Chuck Zito | |
|---|---|
 Chuck Zito in West Hollywood, California, on April 2, 2013 | |
| Born | Charles Alfred Zito Jr. [1] March 1, 1953 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse(s) | Kathy (?–?; divorced) |
Charles Alfred Zito Jr. (born March 1, 1953) is an American actor, stuntman, celebrity bodyguard and former outlaw biker who was president of the New York chapter of the Hells Angels. [2]
Zito was born in the Bronx, New York City, the second of three children of Charles Zito Sr. and Gloria Frangione. [3] His grandparents were Italian immigrants to the United States. [4] Zito was raised in the Bronx and New Rochelle. [5] The son of a professional welterweight boxer, Zito was taught at an early age how to fight and defend himself. [6] His father boxed under the ring name Al LaBarba and fought in 228 professional matches. [7] At the age of seventeen, Zito dropped out of New Rochelle High School and married his high school sweetheart, Kathy. He later received his high school equivalancy diploma while imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution, Petersburg. [8] His involvement with the Hells Angels motorcycle club eventually led to their divorce. [9] Zito became a refrigerator mechanic. [10] He also worked as a bouncer at Café Central on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. [7] [10]
Zito was an amateur boxer for several years. [11] He trained out of the Southside Boys Club in New Rochelle and Cage Recreation in White Plains, and held an amateur boxing record of 36–5. [12] [13] Zito had his first boxing match aged 12. [10] At 17, he fought his first of four career Golden Gloves bouts when he knocked out Joe Pratt at 1:50 of round two of a preliminary bout in the 147 pounds (67 kg) sub-novice division of the 47th annual New York Golden Gloves, held at the Felt Forum on January 30, 1973. [10] [14] Zito then defeated Michael Nesbitt in the tournament's third round at the Audubon Ballroom on February 19, 1973, before losing to Orlando Nieves in the fourth round of the competition at the Felt Forum on February 23, 1973. [15] [16] He returned to the Golden Gloves on February 2, 1978, losing to Gaylord Bryant at the Felt Forum in the 160 pounds (73 kg) open division. [17] Zito was later the boxing coach of Mickey Rourke. [18]
Reflecting on his boxing career in 2003, Zito said: "I tried to follow in my father's footsteps... but didn’t have the desire and willpower to train 100 percent for the fight game. I didn't take it serious enough... When I found out I was fighting I'd go to the gym like two days before the fight. I never trained. I never got out and did my roadwork. I had so many distractions in my life, growing up at the same time. I think I could have been champion if I stuck with boxing." [2] He further stated in a 2006 interview: "I got married young, at 17, and I had other things on my mind, but I wish I had gone pro, I would have been a good fighter". [13] Zito began studying martial arts at the age of 18 and earned black belts in six different disciplines, including jujutsu. [7] [10] He claims to have broken his nose nine times and his hands eight times. [7]
The combat sports reporter Thomas Gerbasi wrote that Zito "has achieved celebrity status in the fight game" as "a fixture at fights in and around the New York Tri-State area", remarking that "to the fighters, he's one of the guys". [2] He developed friendships with Arturo Gatti, Vinny Pazienza and Mike Tyson. [2] Zito was seen with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Dwayne Johnson at the Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson pre-fight party on June 8, 2002, at the Memphis Pyramid. [2] He first met Gatti in 1996 and accompanied the boxer to the ring for several high-profile fights. [19]
In 2003, Zito began his career as a broadcaster with a role as a ringside reporter on Monday Night Fights broadcasts on HBO. [2] He was also a correspondent at the Affliction: Day of Reckoning mixed martial arts event on January 24, 2009. [20] [21]
Zito owns a dojo, Chuck Zito's Street Survival School, in Pelham, New York. [22] [23]
A motorcycle enthusiast, Zito established the New Rochelle Motorcycle Club in 1974, which merged with the Bronx-based Ching-a-Ling Nomads in 1976. [24] He met Sandy Alexander, a professional boxer who was the president of the New York City chapter of the Hells Angels, while they both trained at the Gramercy Gym on East 14th Street in Manhattan. [11] After serving as a club "prospect" for some time, Zito was voted in as a member of the New York City Hells Angels in May 1979. [25] Explaining what inspired him to join the Angels, Zito said: "I used to watch their movies like Hells Angels on Wheels and Hell's Angels '69 as a kid. They were the elite of the elite, the No. 1". [11] His biker nickname was "Charming Chuck". [26]
According to prosecutors, one membership requirement of the Hells Angels' New York City chapter was that prospective members must kill or attempt to kill a target selected by the club as part of an initiation process. Zito allegedly earned his membership in the club by attempting to murder Robert Giangarra, a Queens pizzeria owner who had previously shot and injured Hells Angels biker Cortland "Chip" Candow in a Manhattan bar. According to testimony from John Joseph "Pirate" Miller, a Hells Angels member who turned government witness, Zito and another Hells Angel, Philip "Lightfoot" Kramer, used a remote-controlled device from a model airplane to detonate C-4 explosives attached to a vehicle belonging to Giangarra, who survived without serious injury. Zito was never charged with the bombing, although he was variously convicted of weapons possession, when police discovered a loaded pistol, ammunition and brass knuckles in his car, criminal possession of a controlled substance (Quaaludes), and disorderly conduct. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began monitoring his "meteoric rise" in the Hells Angels. [25] After rising to the rank of vice president in the New York City charter, Zito assisted in the formation of the Hells Angels New York Nomads chapter in November 1984 and became the Nomads' founding president. [27] The Nomads chapter, which is based between Syracuse and the northern suburbs of New York City, [11] was allegedly formed after some members became frustrated with restrictions on narcotics distribution imposed by senior members of the New York City charter. [28] Zito served as president of the Nomads chapter for ten years. [10]
In late April 1985, Zito was part of a contingent of 21 American and British Hells Angels who traveled to Japan to assess the suitability of biker club in Tokyo for potential membership in the organization. [29] [30] The Hells Angels ultimately decided against granting a charter to the Japanese bikers. [31] [32] On May 2, 1985, 133 Hells Angels members and associates were arrested on racketeering and drug trafficking charges after a series of law enforcement raids in fourteen cities across the United States. The indictments were the culmination of Operation Roughrider, a three-year FBI investigation into the club. [33] Fifteen of the arrests took place in the New York metropolitan area, where the New York City chapter headquarters on Manhattan's Lower East Side was raided, and at least one Uzi submachine gun and an undetermined quantity of drugs were seized. [34] [35] Zito's home in New Rochelle was also searched by agents of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and local police. [36] A warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of selling 15.8 ounces (450 g) of methamphetamine in New York state in November 1984. [37] Zito and fellow Hells Angels member Herbert Reynolds "One-Eyed Bert" Kittel surrendered to the United States Embassy in Tokyo on July 22, 1985, after they were the subject of a nationwide dragnet by Japanese police at the request of the FBI. On October 14, 1985, the Tokyo High Court approved an extradition request by U.S. authorities. [1] After detaining the pair in the Tokyo Detention House for four months, the Japanese Ministry of Justice released Zito and Kittel into the custody of U.S. Justice Department officials in Tokyo on October 26, 1985. [38]
After being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan for fourteen months, Zito accepted a plea deal from federal prosecutors, pleading guilty to one felony count of drug conspiracy in late 1986, for which he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. [39] His sentence was reduced to seven years' in 1988, [25] and he ultimately served six years at nineteen different federal prisons located in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma and Missouri. [27] [40] He was released from prison in 1991. [11] Zito has asserted that he was convicted solely on the FBI's claims of possessing a tape of a recorded telephone conversation between him and Kittel discussing a drug deal. He denies that such a conversation ever took place and maintains that he was bodyguarding actor Mickey Rourke on the set of Year of the Dragon in Vancouver at the time of the alleged phone call. [41] On the stigma of being a Hells Angel, Zito has said: "I never did a drug in my life. It's ridiculous to judge a group on the actions of a few". [10]
Zito was questioned by police in Rockford, Illinois, in June 1994, over the shooting of a motorist who cut into a Hells Angels motorcycle procession the day before the funeral of Lamont "Monte" Mathias, the president of the Hell's Henchmen Motorcycle Club who was killed during a biker war with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. [26] The motorist, who was shot in the leg, refused to press charges. [42] On December 11, 1994, Zito was among a group of twenty Hells Angels arrested at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago by a task force composed of agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Illinois State Police, and the Chicago Police Department Intelligence Unit after an alleged high-speed car chase along the Northwest Tollway. The contingent, which included senior Hells Angels members from across the country, had been attending a meeting in Rockford to formally mark the club's merger of the Hell's Henchmen. [43] The bikers were under surveillance by the task force as they traveled to O'Hare airport in three rented passenger vans at the conclusion of the trip, when the agents lost sight of one of the vans, resulting in what the task force alleged to be a chase. [44] Zito and the two other drivers of the vans which were carrying the bikers were charged with speeding, while the passengers were charged with disorderly conduct. [43] Police found "an undetermined amount of a white powderly substance" but no weapons upon searching the vehicles. [45] The case was dismissed by a judge, and the Hells Angels sued the Chicago police after hiring Ron Kuby, a prominent defense attorney. The Hells Angels reached a $250,000 out-of-court settlement with the police, of which Zito received a share of $9,000. [44]
On February 23, 2002, Zito was present at the Hellraiser Ball, a tattoo and motorcycle trade exposition in Plainview, New York, sponsored by the Long Island chapter of the Hells Angels, which was ambushed by dozens of members of the rival Pagan's Motorcycle Club, resulting in one biker being killed and at least ten injured. [46] A Hells Angel was charged with second-degree murder and 73 Pagan members were indicted on federal racketeering charges in the aftermath of the incident. [47] Zito attended the funeral of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti in Queens on June 14, 2002. He declined to comment when he was approached by reporters after the wake. [48] Zito had first met Gotti while they were incarcerated together at MCC in 1986. [49] According to the Justice Department, the Hells Angels in New York have associated in criminality with the Gambino family. [50]
In 2004, Zito left the Hells Angels, after 25 years of membership in the club, to focus on his acting career. [51] He resigned from the club "in good standing", an option reportedly extended only to the Hells Angels' most respected members. [10]
Following in his father's footsteps, Zito became an amateur boxer and fought in New York Golden Gloves while working manual labor. In 1979, after assisting the bodyguards of actor Robert Conrad at a motorcycle convention at the New York Coliseum, Zito began his own bodyguard agency, Charlie's Angels Bodyguard Service. [7] Zito initially provided protection for actress Lorna Luft and later was hired by her half-sister Liza Minnelli. [52] The actress recommended Zito's service to her plethora of celebrity acquaintances, allowing Zito to quickly develop contacts throughout Hollywood. His other clients included Muhammad Ali, [2] Charles Bronson, [7] Michael Jackson, [7] Sean Penn, [11] Chita Rivera, [7] Eric Roberts, [7] Mickey Rourke, [7] Charlie Sheen, [10] and Sylvester Stallone. [7] Zito's brother-in-law was a policeman, which allowed him to hire moonlighting police officers to bodyguard celebrities at public events which required additional manpower, such as award shows. [7]
In 1979, Zito and 18 other members of the New York City Hells Angels chapter were hired to appear in the film Dead Ringer, starring Meat Loaf and Cher. The film was never released due to litigation. [7] Parlaying his connection with Mickey Rourke, Zito began a career as a stuntman in 1983 when he acted as Rourke's stunt double in the film Year of the Dragon . [7] He later worked on over 50 films such as Nowhere to Run , The Specialist , True Lies , Die Hard with a Vengeance , Heat , Eraser , The Juror and The Rock . [7] [11] Zito acted as stunt coordinator for the first time on Santa with Muscles . [7] He then also began landing small acting roles in films, including Heaven's Prisoners , No Code of Conduct and Gia . [7] In 1996, after a meeting with producer Tom Fontana, Zito joined the HBO prison drama Oz as mobster Chucky Pancamo. [10] [11] He was a cast member until the show ended in 2003, after six seasons. [10] [53]
In 1997, Zito allegedly knocked gossip columnist A. J. Benza unconscious at the Scores strip club in Manhattan after Benza attributed a false rumor to him in his column in the Daily News . [7] Zito is purported to have punched Jean-Claude Van Damme, who had previously been a bodyguarding client of his, in another incident at Scores on February 5, 1998. [54] Recounting the incident in his autobiography, Zito claims that he suffered a broken hand as a result of striking Van Damme numerous times after Van Damme had told a bouncer at the club that Zito had "no heart" and the bouncer relayed Van Damme's comments to Zito. [55] He reportedly stood over a prone Van Damme shouting: "This ain't the movies! This is the street, and I own the street!". [53] He later added: "If I knew it would have gotten me so much positive publicity, I would have knocked him out 10 years earlier." [53] Zito is also reputed to have delivered two open-handed slaps to the face of actor Gary Busey in a similar incident. [10]
Zito appeared on the January 11, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro accompanying Hollywood Hulk Hogan to the ring alongside several other members of the Hells Angels. [56] [57] In 2002, Zito released his autobiography, Street Justice, co-authored with Joe Layden. [10] He released a self-defense and dieting video, Chuck Zito's Street Survival System, in 2005. [10] Zito appeared in Carlito's Way: Rise to Power the same year. [10] In 2006, he expanded into radio with the show Chuck Zito's View on Howard Stern's Sirius Satellite Radio station. [5] He also hosted Chuck Zito’s Italian Bad Boy Hour on WVOX. [58]
In 2010, Zito filed a $5 million lawsuit against the cable network FX, alleging that he had a development meeting with them in 2006, in which he pitched the idea of an outlaw motorcycle group. He alleges that FX blew him off and then stole his idea, which became the FX show Sons of Anarchy . [59] On December 11, 2011, a court judgment was ruled against Zito. Zito appeared in Sons of Anarchy season 5, as Frankie Diamonds. He also appeared in SOA creator Kurt Sutter's Discovery Channel documentary series, Outlaw Empires .[ citation needed ]
Zito has a daughter, Lisa, with his ex-wife Kathy. [9] His daughter became an entertainment lawyer for Condé Nast in Manhattan. [11] [53] In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001, Zito violated a protective order that prohibited him from contacting Kathy when he made a phone call to his wife and daughter in Manhattan. [10] In 2002, he pleaded guilty to violating an order of protection. When given a choice by Westchester County Supreme Court Justice Daniel Angiolillo of a year of violence education classes or 15 days in county jail, Zito chose the latter, telling the judge: "...if I'm in a room with a bunch of guys bragging about how they beat their wives, I'm gonna smack someone." [10] He served twelve days in jail. [60] In 2005, Zito announced that he and Kathy had stopped trying to reconcile after 30 years of marriage and numerous attempts at reconciling. At the time, he had not spoken to his daughter Lisa in five years so had never met his two grandchildren. [58]
Zito is a supporter of Donald Trump. [61] [62] On May 20, 2024, Zito was among an entourage of Trump supporters who accompanied the former president to federal court in Manhattan during Trump's hush money trial. [63]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Dead Ringer | Biker | |
| 1990: The Bronx Warriors | Outlaw Biker | Uncredited | |
| 1984 | Streets of Fire | Bombers Gang Member | Uncredited |
| 1985 | Year of the Dragon | Cab Driver/Cop | Uncredited |
| 1991 | Neon City | Bus Attacker | |
| 1993 | Nowhere to Run | Prisoner | |
| New York Cop | Mafia Leader | ||
| Carlito's Way | Club Bouncer | ||
| Love, Cheat & Steal | Jake | ||
| 1994 | Jimmy Hollywood | Gangster | |
| Bad Blood | "Toots" | ||
| Sensation | The Bartender | ||
| Love is a Gun | Cop | ||
| 1995 | Red Line | Dick | |
| 1996 | The Juror | Frankie | |
| Heaven's Prisoners | Tony | ||
| The Funeral | Zito | ||
| Squanderers | Jerry | ||
| 1998 | Gia | Biker | |
| Scar City | Guard | ||
| No Code of Conduct | Guard | ||
| 1999 | Black & White | Chuck | |
| Me and Will | Biker | ||
| Man on the Moon | Tony Clifton / Biker | ||
| 2000 | Table One | The Chef | |
| 2001 | Street Justice | The Host | |
| 2003 | This Thing of Ours | DeGrazio Soldier | |
| 2004 | Brooklyn Bound | Anthony | |
| Coalition | Vinnie | ||
| 2005 | Remedy | Captain Sallie | |
| Searching for Bobby D | Freddy "Knuckles" | ||
| The Signs of the Cross | Tony Esposito | ||
| Carlito's Way: Rise to Power | "Buck" | ||
| Tinsel Town | Rubenstein | ||
| 2009 | Under New Management | Don DeRossi | |
| 2010 | 13 | Ted | |
| 2011 | The Grasslands | Matty | |
| 2013 | Homefront | Danny "Danny T" Turrie | |
| 2014 | Collection | Joe | |
| 2015 | The Martial Arts Kid | Frank | |
| Street Level | Carmine | ||
| 2016 | Saturday in the Park | Danny "Danny V" | |
| Female Fight Club | Zeke | ||
| 2017 | Cops and Robbers | Randy | |
| Blood Circus | Dominick | ||
| 2018 | Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece | FDA Special Agent | |
| Black Wake | Sheriff Williams | ||
| King of Newark 2 | Big Al | ||
| Treasure Hunter: Legend of the White Witch | Jorge | ||
| Honor Amongst Men | Frank LaCarver | ||
| Father and Father | Udo | Short film | |
| 2019 | Vault | Joey Bruno | |
| 2020 | Mott Haven | Ray Pizzalongo | |
| 2022 | Demon Pit | Biker | |
| 2023 | The Weapon | Lemmy | |
| Phoenix | Bullet | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | New York Undercover | Unknown | Episode: "Hubris" |
| 1998–2003 | Oz | Chucky "The Enforcer" Pancamo | 45 episodes |
| 2000 | V.I.P. | Mikey | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | The Young and the Restless | Rudy | 2 episodes |
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Major Case Squad Detective | Episode: "Tru Love" | |
| 2007 | Entourage | Himself | Episode: "Malibooty" |
| Days of Our Lives | Harry Jenks | 1 episode | |
| 2010 | How to Make It in America | Deli Man | Episode: "Crisp" |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | Frankie "Diamonds" | 8 episodes |
| 2018 | Paper Empire | "Big D" Espozito | |
| Jersey: The Series | "Big Al" | ||
| 2021 | Gravesend | Carmine | Episode: "Miami Nights" |
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in McCook, Illinois in 1935, the Outlaws MC is the oldest outlaw biker club in the world. With 441 chapters located in 43 countries, and a membership of over 3,000, the club is also the third-largest in the world, behind the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. Outlaws members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. is an American actor and former professional boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films.
Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger Jr. was an American outlaw biker who was a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1957. After forming the Oakland chapter, Barger was instrumental in unifying various disparate Hells Angels chapters and had the club incorporated in 1966. He emerged as the Hells Angels' most prominent member during the counterculture era and was reputed by law enforcement and media to be the club's international president, an allegation he repeatedly denied. The author Hunter S. Thompson called Barger "the Maximum Leader" of the Hells Angels, and Philip Martin of the Phoenix New Times described him as "the archetypical Hells Angel", saying he "didn't found the motorcycle club ... but he constructed the myth". He authored five books, and appeared on television and in film.
Pagan's Motorcycle Club, or simply the Pagans, is an outlaw motorcycle club formed by Lou Dobkin in 1957 in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The club rapidly expanded and by 1959, the Pagans, originally clad in blue denim jackets and riding Triumphs, began to evolve along the lines of the stereotypical one percenter motorcycle club.
Year of the Dragon is a 1985 American neo-noir crime thriller film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino, and starring Mickey Rourke, John Lone, and Ariane Koizumi. The film follows a tough New York City police captain (Rourke) battling a ruthless Chinese-American Triad boss (Lone). The screenplay, written by Cimino and Oliver Stone, is based on a 1981 novel of the same title by Robert Daley.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or bikie club, is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club, also known as the Mongol Brotherhood or Mongol Nation, is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Originally formed in Montebello, California, in 1969, the club is headquartered in Southern California. Although the Mongols' main presence lies in California, they also have chapters nationwide in 14 states and internationally in 11 countries. Law enforcement officials estimate approximately 2,000 "full-patched" members are in the club. The Mongols are the fifth-largest outlaw biker club in the world, after the Hells Angels, the Bandidos, the Outlaws and the Pagans.
Harry Joseph Bowman, also known as "Taco", was an American outlaw biker and gang leader who served as the international president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club between 1984 and 1999. During his tenure as president, the club had chapters in more than 30 cities in the United States and some 20 chapters in at least four other countries.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club 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", "HAMC", and "81". With a membership of over 6,000, and 592 charters in 66 countries, the HAMC is the largest "outlaw" motorcycle club in the world.
The Nordic Biker War was a gang war that began in January 1994 and continued until September 1997 in parts of Scandinavia and Finland, involving the Hells Angels and Bandidos outlaw motorcycle clubs. The conflict is also known as the Great Nordic Biker War or Second Biker War to distinguish it from the earlier Copenhagen Biker War, which took place between 1983 and 1985.
Jan Leif Tinndahn, also known as "Big Jim" and "Solkongen", is a Danish outlaw biker and gangster who served as the president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Europe between 1994 and 2012.
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 human trafficking operations. 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. Members of the club have been accused of crimes and/or convicted in many host nations.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.
Michael Vincent O'Farrell, nicknamed "Irish", was an American outlaw biker and gangster who served as the vice-president and acting president of the Oakland, California, chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC). O'Farrell was alleged by law enforcement officials to be the second-in-command to Sonny Barger, the reputed international president of the Hells Angels. During the early-mid 1980s, he deputized for Barger, serving as the Oakland chapter president and de facto international leader of the Hells Angels, while Barger recovered from a throat operation for cancer. O'Farrell was murdered in a bar fight in 1989 shortly before he was due to start serving a prison sentence for conspiring to bomb the clubhouse of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws.
Numerous police and international intelligence agencies classify the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club 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 Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is designated an outlaw motorcycle gang by the Department of Justice. Based primarily in the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region, the Mid-Atlantic and New England, there are an estimated 92 Hells Angels chapters in 27 U.S. states, with a membership of over 800. Due to the club's designation as a "known criminal organization" by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, the United States has a federal policy prohibiting its foreign members from entering the country. The Hells Angels partake in drug trafficking, gunrunning, extortion, money laundering, insurance fraud, kidnapping, robbery, theft, counterfeiting, contraband smuggling, loan sharking, prostitution, trafficking in stolen goods, motorcycle and motorcycle parts theft, assault, murder, bombings, arson, intimidation and contract killing. The club's role in the narcotics trade involves the production, transportation and distribution of marijuana and methamphetamine, in addition to the transportation and distribution of cocaine, hashish, heroin, LSD, MDMA, PCP and diverted pharmaceuticals. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the HAMC may earn up to $1 billion in drug sales annually.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, an international outlaw biker gang, has been involved in multiple crimes, alleged crimes, and violent incidents in Canada. The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) has designated the Hells Angels an outlaw motorcycle gang. Hells Angels MC have been linked with drug trafficking and production, as well as many violent crimes including murder, in Canada.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club is considered a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in various countries internationally. Mongols members have a long history in the illegal drugs trade, money laundering, robbery, extortion, firearms violations, murder, and assault, among other crimes. However, senior Mongols members as well as attorneys for the club deny that the group as a whole is a criminal enterprise and claim that the Mongols' bylaws prohibit criminals and drug users from being members.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
