Go Back   Two Wheel Fix > General > News Desk

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-26-2011, 03:59 PM   #1
askmrjesus
Soul Man
 
askmrjesus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Everywhere, all the time.
Moto: '0000 Custom Turbo Cross (with jet kit).
Posts: 6,481
Default Hells Angels in fight over Foam/No foam Lattes

Worst California biker feud in decade erupted at Starbucks

By Jason Kandel

LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:36pm EDT

(Reuters) - A turf war between the Hells Angels and a rival motorcycle gang that erupted outside a California Starbucks shop last year has left several men dead, wounded or missing in three states, stirring fears of more bloodshed.

Ranked by law enforcement as the most severe clash of two California-based biker groups in nearly a decade, the spate of violence turned deadly last month when it spilled into Nevada with a brawl and shooting among members of the Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle clubs.

The president of the Hells Angels' San Jose, California, chapter, Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, was shot to death, and one Vagos member was wounded in the melee at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel and casino in Sparks. A second Vagos member was wounded in a drive-by shooting the next day at the site of a nearby motorcycle rally in town.

The Pettigrew killing -- coming 11 months after a gunfight between the two gangs in Arizona that left five people wounded -- in turn sparked tensions within the Hells Angels' ranks that led to yet another slaying in California, authorities say.

"There have been concerns about this rivalry for some time," said Graham Barlowe, resident agent in charge of the Sacramento office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The last California biker feud of similar proportions grew out of a 2002 casino riot in Laughlin, Nevada, between the Hells Angels and another group known as the Mongols, Barlowe said. At least three bikers died as a result of that conflict.

DEAD OR ALIVE

The latest casualty of the Hells Angels' recent battle against Vagos actually was inflicted by one of their own.

At Pettigrew's funeral in California weeks after he was slain in Nevada, his close friend and sergeant-at-arms of the San Jose chapter, Steven Tausan, 52, was shot and killed by a fellow Hells Angel in an apparent quarrel among club members.

A police source familiar with the investigation said Tausan and others confronted the accused gunman, Steve Ruiz, over his perceived failure to have protected Pettigrew during the Nugget casino brawl, prompting Ruiz to pull a gun on Tausan.

A group of bikers then pounced on Ruiz as thousands of mourners streamed out of the cemetery, preventing police officers at the funeral from making an arrest, San Jose police spokesman Jose Garcia said.

In the end, it was unclear whether the bikers who descended on Ruiz did so to subdue him, beat him or help him escape, but witnesses said he was whisked away in a car, Garcia said.

Suspecting that Ruiz may have been killed at the scene and his body dumped into Pettigrew's grave, police later obtained a search warrant to dig up the burial site, but they found no trace of Ruiz, Garcia said.

Last week, San Jose police received a tip that Ruiz was alive and hiding out in the northern California city of Stockton, but he was believed to have slipped away after investigators searched a home there to no avail on Saturday.

Garcia said authorities now believe Ruiz is on the run with a current or former girlfriend, noting that he has family and associates in Arizona and New York.

The recent bloodshed can all be traced to last year's push by Vagos, founded in the 1960s in a Southern California desert community, into the northern coastal town of Santa Cruz, long claimed as Hells Angels territory, police said.

CAFFEINE FOR BIKERS

Tensions boiled over in January 2010, when members of the rival gangs, some wielding ball-peen hammers, fought outside a Santa Cruz Starbucks before scattering as police arrived.

"It was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown," Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said. "The Vagos brazenly came in and tried to cement their presence. It was a pretty strong play on their part to establish themselves as the premiere club."

He added: "Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who's going to control pumpkin spice lattes."

Seven months after the Starbucks ambush, violence between the two groups flared again in a gunfight in August 2010 that left five people wounded and led to 27 arrests in the northern Arizona town of Chino Valley.

The U.S. Justice Department has classified both the Hells Angels and Vagos as outlaw gangs deeply involved in drug and weapons trafficking, as well as extortion, money laundering, theft and various violent crimes.

The Hells Angels, by far the larger and better known of the two, was founded in 1948 in Fontana, California, and has since established over 230 chapters with an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 members worldwide, the government says.

The organization denies its involvement in criminal activity and argues the club should not be blamed for the illegal actions of individual bikers.

Members insist the overwhelming majority are law-abiding citizens who share a love of powerful motorcycles, especially Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and point to their prominent role in certain charity events as evidence that their outlaw reputation is exaggerated by the media.

Karen Snell, a San Francisco-based lawyer who has represented a number of Hells Angels members, said Pettigrew and Tausan, for example, were "family guys."

"They made honest livings. They worked hard and were responsible," she told Reuters.

Police have arrested two people in connection with last month's casino brawl, including Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, 53, a Vagos member suspected in Pettigrew's slaying.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79P5BG20111026

JC
__________________
The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me.
askmrjesus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 05:49 PM   #2
Particle Man
Custom User Title
 
Particle Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Central NY
Moto: 2003 SV650S
Posts: 14,959
Default

Alrighty then
__________________
I'm not "fat."
I'm "Enlarged to show texture."


Handle every stressful situation like a DOG: If you can't eat it or hump it, pi$$ on it & walk away.
Particle Man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 06:05 PM   #3
Riceaholic
High Life Drinker
 
Riceaholic's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Tampa Bay
Moto: 01 GSXR 1000 - Yamaha Zuma 125
Posts: 961
Default

That shit is serious business...
Riceaholic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 08:11 PM   #4
Archren
Sham WOW
 
Archren's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: ATX
Moto: 2007 Ducati 1098
Posts: 2,741
Default

Don't fuck with a man's caffeine!


Seriously, though... turf war over a freaking STARBUCKS?? Isn't there one on every other corner in California anyway?
__________________
Photography

"The Vincent was like a bullet that went straight; the Ducati is like the magic bullet that went sideways and hit JFK and the Governor of Texas at the same time. It was impossible."
- Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature

"Be who you are and say what you feel
because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss
Archren is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 08:20 PM   #5
Homeslice
Elitist
 
Homeslice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Moto: Gix 750
Posts: 11,351
Default

I could see guys in their 20s and 30s doing this, but 40s and 50s? Come on.
Homeslice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2011, 08:21 PM   #6
tommymac
Moto GP Star
 
tommymac's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 11,022
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeslice View Post
I could see guys in their 20s and 30s doing this, but 40s and 50s? Come on.
Thats becasue most of the angels in their 40's and 50's is either dead or in prison.
tommymac is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2011, 01:24 AM   #7
Smittie61984
I give Squids a bad name
 
Smittie61984's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fly Over State
Moto: 1996 CBR600 F3 (AKA the Flying Turd)
Posts: 4,742
Default

Only in California.
__________________
lifts - R.I.P.
Smittie61984 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-28-2011, 01:40 PM   #8
Apoc
For Science. You Monster.
 
Apoc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Moto: '08 HD FLSTSB
Posts: 3,546
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeslice View Post
I could see guys in their 20s and 30s doing this, but 40s and 50s? Come on.

Its not about starbucks. Its about drugs. And who controls the drug trade in different areas/states. When violent criminals are fighting over millions of dollars, its not going to end in hugs and handshakes.

These are, for the most part, the bottomn rung of the latter. The worst scum out there. Thats pretty much what these MC's attract.

I wouldnt say that to their faces though.
__________________
Android OS causes gay. Dont let your child use Android (unless she's a hot female).

And dont let your babies grow up to be cowboys, either.
Apoc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-28-2011, 01:52 PM   #9
Homeslice
Elitist
 
Homeslice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Moto: Gix 750
Posts: 11,351
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by tommymac View Post
Thats becasue most of the angels in their 40's and 50's is either dead or in prison.
3 of the people mentioned in the article were in their 50's.

Seems surprising to me....... I mean I can see the desire for easy money, but you would think it'd be younger people doing it.
Homeslice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-28-2011, 02:01 PM   #10
defector
My balls, your chin
 
defector's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: The desert of Az
Moto: 929, SV650, YZ250
Posts: 1,917
Default

It's my understanding that they usually start young in gangs, whether they be of the MC variety or typical street gang. Those who don't get killed, get old.
defector is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:28 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.