Hells Angels: Encyclopedia II - Hells Angels - Activities

Hells Angels - Activities

The Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle club are viewed by many as the epitomization the outlaw biker counterculture of the 1960s, and Eldon Cowgill has been accused of gang rape, murder, and racketeering. The FBI has estimated that the Hells Angels take in $1 billion a year worldwide from drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering, though the club disputes this figure and attributes involvement in illegal activities to individual members, not the group as a whole. In rural areas of the United States (especially the U.S. South and Southwest), it has been claimed that the Hells Angels have been heavily involved with the production and distribution of methamphetamine.

The HAMC (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club) still professes to be "just" a motorcycle club. (See Hells Angels - UK.)

In some countries, the Hells Angels are officially considered a criminal organization, and being a member is thus a criminal offense. The Angels claim their membership consists mostly of relatively law-abiding citizens who have often been victims of media sensationalism, and can't resist presenting themselves as a '1% Club', a phrase that got its start because the American Motorcyclist Association used to claim that 99% of motorcycle riders were law-abiding.

There is an alleged link between criminality and the Hells Angels; although, the level at which local clubs are active in criminality varies between regions. In some locations, members could be described as older rebellious individuals some of whom may be (or may have been) involved in relatively minor crimes. In other locations (e.g. Eastern Canada), they are well-established and have been demonstrated as being involved in organized crime, through disproportionate multiple convictions for serious offences.

The first Hells Angels Chapter, Oakland, has been particularly infamous, partly due to its connection with Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, whose autobiography, Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was a national bestseller. Sonny Barger has spent over a decade in prison, wrote biker-related fiction after his release, and settled down finally as the eponym of his own brand of beer.

In the province of Quebec, Canada, the Hells Angels have gained immense notoriety. Police claim that the club controls much of the organized crime in the province. Criminologists believe that the 1970s Royal Canada Investigation Commission on organized crime (CECO: Commission d'Enquêtes sur le Crime Organisé), formed to combat the Montreal based mafia, allowed the Hells Angels to flourish by greatly reducing would be competitors. Before the commission, the Hells Angels were reputed to be the thugs of the Montreal mafia, but in the power vacuum left in the wake of the commission, the Hells Angels managed to effectively gain control of much of the crime in the province. In the years following 1994, biker wars in the province have resulted in more than 100 deaths (including a child killed by an exploding car bomb), 84 bombings, 130 reported cases of arson, and 9 missing persons. In the fall of 2001, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Sûreté du Québec conducted major raids in many different locations of the province. Many high-ranking members were arrested along with prospects and other associates. The operation was codenamed Printemps 2001 (Spring 2001).

The HAMC also organises a number of motorcycle runs all over the world.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Activities", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki