HELLS Angels have long been dismissed as harmless eccentrics in Britain – but there are gun-toting, drug dealing killers among the thousands of members in this country.
Recent attacks have brought to light the brutal turf wars between rival biker gangs, with a near-deadly deadly knife attack and a murder in recent years.
The UK’s Hells Angels don’t have as fierce a reputation as their US equivalent but can still be dangerous
PADavid Crawford was killed by rival bikers[/caption]
SWNSThe moment three men conspired to kill biker Crawford by driving a van into him[/caption]
Last month three Hells Angels bikers from the Watford area were jailed for attacking members of the Vikings Motorcycle Club in October 2022.
Callum Shaw, 27, was sent to prison for 17 years after admitting grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.
He had chased a Viking in West Sussex and stabbed him before pals Barry Brown, 41, and Daniel Kent, 28, kicked, stamped and hit the helpless man with a baton.
Brown and Kent were each jailed for three years for the attack.
The court heard that it was revenge for Hells Angels jackets being stolen from a service station earlier in the day.
In the past the Harley Davidson-riding mobsters have been caught with rocket launchers and linked to international drug trafficking operations.
That is at odds with the image they often try to present of being charity fundraising motorcycle enthusiasts.
Author Tony Thompson, who has investigated the British biker scene, tells The Sun: “There have been a few cases in the past decades where there have been murders.
“There is hand to hand combat and guns but a lot of it is stabbings and really brutal beatings. They are not afraid to hurt people.”
In May 2022 three bikers from the Bandidos clan in Plymouth, Devon, drove a van into 59-year-old David Crawford on the A38 in the city.
They dragged his body under the vehicle for almost a mile, killing him.
Crawford was a member of Red Chiefs in Cornwall, who are affiliated with the Hells Angels, and the trio had taken offence that he’d crossed over onto their “turf”.
Benjamin Parry, 43, who drove the van, was jailed for 15 years for manslaughter, while Thomas Pawley, 33, and Chad Brading, 37, received four year prison sentences for the same offence.
Callum Shaw was jailed for 17 years over a vicious attack last month
EDDIE MITCHELLBikes are left abandoned after the vicious attack in West Sussex[/caption]
Enterprise News and PicturesWeapons found at the HQ of an Essex chapter of the biker club in 1998[/caption]
Jay Dobyns, a retired undercover US federal agent with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) infiltrated the Amercian Hells Angels for three years and was instrumental in the arrest of 50 members.
“The Hells Angels have a PHD in violence and intimidation,” he tells The Sun.
“They’ve been going about 75 years, made their name and established themselves through extreme violence.
“They say they are not a criminal organisation, they admit they may have criminals within their club… but how many clubs reserve seats of honour for when someone is convicted for murder, rape, gun running, drugs?”
A huge haul of weapons and drugs seized from a chapter in South Carolina
CFSEUDrugs seized from an organised crime group in Canada with links to Hells Angels[/caption]
Perpetual state of war
At the heart of the long-running feuds is the is the question of whether a biker is a Hells Angel or not.
Members of other biker clubs – such as Outlaws, Bandidos or the Vikings – are in a constant state of war with the Hells Angels.
Tony explains: “In the biker world you have two sides, the Hells Angels and everybody else.
“The Hells Angels think there should be no other biker gangs in the world because they think they are the best.
“All the people who don’t want to be Hells Angels think otherwise and don’t think the Hells Angels should exist.
“You have this perpetual state of war.”
They are not afraid to hurt people
Tony Thompson
The Hells Angels started in California in 1948 and first formed a ‘chapter’ in London in 1969.
International gangs are expected to pay fees to the US one, but in return any member can expect to be looked after by fellow Hells Angels anywhere in the world.
Tony says: “You can go to any other chapter in the world and they will give you a place to live and something to eat and a bike to ride. It is a brotherhood.”
Being a gang member does not mean you have to get involved with any criminal enterprises and many are law abiding citizens.
But some do choose to use their membership of this secretive organisation in a similar way to mobsters.
Tony, who is the author of Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld, says: “There is some drug dealing, some extortion. They are big into their parties, so there are a lot of drugs that go with that.”
Assassination
HandoutGerry Tobin was shot in the head on the M40[/caption]
Gerry pictured moments before the murderRex
Hells Angels at the funeral of murdered biker Gerry TobinRex
Sam Creighton was one of the bikers found guilty of Gerry’s murderRex
AlamyWeapons seized after the murder of Gerry Tobin in 2007[/caption]
Then in 2007 Hells Angel Gerry Tobin was shot through the head on the M40 in Nottinghamshire on his way back from the famous Bulldog Bash biker festival in the West Midlands.
Seven men, four connected to the Outlaws gang, were convicted in connection to his murder the following year.
It doesn’t take much to cause offence to a biker.
Tony says: “You can’t tap a Hells Angel on the back because you are insulting his colours. Big mistake.”
The insignia of each gang and chapter are sacred.
If a Hells Angel dies, fellow gang members will do everything to make sure the patches on his leather jacket don’t fall into the hands of rivals.
Tony continues: “If you die they will come to your house and take all your stuff away so it is not available to anyone else. They will take your patches from your jacket.”
Global links
AlamyGerman biker Frank Hanebuth has been accused of crimes in Majorca[/caption]
Hells Angels from Spain and Portugal mourned Tobin’s deathRex
The British Hells Angels are able to use their connections with chapters in Holland, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, the US and Australia to buy and sell cocaine and ecstasy.
In New Zealand, bikers have been linked to a methamphetamine ring and in Australia laws were introduced to restrict the activities of biker gangs.
Last month it was reported that a German Hells Angel had brought terror to Brits on the Spanish island of Majorca with a drugs and prostitution racket.
Frank Hanebuth, a 6ft 5in tall man mountain, was arrested and accused of beating a local restaurant owner in part of an alleged extortion operation.
British bikers have been known to have access to major firepower.
In 1998 a police raid on the Dorset home of the sergeant-at-arms of the Outcasts, Richard Anderton, found a rocket launcher, Uzi sub machine gun and an AK-47 assault rifle.
He claimed the weapons were just being stored at his property.
In the same year Hells Angel Ronald Wait took part in a 40 strong mob assault on Outcasts members Malcolm St Clair and David Armstrong in Battersea, South London.
He was jailed for 15 years for plotting grievous bodily harm, but acquitted of murder.
Times Newspapers LtdBikers gather at the annual Bulldog Bash meet up in the West Midlands – there is no suggestion those pictured are involved in criminal activity[/caption]
The gathering draws Hells Angels from all over the UKNewsteam
Omerta
Police investigations into biker related crimes have struggled in the face of a “vow of silence.”
Infiltrating such organisations is very difficult because it can take three years to be allowed in.
Wannabe members have to perform mundane tasks such as cleaning bikes before being promoted to a “prospect”.
These prospects are often asked to go out to the front line when there is a rumble with rivals in order to prove their allegiance.
Tony reveals: “Often you will see a prospect being sent first into a fight to prove themselves and they often get hurt more.”
You have people who have been convicted of murder and been promoted in the club
Tony Thompson
Once you are in, you are in. Even being found guilty of a serious crime won’t get you kicked out.
But the level of commitment required, which includes forsaking family birthdays, means there are only a couple of thousand Hells Angels in the UK.
Tony points out: “None of these organisations are criminal organisations. Within the Hells Angels there are criminals but no one has ever been kicked out for being a criminal.
“You have people who have been convicted of murder and been promoted in the club.
“Crime is not the sole purpose of the club. Ostensibly it is a social club for people who like Harley Davidson bikes.”
Canadian investigative journalist Julian Sher has been writing about the Hells Angels for 20 years and is the author of Angels of Death and the upcoming Hitman.
He believes that Britain’s police are too soft on Hells Angels.
“I think that what save the Hells Angels in England is you have a very lackadaisical attitude by the public by politicians and even by police, h says.
“I think they’ve seriously underestimated the Hells Angels. I don’t know of almost any other country where the Hells Angels get as much a free pass as in the UK.”
He points out how they rode in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and met British Minister hazel Blears during the Blair years
Julian, who is a biker, says that ordinary motorcycle clubs ” don’t have that history that you’ve seen in England. And you see around the world of rape, murder, drugs. they’re not just a recreational motorcycle club. They’re outlaws. They’re organized crime.”
Devon and Cornwall PoliceCrawford’s biker jacket was ripped to shreds as he was dragged along road[/caption]