The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Common nicknames for the club are the "H.A.", "Red & White", and "81"."81" is a metonym. As 'H' and 'A' are the 8th and 1st letter of the alphabet. With a membership of over 6,000, and 592 charters in 66 countries, the HAMC is the largest outlaw biker club in the world.
The Hells Angels have a history of involvement in organized crime, such as drug trafficking, and engaging in violent conflict with other outlaw motorcycle clubs. Involvement in organized crime and violence has historically extended to the organization's most senior leadership. Many police and international intelligence agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the Australian Federal Police, and Europol, consider the club an organized crime syndicate.Multiple sources:
2003 Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (2003) AFP targets outlaw motorcycle gangs in South-East Asia Australian Federal Police (July 11, 2022)
History The Hells Angels originated on March 17, 1948, in Fontana, California, when several small motorcycle clubs agreed to merge.The Secret Life of Bikers by Jerry Langton. Location 19.5/477. HarperCollings:2018 Otto Friedli, a World War II veteran, is credited with starting the club after breaking from the Pissed Off Bastards motorcycle club over a feud with a rival gang. According to an alternative theory, the Hells Angels were founded on November 15, 1951, in San Bernardino, by Dick White, a member of the Redlands Road Runners.The Betty Supernaw Hells Angels & POBOBs Archive TheWesternEmpire.com (June 1, 2020) Research into Contemporary Outlaws (RICO) Greg Williams, TheVintagent.com (January 19, 2021)
According to its website, the club's name was suggested by Arvid Olson, an associate of the founders who had served in the "Hell's Angels" squadron of the Flying Tigers in China during World War II. In a letter written to The Guinness Book of World Records by a member on the Hells Angels' behalf, it is instead stated that the club's name was taken from the "Hell's Angels" squadron of the 303rd Bombardment Group, which was active in the European theater of World War II. It is at least clear that the name was inspired by the tradition from World Wars I and II whereby the Americans gave their squadrons fierce, death-defying titles; an example of this lies in one of the three P-40 squadrons of Flying Tigers fielded in Burma and China, which was dubbed "Hell's Angels". In 1930, the Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels showcased extraordinary and dangerous feats of aviation, and it is believed that World War II groups that used that name based it on the film. According to the Hells Angels' website, they are aware that there is an apostrophe missing in "Hells", but "... it is you who miss it. We don't".
Some of the HAMC's early history is not clear, and accounts differ. The club's first official charter was reportedly drawn up in Fontana in 1950. Various autonomous Hells Angels charters were formed throughout California in the decade following the club's foundation, by nomadic members who moved from one city to another. The San Francisco ("Frisco") charter was reportedly founded by former members of the Market Street Commandos in 1954. A North Sacramento charter was established in 1956, followed by another charter in Sacramento the following year, which was formed by two brothers, James "Mother" Miles and Pat Miles, who were former members of the Hell Bent for Glory biker club. The Sacramento charter later disbanded and relocated to Richmond as a Nomads chapter in 1965.Driving out the Angels: How an outlaw motorcycle club was ousted from Sacramento Michael Anthony Adams, ABC 10 (August 5, 2017) According to Ralph "Sonny" Barger, founder of the Oakland charter in 1957, other early charters of the club were founded in Gardena, and elsewhere, with the members usually unaware that there were other clubs. One of the lesser-known clubs was in North Chino/South Pomona in the late 1960s. Barger has been credited with helping to unify these various disparate charters under common club bylaws.Who was Sonny Barger, the Hells Angels member whose funeral service is in Stockton Megan Camponovo, Fox 40 (September 22, 2022)Sonny Barger, figurehead of Hells Angels, dies at 83 Tampa Bay Times (July 1, 2022)
Other sources claim that the San Francisco Hells Angels were organized in 1953 by Rocky Graves, a Hells Angel member from San Bernardino ("Berdoo"), implying that the "Frisco" Hells Angels were very much aware of their forebears.Birney Jarvis for Male magazine, 1964. Reprinted in Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson The "Frisco" Hells Angels were reorganized in 1955 with 13 charter members, Frank Sadilek serving as president, and the smaller, original logo. The Oakland charter, at the time headed by Barger, used a larger version of the "Death's Head" patch nicknamed the "Barger Larger", which was first used in 1959. It later became the club standard. The first charter to open outside California was established in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1961.
The Hells Angels are often depicted in semi-mythical romantic fashion like the 19th-century James–Younger Gang: free-spirited, iconic, bound by brotherhood and loyalty. At other times, such as in the 1966 Roger Corman film The Wild Angels, they are depicted as violent and nihilistic, little more than a violent criminal gang and a scourge on society.
The club became prominent within, and established its notoriety as part of, the 1960s counterculture movement in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District, playing a part at many of the movement's seminal events. Members were directly connected to many of the counterculture's primary leaders, such as Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Timothy Leary, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Mick Farren, and Tom Wolfe. "Gonzo" journalist Hunter S. Thompson's book about the club launched his career. From 1968 to 1969 the Hells Angels of San Francisco headquarters was at 715 Ashbury (across from the Grateful Dead house at 710 Ashbury).Hell's Angels and the Illusion of the Counterculture; Wood, John. September 30, 2003. The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 3The Haight-Ashbury: A History; Perry, Charles. 2005
In 1973, members from several branches of the organization protested at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing about a proposed transportation plan that included restrictions on motorcycle use and sales to get California to meet the new Clean Air Act standards."Early Implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in California". EPA Alumni Association. Video , Transcript (see p. 14). July 12, 2016.
Insignia
The Hells Angels' official website attributes the official "death's head" insignia design to Frank Sadilek, past president of the San Francisco charter. The colors and shape of the early-style jacket emblem (before 1953) were copied from the insignias of the 85th Fighter Squadron and the 552nd Medium Bomber Squadron.
The Hells Angels have a system of patches similar to military medals. The specific meaning of each patch is not publicly known, but the patches identify each biker's specific or significant actions or beliefs.Gangs: A Journey into the heart of the British Underworld, Tony Thompson, (2004) The official colors of the Hells Angels are red lettering displayed on a white background—hence the club's nickname "The Red and White". The patches are worn on leather or denim jackets and vests.
Red and white are also used to display the number 81 on many patches, as in "Support 81", "Route 81". The 8 and 1 stand for the respective positions in the alphabet of H and A.Hells Angels movement Paul Stokes, The Daily Telegraph (August 14, 2007) Friends and supporters of the club use these in deference to club rules, which purport to restrict the wearing of Hells Angels imagery to club members. The diamond-shaped one-percenter patch is also used, displaying "1%" in red on a white background with a red merrowed border. The term "one-percenter" is said to be a response to the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) comment on the Hollister incident to the effect that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens and 1% were outlaws. The AMA has no record of such a statement and calls this story apocryphal.
Most members wear a rectangular patch (again, white background with red letters and a red merrowed border) identifying their respective charter locations. Another similarly designed patch reads "Hells Angels". When applicable, members of the club wear a patch denoting their position or rank within the organization. The patch is rectangular and, like those described above, displays a white background with red letters and a red merrowed border. Some examples of the titles used are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant at Arms. This patch is usually worn above the charter location patch. Some members also wear an "AFFA" patch, which stands for "Angels Forever; Forever Angels", referring to their lifelong membership in the club (i.e., "once a member, always a member").
An additional patch worn by select club members consists of two Nazi-style SS lightning bolts below the words "Filthy Few". Some law enforcement officials claim that the "Filthy Few" patch is awarded only to those who have committed or are prepared to commit murder on the club's behalf.Look Homeward Angel: Cycle Icon Sonny Barger Kick-Starts Life As A Free Man By Violating Parole Philip Martin, Phoenix New Times (December 2, 1992) Hells Angels have denied this interpretation, however, comparing it instead to a merit badge awarded to those who are "the first to arrive at a party and the last to leave". According to reports from law enforcement and prosecutors, another patch similar to the "Filthy Few" patch is the "Dequiallo" patch.The Story Behind The Controversial Hell’s Angels Tammy Ziv, The Herald Weekly (October 4, 2022) "Dequiallo" is a reference to El Degüello, a bugle call played by the regimental band of Antonio López de Santa Anna's army at the Battle of the Alamo. This patch allegedly "signifies that the wearer has fought law enforcement on arrest." There is no common convention as to where the patches are placed on members' jackets/vests.
"Angels Forever, Forever Angels" is also the club's traditional motto.Frank Reynolds, Michael McClure (1967). Freewheelin Frank: Secretary of the Angels, Grove Press, 1967, p. 73 Other Hells Angels slogans include "When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets";Hopper, C. B., & Moore, J. (1990). "Women in outlaw motorcycle gangs". Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 18(4), p. 385. "Three can keep a secret if two are dead";Hell's Angels: Three Can Keep a Secret If Two Are Dead Yves Lavigne (1989) and "When in doubt, knock 'em out", which was coined by New York City charter member Vincent "Big Vinny" Girolamo.Requiem for a Heavyweight Martha Lagace, New York (December 16, 1985)
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