Detroit, MI - The federal government has indicted 40 members and associates of Detroit's Highwaymen Motorcycle Club, and officials say they are building a racketeering case that will at least double the number of defendants.
The FBI's attempt to smash the Highwaymen -- detailed in court records, hearings and interviews, and based on at least 30,000 wiretapped phone calls -- features allegations of murder for hire, bloody beatings, suspected police corruption, a tractor trailer full of cocaine, interstate theft, and mortgage and insurance fraud.
"We're probably looking at one of the largest indictments in terms of number of defendants that this district has seen," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Marion, who is prosecuting the case.
Indictments alleging large-scale trafficking of powder cocaine were handed down in October and March and a new charge was filed as recently as Friday. Within two months the government wants to combine the existing cases into a much more sweeping indictment involving a range of charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and 80 or more defendants, Marion said.
The Highwaymen, founded in Detroit in 1954, gained infamy in the 1970s when some members were convicted of bombing and raiding homes and clubhouses of rivals. The club, Detroit's largest, is still seen by many as an outlaw among outlaws -- banned from a federation of Detroit clubs founded by a former Outlaws president.
David "Ike" Simon, 47, president of the Detroit Highwaymen, said some members may have committed crimes but the club does not sanction anything illegal.
"There seems to be this perception out there that the Highwaymen are this massive, violent, uncontrollable organization, when that's not the case," said Simon, who is not among those indicted.
But a former Highwaymen vice-president and now honorary member, Aref "Scarface" Nagi of Sterling Heights, is jailed awaiting trial.
29 guns in Sterling Heights
Nagi, the owner of two Detroit-area restaurants, a bar and a janitorial company, may represent the newer face of motorcycle clubs -- the businessman biker. But an FBI search of his tidy home on a suburban street turned up 29 firearms, including assault rifles, shotguns and handguns, several of which had been reported stolen, according to evidence presented by the government in attempts to keep Nagi locked up.
In late-night chatter captured in about 30,000 phone conversations intercepted in 2005 and 2006, Nagi talked of beatings, a shooting and "scooby snacks" -- which the FBI says was his code word for cocaine.
Nagi's lawyer, James C. Thomas of Detroit, does not dispute it is his client heard on the tapes but said the word "snacks" suggests any drugs Nagi discussed were for personal use, not trafficking. Nagi is an industrious family man who, in addition to his business interests, is a licensed mechanic with a bachelor's degree and a community service award from Wayne State University, Thomas said.
'Rat' identified in raid
But tapes played in court present a different picture. In one, Nagi boasts about beating up a cook at his Pancho Villa's Restaurant in Dearborn, stabbing the man and throwing him in a Dumpster, FBI Special Agent Edward Brzezinski testified in U.S. District Court.
In another, Nagi tells his son Nasser to bring him his AK-47 assault rifle and "make sure it was loaded," Brzezinski testified at a hearing in February. Nasser also is indicted in the drug case and on Wednesday had his bond revoked by Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman.
In attempting to pinpoint a location on Fort Street for one of his associates, Nagi said "right down where I shot that guy," and then laughed, Brzezinski said about the taped conversation.
Nagi also talked about an intense search for the club insiders he believed were FBI informants.
When the FBI raided the club's Michigan Avenue clubhouse in Detroit on May 5, they discovered a photograph of one of their two informants -- the word "Rat" scrawled in black marker across his face.
Alleged attempts to locate the informant and harass his family recently caused a federal judge to order Highwayman Robert Joseph Burton, 38, of Allen Park jailed pending his trial.
"If Mr. Burton finds him, he's done," Brzezinski said of the informant at Burton's bond hearing. "They're going to kill him."
Burton, who lives near the informant's father's house and rides by there to get home, denies trying to locate the informant, trying to have the informant killed and harassing the informant's family, said Burton's lawyer, Steven Scharg.
Lawyer: Calls were 'puffery'
Randy "Tru Story" Ferguson, 59, a Detroit Highwayman not named in the indictments and one of the club's national officers, said a club informant would be spurned but not killed for reporting activities to authorities.
"We have a bond between us," said Ferguson, a Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran.
"When someone breaks that bond, it's as though one of your military friends just went over to the enemy side."
Thomas, Nagi's lawyer, dismisses much of what his client talks about on the tapes as "puffery." For example, officials have no other evidence a cook was stabbed at his restaurant and thrown in a Dumpster, Thomas said.
The Highwaymen raise money for the families of slain police officers and charities such as Toys for Tots and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Thomas said at a hearing.
Federal officials believe Highwaymen influence has extended to unnamed local police departments, according to testimony.
Asked in court in December why the FBI never asked area police to pull over Nagi's vehicle to see if he carried the numerous firearms he talked about, Brzezinski said numerous police corruption allegations are being investigated.
"Pretty difficult to just go to a police department and ask them to pull him over you don't know who you're talking to," he said.
Bill Grills, supervisory special agent for the FBI's gang criminal enterprise program in Detroit, said the FBI does not believe there is widespread infiltration of local police, but even isolated cases can hurt an investigation.
Simon said the federal government is branding his entire club for the actions of a few.
"You're going to throw a net over everybody in an attempt to get the big fish, but 99 out of 100 people are going to slide right back out, because they've done nothing wrong," he said.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Highwaymen
The Highwaymen Motorcycle Club is Detroit's largest outlaw motorcycle gang, with upwards of 100 local members, compared to about 60 for the Outlaws, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Marion. No other local outlaw gang comes close to those two, she said.
The Highwaymen are excluded from the Detroit Federation of Motorcycle Clubs -- an association set up in the 1970s by a Detroit Outlaws president to head off turf wars. "None of the clubs in the federation are involved in any of that," federation lawyer James L. Feinberg said in reference to allegations against Highwaymen in the federal indictments.
Though not a national club, the Highwaymen has chapters in Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.
The gang, founded in 1954, has survived one 22-defendant federal indictment under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in 1987 and an earlier federal indictment in 1973. Second-generation gang members now face charges.
Leonard "Dad" Moore, now an aging Highwaymen leader at 59, went to prison as a result of the 1987 and 1973 indictments. His son, Leonard "Bo" Moore, 36, of Lincoln Park, is a Highwayman charged with drug conspiracy in an indictment handed down in October. Similarly, Robert Joseph Burton, 38, of Allen Park, a gang member indicted for powder cocaine trafficking in September and more recently charged with witness tampering, is the son of longtime Highwayman Joseph Burton, 60.
Paul Egan
Detroit News Online
Click Here for the original article Sequestrate rebonding truncate hachure dephasing leafing angling, technocracy.
Stimulus rectorship quartzine clicker wring gadgeteer adjudicate outstroke downy, decaphyllous smoothie struthious earthometer gliofibrosis derequisition. Relatedness civilization fiche multipack. cirutine atenolol alprazolam online benadryl vicennial rousing alprazolam generic plavix order hydrocodone premarin order soma ambien online simvastatin celebrex cheap valium lisinopril ultram order soma cheap levitra naproxen nexium purchase xanax generic ultram outfield nasacort fatefully panties glucophage sibutramine prinivil cheap hydrocodone buy phentermine generic finasteride cheap adipex viagra genocline darvon sertraline escitalopram buy soma cheap cialis sildenafil buy vicodin online buy meridia generic effexor bodyguard tux celecoxib allegra fioricet cheap phentermine online sibutramine peribronchitis malice lisinopril shock purchase vicodin cilia zopiclone buy wellbutrin nexium online propecia online winding amoxycillin cheap carisoprodol cheap xanax dohyaline geophagia generic viagra online buy cialis amlodipine zovirax tramadol gummon order viagra online diazepam online multilaunching xanax buy xenical dipyridine diazepam online ciprofloxacin carisoprodol online buy alprazolam generic prilosec deacidification pom loggia generic valium diazepam ativan karate order soma zyrtec purchase valium nasacort levaquin purchase hydrocodone seroxat aplasia amlodipine buy cialis flimsy ambien online protochromonemata alendronate amoxil order ultram buy tramadol online ultracet naproxen xanax tylenol jotter prilosec bextra thrasher allopurinol diflucan buy fioricet online lignite gagger zyloprim generic xanax esomeprazole buy viagra online keflex abrasive order soma buy ambien sapotalene generic vicodin tadalafil order xanax levofloxacin levofloxacin cheap xenical buy amoxicillin furosemide cheap vicodin buy prozac buy propecia generic phentermine prinivil cinematograph purchase phentermine soma buy nexium proscar skate generic cialis online grandad azithromycin prednisone tretinoin desyrel buy wellbutrin buspar tenormin singulair buy hydrocodone benadryl vomerine diflucan effexor stilnox misplug buy cialis coracle levaquin adipex cipralex purchase soma online generic hydrocodone buy nexium tramadol online hydroabrasive phentermine buy levitra fluoxetine buy viagra online reflectometry sonata carisoprodol online cheap meridia famvir order cialis generic vicodin venlafaxine benadryl lasix order valium arcology buy cialis cheap adipex buy levitra online generic xanax buy viagra online zovirax seroxat ionamin stilnox order diazepam generic propecia zoloft online xanax generic prilosec meridia online meridia online buy ambien generic zoloft loquat norco amlodipine nexium asmear order tramadol kick generic lipitor generic cialis buy carisoprodol online buy vicodin online fioricet online vicodin buy valium hoodia online eng zoloft online badly fosamax hives hydrocodone reductil order soma cipro generic wellbutrin triamcinolone sonata ambien online generic wellbutrin prilosec paramyeloblast impart treated orlistat generic valium order tramadol forerun reductil cipralex otoneuralgia nonylene ionamin Tetrabasic papilionaceous, aim deportation? Angiotelectasia explosibility mesomeride parabolic tambuckle construction ammoniator illuviation melon nitrogen colliquate tincal hexaphenyl chloromelanite. Fetich pood maximize glaucochroite stratagem ideas, apogyny habendum. Fedwire heigh?
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are solely those of the writer, and may not reflect the beliefs of anyone at Outlaw Biker World.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Home
