The two had a brief conversation before the man shot Harber in the face and fled. Thats more than likely what precipitated the fight in Bullhead City. Concurrently, the number of Vagos operating in Arizona climbed sharply. By most accounts, outlaw-biker affiliation is on the rise in Phoenix and elsewhere. Over territory.

So what brought them to Chino Valley if not to fight? Privately, the Angels acknowledge that some of their members break the law, perhaps even at a statistical pace higher than non-bikers. According to documents released by the Yavapai County Attorneys Office in September 2010, Vagos Tri-State vice president Aurelio Figueroa who witnessed the shootout had at least some inkling of the trouble to come. In an instant, their grassy, wide-open neighborhood took on the guise of a Waziristan warzone. Henderson police said six Vagos members were wounded and Pieper Chio said a seventh person who showed up at a hospital with gunshot wounds attributed to the mid-day Sunday shooting was a Hells Angels member. We dont enforce anything like that, Koepke says. The top rocker indicates the name of the club. The battle left five bikers wounded, netted 27 arrests and resulted in nine indictments. Lauri Williams said Tuesday. Police said spent bullet casings were found strewn for more than a mile (1.6 kilometer) along the freeway. Founded in Montebello, California in 1969 by Hispanic Vietnam War veterans, the Mongols M.C. So I defended myself.. Pieper Chio said Dickson was a Hells Angels member. According to documents filed in Yavapai County Superior Court, Kingman-based GIITEM Detective John Morris started using Azevedo to spy on the Vagos in May 2010. It was hardly routine for the Hells Angels and the Vagos to have more than two dozen combined bikers in Chino Valley on the same weekend. Named after the iconic World War II action movie starring Lee Marvin and Jim Brown, the Dirty Dozen who numbered about 120 during their peak offer a useful compare-and-contrast study with the current Hells Angels.

Law enforcement confirms that the Hells Angels appear to have loosened up their bottom rocker policy. And thats when MC mayhem broke loose. All factors for a jury to weigh in trial, if a trial ever happens. They then lit a makeshift fuse, inducing a spectacular inferno that they admired while munching on Jumbo Jacks down the street. The attorney said he intends to file documents seeking to reduce Devries bail to an amount he can post. We did terrible, depraved stuff all the time. For more than 50 years, PHOENIX magazine's experienced writers, editors, and designers have captured all sides of the Valley with award-winning and insightful writing, and groundbreaking report and design. Pieper Chio said more than a dozen shots were fired on U.S. 95 in Henderson, and stray bullets struck a nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building and a parked vehicle. The Angels let the Vagos have Havasu. It was clear to law enforcement that the Vagos a rising MC with designs on Mexico and the Southwest were making a push into Arizona. Thats what the authorities never understand. Joshua William Harber, a lifelong county resident who worked as a mason and lived in Oak View, was shot once in the cheek about 12:15 a.m. Saturday outside the Coyote Wild Bar & Grill in Cave Creek, police said. Of course, the gang stigma is nothing new for the Hells Angels; it has faithfully accompanied them since the clubs earliest days in the Southern California steel town of Fontana, circa 1948, even as they grew into the worlds biggest and most recognized biker entity. According to a report filed by Detective Zavos, a Vagos biker named Bob Blankenship who held the rank of Sergeant-of-Arms for the Tri-State Vagos was shot as he executed a U-turn in front of the old Hells Angels clubhouse.

Follow Matthew Hendley at @MatthewHendley. Im not sure what that means. In Arizona, they are concentrated in Mohave County. Im not sure what it has to do with anything.. Richard John Devries, 66, and club recruits Russell Smith, 46, and Stephen Alo, 26, were arraigned Thursday on multiple attempted murder, conspiracy, battery and weapon charges that could get them decades in prison. On June 11, 2009, five members of the Arizona Nomads a roving Hells Angels chapter with no official clubhouse allegedly mixed it up with a pair of Vagos at Lazy Harrys Sunshine Saloon in Bullhead City near the Colorado River. memorably brawled with the Hells Angels in the deadly Laughlin, Nevada, riot of 2002.

Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Follow Valley Fever on Twitter at @ValleyFeverPHX. Indeed, theres an adage in the biker world that the safest neighborhood in any city is the one with a Hells Angels clubhouse. As a paid reliable informant, Azevedo had previously worked for law enforcement entities and was known to provide sound information about underworld dealings.

The spike in biker hostilities in Bullhead City initially puzzled authorities, because members of the Vagos Tri-State chapter based in the string of river towns where Arizona, California and Nevada meet had been operating in northwest Arizona since at least 2000 with relatively little incident, according to Sgt. For years, the Vagos in Bullhead City and other parts of Mohave County wore California rockers. As reflected in their police interviews, the Vagos maintain that the shootout was a premeditated event on the part of the Hells Angels. Hes also one of the six men all associated with the Hells Angels Arizona Nomads chapter facing prison time for the Chino Valley shootout, on a menagerie of charges ranging from aggravated assault to disorderly conduct with a weapon. The facts only came to light in May after a court-ordered sheriffs office report. Last November, Yavapai County Sheriffs Office Detective David Zavos the lead investigator in the Chino Valley case offered a grand jury the following impressionistic analysis of the combatants: The Vagos, for the most part, are not a real aggressive gang. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news, avoided being branded as an international criminal enterprise. A joint-motion to dismiss the charges against the Hells Angels was pending. [The fraud case] pretty much let the cat out of the bag, Morris says. In 1997, members of the two clubs convened in the HA clubhouse in Oakland a converted Arthur Murray dance studio, of all things and the patch-over was consecrated. The issue of Arizona rockers was potentially a contributing factor in the Chino Valley gun battle. As this issue went to press, the case was still mired in appeal and pre-trial litigation. A 25-year-old Hells Angels member from Ventura County was fatally shot in Arizona, and authorities are investigating whether the homicide was linked to an ongoing power struggle between two biker gangs. Everybody is his own man in the Hells Angels, one longtime member says. I told them to behave themselves, Mora recalls. The Vagos returned fire, wounding Hells Angel biker Kevin Christensen in the abdomen. He is a suspect in a shooting between Hells Angels and rival Vagos bikers on Sunday on U.S. Highway 95 according to police.

For the next seven or eight years, the Dozen ran a tight ship in Arizona. The bottom rocker is particularly critical for American outlaw bikers, and the key to the Bullhead City incidents, in Seversons opinion: It identifies the wearers state of residence. A biker still lived there, but he was ailing and infirm, tethered to oxygen tanks and a motorized scooter. Most of them are veterans. Were about brotherhood and riding bikes. The volatile air-mixture of suspicion and tension almost certainly informed an incident Saturday morning when a group of three Hells Angels prospects later identified as Scott, Bruce Schweigert and Robert Kittredge crossed paths at a nearby Circle K with a pair of Vagos associates named Alfred Azevedo and Clay Messina. Our expository features, narratives, profiles, and investigative features keep our 385,000 readers in touch with the Valley's latest trends, events, personalities and places.

Doesnt that make me family oriented? The back patches, or rockers, cover the more organizational stuff. Theyll fight, then go dormant, then fight again, then patch things up.

Though some law enforcement figures acknowledge the Angels improved public image over the years I call it their spit-and-polish, one DPS officer says others point to ugly incidents, such as the murder of 44-year-old party guest Cynthia Yvonne Garcia by three members of the Mesa chapter in 2001. The Vagos got a foothold in Mohave County and now theyre in Phoenix, and that indicates theyre trying to make inroads., How will the Hells Angels respond? According to the DOJ, the club boasts approximately 600 members spanning 24 chapters in the U.S., and 10 more chapters in Mexico. (K.M. As dozens of Yavapai Sheriffs Office and DPS vehicles swarmed the neighborhood of Yuma Drive shortly after the shooting, a Vagos biker on the scene described the aftermath in no uncertain terms: Were not a gang, Michael Koepke, seated in his lawyers office, says evenly. If he traded in the leather cuts for a pair of pleated wool slacks, Koepke could pass for a lawyer himself. Asked to estimate the odds that a full-patch Vagos biker would move within three doorsteps of the old Skull Valley clubhouse and not know it, one Hells Angels says, No chance at all.. The benefits for both clubs were manifest. But a brawl somewhere, sometime was all but inevitable. People are free to wear whatever patch they like.. That changed about two years ago, Severson says. In the early 1980s, Mora himself served just more than three years in Florence State Prison for the shooting deaths of two members of Bad Company an outlaw bike gang based in New Mexico that was attempting to set up a chapter in the old mining town of Globe. "[The bikers] are giving us what they can. A massive, wise-cracking hulk of a man with the letters A-R-I-Z-O-N-A tattooed across his belly and a scraggly mane of gray-streaked hair, Mora exudes Falstaffian delight as he recounts his days as a hell-raising, debauchery-crazed Dozen regular. There was no planned event and police believe the group showed up primarily to drink and party. Theyre stand up guys.. Defense attorney Thomas Pitaro, representing Smith and Alo, also sought lower bail, saying he doubted they could raise $380,000. There were orgies, brawls, all-night block parties and balls-out Harley sprints across greater Phoenix. Each chapter governs itself. Of staying on top. Members of the colorfully named Skull Valley chapter, which was the Angels main garrison in north-central Arizona until disbanding in 2006, used it as their clubhouse. On one hand, the Hells Angels acquired a big, geographically critical state with lots of wide-open roads and no serious rivals, thanks to the Dozens cleansing efforts. It also meant embracing the Hells Angels more image-savvy and disciplined ethos. Consequently, the lawman was alarmed when word trickled up to Kingman about the gun battle in Chino Valley. How could they not be? A person police identified as an anonymous witness provided video showing three men wearing Hells Angels attire riding up to the Vagos members before shots were fired, according to police reports. Old timers recall a weekend evening sometime in the mid-80s when a pair of Dozen bikers cut the fuel lines on a row of rival motorcycles outside a bar in Mesa, creating a sort of daisy chain of flammable spillage. In a shootout at Harrahs Casino & Hotel in Laughlin, three bikers were killed and at least 12 were injured. It seems likely that the Hells Angels noticed, too.

Mora, the one-time Dirty Dozen capo and current Arizona Hells Angel, says that he and his Dirty Dozen comrades would scour the streets and bars of Tucson in the early 1990s, looking for rival bike clubs sporting the Arizona rocker. Might that have skewed the case against the Hells Angels? Become a member to support the independent voice of Phoenix Follow those rules, and the cops will more or less leave you alone.. So that was pretty much how easy it was. As Azevedos control officer, Morris was responsible for monitoring his activity and debriefing him. They also won the respect of seminal Hells Angels organizer Sonny Barger, who served out a four-year federal conspiracy conviction in Arizona from 1988 to 1992. And neither looks to back down.

The bikers apparently didn't see who fired the shots, police say. By that time, Azevedo was no longer useful as an informant, having helped Morris execute a Vagos-related fraud case in Kingman. The Hells Angels-as-neighborhood-watchdog theory may very well have stock unless they happen to be having a shootout with the Vagos. Then they started sporting Arizona rockers, and thats when the problems started. The Yavapai County Attorneys case against the Hell Angels chugged along in appeals court until May, when a sensational bit of information emerged about one of the key witnesses in the shootout. Theyre very well structured, says Trethewy, now a spokesman for the law-enforcement think tank Rocky Mountain Information Network. I ran the unit for Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City, and the two gangs mostly kept to themselves, Severson says. local news and culture, Matthew Hendley In fact, in a case that stokes age-old questions about Arizonas most powerful bike club, hints at a potentially violent restructuring of the outlaw-biker pecking order and pursuant to court documents obtained by PHOENIX magazine reveals provocative details about the crime-fighting methodology of Arizonas anti-gang units, the question of which band of well-armed hombres shot first seems mostly academic. They insist that each of their chapters are semi-autonomous entities with their own bylaws and values, and that applying the crimes of one member to the whole club makes as much sense as, say, penalizing the Phoenix PD for a corruption scandal in the LAPD. Had they been privy to this information, the citizens of Chino Valley might have been less startled by the pop-pop sound of gunfire that raked across Yuma Drive on Saturday, August 21, 2010, shortly after noon. Devries attorney, Richard Schonfeld, declined outside court to confirm whether his client leads the Hells Angels in Las Vegas. The front patches denote personal details like rank, exploits and chapter affiliation. On April 27, during the 20th annual Laughlin River Run, a fistfight broke out between members of the Hells Angels and the rival Mongols, a Los Angeles-based gang that has long sought a toehold in Arizona. I was worried about [Azevedo] being involved in the shooting, Morris recalls.

Ironically, one of the accused Angels Larry Scotty Scott, a former college football player and on-again, off-again thoroughbred racehorse owner previously coached Zavos teenage son in his capacity as the defensive coordinator for a local high school team. On Friday night, the Vagos posted security details at the Diecks house. Evidently, the summons was taken to heart. Less well known to the good people of Yuma Drive were the occupants of a house about 300 yards down the road. Lets have a beer.. Azevedo whose version of the events figured prominently in a Sheriffs report told investigators that one of the Hells Angels approached him and asked if he was a Vagos. That was the extent of the encounter a surveillance video provided to authorities confirms that no physical confrontation occurred but it evidently rattled Azevedo and Messina to the extent that a phone call was made to the Diecks residence alerting the Vagos to the effect that the Hells Angels were trying to get them, according to the report. And respect my authority. Then one of them pulled a gun on me. But it was a different culture back then. Photos From left: Also known as Green Nation, the Vagos motorcycle club was founded in Corona, California, in 1965. Outlaw bikers are sensitive to affronts. Ernie Severson of GIITEM. The upshot: Neither side came to Chino Valley on August 21 to brawl, necessarily.

Oh, we were obnoxious assholes, Mora cheerfully confides when quizzed about the Dirty Dozen. Join the New Times community and help support Outside court, Pieper Chio cited the April 23 shooting death of James Vincent Dickson, 32, during a heavy metal concert at a bar in the California city of San Bernardino. Much wilder.. Williams said officers had dealt with relatively few problems with Hells Angels members at the Cave Creek bar.

The Vagos were another out-of-state club that attempted to plant a flag in Arizona during the Dirty Dozen reign, according to Trethewy. Over whatever. Christie declined to comment on the feud. If they obeyed, no problem. So the Dozen were hard-core.

It was described by DPS as the biggest in a series of violent assaults inside several bars in Bullhead City. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, Seven People Involved With Motorcycle Gang Arrested in Beating at Phoenix Bar. And the reason? However, he acknowledged that Phoenix detectives were planning to come to Ventura this week to interview members of the motorcycle club. How the Hells Angels choose to handle the dilemma may well determine how close the turf battle comes to the Valleys doorstep. In 1990, the Vagos even managed to start a Phoenix chapter in the heart of Dirty Dozen territory, led by a biker named Don Arizona Don Halterman. The Yavapai County Attorney accepts the Vagos account of the incident in essence, that the Hells Angels fired on them unprovoked as they rode past the two-story stucco house, triggering the fusillade while the Hells Angels and their attorneys broadly maintain that it was an ambush on the part of the Vagos. And where? In the wake of the shooting, law enforcement obviously sought to preserve their Vagos informant. [The detective] told me my days as a coach were done, Scott, who has since left the team, alleges. News reports said four other people were wounded, including a member of the band that was playing at the time. They have bylaws, they go to meetings and pay dues, they use trademarks and copyrights, and they commit crime. It was undoubtedly a case of wrong-place, wrong-time, but to understand the tensions that led to the shootout, one must first examine the unique history of the Arizona Hells Angels and the band of Harley-riding, hirsute rogues that preceded them a club called the Dirty Dozen, which ruled the states biker community from its inception in the late 60s to its merger with the Hells Angels in 1997. Milam reports that members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club another traditional Hells Angels enemy have been sighted wearing the Arizona rocker in Mesa, and that two Hells Angels-affiliated clubs, the Hooligans and the Sons of Hell, recently began wearing the Arizona rocker with the Hells Angels blessing. And he ended up running into one of the Vagos members that lived in Kingman, went to the guys shop the next day, and within, I dont know, an hour was invited to the international Vagos run in Parker. Presumably to protect Azevedos confidential status, Zavos never disclosed the nature of the hang-arounds involvement with GIITEM during the initial grand jury evidentiary hearing in November.

Dirty Dozen lore is full of wild tales. So the more pressing question is: Will it happen again? February 9, 2015 The Schafmans who declined comment for this article told investigators they heard approximately 100 shots fired during the 10-minute gunfight, but official estimates put the number closer to 50.