Hells Angels indicted in casino shooting

Jace Radke

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

Forty-two members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang were charged in a federal indictment unsealed this morning in Las Vegas in connection with an April 2002 gunbattle that killed three people at a Laughlin casino.

The indictment, which charges each of the 42 defendants with 10 counts of violence in aid of racketeering and one count of using and carrying firearms in crimes of violence, was unsealed this morning after hundreds of federal agents raided Hells Angels clubhouses in five Western states on Wednesday.

The indictment centers on a melee between members of the Hells Angels and Mongols motorcycle clubs at the Laughlin River Run.

The court documents support a two-year undercover investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state and local authorities.

The indictment alleges that the Hells Angels engaged in acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, assault and battery. It also alleges that members were involved in extortion schemes and trafficking guns and drugs.

"They lived in a culture of crime and violence that infected our communities," said Stephen Herkins, the assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco field office of the ATF. "It's important to take these people off the streets and to realize that we are also taking the guns they possess off the street."

Herkins, who joined federal and local officials at a press conference in Las Vegas this morning to announce the indictments, said officials seized 127 firearms, including sawed-off shotguns and fully automatic firearms or machine guns. He said more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were seized.

Authorities arrested 34 Hells Angels members since raids were conducted Wednesday. Investigators say all 42 were at the Laughlin River Run and at Harrah's.

An indictment in Arizona was expected to be unsealed later today. Daniel Bogden, the U.S. Attorney for Nevada, would not comment on the pending indictment in Arizona and its relation to these charges.

The Clark County district attorney's office is still investigating the case and plans to take it to a grand jury, District Attorney David Roger said.

"We hope to have indictments returned after the first of the year, and we plan on having parallel prosecution with the federal case," Roger said.

The federal indictment lays out a pattern of violence between the Hells Angels and the Mongols, which climaxed at the Laughlin River Run:

On April 27, 2002, Hells Angels stormed the Laughlin Harrah's where members of the Mongols were staying during the Laughlin River Run, the indictment says.

"The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club members were carrying guns, knives, hammers and wrenches in their hands and under their clothing," Bogden said. "The Hells Angels members assaulted Mongols in the bar area at Harrah's and sought to injure or kill them."

There were no members of the Mongols named as suspects in the indictment.

"The purpose of this prosecution is to deal with the incidents that happened in Laughlin," Bogden said. "I'm not going to comment on any other ongoing aspects of this investigation."

All of the defendants will have initial appearances before U.S. magistrate judges in the areas in which they were arrested, and then will be transported to Las Vegas for arraignment and trial.

Among those arrested Wednesday was Calvin Schaefer, 34, of Chandler, Ariz., who was also arrested in the July raids, and is facing possible charges in connection with the Laughlin shooting in Clark County Court.

Schaefer, a Hells Angels member, was under investigation by Metro Police in connection with the gunbattle that resulted in two Hells Angels and a member of the Mongols being shot and killed at Harrah's.

Schaefer was arrested in Laughlin and later released, but he remains one of 11 potential suspects in a case submitted to the Clark County District Attorney's office by Metro detectives late last year, homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said.

Metro has been sharing information with the ATF, and a Metro investigator has been working with agents on the case that resulted in Wednesday's raids, Metro spokeswoman Carla Alston said.

Among the nine outstanding defendants in the case is one Las Vegas man, 55-year-old Patrick Kalabolas. Another man, Sohn Regas, 36 of Reno, was arrested Wednesday.

Each charge of violence in the aid of racketeering carries either a five or 20-year maximum prison sentence, and the firearms count carries a minimum mandatory statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. Each count carries a possible $250,000 fine.

Wednesday's raids allowed authorities to gather evidence including numerous firearms, methamphetamine, bulletproof vests and stolen vehicles. About 50 firearms, a silencer and about a quarter pound of methamphetamine were recovered in the California raids. Evidence gathered in other states was not immediately avaliable.

The investigation included law enforcement agents who offered to purchase explosives from members of the gang, said Donald R. Kincaid, special agent in charge of the bureau's Los Angeles office, at a news conference Wednesday at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's headquarters.

"We purchased some stolen military explosives," he said, adding that they were identified as military property by lot numbers and other distinguishing marks.

Among the targets of the investigation was the San Francisco headquarters of the Hells Angels and three clubhouses in Spokane, Wash., and Anchorage and North Pole, Alaska.

The Northern California warrants resulted in 16 or 17 arrests, said Marti McKee, a bureau spokeswoman in San Francisco. She declined to say what agents were looking for, saying the supporting documents were sealed by court order.

At least nine of those arrested on California charges were members of the San Fernando Valley chapter, including the president and three other officers.

Agents arrested five people in Washington at homes in Tacoma, Kirkland, Silverdale, Spokane and Wenatchee, said ATF spokeswoman Vera Fedorak in Seattle. Four arrests were made in Alaska, at three homes in Anchorage and one in Two Rivers.

Seven arrests in Arizona included the president of the group's Tucson chapter, the former president of the Mesa chapter and other chapter leaders, the ATF said.

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.