Breed Motorcycle Club
| Founded | 1965[citation needed] |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Asbury Park, New Jersey[citation needed] |
| Years active | since 1965[citation needed] |
| Territory | Northeastern United States[citation needed] |
| Membership (est.) | 50-100 full-patch members[citation needed] |
The Breed Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter motorcycle gang that was formed 65 miles northeast of Philadelphia in Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1965.[1] It was at one time one of the most powerful and feared biker gangs in the Northeastern United States,[citation needed] with a number of chapters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Although The Breed were founded in the 1960s, the gang did not start to expand rapidly until the early 1980s when members of the Aces and Eights Motorcycle Club, based in Riverside, New Jersey, patched over[clarification needed] in 1983. In 1986, the Branded Motorcycle Club was absorbed into The Breed. The Breed headquarters was moved to Bristol Township, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
Criminal activities
In March 1971, The Breed were involved in a large-scale brawl with the Hells Angels at a motorcycle show in Cleveland, Ohio. Over a hundred bikers from both sides were involved, and four members of The Breed and a Hells Angel were stabbed to death. The fight had been planned earlier. Dozens of vans and cars full of police officers were called in to break up the fight. 57 bikers were arrested, but most fled.[2]
Three members of The Breed were arrested in July 2003 for beating up a former member of the club and various other charges. On October 5, 2002, Sanford Gorzelsky, Scott Lear and Frederick DeCapua attacked Arne "Ole" Olsen at the My Way Cafe in Long Branch, New Jersey in retaliation for his testimony in a court case involving other Breed members.[3]
On July 21, 2006, fifteen members of The Breed were arrested for running a large scale crystal methamphetamine ring after a year-long investigation by the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and the Philadelphia Police Department, known as "Operation Breed on a Wire". Among the convicted were Bristol PA chapter president John "Junior" Napoli, Jackson NJ "Mother" chapter president John "Shameless" Kovacs and 13 other club members. Ultimately the Grand Jury found that Napoli was the ring leader of the drug organization operated in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and distributed over 120 pounds of crystal methamphetamine from May 2005 through June 2006, which has an estimated street value of more than $11.25 million. Police also seized more than 22 pounds of crystal meth, nearly $500,000 in cash and bank deposits, 44 firearms, including one submachine gun, 10 improvised explosive devices, various vehicles and 24 motorcycles during a series of raids.[4][5]