The emblem of the Pagans Motorcycle club is shown here. But Sunday's bloody confrontation in Waco, Texas, is a jolting reminder that some motorcycle gangs are still a violent force in some parts of the country. He also says this past April, there was another shooting in southern California involving both clubs. George Christie, the former Hells Angels leader of the Ventura, Calif. chapter is familiar with the rivalry between the two clubs. The Vagos Motorcycle Club has built a reputation for money laundering, trafficking weapons, and just straight-up violence. They were riding motorcycles back to Las Vegas after stops at Hoover Dam and the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City. The Outlaws support club, the Black Pistons MC, was established as recently as 2002 but quickly expanded across the U.S. and into Europe. The club has also been accused of setting traps for police officers in California. Prosecutors said Gonzalez fired the fatal shots in 2011. Jurors deliberated four days before returning verdicts on charges of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, murder and using a firearm to commit murder. Wearing the symbol of the Norse god of mischief, Loki, Vagos have been engaged in a long, bloody turf war with the Hells Angels members in California [source . Complex Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Elizabeth Page Brumley/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @EliPagePhoto, Pastor Palafox, left, greets Albert Lopez outside the federal courthouse in Las Vegas after they and six other Vagos Motorcycle Club members were acquitted of all charges on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. [15] Loki is colored red on top of a bike with his hands holding up their club name. Reports circulating in March 2022 claimed that the same Pagans gang was expanding its base of operations to New York City as well, despite 20 members being arrested and pleading guilty to racketeering charges. In 2010 The Vagos MC once again sue the police for defamation, and again they walked away with a settlement. The 900-member Bandidos Motorcycle Club is one of the two largest operating in the U.S., according to the Justice Department. Photos of the Outlaws Motorcycle club are shown here. Todays coordinated takedown of this biker organizations leadership is a victory for all of us who respect and love our country and a testament to the bravery and dedication of federal, state and local law enforcement men and women who to keep our communities safe, said Acting Assistant Attorney Kenneth Blanco in the press release. Mongols motorcycle club members are shown here. Gonzalez, now 42, was among the defendants acquitted Monday. Perez will remain in custody due to an unrelated case in Los Angeles. The indictment alleges that the Vagos OMG is a highly organized criminal organization which adheres to a hierarchical chain of command, and whose members conspired to enrich the gang; to preserve, protect and enhance the power of the gang; and to keep victims in fear of the gang through acts and threats of violence. How a beloved Desert Hot Springs chef died as a Vagos, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The victim had announced he was leaving the club, but suffered a beating at the Custom Motorcycle auto shop in Grants Pass, Oregon, and was then taken to his home where they attempted to rob him they failed. [27][28] On December 7, police announced that they had arrested Gary Rudnick, the vice-president of the Los Angeles chapter of Vagos, for instigating the fight that led to the shooting. Lozano and the rest of the chapter were also seen holding a mandatory gang run riding motorcycles together in full gang colors in Palm Springs on March 25, the indictment states. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The Vagos have Chapters all throughout Southern California. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says it considers the Mongols the most violent motorcycle club. Multiple Hells Angels members were then riding in the two other lanes and approaching Vagos members, the report said. Vagos members Bradley Candy Man Campos, Cesar C Morales and Diego Boo Garcia also were on trial. New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara was arraigned on Thursday along with three other men charged in connection with an alleged brawl at a Strip casino. UVALDE SCHOOL DISTRICT SENT ACTIVE SHOOTER ALERT WHILE POLICE TREATED INCIDENT AS A BARRICADED SUBJECT. [10] Two hundred members are in Inland Empire, where the club was started in the late 1960s. The Vagos MC operates mainly in the United States and the motorcycle club's members ride Harley Davidson motorcycles. Meanwhile, they had arrested two men that had no ties to the club. Inland Empire Chapter of the Vagos Motorcycle Club. The two rival motorcycle clubs' feud goes back decades. Around noon on Sunday, law enforcement arrived at the scene and closed the freeway in both directions for hours. This incident gives us a glimpse of how dangerous they are. Coelho was convicted by a Josephine County jury in February, the final case in a multi-year prosecution of the North Valley Chapter of the Vagos Outlaw Motorcycle Club. The indictment also alleges that in 2013 Vagos leaders sanctioned a $100,000 reward for the murder of an undercover law enforcement officer who successfully infiltrated the gang. They have Chapters in the High Desert (California),Inland Empire (California) which includes both Riverside County, California and San Bernardino County, California where they Started, Los Angeles and San Diego.