Dropped Hells Angels shooting was justified, DA says 9-19-02 Prosecutors dropped murder charges today against a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, saying he may have been justified in firing the shot that killed a member of a rival club at a Hells Angels event in February. Members of the other group, the Pagan Outlaw Motorcycle Club, had crashed the event, many of them wielding bats and other weapons. As part of a plea agreement, the Hells Angels member, Raymond G. Dwyer, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree weapons possession in connection with the fracas, which erupted at a catering hall in Plainview where the Long Island Hells Angels chapter had been holding a motorcycle and tattoo exposition. "We cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Dwyer wasn't reasonably justified when he fired," Robert T. Hayden, a Nassau County assistant district attorney, told Judge Alan L. Honorof in Nassau County Court. PHOTO at http://organizedcrime.about.com/library/weekly/bldailynews.htm Matt O'Dwyer. Target O' the day? Today, Miami's the No. 1 airport in many ways. We're the No. 1 cruise port in the nation. We've got two nuclear plants in this district. We have important buildings. We have a lot of military and space bases. Vinnie the chin,"stop buggin' me!" OC News Headlines What's going on in the Underworld Sunday, September 22, 2002 News archives • Click here for older stories From Other Guides • Daily Crime News Elsewhere on the Web • Gangland News • CourtTV.com Dropped Hells Angels shooting was justified, DA says 9-19-02 Prosecutors dropped murder charges today against a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, saying he may have been justified in firing the shot that killed a member of a rival club at a Hells Angels event in February. Members of the other group, the Pagan Outlaw Motorcycle Club, had crashed the event, many of them wielding bats and other weapons. As part of a plea agreement, the Hells Angels member, Raymond G. Dwyer, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree weapons possession in connection with the fracas, which erupted at a catering hall in Plainview where the Long Island Hells Angels chapter had been holding a motorcycle and tattoo exposition. "We cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Dwyer wasn't reasonably justified when he fired," Robert T. Hayden, a Nassau County assistant district attorney, told Judge Alan L. Honorof in Nassau County Court. Wannabes Suffolk County cops liked the wiseguy lifestyle 9-20-02 A gang of cops busted as part of a Suffolk County drug ring this week were a bunch of wannabe "Sopranos," with pumped-up muscles, "big haired" young girlfriends and a nonstop party lifestyle, police sources said yesterday. Four law officers and 10 civilian cohorts were charged with dealing drugs, including cocaine and steroids, after a summer-long undercover probe by NYPD Internal Affairs officers who befriended some of the group's main members. Police sources said many of the members of the ring were bodybuilders with mob-moll-type gal pals who hung out at a World Gym in Ronkonkoma owned by businessman Thomas Newman, who is also charged as part of the ring. "They had 19-, 20-year- old girlfriends with blown hair," said an NYPD source. "These guys were behaving like Soprano wannabes . . . They were boasting about being with a lot of women," said a source. "But, in reality, they were just going to Blockbuster." Busy guy US attorney in Miami plans to keep busy In his first on-the-job interview, U.S. Attorney Marcos Daniel Jiménez sat down with Miami Daily Business Review to talk about the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and how he intends to direct its $45 million in annual resources. In his view, the unequivocal top priority in South Florida since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is anti-terrorism enforcement. He expressed confidence that he could focus on that problem without giving short shrift to the important but more routine fare of his office -- white-collar crime, gang and violent crime, guns and narcotics. "Fifteen of the 19 hijackers lived here, you don't have to say much more than that," Jiménez says. "Today, Miami's the No. 1 airport in many ways. We're the No. 1 cruise port in the nation. We've got two nuclear plants in this district. We have important buildings. We have a lot of things that we have to be careful that we are doing everything we can to protect." Hells Angel sentenced International prostitution ring broken up Hells Angels biker gets 10-year sentence in Florida for drug trafficking 9-15-02MONTREAL (CP) -- A former cop who became a member of the notorious Hells Angels biker gang has been sentenced in Florida to 10 years in prison. Guy Lepage pleaded guilty last Friday to one count of conspiracy to traffic drugs, the French-language television network TVA reported Monday. The plea came after the withdrawal of another charge of conspiracy to traffic drugs, permission not to testify in the eventual trial against his co-accused, and the possibility of serving his sentence in Quebec in about six months to a year. The 55-year-old former Montreal police officer left the force in 1974. He later co-founded the Rockers, a Hells Angels puppet club, and was an ex-chauffeur for Hells boss Maurice (Mom) Boucher. Lepage was arrested Dec. 18 at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and extradited on Aug. 1. He cares? He's sane Chin's concern over 9-11 means he's sane, cops say 9-15-02 The feds plan to use recorded telephone calls made by imprisoned mob boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante to his family on Sept. 11, 2001, as evidence he's been faking mental illness, The Post has learned. "How many people died?" Gigante asks his son Vincent in a call made on a monitored telephone at the Fort Worth, Texas, federal prison where he is incarcerated. "Were there any children inside?" Gigante inquires, according to those who have heard the tapes. "Oh, my God," he says upon hearing that children were aboard the planes that hit the Twin Towers. "I'll pray for them." The Sept. 11 tapes are part of evidence federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are compiling to support charges of obstruction of justice against Gigante for faking his mental illness. Total drug war corruption dept. RICO, meet Hobbs Feds are to use a commerce law in prosecuting case against drug dealers By Gary Craig Democrat and Chronicle (9-16-02) — A federal case against four Rochester men accused of robbing drug dealers may reveal whether federal commerce laws can be used to combat drug-related violence. In an unusual local prosecution, federal authorities accuse the four -- Damien Lott, Terrance Stinson, Anthony Murphy and Shawn Rucker -- of robbing local cocaine and heroin dealers of money and drugs. The four defendants, all in jail awaiting trial, are accused of violating a federal statute called the Hobbs Act, which prohibits crimes of robbery or extortion that impede interstate or foreign commerce. Since many illegal drugs originate outside the United States, federal courts have held that drug trafficking qualifies as interstate commerce -- albeit illegal commerce -- and that drug-related robberies can stand as Hobbs Act violations.
