Numerous police and international intelligence agencies classify the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) as a motorcycle gang and contend that members carry out widespread violent crimes, including drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gunrunning, extortion, and prostitution rings. Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole.
The Hells Angels have established a presence in Northeast Ohio, with chapters in Akron, Cleveland, Lake County and Portage County.Stabbing, shooting in Valley View is latest in long line of violence between Hells Angels and Mongols motorcycle gangs Adam Ferrise, The Plain Dealer (July 29, 2020) The first HAMC chapter in Ohio was chartered on December 16, 1967, when two clubs – the Gooses Motorcycle Club, founded in 1960, and the Animals Motorcycle Club – merged to form the Hells Angels' Cleveland faction, known as the "Dirty 30".The Last Ride of a Cleveland Hells Angel Informant Vince Grzegorek, Cleveland Scene (October 9, 2013) Gabriel Baird of The Plain Dealer described the Gooses as "a motorcycle gang that would in retrospect seem like choirboys" compared the succeeding Hells Angels.Nelson Blackburn, a founding member of the Cleveland Hells Angels chapter, dies Gabriel Baird, The Plain Dealer (November 6, 2011) The Cleveland charter was also the Hells Angels' first in the Midwestern United States.Riding With The Devil: Hells Angels Set Up Shop In Michigan For First Time Scott Burnstein, The Gangster Report (February 8, 2020)
The Cleveland chapter is influential in the club's national organization and is reputed to be the location of the national treasury. The Cleveland and New York City chapters also govern all Hells Angels activities in the Eastern United States as well as those of chapters in Canada and Europe.1986 Report of the Organized Crime Consulting Committee National Criminal Justice Reference Service p. 5 (1986) The Hells Angels are active in gunrunning, extortion, trafficking in stolen property and methamphetamine distribution in the Cleveland and Akron areas,Ohio Drug Threat Assessment National Drug Intelligence Center (April 2001) and have been involved in contract killings and drug trafficking with the Cleveland crime family.Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs USA Overview p. 13 United States Department of Justice (May 1991) Link with Hell's Angels brings move to close bar Akron Beacon Journal (June 11, 1982)
Gang wars God's Children Headquartered out of a clubhouse in the city's St. Clair–Superior neighborhood, the Cleveland Hells Angels came into conflict with another biker gang, God's Children Motorcycle Club, soon after their foundation in 1967.Feud Tied to Slayings Joseph Eszterhas, The Plain Dealer (February 29, 1968) The Hells Angels almost immediately declared war on God's Children, the gang claiming control over the area at the time. While in pursuit of God's Children bikers, on February 28, 1968, around a dozen Hells Angels and members of the affiliated Animals gang visited Barto's Café, a bar on the east side of Cleveland, where they shot and killed two patrons. Having found no members of God's Children, the Hells Angels instead targeted Roosevelt Brown, a black man. Brown was shot twice in the back as he tried to run into a kitchen behind the bar after being harassed by the Hells Angels, and James O. Tillett, a white man, was shot once in the head as he tried to intervene on Brown's behalf.9 Motorcycle Gang Members Indicted In Cleveland Murders The Cincinnati Enquirer (March 22, 1968) Robert Williams, a piano player at the bar, was also assaulted by the bikers.Terror Mob Kills 2 Men in E. 93d Street Bar Hilbert Black and Al Thompson, The Plain Dealer (February 28, 1968)
Two brothers were arrested, and two shotguns and a rifle were confiscated when police subsequently raided the nearby clubhouse of the Animals. The Hells Angels involved in the killings fled the state. Six fugitive Hells Angels members – Cleveland chapter president Timothy John "T.A." Adams, Nelson J. "Scotty" Blackburn, Donald A. Fraser, Robert G. "Bottles" Lemmons, Gary Leroy "Monkey" Montgomery and "Dirty" George Westley Rothrock – and two of their girlfriends – Kathy Diane Shaffer and Nellie M. Sideris – were charged with first-degree murder. A .38 caliber revolver used in the killing of Brown was recovered in a garage in Erie, Pennsylvania, where Adams and Montgomery had initially fled to, on March 2, 1968. The same day, Fraser and Shaffer were arrested in Kingman, Arizona.Police Tie Gun To Cycle Slaying Joseph Eszterhas, The Plain Dealer (March 5, 1968) Animals member Donald Griswold also surrendered to police on March 6, 1968.Cycle Slayings Arrests Mount The Plain Dealer (March 8, 1968) On March 12, 1968, Blackburn, Lemmons, Rothrock and Sideris were captured by the New York State Police near Fonda, New York.4 Cycle Slayings Suspects to Be Brought From N.Y. The Plain Dealer (March 13, 1968) The two remaining suspects, Adams and Montgomery, were apprehended by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and local police in Walnut Creek, California the following day.Hells Angels Face Double Murder Rap Madera Tribune (March 14, 1968) Last 2 in Cafe Slayings Seized The Plain Dealer (March 14, 1968) Three other Hells Angels – Donald A. "Doc" Edwards, Eugene F. "Meany" Zagar and Robert D. "Fly" Salerno – were additionally indicted on first-degree murder charges on March 21, 1968.Jury Indicts 9 Cyclists The Plain Dealer (March 22, 1968)
Murder charges were dismissed against Fraser, Shaffer and Sideris, who were held as material witnesses. Salerno was convicted of first-degree murder, Blackburn, Griswold and Lemmons of second-degree murder, and Adams of first-degree manslaughter.Cyclist Slaying Trial Begins The Plain Dealer (March 20, 1969) Blackburn was sentenced to serve two ten-years-to-life sentences, to run concurrently,5th Cyclist Guilty in Slayings at Bar The Plain Dealer (April 11, 1969) and Lemmons and Griswold were sentenced to two consecutive life terms.The Animals Were Booted From the Zoo in 1968 Sheehan Hannan, Cleveland Magazine (February 16, 2016) Parole authority silent on Hell's Angels terms Robert Logan, The Plain Dealer (July 3, 1975) On June 11, 1975, Governor of Ohio James A. Rhodes, acting on the unanimous recommendation of the state parole board, reduced the sentences of Blackburn and Lemmons to six- and seven-years-to-life, respectively.Sentences are reduced for two Hell's Angels The Plain Dealer (July 2, 1975) The pair were released from Marion Correctional Institution on parole shortly after.2 Hell's Angels convicted in slayings granted paroles Robert Delgado, The Plain Dealer (July 4, 1975) Blackburn left the Hells Angels in 1993 and died on October 27, 2011, at the age of 67.
The Breed On the orders of Sonny Barger, Clarence "Butch" Crouch commanded the Cleveland Hells Angels in eliminating various local biker gangs in order to corner the methamphetamine market in the Cleveland area. By 1971, the Hells Angels had rid the local drug trade of all but one rival gang. The sole gang to resist the Hells Angels' intimidation and beatings was the Breed, a fledgling club at the time that had expanded into territory held by the Hells Angels in Akron and on the East Coast.Bikers' Feud Was Fight for Power The Plain Dealer (March 8, 1971) The feud between the two clubs reportedly began after a fight in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1969,Five die in clash of cycle gangs The New York Times (March 8, 1971) and continued during the following two decades.LCN Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Asbury Park Justia (April 5, 2002)
The Breed "came to Cleveland and put patches on about every little Honda rider, all over town", around 1970, according to Crouch. Although the Breed outnumbered the Hells Angels in the Cleveland area, their members were younger and less experienced than the Hells Angels, whose numbers included many Vietnam veterans. Ahead of a motorcycle trade show at the Polish Women's Hall in downtown Cleveland, the Hells Angels organized an ambush on the Breed after being informed by a policeman that the Breed were planning to attack the Angels in the hall. On March 6, 1971, Hells Angels members from Ohio, New York, Massachusetts and California initiated a large-scale brawl with members of the Breed, in which knives, chains and clubs were brandished.The Nation: Hell's Angels 4, Breed 1 Time (March 22, 1971) With over a hundred bikers on each side, the violence led to the deaths of five people—four Breed members and one Hells Angel. Breed members Bruce "Buster" Emerick, Andrew C. Demeter, Amelio "Pierre" Gardull and Thomas Allen Terry, and Hells Angels biker Jeffrey "Groover" Coffey were killed. 23 people were also injured, including three police officers. Breed members asserted that they were ambushed by the Hells Angels after attending the event unarmed, as ordered by their chapter officers.Hell's Angels Ambushed Us, 2 Breed Say The Plain Dealer (March 11, 1971)
84 people were arrested at the scene of the brawl. On March 9, 1971, 47 Breed members and ten Hells Angels were each charged with five counts of first-degree murder.Jury Will Consider Indictments for 57 in Fight Fatal to 5 The New York Times (March 14, 1971) Fourteen Hells Angels members ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter on October 19, 1971.14 Hell's Angels Plead Guilty to Manslaughter The Plain Dealer (October 20, 1971) 14 Hell's Angels Plead Guilty To Manslaughter Piqua Daily Call (October 20, 1971)
After the Polish Women's Hall attack, the Hells Angels took over the distribution of methamphetamine in the Greater Cleveland area. Inspired by The Godfather book by Mario Puzo, the Hells Angels who were incarcerated for manslaughter returned from prison with a philosophy based upon Mafia customs in which prospecting members must "roll their bones", or commit a murder on a target selected by the club, to become a "full patch" member.
Outlaws In 1974, the Hells Angels declared war on the Outlaws, their biggest rival in the drug and vice trade. In order to fund the war, the Cleveland Hells Angels started a "Taking Care of Business" (TCB) fund which was used to finance a contract-killing program in which members traveled around the United States carrying out gang hits on the rivals of various chapters. During this era, each Hells Angels chapter also appointed an intelligence officer, who gathered information on rival gangs, law enforcement officers and newsmen.