WITH an empire stretching to five continents the Hells Angels are exporting murder and mayhem further than any other organised crime network.
The biker gang has created a climate of fear through cold-blooded executions, drug dealing, extortion and mass killings that governments across the world are struggling to keep a lid on.
The Hells Angels have led a reign of terror around the world
SuppliedSpecial agent Jay Dobyns infiltrated the US branch[/caption]
EDDIE MITCHELLForensic teams in the UK look for evidence after a biker attack left one fighting for his life in West Sussex in 2022[/caption]
Last month, it was revealed their tentacles even stretch as far as Majorca, with holidaymakers said to be “living in fear” of the local gang.
German Frank Hanebuth, who first began terrorising the region in 2013, was arrested along with other bikers and accused of extortion, following the beating of a restaurant owner in Palma.
In New Zealand Hells Angels are associated with methamphetamine production, in Canada one of their hitmen killed 43 people and last year a US court heard how the bodies of four members had been incinerated in California.
Jay Dobyns – who astonishingly managed to inflitrate the US branch of the gang for two years – doesn’t mind his words, telling The Sun the organisation has a “PHD in violence and intimidation”.
Turf wars with deadly rival biker gangs – such as the Outlaws and Bandidos – are behind much of the carnage.
Attempts to slow the petrolheads’ march have had limited success.
Holland banned several biker gangs five years ago following open warfare and the state of Western Australia made it a criminal offence to wear patches or display tattoos associated with the most violent motorcycle clubs in 2021.
But following the Dutch crackdown, a torture chamber was found in a shipping container used by a gang leader and two years ago a biker boss was shot dead by a rival in Western Australia over a reported debt.
With 475 Hells Angels “chapters” in 62 countries there are plenty more bikers for them to link up after any police operation.
Canadian journalist Julian Sher, who has been investigating Hells Angels for two decades, tells us: “If you’re a Hells Angel you can pick up the phone, and you’ve got 400 chapters around the world where you can get drugs.
“You can hide out if you need to hide out, you can get police intel.
“One of the most famous crime journalists in Canada was gunned down by the Hells Angels.
“He remarkably survived, even though he had six bullets in his body.
“They try to intimidate anybody who gets in their way, they’re bullies, you have to stand up to them.”
Global ring
Founded in California in 1948, the Hells Angels established their first official international chapter in New Zealand in 1961 and England was next up eight years later.
They tried to present an image of non-conformist motorcycle enthusiasts, with their high-powered Harley Davidsons a symbol of freedom.
But wherever they go trouble is not far behind.
Yves Trudeau was a Hells Angels hitman
CFSEUCocaine was recovered in a raid on Hells Angels in Vancouver this year[/caption]
When rival biker gang the Outlaws got a hold in Canada, the Hells Angels took over local gang The Popeye Moto Club in 1977 and started to hunt them down.
Among their number was Yves Trudeau, no relation to Canada’s political dynasty, who became one of the country’s most prolific serial killers.
As the Hells Angels enforcer in Quebec he bumped off Outlaws during a war for control of drug dealing.
Julian, who has a book coming out titled Hitman about Trudeau, says: “He was Canada’s most prolific assassin serial killer, he killed, by his own admission 43 people for the Hells Angels.
“The Hells Angels contracted him out to other organised crime agencies. Eventually the Hells Angels turn against him because they want to eliminate him.”
Trudeau admitted 43 charges of manslaughter in 1985 and was given a life sentence. But that didn’t quieten things down in Quebec.
He was Canada’s most prolific assassin serial killer
Julian Sher
Between 1994 and 2002 Hells Angels took their fight with rival bikers Rock Machine to the streets, with civilians among the 162 lives lost.
With control of the province’s lucrative cocaine trade at stake, over 80 bomb attacks were carried out.
Julian says: “That’s worse than the worst – Al Capone killings, the worst mafia killings in Italy.
“They openly assassinated two prison guards just randomly to show that they could do what they could do.”
United States
York County Sheriff’s OfficeRaids on Hells Angels in South Carolina delivered this haul of firearms[/caption]
Find A GraveCynthia Garcia was murdered by Hells Angels[/caption]
Jay Dobyns knows all too well what it is like to be a Hells Angels – he spent almost two years undercover with them.
In order to be accepted into the Arizona chapter, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) staged a fake murder making it look like Jay had bumped off a rival Mongol biker in 2003.
Jay was also ordered to assassinate some Bandidos bikers in Las Vegas but arranged for one of his bosses to stop his intended victims arriving at the location.
He tells The Sun: “I was told if you don’t shoot them we are going to shoot you.”
The operation began following the slaying of mother-of-six Cynthia Garcia for “insulting” the Hells Angels in the same year.
They wrapped up in a piece of carpeting and drove her to the desert and tried to cut her head off
Jay Dobyns
Jay explains: “She received a beating to the edge of death and they wrapped her up in a piece of carpeting and drove her to the desert and tried to cut her head off.”
It is often said that only one per cent of Hells Angels are criminals, but Jay doesn’t agree.
He comments: “You’re all in and if you are not 100 per cent committed they don’t want you around.”
Last October a court heard how the club made its problems disappear when prosecutors told how Californian Hells Angel Merl Hefferman arranged for four gang members to be cremated.
He was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.
Northern Europe
AlamyTwo Cologne biker gangs were banned after raids in 2012[/caption]
Tight security for Dutch investigation into Caloh Wagoh bikersRex
AFPConfiscated goods, including Nazi propaganda and weapons are displayed after a raid in Hasselt, Belgium[/caption]
Back in the mid to late Nineties, anti-tank missiles and car bombs were used during the so-called Nordic Biker Wars in Scandinavia.
It left nine gang members and an innocent passer-by dead, before a series of convictions got the spiralling violence under control.
Holland has faced similar issues over the last decade with members of the blood-stained Caloh Wagoh biker gang reportedly firing an anti-tank weapon at the office of magazine journalists in 2018.
Two years later an informant’s tip-off led the police to a shipping container whose walls had been covered in sound insulation to cover up the screams of the victims attacked by hacksaws in a dentist’s chair.
Anarchy in the UK
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.
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.
In July 2022 three of the club were given life sentences for murder and attempted murder.
Julian says: “The Hells Angels are America’s only crime export. The Mafia comes from Italy. The Russian mob obviously comes from Russia. The Asian triads.
“The Hells Angels were born in California, they’re this iconic American image of freedom and power, that image which is so marketable it resonates all through Europe.
“It’s as American as the Nike swoosh or the McDonald’s Golden arches.”
Germany has been accused of exporting its bikers across the continent, with Spanish prosecutors charging Frank Hanebuth from Hanover with being part of an organised criminal enterprise in January 2023 in Mallorca.
New Zealand and Australia
The Mongrel Mob patch shows a bulldog wearing a Nazi helmet in NZGetty
NSW PoliceFinks bikers have been accused of crimes including extortion in Australia[/caption]
Tranquil New Zealand has a reputation for being a safe place to live – but biker gangs have long upset that notion.
Even though it was the first country outside the US to have an official Hells Angels chapter, it’s the rival Mongrel Mob, which uses Nazi symbols, that is the most notorious in New Zealand.
Police operations over the past decade have led to the confiscation of the deadly drug methamphetamine during raids of Mongrel related properties.
They were also shooting during turf wars with other bikers.
Two years ago Operation Samson in West Auckland found meth, firearms and over a million pounds in cash during a raid of people linked to the Nomads gang.
The authorities in Australia are taking a no-nonsense approach to tattoed men in leathers who ride high powered bikes.
If you wear a symbol – such as a tattoo or a patch on your jacket – linked to one of the outlawed clans you can be arrested in Western Australia.
Last summer a nationwide crackdown involving 2,100 police officers led to 43 firearms being seized and 159 arrests.
There are around 38 “outlaw” gangs operating in the country, with one of the most infamous being the Finks.
In 2009 South Australia declared them a “serious criminal organisation” and restricted who they could associate with.
The authorities asserted that the Finks were linked to 160 violent crimes, 137 weapons convictions, 173 drug offences, plus blackmail and rape.
The Finks claimed they were being “persecuted” and were just a motorcycle club.
You Tube/@A&EUndercover cop Jay Dobyns infiltrated the Hells Angels[/caption]
FacebookGerman Hells Angel Frank Hanebuth has been accused of extortion in Spain[/caption]