THE HELLS ANGELS ARE THE MOST INFAMOUS MOTORCYCLE GANG IN THE WORLD – AND THEIR HISTORY IS A VIOLENT ONE
It was a spring afternoon in New York City in 2020 when two members of the Bronx-based chapter of the Pagans biker gang, including leader Frank Rosado, 51, emerged from an apartment block out onto the street. But before they had the chance to mount their bikes, they were ambushed. Two masked men wearing black hoodies and brandishing pistols with silencers came out of nowhere and, in broad daylight, opened fire.
The Pagans separated and ran for their lives, but the assassins pursued Rosado on foot and felled him with a volley of fire. Then, as he lay bleeding in the middle of the road, they shot him again. He didn’t survive the attack, which was chillingly captured on CCTV, and within days of the murder, the New York Police Department had arrested and charged two Hells Angels with second-degree murder. The alleged killers were 58-year-old Frank Tatulli, known in biker circles as “Loose Cannon”, and Sayanon Thong th a wath, then aged 29. When officers searched the suspects’ homes, they uncovered four hidden handguns, as well as three illegal shotguns.
It quickly became clear that Rosado was the victim of a bitter turf war between the Hells Angels and the Pagans. Since 1969, the New York City chapter of the Angels had been based in Manhattan, but had recently relocated to a new clubhouse in the Bronx. The Pagans were outraged at the intrusion on their territory and welcomed their rivals to the neighbourhood with 14 bullets fired at the new HQ. The very public execution of Rosadowas the Angels’ trademark merciless reply.
GLOBAL GANG
Many police forces and intelligence agencies worldwide consider the Hells Angels an organised crime gang responsible for frequent and significant violence, drug trafficking, gun running, extortion and vice operations. The Angels deny this, arguing they are no more than a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who come together in geographically-based groups, known as chapters, to socialise. Any crime committed by a member of the club is, they insist, not the result of a shadowy and dangerous criminal conspiracy, but the independent act of the individual.
The first chapter of the Hells Angels was founded in the city of Fontana in southern California in early 1948. According tomyth, theytooktheir name from a US Air Force squadron from World War 2, something the group themselves dispute. But, whatever the origins of the iconic name, the Hells Angels have grown rapidly since the 1940s. The second chapter was set up in San Francisco in 1954, while a third group was formed three years later.
In 1961, the gang went international when a chapter was estab
