Piney Winston

Piermont "Piney" Winston was a fictional character on the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, played by William Lucking.^[1][2] He was a member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, and was one of the Club's founders, along with John Teller .

Character biography

Winston was in his mid-60s and served as a paratrooper during the Vietnam War. When he returned to his hometown of Charming, California in 1967, he felt ostracized by the same society that he had just risked his life for. He eventually co-founded the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club with fellow war veteran John Teller as a form of social rebellion and freedom. He suffered from severe emphysema and had to carry an oxygen tank with him at all times, which means that he no longer went out on runs but still attends "Church". Despite his age and his disease he proved to be just as tough as his younger club brothers. Piney is the father of Harry "Opie" Winston, who is also a member of the Sons of Anarchy.^[3]

Season one

At the beginning of Season One, the Mayans stole the Sons of Anarchy's weapons from their storage. When a meeting was called, Piney attended and proved to be a commanding figure amongst the gang's hierarchy despite his health. Later on, his son, Opie, came to him and asked to borrow money. Piney refused and told him to "grow a dick". He did, however, tell him to join Clay Morrow and Bobby Munson on a protection run to make some extra cash.^[4]

Jax and Piney sold five AK-47s to Nate Meineke, an old war buddy, and his right-wing state militia. The militia then used these guns to ambush a prison convoy and free one of their members, Frank Cison. A police officer and two civilians were killed during the assault. Meineke dropped his cell phone at the scene, and his last calls had been from Clay Morrow's Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair shop. When the ATF found the phone, they arrested Clay and raided the clubhouse. Clay was later released because no evidence was found, meaning he could no longer be kept in custody. Meanwhile Jax, Piney and Opie decided to kill Meineke and his gang to stop them "snitching" if they were apprehended by the authorities and because they had killed innocents in the prison convoy ambush. They pretended to sell them more weapons. The boxes of guns were actually filled with explosives, however, and the militia loaded their trucks with them. All of the militia were killed when the bombs were detonated.^[5]

He, Bobby and Tig started a brawl at a local bar, in order to distract the police. This then gave Jax and Opie a chance to break into the police station to pass a message to Luann for Big Otto, and free Cherry, who had been arrested.^[6]

In the Season One finale, he was enraged that the club was doing nothing to avenge the death of Donna Winston, his daughter-in-law, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He travelled into Oakland and went to a One-Niners bar where he took a hostage and demanded to know who killed Donna. Half-Sack Epps followed him, however, and called Jax and Chibs Telford for help. They got him out alive, and Laroy, the Niners leader, told them that it wasn't his gang who killed Donna. It was later revealed that he was given a copy of John Teller's manuscript, which he passed on to Jax at Donna's funeral.^[7]

Season two

Throughout season 2, Piney and Jax continue to search for answers about Donna's death, both still positive that Clay was somehow involved. Losing faith in Clay and becoming disenchanted with the club, Piney barely makes a presence in any of the recent club activities. However, he proved that he still has a bit of pride left in him, when he rallied his fellow club mates together and bravely helped rescue Tig from a group of bounty hunters.

He was extremely upset when he found out that Jax planned to go nomad. He voted yes on Jax's request and immediately left to return to his cabin.

Piney's suspicions became true when Tig eventually admitted to killing Donna. He calmly said goodbye to his ex-wife and retreated to his cabin where he stored away his cut and got his old Army uniform and M1911 pistol. He went to the clubhouse and tried to shoot Clay, but he missed. Opie insisted that Piney only attempted to kill Clay out of a fear that Opie would do it himself, and Piney didn't want his son to ruin himself. Knowing that the motorcycle club is all that Piney has, Clay forgave him by telling him to never return to the clubhouse again without his kutte.

Season three

In season 3, Piney is shown to be more active in the club. He is shown working at Teller-Morrow and runs Teller-Morrow while his fellow members are out looking for Abel, and Gemma is on the run from the law. When SOA (Sons of Anarchy) members Bobby and Happy need to get medicine for family members Piney leads them to a friend of his (Frances Fisher) who is in the pharmaceutical drug trade. They arrive while she is being robbed and shoot it out with the robbers. Because they are out gunned they end up captured, but rescued by the rest of the SOA thanks to a call for backup by Happy. When the club needs money for their trip to find Abel they decide to sell the pharmaceuticals that they were supplied to them by Piney's friend. While the club is in Belfast he has his hands full along with the rest of SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) with Jacob Hale using Hector Salazar (former President of the Calaverez MC) to push out one of their most loyal supporters for a land development deal. When they get information from Darbey, Piney and Tig go to share it with Unser and wants him to investigate it, but Unser who has been distant with the club disregards the information. So Piney and the remaining SAMCRO members who aren't in Belfast look for Salazar, but doesn't find him at his house. Salazar calls the club to tell them that he has kidnapped Tara and he wants the club to kill Alveraz and take $250,000 from his home safe. The club gets Alveraz to play along, but they can't get the money. June Stahl decides to help get Tara back by providing the Ransom. The drop compromised when some kids decide to steal the money. The next day the rest of SAMCRO comes home and they look for Tara. In the season 3 finale the club has a celebration and the rest of the day the club is working trying to put things to rest which includes killing Jimmy O'Phelan. SAMCRO takes Jimmy from the Russians, but Jimmy is captured by the ATF at the garage where they find out that Jax made the deal. SAMCRO are arrested as well to face their gun charges. Piney, Opie, and Chibs are the only ones not subject to these charges and are assigned to ambush and kill June Stahl and Jimmy with the help of Kozik, Tacoma member who has been helping SAMCRO, and Unser. They successfully get the job done and drive away.

Season Four

Piney voices his disgust of Clays decisions following the agreement to run drugs for the cartel and creates a rift in the club leading to a change of presidency vote. Following attacks on SAMCRO and the Mayans, Piney goes to the cabin to clear his mind. While there, he is questioned and murdered by Clay. Clay then takes his firearms and stages the murder to look like a hit by the Cartel.

References