As the longtime president of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, Sonny Barger, who has died aged 83, was the epitome of the outlaw biker. Barger's death on June 29 at the age of 83 made international headlines because of that reach. [42] Cross was also imprisoned, for possession of amphetamines in 1975, however, and Barger allegedly continued to lead the Hells Angels from his cell at Folsom State Prison. Sonny Barger, biker outlaw and founder of Hells Angels, dies at 83 For decades, he was the public face of a nationwide counterculture tribe of bearded, denim-clad road warriors memorialized in. Hell's Angel Sonny Barger is just a regular guy. Wish you were here. [7] According to Barger's chief attorney James Crew, Ivaldi himself was involved in the conspiracy to kill Agero and, knowing he was a prime suspect and fearing retaliation from the "Texas Mafia", he tried to shift the blame to the Hells Angels. He lent the EPIC manual to Tait for photocopying after Anchorage chapter president Edwin Hubert, who also expressed retaliatory sentiment after Webb's killing, instructed Tait to acquire a copy of the manual in September 1986. [87] Barger's role within the Arizona Hells Angels was reportedly an advisory position, as he did not hold officer status and he rarely attended rallies or public events. [7][65], Anthony "Taterhead" Tait, the sergeant-at-arms of the Hells Angels chapter in Anchorage, Alaska, volunteered to become a paid informant for the FBI in 1984, commencing a three-year nationwide Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation known as Operation CACUS. [101][102] A Hells Angels member was charged with second-degree murder and seventy-three Pagan members were indicted on federal racketeering charges in the aftermath of the incident. [23] The indictments followed two car bombings targeting law enforcement officers in northern California, which were blamed on the Hells Angels. He escaped drug-dealing, kidnapping and murder charges, but was finally convicted in 1973 of possession of heroin and firearms. Barger died at the age of 83 of cancer in Livermore and was the founding member of the Oakland branch of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, known for its outlaw reputation and the scrapes with law enforcement that resulted. Barger, Beyea and Popkin were arrested after the Cadillac was chased for four miles by converging police. [84][83], In 1997, the government of Denmark contemplated banning all outlaw biker clubs in response to the Great Nordic Biker War. "[6] Barger continually denied that he was the Hells Angels' leader or that Oakland was the club's headquarters, however, saying: "Theres no charter that's the boss. [32] The killing of Agero was one of five possibly linked murders committed in the area around that time. A year later he and Don Boots Reeves founded the Oakland chapter of the Hells Angels, using a logo borrowed from a club in Sacramento. [22], On January 22, 1972, Barger and four other Hells Angels Russell Beyea, Bobby "Durt" England, "Oakland" Gary Popkin and Bert Stefanson were traveling through Redwood Regional Park in two cars, a Pontiac and a Cadillac, when they were pursued in a high-speed chase by park rangers, who suspected the occupants of the vehicles of poaching. "[5], Barger was employed as a machine operator from 1960 to 1965, when he was dismissed due to extended absences. [32] As a result of his imprisonment, Barger was forced to relinquish his presidency of the Oakland chapter for the first time since its inception. [24] Ginsberg invited Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels to a party where he provided the bikers with free alcohol, drugs and sex in exchange for their guarantee that the rally would not be attacked. Sonny Barger, who led the way as the Hells Angels grew from a local motorcycle club into one of the world's most notorious gangs - obituary Following a troubled childhood, he found the sense. Born Ralph Barger Jr in Modesto, California, Sonny grew up in the tough port area of Oakland, where his father, Ralph Sr, was a dock worker. The term refers to a comment allegedly made by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last one percent were outlaws. On November 30, 2010, Barger made a guest appearance as Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz on the season 3 finale of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, about a fictional outlaw motorcycle club, allegedly based on the Hells Angels. Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, Jr. (October 8, 1938 June 29, 2022) was an American outlaw biker, convicted criminal, author and actor who was a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1957. His first wife, Elsie Mae (nee George), had died of an embolism in 1967 after a then illegal abortion. [85] The Bandidos were represented by their international vice president George Wegers, Charles "Jaws" Johnson of their Houston chapter and Jim Tinndahn of the Helsingborg chapter. Concert goers and musicians alike were subjected to violence from the Hells Angels, including Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane, who was knocked unconscious, and audience member Meredith "Murdock" Hunter, who was stabbed to death. [5][12] Barger grew up in Oakland in the post-war era, during which time the city's shipbuilding and automobile industries went into decline, leading to a significant rise in unemployment. [83][84] Although the Outlaws failed to kill either man, a number of Hells Angels-owned businesses in southern California were firebombed. [79][80][81][82] In another New Year's Eve speech on December 31, 1994, Bowman declared that the Outlaws would in turn attack the Hells Angels in California. [77][78] The Angels' November 1994 "patch over" of the Hell's Henchmen biker gang in the Outlaws' home base of Chicago resulted in a number of shootings and bombings. [6] Following a three-month-trial, the longest ever in the history of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Barger and O'Farrell were convicted on October 28, 1988, on the felony charge of conspiracy to transport and receive explosives in interstate commerce with intent to kill and damage buildings. The total cost of the case was estimated at $1 million. Oakland police sergeant Edward "Ted" Hilliard testified in 1972 that he accepted guns, dynamite, and grenades from Barger personally in return for deals on arrests during at least fifteen separate meetings, the most recent of which took place in the spring of 1971. [15] Founding their own Hells Angels club on April 1, 1957, each member wore the patch a small skull wearing an aviator cap set within a set of wings, later copyrighted as the Hells Angels' "Death's Head" logo after having replicas made at a trophy store in Hayward. Ralph "Sonny" Barger was a founding member of the Oakland, California, chapter of the Hells Angels in 1957. . [68] On August 12, 1986, John Cleave "J.C." Webb, a member of the Anchorage Hells Angels, was shot and killed by Outlaws outside a biker bar in Jefferson County, Kentucky, prompting Barger to say that it was "time to start killing Outlaws again". An estimated 7,000 people attended, and the event was peaceful. [111], Barger underwent surgery as a result of prostate cancer in 2012. "If you are reading this message, you'll know that I'm gone. Sonny Barger, founder of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hell's Angels, the infamous motorcycle club. The supposed peace meeting, scheduled to be held in an eastern state, was in fact an opportunity for the Hells Angels to assassinate their rivals' leadership, according to investigators. The clubs voted to ally under a "1%er" patch to be worn on their respective "colors". He was 83. His move to Arizona will allow Hells Angels Ventura chapter president George "Gus" Christie to take over the political reins of the gang, but Barger will help legitimize the gang in the business world from the dry desert state. STOCKTON - Thousands of mourners are expected to be in attendance for the funeral of Sonny Barger, one of the figureheads of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, this weekend in Stockton. Christie believed Bowman was persuaded to abandon a truce with the Hells Angels by one of his lieutenants, Kevin "Spike" O'Neill, who thought agreeing to a ceasefire would make the Outlaws appear weak. Sonny Barger Net Worth. It was paid for by the FBI. I've asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing," a . [32] He was among 33 members of the Oakland chapter arrested on drug charges after police raided a bar and a duplex apartment in the city on August 30, 1968. [1] He had no biological children. "If you are reading this message, you'll know that I'm gone," said Barger in a. Marshals Service provided security, and the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the case were deputized by the Marshals, allowing them to carry guns inside the courthouse. As of 2023, Barger has accumulated an estimated net worth of $1 million. And in 2010, with Darwin Holmstrom, he produced a guide to safe motorcycling, Lets Ride, as if he were now fully transformed into one of the 99%. [36] He also claimed that he stuck a gun into Keith Richards' side, to force the Rolling Stones to keep on playing through the riot despite the band's misgivings. R alph "Sonny" Barger, best known as a founding member and longtime leader of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, died last week at 83 of cancer. In December 1969 the Angels were hired by the Rolling Stones to provide security at the Altamont free festival. Sonny Barger, a founder of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club, has died at 83 years old. Thu 30th Jun 2022 15.32 BST. These set the scene for Nicholson and Fondas acting breakthrough with Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider, a romantic portrayal of bikers as countercultural outlaws. [116] Instead, Barger's funeral was held at a motorsports racetrack in Stockton on September 24, 2022. "Ralph Barger" redirects here. [15], In 1956, Barger joined his first motorcycle club, the Oakland Panthers, which he founded with a group of fellow military veterans. [14] Barger took umbrage with what he felt was the Stones' refusal to take responsibility for the catastrophe and he said in the days after the concert: "Mick Jagger, like, put it all on us. [85] To forestall this possibility, Barger attended the peace talks in Seattle representing the Hells Angels along with Thomas Mller of the Angels Malm chapter who was in charge of all the Hells Angels in Europe. Jordan Potter. And they have no idea how many of us there areWe have money, many allies that are outlaw bikers that are not Hells Angels, that would probably do anything we asked them to, if something happened". It was something he had earned, but also an image he. [21][66] Traveling the country at government expense, Tait made documented purchases of firearms, explosives, and drugs from various Hells Angels chapters. [66] During one such meeting, Barger admiringly told Tait that he represented the "Hells Angel of the '90s" clean-cut, articulate, and capable of carrying out club business. [19], According to George Wethern who later testified against the club and entered the Federal Witness Protection Program in his 1978 book A Wayward Angel, Barger convened a meeting of the leaders of the Hells Angels and other California motorcycle clubs in 1960 in which the various clubs parleyed over the mutual problem of police harassment. Three men drug dealers Kelly Patrick Smith, Willard Thomas and Gary Kemp, an acquaintance of Ivaldi were found shot to death in a house near San Leandro the day after Agero's murder, and the body of a woman, Karen S. Long, was discovered in the trunk of a car in Oakland on May 26. [94] The agreement also applied to Canada with the Outlaws agreeing to provide no assistance to the Rock Machine in return for peace with the Hells Angels in the United States. Vested with a quasi-military code of honour, the Angels golden rule was to ratpack on the side of any brother in a fight. Barger denied the claims of a murder contract on Jagger in an interview with the Phoenix New Times in 1992, saying: "I personally don't like the guy, but that doesn't mean I want him dead. [16] When Otto Friedli, the founder of the original San Bernardino Hells Angels chapter, was imprisoned in 1958, Barger was proclaimed de facto national president. Unable to travel to the trial in San Antonio, Texas due to medical reasons, Barger testified via video link from the federal courthouse in San Francisco, denying that the Hells Angels and the Bandidos were enemies. glenn thurman wife, hagerstown, md police scanner,