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 founded their first chapters in New York state on December 5, 1969 by "patching over" the Aliens motorcycle gang of New York City and the Hackers biker gang in Rochester. Two other chapters in Upstate New York were then established in Binghamton in 1975, and Troy on August 23, 1978. With additional chapters in New Rochelle and Suffolk County, the Hells Angels also have a presence in the Hudson Valley, and on Long Island, in the Greater New York area of Downstate New York. The New York City charter is among the club's largest, and, along with the Cleveland chapter in Ohio, is responsible for coordinating all Hells Angels activities in the Eastern United States as well as those of chapters in Canada and Europe.
The Hells Angels have formed links with the Gambino and Genovese crime families in New York City and the Bufalino crime family in Western New York, providing security, transportation in narcotics transactions and contract killings for the Mafia in exchange for drugs. The U.S. Customs Service documented cases in which the New York Hells Angels partnered the Medellín Cartel in the smuggling of cocaine. The club also distributes methamphetamine in the state and smuggles marijuana into the United States from Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
Mafia connections The United States Department of Justice has stated that the Hells Angels have links with New York's Gambino and Genovese crime families; the mafia is afforded security and transportation in narcotics deals in exchange for drugs and contract killings.
Rape and sexual assault Eight Hells Angels members, who were in New York City to attend the funeral of murdered club member Jeffrey "Groover" Coffey, were arrested on suspicion of the March 10, 1971 gang rape of a seventeen-year-old girl in a leather goods store in East Village, Manhattan. The bikers allegedly returned to the store, owned by Eugene Pritzert, to pick up goods they had ordered the day before. When Pritzert told them the goods were not ready, they began abusing him, waking Pritzert's girlfriend who was asleep in the rear of the store. While some members guarded the store owner, others took turns beating and raping the girl. After approximately six hours, Pritzert managed to escape and alerted police. The girl identified her alleged attackers in a police lineup. The eight men – Robert Cardner, Robert Marshall and Car Paretta from Massachusetts, Thomas Fusco, Edward Robinson and Kevin Seymour from New York state, Kurt Groudle from Ohio, and James Ordfield from New York City – were charged with rape, sodomy, unlawful imprisonment and criminal trespassing.
Incidents at 77 East 3rd Street
Beginning in 1969, the headquarters of the New York City chapter of the Hells Angels was a six-story building at 77 East 3rd Street in the East Village neighbourhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The first floor of the building served as the clubhouse of the chapter, while the upper five floors contained residential apartments that were mostly, but not exclusively, occupied by Hells Angels members.
A police raid on the East Village headquarters of the New York City Hells Angels chapter on March 18, 1972 resulted in five arrests and the seizure of guns, knives and explosive devices. The arrests of two Hells Angels members – Vincent "Big Vinnie" Girolamo and Anthony Morabito – and three women – Windy Stein, and sisters Mary and Janet Huber – were the climax of a week‐long investigation of the robbery and assault of a young Puerto Rican man which took place in the vicinity of the Hells Angels' clubhouse on March 12, 1972.The Grateful Hell's Angels Ann Aboto, The Village Voice (March 30, 1972) Girolamo was charged with robbery and possession of brass knuckles and an imitation pistol, Stein with possession of a .38 caliber revolver and a machete, and Morabito and the Huber sisters with possession of a revolver, a bomb, a can of gunpowder and three incendiary flares.Weapons snake found in Hell's Angels lair The Sun (March 19, 1972) Two twelve‐gauge shotguns and nearly a thousand rounds of ammunition, an assortment of knives and an illegal device for tapping telephone lines were also seized.5 Seized in Raid on Hells Angels Club George Goodman Jr., The New York Times (March 19, 1972) Local residents at the time also reported that the Hells Angels had been responsible for numerous incidents of violence, threats and harassment against various, predominantly African American, motorists and passersby in the area during the previous two years.Hint of Summer Stirs Fears in Hell’s Angels’ Neighbors The New York Times (April 3, 1971)
On March 4, 1978, New York City chapter sergeant-at-arms Vincent Girolamo was arrested following a six-month investigation and charged with the murder of his girlfriend Mary Ann Campbell, who he allegedly threw to her death from the roof of the chapter clubhouse on September 21, 1977.Alleged Head of Motorcycle Gang In ‘Village’ Is Accused of Murder The New York Times (March 5, 1978) Released on a $50,000 bail, Girolamo died on September 12, 1979 of complications from a ruptured spleen, believed to have been sustained in a fight with Oakland, California chapter member Michael "Irish" O'Farrell.Updates, Anecdotes and Untold Stories George Christie, georgechristie.com (January 13, 2018) He was laid to rest at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, and his funeral was attended by Hells Angels from across the United States and Europe.Hells Angels Is Buried Gang Style Observer–Reporter (September 17, 1979)
Angar Hussan, a fourteen-year-old Bengali immigrant, died at the Beth Israel Medical Center on July 5, 1990, a day after he was struck in the throat by metal shards from an exploding steel garbage can while watching M-80 firecrackers being set off at a Fourth of July block party sponsored by the Hells Angels outside the club's headquarters in the East Village. Three other bystanders were injured, two seriously.Youth, 14, Dies After Fireworks Explode in Can Richard D. Lyons, The New York Times (July 6, 1990) Hells Angels members Anthony Morabito and John Tannuzzo were charged with second-degree murder in Hussan's death on October 22, 1990.2 Hell's Angels Are Charged In Death of 14-Year-Old Boy The New York Times (October 23, 1990) The motorcycle club as a corporation also was indicted on the charges.Hell's Angels charged in July 4th explosion Democrat and Chronicle (October 31, 1990) Of the two men charged with murder, one was convicted of criminally negligent homicide, and the case against the other was dismissed.
An Italian tourist, Diego Servetti, suffered a broken arm in an attack allegedly carried out by a biker wielding an ax handle after he sat on a motorcycle outside the clubhouse on April 30, 2006. No arrests were made in the incident.Biker-Baiting Tourist Unleashes 'Hell' On Self Philip Messing, New York Post (May 4, 2006)
On January 28, 2007, a woman named Roberta Shalaby was found badly beaten on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' clubhouse at 77 East Third Street in the East Village. The resulting investigation by the NYPD has been criticized by the group for its intensity. The police were refused access to the Hells Angels clubhouse and responded by closing off the area, setting up sniper positions, and sending in an armored personnel carrier. After obtaining a warrant, the police searched the clubhouse and arrested one Hells Angel who was later released. The group claims to have no connection with the beating of Shalaby. Five security cameras cover the entrance to the New York chapter's East 3rd Street club house, but the NY HAMC maintains nobody knows how Shalaby was beaten nearly to death at their front door. A club lawyer said they intended to sue the city of New York for false arrest and possible civil rights violations.
Gang wars Outlaws The decades-long conflict between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws reportedly originated from a personal feud between two members of the Aliens biker gang in 1969, when the wife of Sandy Alexander was allegedly raped by fellow club member Peter "Greased Lightning" Rogers while Alexander was in California meeting with Hells Angels leader Sonny Barger.The violent rivalry of the Hell's Angels and Outlaws Birmingham Mail (28 November 2008) Bloody and long lasting: the feud between Hells Angels and Outlaws Sean O'Neill, The Times (20 July 2009) Rogers subsequently fled to Chicago and joined the Outlaws, becoming a senior member of the club. Alexander, meanwhile, also rose through the Hells Angels' hierarchy to a position of influence, second only to Barger.Biker Gangs Walter Roberts (2012)
At a party in New York City on December 31, 1973, Rogers was assaulted by two Hells Angels who seized and forcibly held him until Alexander arrived. Rogers was subsequently beaten and almost killed by Alexander in a one-on-one fight.Victim of a global biker feud Chris Summers, BBC (28 November 2008) In retaliation for the New Year's Eve incident, South Florida Outlaws leader James "Big Jim" Nolan allegedly ordered the killings of two members and a former member of the Lowell, Massachusetts Hells Angels chapter.'Gatemouth' Edson To Take Stand In Biker Trial George McEvoy, Fort Lauderdale News (December 19, 1978) "Whiskey" George E. Hartman, Jr. and Edwin Thomas "Riverboat" Riley were identified by rival bikers seeking revenge for the attack on Rogers while on a visit to the Outlaws' territory in Florida to supervise the covering up of Hells Angels tattoos belonging to Albert E. "Oskie" Simmons, who had relocated to Orlando, Florida to operate a motorcycle shop after leaving the club in 1973.Lowell rites planned for 2 slain cyclists David S. Richwine, The Boston Globe (May 5, 1974) Police believe Hartman and Riley were in Florida to source narcotics.Indictment links Outlaws to 11 killings Deborah Petit, Sun-Sentinel (September 6, 1986) They may also have been in pursuit of three Florida-bound members of the Lucifer's Henchmen, a fledgling motorcycle club with which the Hells Angels were feuding in Massachusetts.3 Executed, Dumped In Pit Fort Lauderdale News (May 2, 1974) Hartman, Riley and Simmons were lured to a Fort Lauderdale, Florida tavern on April 27, 1974 under the pretence of a drug deal. They were then each bound with rope before being fatally shot in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun after being forced into a van at gunpoint and taken to a quarry near Andytown, Florida by four Outlaws members.Legendary Hells Angels-Outlaws Biker War Can Be Traced Back To 1974 Triple Murder In South Florida Scott Burnstein, The Gangster Report (April 23, 2017) The bodies of the Massachusetts trio were then weighed down with concrete cinder blocks and submerged in a flooded, twenty-feet deep rock pit, but were discovered on May 1, 1974 after one corpse became dislodged and was seen by a passing motorist.Three Bodies Found Near Fort Lauderdale The News Herald (May 3, 1974) The other two were found by police divers.3 Dead Men Were Hell's Angels Pensacola News Journal (May 4, 1974)