Barger's. I'm sure some of our members own guns, whether legal or not. He also sent a telegram to the then president, Lyndon Johnson, offering Hells Angels services to provide a trained group of crack gorillas [sic] to demoralize the Viet Cong and advance the cause of freedom. Carlson said that he had been a fan of Barger since his college years, quoted Barger as saying "stay loyal, remain free, and always value honor", and adding "I want to pay tribute to the man who spoke those words". [97] In later years, Barger worked to promote motorcycle safety: he co-authored a book on the subject with Darwin Holmstrom (the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles (1998)[98]) titled Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling (2010). [91], In 1998, peace talks were opened to end the long-standing biker war with the Outlaws, which was largely because the conflict was bringing down too much police pressure on both clubs. [105], Barger's first wife Elsie Mae (ne George) died on February 1, 1967, from an embolism in her bloodstream after undergoing an illegal abortion. Credit: Pete Rosos. [85] The Bandidos were represented by their international vice president George Wegers, Charles "Jaws" Johnson of their Houston chapter and Jim Tinndahn of the Helsingborg chapter. Barger denied the claims of a murder contract on Jagger in an interview with the Phoenix New Times in 1992, saying: "I personally don't like the guy, but that doesn't mean I want him dead. [45] Barger and his three co-defendants were acquitted on December 29, 1972, following a seven-week trial after Ivaldi's credibility came under scrutiny. Although many of his school friends became drug addicts, Barger worked at a grocery store and enlisted in the U.S. Army, aged sixteen in 1955, but was given an honorable discharge fourteen months later when it was discovered that he had forged his birth certificate in order to be able to join. By now, Barger had given up his job as a machinist, and taken advantage of the publicity to work as a technical adviser in exploitation biker movies, beginning with Roger Cormans Wild Angels (1966), starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. [85] The Canadian journalist Yves Lavigne wrote that Barger's ability to impose a truce on the Scandinavian branches of the Hells Angels showed that his power over all of the Hells Angels chapters around the world was real, not nominal, and it was significant that he only took action in response to the possibility of a ban on outlaw biker clubs. An indifferent student, Barger quit school at 16 and joined the army. He lent the EPIC manual to Tait for photocopying after Anchorage chapter president Edwin Hubert, who also expressed retaliatory sentiment after Webb's killing, instructed Tait to acquire a copy of the manual in September 1986. Barger served a total of 13 years in prison, following a conviction for heroin trafficking in 1974, and a 1988 conviction for conspiracy to bomb the clubhouse of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws. And they have no idea how many of us there areWe have money, many allies that are outlaw bikers that are not Hells Angels, that would probably do anything we asked them to, if something happened". Barger's testimony challenged earlier assertions by government witnesses who testified that Anthony Benesh, a motorcyclist who was shot dead in Austin on March 18, 2006, after attempting to establish a Hells Angels chapter in the city, was killed by Bandidos members because he had ignored the club's warnings to not set up a HAMC chapter in Texas. Sonny Barger, the founder of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, died on June 29 after a long battle with cancer. [87] The Angels' amalgamation of the Dirty Dozen was promulgated during a meeting in Oakland. July 1, 2022. In October 1965 some Angels attacked an anti-war demonstration in Berkeley, California; six were arrested. The defendants shook hands with Mullen and thanked him for his testimony. Barger then made plans to provide an alibi for Tait. [7] Although the basic organization was in place when Barger took over leadership of the club, he introduced additional rules pertaining to new members, club officers, and the establishment of new chapters. While imprisoned, Barger received dozens of requests for interviews every month but continuously turned them down as he was collaborating with a screenwriter at the time to have his life story turned into a film and was unwilling to compromise the commercial viability of the project. As of 2023, Barger has accumulated an estimated net worth of $1 million. Early in his biking career, after having his skull fractured by police, Barger added a 1% patch to the Angels outfit, in response to the head of the American Motorcyclist Association claiming 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding. "If you are reading this message, you'll know that I'm gone. His move to Arizona will allow Hells Angels Ventura chapter president George "Gus" Christie to take over the political reins of the gang, but Barger will help legitimize the gang in the business world from the dry desert state. The biker, from California, passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife Zorana and his loved ones on June 29. 2. [32] The drug charges against Barger were later dismissed, although Howarth was convicted and sentenced to serve five years-to-life in prison. It was paid for by the FBI. [73] On the day of his release, Barger took a flight to Oakland International Airport and attended a homecoming party at the Mountain House, a bar at Altamont Pass in Livermore, at which Johnny Paycheck performed. Sonny Barger, the longstanding kingpin of the US motorcycle club Hells Angels, has died aged 83 after a brief battle with cancer. A scene from the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter showing violence at the Altamont free festival. [1], Ralph Hubert Barger, Jr. was born in Modesto, California, on October 8, 1938, the son of Kathryn Carmella (ne Ritch) and Ralph Hubert Barger. We really missed the boat not switching over to the Japanese models when they began building bigger bikes. [17] After a chance encounter a member of a pre-existing Hells Angels chapter, Barger learned of the club's history, rules, regulations and procedures. [49], Barger was arrested on a parole violation charge of possession of firearms when police officers discovered a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, a .38 caliber revolver, and a rifle after arriving at his Oakland home on March 27, 1978, to serve a subpoena and to conduct a parole search. Hells Angels founder Ralph "Sonny" Barger and his wife Sharon are shown after his release on $100,000 bond in San Francisco, Aug. 1, 1980. During a brawl between the bikers and the crowd, a black spectator, Meredith Hunter, was knifed to death by an Angel, Alan Passaro. Barger, 83, died of liver cancer at his Livermore home in late June. [94] The agreement also applied to Canada with the Outlaws agreeing to provide no assistance to the Rock Machine in return for peace with the Hells Angels in the United States. After Cleveland chapter president Kenny Yates was shot and wounded by Outlaws in Joliet, Illinois, on September 18, 1987, Tait told Barger that he had been to Chicago and Milwaukee to carry out reconnaissance on Outlaws clubhouses there and that he would require an alibi if he was to carry out an attack, to which Barger responded: "That would be no problem." Sonny Barger: Funeral & Obituary. [16] When Otto Friedli, the founder of the original San Bernardino Hells Angels chapter, was imprisoned in 1958, Barger was proclaimed de facto national president. In 1967 he was consultant on, and had a cameo part in, Richard Rushs Hells Angels on Wheels, which starred Jack Nicholson, and graduated to a speaking part as himself in the movie Hells Angels 69 (1969). Hells Angels Motorcycle Clubs founder Sonny Barger passed away on June 29 following a long battle with cancer. Barger reportedly celebrated his 50th birthday in the midst of the trial by partying and smoking marijuana at the home of Thomas Clay, Michael O'Farrell's lawyer, in Goshen, Kentucky. [20] Barger justified the male only ruling under the grounds that female Hells Angels were less able to defend themselves against rival bikers looking to steal their patches. Sonny Barger was a founding member of the Oakland, California Hells Angels and a bestselling author and actor. [83][84] Although the Outlaws failed to kill either man, a number of Hells Angels-owned businesses in southern California were firebombed. Various objects were thrown from the Cadillac during the pursuit, including four handguns, a shotgun, surgical gloves, and a belt with an ammunition pouch and a silver buckle engraved with the caption: "Sonny Barger Jr., 195767 president, Hells Angels Oakland. [4] Reflecting on the Altamont concert, which has been referred to variously as "the end of the hippie dream" and "the day the Sixties died",[37] Barger wrote in his 2000 autobiography Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club: "All that shit about Altamont being the end of an era was a bunch of intellectual crap. [23] The RICO case against the Hells Angels was the most substantial effort in federal history against the club at the time, and charged the defendants with various crimes dating back to 1971, including manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine; conspiring to commit murder; assault; use of false identification; intimidation; and bribery. [62] Wearing their "colors", the bikers rode their motorcycles past the residence of assistant county prosecutor James Bates, visited the neighbors of jurors after obtaining a list of prospective jurors in the case, and circled the courthouse in black vans with "Hells Angels" painted on the side. It was something he had earned, but also an image he cultivated with charisma and shrewdness, turning Hells Angels into a worldwide brand. And I'm sure the government makes a living off of us. [74][75] Colorado state senator Nighthorse Campbell had allegedly tried to use his influence to have Barger released from prison earlier. [53] The prosecution team, representing the federal government, attempted to demonstrate a pattern of behavior to convict Barger and other members of the Hells Angels of racketeering offenses related to illegal weapons and drugs. [93] Barger attended the last negotiating session with the Outlaws between January 23 and 25, 1999 in Indianapolis, where in a joint press conference with Anastas it was warned that any Outlaw or Hells Angel who violated the peace agreement "would be dealt with". By Katy St. Clair. The postwar image of motorcycle gangs was established by the 1953 movie The Wild One. White people were scared of us. [19] On November 19, 1965, five Hells Angels led by Barger held a press conference at their bail bondsman's office, announcing that the club would not attend the protest the following day as "Any physical encounter would only produce sympathy for this mob of traitors", according to Barger. With the Zimmermans, he also wrote a memoir of biker tales and two novels about a biker named Patch Kinkade, one of which, Dead in 5 Heartbeats, was made into a film in 2013 that he produced along with his fourth wife, Zorana (nee Katzakian); they both played bit parts in it. They divorced after a domestic dispute in which she was hospitalised for a broken rib and lacerated spleen. He was 83. [7] To celebrate the end of his parole, he held another private party in Livermore on November 6, 1994, which was attended by approximately 700 guests, including the politicians Gary Condit and Ben Nighthorse Campbell. The blacks and Latinos didn't like us. [108] Barger was sentenced to an eight-day jail term for aggravated assault. He also displayed another copy of the EPIC manual and explained how to use it to fellow Hells Angels at an Oakland chapter meeting. [12], He married his fourth wife, Zorana (ne Katzakian), on June 25, 2005. Sonny Barger, founder of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hell's Angels, the infamous motorcycle club. When Tait informed Barger in a phone conversation that the FBI was investigating the package he had mailed to Webb's sister, Barger proposed the alibi that the package contained sympathy cards. "[43] Barger and the others were charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon. [77] Bowman allegedly placed a $100,000 bounty on Barger's life when he made a speech to hundreds of his followers on December 31, 1993, announcing an escalation of hostilities against the Hells Angels. Barger's death on June 29 at the age of 83 made international headlines because of that reach. [24] He went on to read out a telegram sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson, reading: "I volunteer a group of loyal Americans for behind the line duty in Vietnam. Barger returned on November 29, 2011, in the season 4 finale, part one. We invite you to share condolences for Sonny Barger in our Guest Book. [77][78] The Angels' November 1994 "patch over" of the Hell's Henchmen biker gang in the Outlaws' home base of Chicago resulted in a number of shootings and bombings. "Ralph Barger" redirects here. [48] Barger gave a series of interviews, including one with Geraldo Rivera for his Good Night America television program, in which he portrayed himself as a model prisoner and said: "They got to let me out sometime. Wish you were here. [5][12] Barger grew up in Oakland in the post-war era, during which time the city's shipbuilding and automobile industries went into decline, leading to a significant rise in unemployment. [66] During one such meeting, Barger admiringly told Tait that he represented the "Hells Angel of the '90s" clean-cut, articulate, and capable of carrying out club business. Concert goers and musicians alike were subjected to violence from the Hells Angels, including Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane, who was knocked unconscious, and audience member Meredith "Murdock" Hunter, who was stabbed to death. His wife and relatives were with him. [56] The feud between the two clubs began in 1974 when Outlaws bikers in South Florida murdered three members of the Hells Angels' Lowell, Massachusetts, chapter as retribution for an Outlaw being beaten by Hells Angels at a party in New York City. I think it was a devastating blow to the government, and I couldnt be happier with the verdict except if I had been found innocent myself. For at least five years beginning in 1967, Barger and the Hells Angels turned over weapons acquired on the black market or locations of weapons, which could otherwise be used by Black Panther Party and Weather Underground radicals, to the Oakland Police Department in exchange for the release of jailed Hells Angels members. Barger claimed the spectators had provoked the violence by damaging the Angels bikes; but he also claimed that the crowd had grown restless as the Stones were late and he had held a gun to Keith Richards face to get them to start. Members who were of little value to the Hells Angels were drummed out, and intravenous drug use was banned by the club. LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) Sonny Barger, the leather-clad figurehead of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club, has died. The Hells Angels want to hold the memorial service in the Coliseum parking lot in August. Obituaries News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, . And I've had the privilege to be part of an amazing club. [93] The Angels capitulated in their attempt to establish a chapter within the Chicago city limits, founding a clubhouse in the suburb of Harvey instead. [7][23] In a jailhouse interview with Cynthia Gorney of The Washington Post in October 1979, he stated: "I can tell you why they want to get rid of the Hells Angels, what I think. His Facebook profile was updated with the news. [99], In terms of pure workmanship, personally I don't like Harleys. [59], In October 1982, Barger was part of a large group of Hells Angels from across the country who attended the murder trial of Jack "Jack-O-Lantern" Gentry, a member of the club's Cleveland chapter accused of shooting Outlaws member Ralph "Real Time" Tanner behind the Outlaws' Toledo clubhouse on November 30, 1980. When Marlon Brando, as the leader of the Black Rebels, is asked what he is rebelling against, he replies, Whaddaya got?. Vested with a quasi-military code of honour, the Angels golden rule was to ratpack on the side of any brother in a fight. [19] On October 16, 1965, Barger led a group of Hells Angels in an attack on anti-war demonstrators marching from Berkeley to the Army Terminal in Oakland to protest against munitions shipments. The clubs voted to ally under a "1%er" patch to be worn on their respective "colors". He stated following his conviction: "I think we won very handily in there. As he was a former felon, both were illegal. [19], According to George Wethern who later testified against the club and entered the Federal Witness Protection Program in his 1978 book A Wayward Angel, Barger convened a meeting of the leaders of the Hells Angels and other California motorcycle clubs in 1960 in which the various clubs parleyed over the mutual problem of police harassment. Please know that I passed peacefully after a brief battle with cancer. He will retire only when he dies. Consequently, due to his vocal cords being removed, Barger learned to vocalize using the muscles in his esophagus. A prosecution witness, Richard Ivaldi, testified that he witnessed Barger shoot Agero dead as he slept at the home of an absent acquaintance, and that Barger subsequently ordered the others to set fire to the residence. [66], Operation CACUS concluded on November 10, 1987, when 38 Hells Angels members and associates in Alaska, California, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina were arrested on various narcotics, weapons, explosives, and conspiracy charges. Hood and Jarman told police that the incident was merely an initiation hazing. On June 29, 2022, Barger died of liver cancer aged 83 at his home in Livermore, California. [87] Barger was later a member of the Yavapai County chapter. [48] He was paroled on November 3, 1977, after serving four-and-a-half years of his sentence. [23] The indictments followed two car bombings targeting law enforcement officers in northern California, which were blamed on the Hells Angels. He has acquired his income from his various appearances in films and television series. [69] Barger was among thirteen people taken into custody in the Bay Area, where over 400 FBI, ATF, and California State Police personnel carried out 26 raids on homes and other properties, seizing more than 100 weapons, approximately $1 million in cash and drugs, and three methamphetamine laboratories. Talking about his funeral details so it has not been revealed by his family but we will make sure to update you whenever we will getting news or any information regarding his funeral details. [62] He denied that jurors were intimidated by the Hells Angels' presence at the trial, saying: "The only ones that are intimidated are the ones the feds tell to be". The Hells Angels were incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 1966. He has nothing else to live for". Thu 30th Jun 2022 15.32 BST. He marketed various Sonny Barger items, including his own salsa, and began writing books, including a biography, Hells Angel (2001), written with the twin brothers Keith and Kent Zimmerman. Having stage III laryngeal cancer, he underwent a total laryngectomy with bilateral functional neck dissections. [96] He subsequently wrote several biker-related novels. First of all we're a virtual army. The club's organized crime wasn't particularly. They hated each other. "[34] Barger maintained that the Rolling Stones were ultimately responsible for the violent events that took place at the concert, saying: "They agitated the crowd, had the stage built too low, and then used us to keep the whole thing boiling. Around a hundred Hells Angels wearing full "colors" attended the trial, as did the country singer Johnny Paycheck, a friend of Barger. The warning angered the Angels hierarchy, and Caronite was demoted from his position as a national officer. Report this obituary Add a photo or a video There is no photo or video of Sonny Barger. [85] The meetings ended with the American leaders imposing a truce on their Scandinavian chapters as neither the Bandidos nor the Hells Angels wanted to see a biker ban. Between October 20 and 23, 1987, Michael O'Farrell periodically stayed in a Hyatt hotel room booked by Tait and drove Tait's rental car. [14] After his return from the Army, Barger drifted between menial jobs and lived with his father in a single residence at a hotel, later moving in with his sister and her children. They got exactly what they wanted a dark scary atmosphere to play 'Sympathy for the Devil'Just because you sing well doesn't mean you can act like a bunch of assholes to your fans and that's what they did that night at Altamont".