“The parties used to be great,” Nancy said. “Until the explosion.”
April 11, 2019 6:32 AM Subscribe
Moving Day at the Hells Angels Clubhouse
The biker gang’s tenure in the East Village included trash-can fireworks, LSD, shootings, and Christmas cheer. They will be missed. SLNewYorker
The biker gang’s tenure in the East Village included trash-can fireworks, LSD, shootings, and Christmas cheer. They will be missed. SLNewYorker
They aren't called outlaw bikers for no reason. I heard an NPR thing about gangs in the US where the conversation began with an FBI or other agency higher-up talking about four types of gangs, and outlaw biker gangs were part of the list, with Hells Angels being specifically mentioned as an example.
That shootout at that Texas biker bar is part of the same mentality. This is what you do if you're in a group like this.
posted by hippybear at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
That shootout at that Texas biker bar is part of the same mentality. This is what you do if you're in a group like this.
posted by hippybear at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
It does piss me off that the biker gangs still seem to be able to get LSD. I haven't seen real 'cid in probably 15 years. It also pisses me off that they do it but they don't seem to understand what it might be showing them.
posted by hippybear at 6:53 AM on April 11, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 6:53 AM on April 11, 2019 [8 favorites]
there have always been people who viewed LSD as just a way to get really fucked up
posted by thelonius at 7:14 AM on April 11, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 7:14 AM on April 11, 2019 [4 favorites]
It also pisses me off that they do it but they don't seem to understand what it might be showing them.
LSD is no more benevolent, spiritual or magical than a magnifying glass. Like a magnifying glass, it can be used inspect things or burn things. It can definitely be abused as a recreational drug.
And not to romanticize outlaw bikers, but a lot of those people start riding because of extreme trauma and PTSD in their lives. This is where outlaw MCs originally came from after WW2. We're likely seeing a resurgence in outlaw MCs because of all the new combat experienced vets returning home after almost 10 years of open warfare.
So if they're not getting the message that you may have received, maybe it's because you're not them and they're still working their way through the metaphorical, emotional or metaphysical skill tree and they have a lot of work to do before they can even hear the message you're hoping they are hearing.
Which was your message, for you. Not them.
And all that being said? You probably don't want anything to do with the bad vibes, karma and risk that might come with biker acid.
posted by loquacious at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2019 [12 favorites]
LSD is no more benevolent, spiritual or magical than a magnifying glass. Like a magnifying glass, it can be used inspect things or burn things. It can definitely be abused as a recreational drug.
And not to romanticize outlaw bikers, but a lot of those people start riding because of extreme trauma and PTSD in their lives. This is where outlaw MCs originally came from after WW2. We're likely seeing a resurgence in outlaw MCs because of all the new combat experienced vets returning home after almost 10 years of open warfare.
So if they're not getting the message that you may have received, maybe it's because you're not them and they're still working their way through the metaphorical, emotional or metaphysical skill tree and they have a lot of work to do before they can even hear the message you're hoping they are hearing.
Which was your message, for you. Not them.
And all that being said? You probably don't want anything to do with the bad vibes, karma and risk that might come with biker acid.
posted by loquacious at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2019 [12 favorites]
Killer Mike's Netflix episode about marketing the Crips really laid bare the racist dynamic that violent, drug dealing white gangs get to be seen as a quirky part of the old East Village, but black gangs don't get the same shot at cultural legitimization. I'm not even trying to say that legitimization is, well, legit or not for either the Crips or the Hell's Angels, but only one of those gangs has licensed t-shirts selling at Wal-mart.
posted by thecjm at 7:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by thecjm at 7:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [31 favorites]
That said, I do have a family story that fits right in with that idea that semi-legitimizes Hells Angels as far as drug-dealing gangs go.
In the late 70's in Oregon my parents just happened to be friends with the local Hells Angels chapter president. Who didn't look the part at all. He wore suits instead of leathers and was known as Mr Clean. They attended one party with him where the new recruit working the door denied them entry because none of them looked like they belonged. Once he found out that the guy in the suit he wasn't letting in was, in fact, the boss biker, the attitude quickly switched from tough guy swagger to full-on terror.
A decade later my dad is now a travelling sales rep selling construction equipment across the South. And while on a site visit he clearly recognized one of the customer's employees but can't place him. It finally clicks and he asks the guy if he's from Oregon. Guy gets nervous and denies it. Asks if he knows whatever that HA president's name was. Guy gets really nervous and denies it again. Dad shrugs it off and moves on. The next time he talks to that customer, they want to know what the hell he said to their employee. Because he never came back to work after that day. Dad doesn't know if he was on the run from something or somebody, or just trying to get out of that life, but he bolted either way.
My parents laugh about these stories, but in my mind that's some scary shit. And they would never, ever hang out with anyone they thought was a "ganster" but for some reason Hells Angels were okay.
posted by thecjm at 8:06 AM on April 11, 2019 [15 favorites]
In the late 70's in Oregon my parents just happened to be friends with the local Hells Angels chapter president. Who didn't look the part at all. He wore suits instead of leathers and was known as Mr Clean. They attended one party with him where the new recruit working the door denied them entry because none of them looked like they belonged. Once he found out that the guy in the suit he wasn't letting in was, in fact, the boss biker, the attitude quickly switched from tough guy swagger to full-on terror.
A decade later my dad is now a travelling sales rep selling construction equipment across the South. And while on a site visit he clearly recognized one of the customer's employees but can't place him. It finally clicks and he asks the guy if he's from Oregon. Guy gets nervous and denies it. Asks if he knows whatever that HA president's name was. Guy gets really nervous and denies it again. Dad shrugs it off and moves on. The next time he talks to that customer, they want to know what the hell he said to their employee. Because he never came back to work after that day. Dad doesn't know if he was on the run from something or somebody, or just trying to get out of that life, but he bolted either way.
My parents laugh about these stories, but in my mind that's some scary shit. And they would never, ever hang out with anyone they thought was a "ganster" but for some reason Hells Angels were okay.
posted by thecjm at 8:06 AM on April 11, 2019 [15 favorites]
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
posted by praemunire at 8:11 AM on April 11, 2019 [8 favorites]
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
Mary Ann Campbell
posted by praemunire at 8:11 AM on April 11, 2019 [8 favorites]
Awww, c'mon - no love for this bit of research?
After fifty years, the Hells Angels were moving out. (The group recently bought a former Baptist church on Long Island.)
posted by jkaczor at 8:50 AM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
After fifty years, the Hells Angels were moving out. (The group recently bought a former Baptist church on Long Island.)
posted by jkaczor at 8:50 AM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
“I’m going to miss the sound of their motorcycles,” Janet said.
Janet, nobody has ever said or meant such a statement, don't start now.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [22 favorites]
Janet, nobody has ever said or meant such a statement, don't start now.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:52 AM on April 11, 2019 [22 favorites]
Yeah, the Hell's Angels / hippie connection is one of those inexplicable things that I think really only could have happened in a specific place and time. It's like, you read The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and Hunter S. Thompson's book about the Hell's Angels, and it kiiiiiiinda makes sense? Ultimately, I think the hippies really suffered for letting the Hell's Angels into their midst. Bad drugs and bad vibes. Also, Altamont.
I dunno, thinking back to my time at Rainbow Gatherings, I'll always think of the hippie/Angel relationship as the similar to relationship between A-Camp and the rest of the Gathering. It's like, the hippies were all about being open and inclusive, so it's hard to see them turning away the A-Campers. But any time any kind of sketchy shit happened at a Rainbow Gathering, it was always in A-Camp.
posted by panama joe at 8:54 AM on April 11, 2019 [5 favorites]
I dunno, thinking back to my time at Rainbow Gatherings, I'll always think of the hippie/Angel relationship as the similar to relationship between A-Camp and the rest of the Gathering. It's like, the hippies were all about being open and inclusive, so it's hard to see them turning away the A-Campers. But any time any kind of sketchy shit happened at a Rainbow Gathering, it was always in A-Camp.
posted by panama joe at 8:54 AM on April 11, 2019 [5 favorites]
Probably a good place to post this re-examining of the murder of Meredith Hunter at Altamont by Hell's Angels.
posted by enn at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by enn at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
But, from the scuzz era to the N.Y.U.-and-condos era, club members also defended their neighbors; the Angels’ block was considered the safest around.
That's because they understand the importance of PR, which they approach using diverse...tactics. Ask Michel Auger:
One of Quebec's most experienced crime reporters is expected to survive after being shot five times the day after his analysis of recent mob killings was published.
The ambush left veteran crime writers wondering whether Michel Auger paid a price for being too detailed in writing about organized crime or whether the attack was an attempt to prevent him from writing something.
Mr. Auger, 55, was shot yesterday morning in the parking lot of his paper, le Journal de Montréal, the day after it ran a story in which he reviewed recent killings and disappearances.
The story said that some of the incidents were part of an internal purge within the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
[...]
Yves Lavigne, author of Hells Angels at War and other books on motorcycle gangs, urged caution before blaming bikers, noting that the Quebec Hells Angels and their chieftain, Maurice (Mom) Boucher, are in the midst of a public-relations campaign and even invited a reporter to a biker wedding last month.
"The last thing they want is to upset the public. If the bikers shot Michel Auger, he must have known something very sensitive about them," Mr. Lavigne said. "He may have been shot not for what he wrote but for what he was going to write."
He added that the Hells Angels tend to use legal means when dealing with reporters. Unhappy about a story Mr. Auger did in 1995, the Angels had a lawyer complain successfully to the Quebec Press Council.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:06 AM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
That's because they understand the importance of PR, which they approach using diverse...tactics. Ask Michel Auger:
One of Quebec's most experienced crime reporters is expected to survive after being shot five times the day after his analysis of recent mob killings was published.
The ambush left veteran crime writers wondering whether Michel Auger paid a price for being too detailed in writing about organized crime or whether the attack was an attempt to prevent him from writing something.
Mr. Auger, 55, was shot yesterday morning in the parking lot of his paper, le Journal de Montréal, the day after it ran a story in which he reviewed recent killings and disappearances.
The story said that some of the incidents were part of an internal purge within the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
[...]
Yves Lavigne, author of Hells Angels at War and other books on motorcycle gangs, urged caution before blaming bikers, noting that the Quebec Hells Angels and their chieftain, Maurice (Mom) Boucher, are in the midst of a public-relations campaign and even invited a reporter to a biker wedding last month.
"The last thing they want is to upset the public. If the bikers shot Michel Auger, he must have known something very sensitive about them," Mr. Lavigne said. "He may have been shot not for what he wrote but for what he was going to write."
He added that the Hells Angels tend to use legal means when dealing with reporters. Unhappy about a story Mr. Auger did in 1995, the Angels had a lawyer complain successfully to the Quebec Press Council.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:06 AM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
Indeed, the shooting that mandolin conspiracy linked was part of the larger campaign of the Hell's Angels to crush the Quebec-based biker gang, Rock Machine, and consolidate the drug distribution business in Canada. This was known as the Quebec Biker War and, as the Wikipedia page says, it left 162 (!) people dead and even more injured over the span of 8 years.
posted by mhum at 10:04 AM on April 11, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by mhum at 10:04 AM on April 11, 2019 [9 favorites]
In Ontario, we just elected a Premier who's family has biker connections and is rumoured to have been a mid-level hash dealer while in highschool...so it's fully normalized up here -just in time for weed legalization
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:32 AM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:32 AM on April 11, 2019 [2 favorites]
I saw two Mongols at a gas station in Tustin, CA the other day. They contrasted quite nicely against the slow and retired nap that is Tustin.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:11 PM on April 11, 2019
posted by Brocktoon at 12:11 PM on April 11, 2019
My husband has ridden for a couple of decades and we hang out at biker spots in the middle of nowhere, California. I've never seen a HA but I see plenty of Mongols, Vatos and Boozefighters. To a one, they tend to be massively racist and sexist and just because they're respectful in the parking lot, I still leave a wide berth.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:50 PM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 12:50 PM on April 11, 2019 [3 favorites]
I saw two Mongols at a gas station in Tustin, CA the other day. They contrasted quite nicely against the slow and retired nap that is Tustin.
Prob filling up after leaving Cooks Corner a couple towns back in Lake Forest.
posted by sideshow at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
Prob filling up after leaving Cooks Corner a couple towns back in Lake Forest.
posted by sideshow at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
I saw two Mongols at a gas station in Tustin, CA the other day. They contrasted quite nicely against the slow and retired nap that is Tustin.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:11 PM on April 11
Just a few days ago, in the morning, I was getting off the 55 freeway at MacArthur when about 30-40 Mongols swarmed around my car and exited turning left to go to Irvine. It was interesting. I wondered where in the heck they were going, the airport (SNA)?
posted by msjen at 8:55 PM on April 11, 2019
posted by Brocktoon at 12:11 PM on April 11
Just a few days ago, in the morning, I was getting off the 55 freeway at MacArthur when about 30-40 Mongols swarmed around my car and exited turning left to go to Irvine. It was interesting. I wondered where in the heck they were going, the airport (SNA)?
posted by msjen at 8:55 PM on April 11, 2019
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...allegedly pushed his girlfriend off the roof
...died, of stab wounds, before he could stand trial
...a garbage-can firecracker killed a fourteen-year-old boy.
Another chapter in the dismal history of romanticizing these violent shitheels.
posted by thelonius at 6:42 AM on April 11, 2019 [40 favorites]