Mongols (motorcycle club)

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Mongols MC vest emblem
Mongols MC vest emblem

The Mongols Motorcycle Club, shortened to "Mongols MC" is a motorcycle club headquartered in southern California that was originally formed in Montebello, California in the 1970s.[1]. Law enforcement officials estimate there are approximately 350 members.[2] In addition to their presence in southern California, the club claims chapters in Nevada, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Oregon, New York, Indiana, Canada, and Mexico. [3]. Norwegian mainstream news also reports that the Mongols have spread to Scandinavia, April 2008.

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[edit] Name

The Mongols motorcycle club is named after the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia, the Mongols that conquered the largest contiguous empire in world history. The Mongols MC main website includes a quote on the front page from Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. However, there is no other relationship between the Mongol ethnic group and the motorcycle club other than the shared name.

[edit] Beginnings

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Mongols MC started in southern California in the early 70s by about six to eight men who were either ex-Hells Angels, or rejected by the Hells Angels due to their Hispanic heritage or other unknown reasons. The gang war between the Hells Angels and the Mongols started over their bottom rocker on their colors showing California.[citation needed] The Hells Angels controlled the California gang environment prior to the appearance of the Mongols. The Hells Angels and the Mongols are the only two outlaw motorcycle gangs wearing California on their patches. At the time the war broke out, the Mongols only had about thirty members, and most of them didn't know that having California on their bottom rocker was something they were not supposed to do by gang tradition.[citation needed] The Mongols changed their patch due to unwanted attention being drawn to their chapters; but when they were approached, they would not back down. At the height of the war, the Mongols were outnumbered by about five to one but still managed to close down a few southern California Hells Angels chapters.

[edit] Criminal activities

In 1998, ATF agent William Queen infiltrated the club, eventually becoming a full-patch member and rising to the rank of treasurer using the undercover alias of Billy St. John. In April 2000, based on evidence gathered during Queen's 28-month undercover time with the club, 55 Mongols were arrested. All but one of the accused were later convicted of various crimes including drug trafficking, motorcycle theft, and conspiracy to commit murder.[4]

In 2002, members of the Mongols and the Hells Angels had a confrontation in Laughlin, Nevada at the Harrah's Laughlin Casino, that left three bikers dead. Some police intelligence reports indicate that the Mongols initiated the confrontation to bolster their status.[5] Mongol Anthony Barrera, 43, was stabbed to death; and two Hells Angels -- Jeramie Bell, 27, and Robert Tumelty, 50 -- were shot to death.

On February 23, 2007, Hells Angel members James Hannigan and Rodney Cox were sentenced to two years in prison for their respective roles in the incident. Cox and Hannigan were captured on videotape confronting members of the rival Mongols motorcycle club inside the casino. A Hells Angel member can be clearly seen on the casino security videotape performing a front kick on a Mongol biker member which in turn started the ensuing melee.

Charges were dismissed against 36 other Mongols originally named in the indictment.

The Mongols are currently listed as an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by the Attorney General of California [6].

One of their rivals was the Mexican mafia until there was a meeting in which someone was paid for the violence to stop between both gangs.

[edit] Footnotes & references

  1. ^ Organized Crime in California Annual Report the California Legislature 2004
  2. ^ Queen, William Under and Alone : The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, Random House, 2005 (ISBN 1400060842)
  3. ^ Mongols MC main page, retrieved 16 October 2007
  4. ^ Queen, William Under and Alone : The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, Random House, 2005 (ISBN 1400060842)
  5. ^ Las Vegas Review Journal, 4/30/2002; LAUGHLIN SHOOTOUT: Signs told of melee in making
  6. ^ Organized Crime in California Annual Report the California Legislature 2004

[edit] See also

[edit] External links