Hells Angles Motorcycle Club
By: Jack Christie and Geoff Shunway
History
This criminal organization was founded on March 17, 1948. It was founded in Fontana, California. Due to there being a military surplus this made motorcycles very affordable. Many veterans had grown bored in the post war years causing them to have a major itch for adventure. This motorcycle club got its name from a popular name for bomber squadrons that were used during WWI and WWII. This Motorcycle club remained in California until the 60's.
The Hells Angles Motorcycle Club remained in California until 1961. The first branch of the criminal organization to open out side of California was in Auckland, New Zealand. The motorcycle club continued to expand in most of the states in the U.S.A. They also opened up branches in around 30 other countries. Something that helped its growth was pop culture and creation of the organization iconic image was pop culture. One movie in specific was the 1954 Marlon Brando film The Wild One. The clubs preferred form of transportation is a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. The Hells Angle Motorcycle club is a massive organization today.
History Of The Leader
There is not one specific person credited with creating the Hells Angles Motorcycle Club but a family. This family is The Bishop family. They were immigrants that came into the country following WWII. They recruited many members from another motorcycle gang that was located near by The Pissed Off Bastards. But the early history of The Hells Angles Motorcycle club is not very well know so some people believe that the motorcycle club was founded by a man of the name of Rocky Graves. He was said to have combined all the branches of the motorcycle club into one big club instead of a bunch of little ones. Due to the lack of record keeping we can not be completely sure on who created it but we do know the two main candidates.
Initiation Process
- Must have valid drives license and a motorcycle of 750cc.
- They exclude people who have been convicted for child immolation or people who applied to be a police officer or a prison officer.
- Prospective members must become a "hang around" where they are invited to some of the meetings to meet the full members.
- The next step is to become an associate.
- Then potential members are labeled prospects after 1 or 2 years of being an associate.
- The last step of becoming a full member is that all the current full members in a certain branch must vote on the prospect and if the vote is unanimous the person can become a full member and join.
Crime/Contact with the Law
This gang and its members have been convicted of many violent crimes. These crimes consist of drug dealing, extortion, trafficking illegal goods and they are even involved in prostitution. The group denies that they do these illegal activities. They insist that they are just a group of people who want to ride motorcycles together. Some of the other crimes that the some of the members are murder, assault and weapons possession. Despite this group say that they are not criminal their history says other wise.
Punishment
Due to all the illegal activity in the Hells Angles Motorcycle club many members have been arrested. Currently there is a petition of their website to release one of the members who is currently imprisoned. There was also a raid recently on one of the headquarters after a women was found beaten outside of it. They are also being monitored constantly by the FBI to watch for any illegal activity. This motorcycle club is marked as a gang in the majority of countries they are in, this includes the U.S. This motorcycle club does many illegal thing but these actions do not go unpunished.