we will be attending Bike Week in your city this week. We do not support any outlaw motorcycle clubs (1%ers) or abide by their protocol which has caused many problems for our club. We just ask, as free Americans, to be able to ride and be left alone. This is why I am contacting you. I am requesting your assistance. While there, if we encounter any problems with other clubs, can you assist us when we call upon you? Just keep an eye out for the protection of our members. We do our best in security but 1%ers are lowlife, dirty scum who will do anything to harm us. We will cooperate with all law enforcement. Unlike traditional clubs, we will testify when called upon. We will stay only in populated areas where there are witnesses.
If you would like we can have our legal department contact you. The person in charge of our legal department is John Whitfield. Our local person in charge is Craig Carbal. His road name while in Laconia will be Playboy. Once again, we thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Izod – International President of the Iron Order MC

Hoax?

The email seems to have first appeared publically on a Facebook page titled IOMC SUCKS WORLD WIDE II.
Copies of the email have been sent to this page by members of brand name motorcycle clubs who seem to take the letter seriously and are alarmed by it. That makes the email newsworthy whether Izod Lubesky wrote it or not. Some widely respected people think he did.
The Aging Rebel thinks the email is probably a hoax. But, it is a plausible hoax. This page has seen other documents verifiably written by Lubesky including a memorandum written to members in 2011 following a dustup between the Iron Order and the Bandidos in which the Iron Order President stated “We will cooperate with LE and we will prosecute. We will take all steps necessary to protect ourselves and go on down the road.”
Whoever wrote the email to Chief Adams seems to have seen that memo, too.

OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE CLUBS....Source: U.S. Department of Justice, WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO BELEIVE.....

OFF THE WIRE

Bandidos: Law enforcement authorities estimate the Bandidos are one of the two largest outlaw motorcycle gangs in the U.S., with approximately 900 members and 93 chapters. Bandidos is involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana, and producing, transporting and distributing methamphetamine. Bandidos are most active in the Pacific, Southeast, Southwest and West Central regions.

Outlaws Motorcycle Club: Law enforcement authorities estimate the Outlaws have more than 86 chapters in 21 states with 700-plus members. It is the dominant outlaw motorcycle gang in the Great Lakes region. Members produce, transport and distribute methamphetamine, and transport and distribute cocaine and marijuana. Members engage in various criminal activities including arson, assault, explosives operations, extortion, fraud, homicide, intimidation, kidnapping, money laundering, prostitution operations, robbery, theft and weapons violations.

Black Pistons Motorcycle Club: The official support club of Outlaws Motorcycle Club has expanded rapidly throughout the U.S. and has an estimated 70 domestic chapters in 20 states. The members are estimated at more than 200 in the U.S. The Outlaws use Black Pistons chapters as sources of prospective members and uses Black Pistons chapters to conduct criminal activity, especially distributing drugs. Black Piston members engage in assault, extortion, fraud, intimidation and theft.

Hells Angels Motorcycle Club: Law enforcement authorities estimate the Hells Angels have more than 92 chapters in 27 states and 800-plus members. Members produce, transport and distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, and transport and distribute cocaine, hashish, heroin, LSD, MDMA, PCP and diverted pharmaceuticals. Members engage in other criminal activity including assault, extortion, homicide, money laundering and motorcycle theft.

Mongols Motorcycle Club: An extremely violent outfit in the Pacific and Southwest regions. Mongols transport and distribute cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine, and frequently commit violent crimes including assault, intimidation and murder to defend Mongols territory. Most of the club's 300 members are Hispanic males from the Los Angeles area, and many are former street gang members with a long history of using violence to settle grievances.

Pagan's Motorcycle Club: Members distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and PCP. It is one of the more prominent gangs in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Pagans have 200-250 members in 41 chapters in 11 states. The club has been linked to traditional organized crime groups in New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and engages in criminal activities such as arson, assault, bombing, extortion and murder.

Vagos Motorcycle Club: Law enforcement agencies report the Vagos have approximately 300 members in 24 chapters in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Oregon. Vagos produce, transport, and distribute methamphetamine and distribute marijuana. Members also have been implicated in other crimes including assault, extortion, insurance fraud, money laundering, murder, vehicle theft, weapons violations and witness intimidation.