Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.
Most residents probably don't realize it, but as many as 900 outlaw motorcycle gang members and associates live in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County, according to Metro Police.
The problem is so worrisome to Lt. Kathleen Suey, head of Metro's criminal intelligence section, that she put together a squad two weeks ago devoted to investigating these Harley-Davidson-riding gangs and their crimes.
"It's only starting to become a significant issue," Suey said. "It's something we want to address before it gets out of hand."
The shootout last year that killed three biker gang members in Laughlin is the only high-profile crime associated with these groups in Southern Nevada in the last couple of years, but it's not the only crime in which they were allegedly involved, she said.
Forty-two members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club were indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges stemming from an April 2002 gun battle at a Laughlin casino that left three dead.
The indictment charges each of the 42 defendants with 10 counts of violence in the aid racketeering and one firearms charge in connection with the fight at Harrah's Laughlin during a motorcycle rally.
Two Hells Angels and one member of the Mongols motorcycle gang were shot and killed in the bar area.
Thirty-three of the defendants have already been arrested and are scheduled to appear in federal court in Las Vegas for arraignment on Friday.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger said he hopes to have local indictments in the case by the first of the year and plans to prosecute the case parallel to the federal case.
Although it's not illegal to belong to a motorcycle gang, crime and these gangs go hand-in-hand, authorities said. It's sometimes difficult to identify the members, though, because they blend in with the general population.
At least three separate outlaw biker gangs are active in the Las Vegas area, but the gangs' secretive nature makes it difficult to get a handle on how many crimes they're committing, police say.
These gangs are known to extort and intimidate citizens and business owners into not telling police about their activities, and they don't call police when they're attacked by rival gangs, Suey said.
They earn their money mainly by selling drugs -- methamphetamine and marijuana, for the most part -- and trafficking firearms, police allege.
Biker gangs may not appear on the surface to be a major problem, but Suey said a recent study of her unit before the task force was formed showed that more than 17 percent of its time was spent investigating incidents involving outlaw motorcycle gangs.
That's a relatively large portion of time, she said.
When detectives tasked with estimating how many biker gang members and associates exist in the Las Vegas region told Suey the number was between 600 and 900, she said she "just about fell out of my chair."
"The fact that we don't know who they are and what their activities are, that bothered me," she said.
Two detectives had been assigned to investigate biker gangs but, after receiving the results of the study, Suey decided to put more resources toward the problem.
A squad consisting of five detectives and a sergeant now investigate biker gangs exclusively.
While Metro takes a more active role in policing what they say are outlaw gangs, motorcycle riders have long decried the perception that they are criminals because they ride motorcycles and wear leather.
The Ironcrossmen of Las Vegas along with an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 other local riders gathered at Sam Boyd Stadium on Sunday for the 24th annual Toy Run.
When informed of Metro's new task force, Ironcrossmen President Buzzard Ennis, who was born in Caliente, shrugged.
"They've got to do what they got to do," Ennis, a charter member of the Ironcrossmen, said.
The Ironcrossmen revved their engines at U.S. 95 and Rancho Drive at 10:30 a.m. and rode across town to the stadium, where they filled two 28-foot tractor-trailers with toys.
"We're not involved with the range of alleged activities they are involved in," said Ironcrossmen Vice President Jethro, who said he goes only by his first name.
Jethro said he knows the local Hells Angels chapter president, but "it's not like I go over to his house for dinner," he said.
The Ironcrossmen plan to deliver the toys to 35 children in 16 families in Indian Springs on Saturday.
"We seek out needy families right here," member Frank Tegano said.
Just before Christmas they'll bring more toys to Pahrump children, Ennis said.
The Christian Motorcyclist Association has some 90,000 members worldwide and ministers to all motorcycle groups. Officials of the group said that bikers are all different and have a number of different perspectives.
The Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club helped to transport a replica of the Vietnam Memorial on a tour of the country in 1999. Club members rode with the wall to state borders before passing it off to other club members who guided it to its next display point and acted as security.
The Harley-Davidson Owners Group, or HOG, boasts more 750,000 members, making it the largest factory-sponsored motorcycle organization in the world with more than 1,100 chapters worldwide including one in Southern Nevada.
Jim Harrison, head of the 950-member Southern Nevada Chapter of HOG, said the only requirement to being a member of the group is to own a Harley, and a desire to have fun.
"I'd say 98 percent of the motorcycle enthusiasts out there are like us, and are out there just looking to have a good time with other people that also enjoy riding," Harrison said. "There's a misconception that's out there when people see us roll up and think, "here comes a motorcycle badass."
Steve Piehl, director of communications for Harley-Davidson, said that all kinds of people ride Harleys and that a leather jacket doesn't mean someone is a bad guy.
"Harley-Davidson riders come from all walks of life, and right now we're actually seeing an increasing number of women buying Harley-Davidsons," Piehl said. "It's very broad and difficult to stereotype who rides Harley-Davidsons."
Patrick Schneider, U.S. attorney in Phoenix and president of the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, said the estimate of 600 to 900 people associated with outlaw biker gangs in Las Vegas "is quite a few. You have to realize that the Hells Angels has 2,500 members worldwide."
But he pointed out that for every full-fledged member, there are 10 to 12 associates.
Some associates are described as "hang-arounds," and others who are proposed to become members are called prospects. When prospects earn the respect of members by committing crimes, they can become full members, Schneider said.
California is a hotbed for outlaw biker gang activity because the Hells Angels and a rival gang, the Mongols, claim that state as their home territory.
"Nevada and Arizona are potential hotbeds," Schneider said, because of their close proximity to California.
The biggest danger is of people becoming enamored of the biker gangs, Schneider said, and getting tricked into thinking they are something they're not.
He calls the Hells Angels annual Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade "a positive PR campaign" designed to trick people into thinking they are humanitarians.
Schneider said he has seen outlaw biker gang activity drop in communities that put police resources toward combating the problem, as Metro is doing.
"You get squads like that and they've been fairly successful," he said. "But has it gone away completely? No."
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