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Vagos Motorcycle Club

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Vagos MC
Founded1965
TypeOutlaw motorcycle club
Region
Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico
Websitewww.vagosmcworld.com

The Vagos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Green Nation, is a one-percenter motorcycle gang and alleged organized crime syndicate that was formed in the 1960s in the unincorporated community of Temescal Valley, California. The gang originally was called "the Psychos". The club's insignia is Loki, the Norse god of mischief, riding a motorcycle and members commonly wear green.[3]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the California Attorney General have named the Vagos as an outlaw motorcycle club, claiming that they are involved in criminal activities such as producing, transporting and distributing methamphetamine and marijuana, as well as assault, extortion, insurance fraud, money laundering, murder, vehicle theft, witness intimidation and weapons violations.[4] The Vagos have approximately 600 members among 24 chapters located in the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and ten chapters located in Mexico (Baja California, Jalisco and Mexico City).[1][5] Two hundred members are in Riverside County, where the gang was started in the late 1960s.[1][6]

In 2002, members of the Vagos turned in the estranged wife of a Pomona, California police detective after she attempted to hire a hit man from the Vagos to kill her husband.[7]

Wrongful conviction

Four members of the Vagos were convicted in 1974 for the murder and mutilation of University of New Mexico student William Velten. The four, Richard Greer, Ronald Keine, Clarence Smith and Thomas Gladish, spent 17 months on death row. Their case was in the appeals process when Kerry Rodney Lee, an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, confessed to the murder.[8]

Criminal activities

In October 1998, a two-year undercover investigation of the Vagos resulted in the arrests of more than a dozen people for kidnapping, and drug and weapons crimes, and in September 2004, a state investigation involving the gang led to the arrests of 26 people and the seizure of more than $125,000 in cash, drugs and guns.[9]

On March 9, 2006, twenty-five Vagos members and associates were arrested on firearms and drug violations charges following one of the largest coordinated law enforcement probes ever conducted in Southern California. The operation, known as "Operation 22 Green", involved around 700 personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police and sheriff's departments. Ninety-five illegal firearms, illegal drugs, $6,000 in cash and two stolen motorcycles were also seized.[9]

In December 2007, six members of the Vagos were arrested and accused of beating and robbing a member who intended to leave the club. The victim was allegedly attacked at the Custom Motorcycle auto shop in Grants Pass, Oregon then taken to his home where the attackers robbed him, in August 2007. In February 2010 the ex-president of the chapter involved was acquitted of all charges relating to robbery assault and kidnapping.[10]

Three Vagos members were arrested on June 9 and 10, 2009 and charged with sexually assaulting a woman in San Jose, California.[11] Police investigators told the San Jose Mercury News that the victim met the three men in a nightclub on May 4, 2009 and that they had offered to drive her home, but instead they took her to the Vagos clubhouse on Kings Row where she was beaten and sexually assaulted.[12][13]

On March 17, 2010, amid allegations that Vagos members have been attempting to use home-made booby traps to maim and kill police detectives in Hemet, California[14] police arrested at least 31 Vagos members in a multistate raid which took place in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California and involved 400 police officers from 60 law enforcement agencies. As many as 73 locations were raided in Southern California, where police seized weapons and drugs and discovered a methamphetamine lab.[1][15] On December 31, 2009 the unmarked headquarters of the Hemet Gang Task Force was filled with natural gas which had been routed into the building through a hole drilled in the roof. Two task force members entering the office smelled gas and backed away without flipping a light switch which could have caused an explosion. The day before that attack, a Vagos funeral was held at a church next to the office. On February 23, 2010 a task force member at the Hemet headquarters opened a security gate outside the building, causing a homemade zip gun attached to the gate to fire. The weapon fired and nearly hit an officer's head. On March 5, 2010 a task force member who had parked an unmarked police car in front of a convenience store in Hemet found a homemade pipe bomb hidden underneath the vehicle. A $200,000 reward has been announced by California and federal authorities for information on these cases.[16] California Attorney General Jerry Brown called the attempts "urban terrorism."[17] Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said that Vagos members posed an "extreme threat" to law enforcement officers and were notorious for trying to "infiltrate" public safety agencies, by obtaining sworn or non-sworn positions and working undercover to obstruct and dismantle police investigations.[1][18]

On August 1, 2011, Riverside County settled a lawsuit filed by the Vagos International Motorcycle Club in March 2011. The lawsuit claimed that Riverside County authorities "defamed" and "damaged" The Vagos International Motorcycle Clubs name by "falsely linking" them to attacks on police officers in Hemet, CA.[19] The Statement Issued by Riverside county today, cleared the Vagos International Motorcycle Club of any involvement in the attacks on officers in Hemet. Two Riverside County men, with no ties to the Vagos International Motorcycle Club, have been charged in relation to the attacks and are awaiting trial. Attorney Joseph Yanny, who represented the Vagos International Motorcycle Club, was "Pleased" With the result and went on to express that the lawsuit was never about a financial settlement but for the "club to clear its name".[20]

On August 13, 2011, law enforcement authorities say the Vagos Motorcycle Club and the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club were involved in a shootout which shut down traffic on I-44 near Lebanon, Missouri. The local 911 Center received about 20 calls, beginning at 8:16 p.m. Saturday; from local motorists along the major interstate which has now replaced the historic U.S. Route 66 running across Missouri. Callers described that approximately 20 men were fighting and that shots had been fired.[21]

On September 23, 2011, members of the Vagos were allegedly involved in a shooting at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, Nevada in which Jeffrey Pettigrew, 51, president of the San Jose, California, chapter of the Hells Angels was killed and two Vagos members were wounded during the shootout in the Trader Dick's bar section of the casino. A few days later Vagos member Ernesto Gonzalez of San Jose, CA was arrested by University of California San Francisco Police pursuant to the murder. Gonzalez reportedly shot Pettigrew four times in the back.[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 30 arrested in Vagos club crackdown[dead link]
  2. ^ "Appendix B. National-Level Street, Prison, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Profiles". Usdoj.gov. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  3. ^ "Vagos MC Meeting In Grants Pass". Nwhog.wordpress.com. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  4. ^ "Raids resulted in five arrests: police seized guns, cash". Archive.mailtribune.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  5. ^ Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in the United States[dead link]
  6. ^ "Calif. bikers eyed in police building booby traps". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  7. ^ Busenwitz, Cathy (14 June 2010), Calif. bill would target spouses who hire hit men, Associated Press, retrieved 2010-06-24
  8. ^ "Infamous Crimes in New Mexico History". Abqjournal.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  9. ^ a b Risling (Associated Press), Greg (March 10, 2006), "Vagos Motorcycle Club targeted in Southern California crime sweep", San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 18 June 2008
  10. ^ "Six Vagos bike club members charged in beating, kidnapping". Mailtribune.com. 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  11. ^ "San Jose Police Report Arrest of Eduardo Larios, Jose Portillo-Garcia and Edwin Portillo-Garcia for Alleged Sexual Assault". Fugitive.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  12. ^ Webby, Sean (23 June 2009), "San Jose Police Seek Possible Rape Victims of Vagos Motorcycle Club Members", San Jose Mercury News
  13. ^ "SJ Gang Members Arrested In Alleged Rape", foxreno.com, 23 June 2009, retrieved 2010-01-25
  14. ^ Adams, Guy (20 March 2010). "California declares war on biker gang accused of 'booby trap' plot". The Independent.
  15. ^ Gang crackdown: Vagos Motorcycle Club targeted in police raids.
  16. ^ Grinberg, Emanuella. "Booby traps targeting California police lead to $200,000 reward offer". CNN.
  17. ^ Memmott, Mark (2010-03-19). "$200,000 Reward For Those Who Have Tried To Kill Calif. Anti-Gang Police". Npr.org. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  18. ^ "$200,000 reward announced for information leading to arrest in anti-gang unit attacks". Myvalleynews.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  19. ^ "Vagos Motorcycle Club sues Riverside County law enforcement agencies alleging defamation". Articles.latimes.com. 2011-03-19. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  20. ^ August 1, 2011  (2011-08-01). "Riverside County settles bikers' defamation lawsuit". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-05. {{cite web}}: Text "  6:57 pm" ignored (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "Biker brawl on Interstate 44 involved national gangs, Pulaski sheriff says". Pulaskicountydaily.com. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
  22. ^ "Hell's Angels motorcycle club member facing charges in deadly casino brawl". Cnn.com. 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  23. ^ Jason Kandal Worst California biker feud in decade erupted at Starbucks News.Yahoo.com. Retrieved 26-October-2011
  • "Motorcycle club gets an apology". Inland News Today. August 4, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2011. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help) Quote: "RIVERSIDE – County officials are offering an apology to the Vagos Motorcycle Club for statements made last year that its members may have been involved in attacks on law enforcement officers in the Hemet area. In a statement Monday from Arthur Cunningham, legal counsel for the county, it was found the club was not involved in the attacks."
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