Mongols Motorcycle Club

Mongols Motorcycle Club
Motto Respect Few, Fear None
Founded 1969
Location Montebello, California
Leader David Santillan
Leader title President
Key people Scott "Junior" Ereckson, Roger Pinney
Type Outlaw motorcycle club
Region United States, Thailand, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Switzerland
Membership 1,000 - 1,500
Website mongolsmc.com

The Mongols Motorcycle Club, sometimes called the Mongols Nation or Mongol Brotherhood, is a "one-percenter" outlaw motorcycle club and a confirmed organized crime syndicate. The club is headquartered in southern California and was originally formed in Montebello, California, in 1969.[1] Law enforcement officials estimate there are approximately 1,000 to 1,500 full-patched members (with the expansion in Australia in 2013). The Mongols main presence is in Southern California, but also all over the United States with chapters in 14 states, as well as international chapters in 10 countries.[2][3][4][5]

Criminal activities

The Mongols members have had long-running history concerning the illegal drugs trade (especially methamphetamine), money laundering, robbery, extortion, firearms violations, murder, and assault, among other crimes.[6][7][8][9][10] Current club president David Santillan denies that the club as a whole is a criminal enterprise, and attorneys (not members) for the club claim that it has changed its code of conduct to exclude drug abusers and criminals, still allowing current members to engage in criminal activities.[11]

Incidents

In 1998, ATF agent William Queen infiltrated the club, eventually becoming a full-patch member and rising to the rank of chapter vice-president using the undercover alias of Billy St. John. In April 2000, based on evidence gathered during Queen's 28-month undercover time with the club, 54 Mongols were arrested. All but one of the accused were later convicted of various crimes including drug trafficking, motorcycle theft, and conspiracy to commit murder.[12]

In 2002, members of the Mongols and the Hells Angels had a confrontation in Laughlin, Nevada, at the Harrah's Laughlin Casino, that left three bikers dead.[13] Mongol Anthony "Bronson" Barrera, 43, was stabbed to death; and two Hells Angels — Jeramie Bell, 27, and Robert Tumelty, 50  — were shot to death. On February 23, 2007, Hells Angels members James Hannigan and Rodney Cox were sentenced to two years in prison for their respective roles in the incident. Cox and Hannigan were captured on videotape confronting Mongols inside the casino.

Mongols member Christopher Ablett turned himself in to authorities in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on October 4, 2008 after going on the run for murdering Hells Angels President Mark "Papa" Guardado in San Francisco, California earlier that year. His bond had been set at $5 million.[14] He was convicted of murder in aid of racketeering and three gun charges on February 23, 2012, in San Francisco.[15]

On December 20, 2008, in Las Vegas, Mongols members arrived at "A Special Memories Wedding Chapel" for a fellow member's wedding, to find a local Hells Angels charter were just finishing up their own ceremony. It is reported by KTNV Channel 13 news, that the Hells Angels attacked the Mongols members, sending three to a hospital, two of whom suffered from stab wounds. No arrests were made and local authorities report that they are looking for suspects said to be involved in the attack.[16]

On October 28, 2014, in San Gabriel, California, a Mongols member, David Martinez, allegedly shot and killed Pomona Police SWAT Team member Shaun Diamond. Diamond was shot in the back of the base of his neck, with a shotgun during the service of a search warrant.[17] Martinez shot Diamond after the officer turned away from the doorway following the breaching procedure. Officer Diamond died at dawn, October 29, 2014 at Huntington Memorial Hospital. Judge M. L. Villar, at the preliminary hearing, added a special gang allegation to the capital murder charges after the prosecution connected him to a Mongols chapter in Montebello, California. Martinez faces the death penalty if convicted.[18]

Operation Black Rain

Operation Black Rain was an operation by the ATF in 2008 to stop alleged criminal activity within the Mongols Motorcycle Club.[19]

On October 21, 2008, 38 members, including Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, were taken into Federal custody after four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents infiltrated the group for a second time, becoming full patch members. 110 arrest warrants and 160 search warrants were issued in California, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon.[20] On October 23, 2008, US District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper granted an injunction that prohibits club members, their family members and associates from wearing, licensing, selling, or distributing the logo, which typically depicts the profile of a Mongolian warrior wearing sunglasses, because according to the police, they use the logo and names as an identity and as a form of intimidation to fulfill their goals. Prosecutors requested the injunction after authorities arrested dozens of Mongols under a racketeering indictment.[21][22]

The club president Ruben Cavazos and others pleaded guilty to the racketeering charge, and Cavazos was sentenced to serve 14 years in the penitentiary. Cavazos was voted out of the club by its members on August 30, 2008.[23]

A planned weekend meeting in Lancaster, California, expected to draw 800 Mongols and their families, was blocked after city officials shut down and fenced off the hotel they had booked for the event, which coincided with the "Celebrate Downtown Lancaster" festival. The mayor had previously threatened to shut down the hotel over unpaid taxes if the agreement to host the Mongols was not canceled. An attorney for the Mongols said he planned to sue the city and the mayor, potentially for civil rights violations, after previously threatening to sue the hotel for breach of contract should they comply with the mayor's demands. Mayor R. Rex Parris said he wants to keep the Mongols out because they "are engaged in domestic terrorism...and they kill our children."[24]

The television show America's Most Wanted had exclusive access to the operation, and broadcast behind-the-scenes footage of the many arrests.

After a long legal battle with the DOJ and ATF over the Mongols' MC patch, the Mongols won the rights to continued use and ownership of their patch.[25][26]

In a 2015 racketeering case in Los Angeles, the Federal government tried and failed to use civil forfeiture laws to seize all rights to the Mongols emblems and patches, to forbid their members from wearing them. On September 16, 2015, Federal District Judge David O. Carter dismissed the case.[11]

Mongols MC Germany

A German chapter of Mongols MC was founded in Bremen by members of the local crime syndicate run by Lebanese immigrants in 2010. It was the first time that a Muslim clan-based crime syndicate in Germany became active in the field of outlaw motorcycle clubs.[27] Organized crime in Bremen is dominated by the Miri-Clan, a large family of Lebanese origin with an estimated 2,600 members, who first migrated to Germany beginning in the late 1980s, and rose to national notoriety with a number of large-scale criminal activities in 2010.[28]

According to Andreas Weber, the state of Bremen's chief of criminal investigation, the new Mongols chapter is only nominally a motorcycle group. Clan members do not have motorcycle licences and drive around the city in cars. Presumably, they are interested in associating themselves with the US motorcycle club primarily to profit from their infrastructure and trading channels in drug trafficking. The president of Mongols Bremen, "Mustafa B." accidentally killed himself with his bike as a novice licence holder briefly after the chapter's foundation. He was presumably succeeded by "Ibrahim M.", who is on record with 147 felonies ranging from grievous bodily harm to illegal possession of a weapon.[29]

Local daily newspaper Kölnische Rundschau reports that a further German Mongols chapter has become active in Cologne, which is a traditional Hells Angels area.[30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Organized Crime in California Annual Report the California Legislature 2004 Ag.ca.gov Archived 2011-09-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "The Official Site of the Mongols Motorcycle Club". MongolsMC.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  3. ↑ Mongolsmc.it Archived 2011-12-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "使う際の注意点 - 薬用化粧品とプラセンタ配合の商品を使う魅力". Mongolsmcscandinavia.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Mongolsmc.no Archived 2012-09-19 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Glover, Scott (October 22, 2008). "U.S. targets bikers' identity; Prosecutor vows to strip Mongols of their name after 61 members are arrested as a result of a 3-year probe". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. A1. Archived from the original on July 25, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Mongols motorcycle gang members arrested". USA Today. October 21, 2008. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ Watkins, Thomas (October 21, 2008). "Mongols Motorcycle Gang Arrested In Federal Sweep". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  9. ↑ "Dozens of Mongol motorcycle gang members arrested". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Feds seize biker gangs trademark". Andrew Orlowski, The Register, Theregister.co.uk Archived 2017-07-07 at the Wayback Machine., accessed 25th October 2008.
  11. 1 2 Frosch, Dan; Koppel, Nathan (May 31, 2015). "Feds Take Aim at Biker Gang's 'Colors': Government will try to seize group's logo, saying it serves as a license to commit crime". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
  12. ↑ Queen, William Under and Alone : The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, Random House, 2005 ( ISBN 1400060842)
  13. ↑ "Las Vegas Review Journal, 4/30/2002; LAUGHLIN SHOOTOUT: Signs told of melee in making". Reviewjournal.com. 2002-04-30. Archived from the original on 2011-09-20. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  14. ↑ Stannard, Matthew B. (2008-10-08). "'Polite' Surrender in Hells Angels Killing". Sfgate.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-16. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  15. ↑ Lee, Henry K. (February 24, 2012). "Guilty verdict in murder of Hells Angels leader". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012.
  16. ↑ KTNV ABC, Channel 13 News story on Event Archived December 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ Sgvtribune.com Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Man accused of killing Pomona police officer Shaun Diamond pleads not guilty
  18. ↑ Pasadenastarnews.com Archived 2016-10-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ↑ October 21, 2008. ATF Seattle Executes Numerous Search and Arrest Warrants in Operation Black Rain from Reuters.com Archived 2011-02-24 at the Wayback Machine.
  20. ↑ Yahoo.com Archived October 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ↑ The Associated Press (October 23, 2008). "Judge bans Mongols from wearing trademark logo". OregonLive.com. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  22. ↑ October 22, 2008. Raid targets Mongols motorcycle gang Archived 2009-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. from Los Angeles Times Archived 1996-12-21 at the Wayback Machine..
  23. ↑ "Mongols ex-leader pleads guilty to racketeering, faces 20 years in prison - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 2009-07-07. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  24. ↑ Simmons, Ann M. (July 17, 2009). "Lancaster mayor trying to keep Mongols motorcycle club out of town; Mayor R. Rex Parris has moved to shut down a local motel that had agreed to accommodate the bikers during an annual meeting this weekend". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 20, 2009
  25. ↑ Rivera vs. Carter, et al., Case No.2:09-cv-2435-FMC-VBKx; Scribd.com Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  26. ↑ January 10, 2010. Mongols Win Case Again Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine. from The Aging Rebel Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine..
  27. ↑ Hells Angels vs. Bremen Mongols: Biker War Feared in Germany Archived 2010-11-20 at the Wayback Machine. ABC News 21 October 2010. Der Spiegel 18 October 2010 Archived 8 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  28. ↑ "Bild 18 October 2010" (in German). Bild.de. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  29. ↑ Hells Angels vs. Bremen Mongols: Biker War Feared in Germany Archived 2010-11-20 at the Wayback Machine. ABC News 21 October 2010.
  30. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau Archived 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. 25 June 2011.
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