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Abate of Florida State Meeting
Respect
the person who has seen the Dark side of motorcycling and
lived.
LA
gangbanger photos
Areola
How
to be a good Democrat
Michael
Moron
Buffalo
Field Campaign
Ben
Stein
Surprise
SOTD
"The
difference between the almost right word and the right word
is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the
lightning-bug and the lightning." - Mark Twain
The opposite of a
correct statement is a false statement.
The opposite of a profound truth may well be another
profound truth.
Niels Bohr (1885-1962), physicist
"Beware the man
of one book."
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), Theologian,
philosopher
Life is not a
journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming:
WOW - What a Ride!"
"Consciously or
unconsciously we all strive to make the kind of a world we
like."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
"We Lakota have
a close relationship to the buffalo. He is our brother. You
can't understand about nature, about the feeling we have
toward it, unless you understand how close we were to the
buffalo. That animal was almost like a part of ourselves,
part of our souls." Lame Deer, Lakota
Disclaimer
R.I.P
Serving the
biker community since 10-15-01
Scars are tattoos
with better stories
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1-01-87
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While being pro-club
by nature I do not to belong to any club.
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Seattle Times staff and The Associated Press
Hells Angels figure gets 7-1/2 years A former Hells Angel interrupted his sentencing this morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle to complain that he had been railroaded.
But federal Judge Robert Lasnik sentenced Rodney Lee Rollness to life in prison and told him he could take up his issues on appeal.
In his tirade, Rollness said the judge allowed testimony from paid informants Rollness called liars.
The life sentence was mandatory after the 48-year-old Snohomish man was convicted of fatally shooting Michael "Santa" Walsh in 2001 during a party in rural Snohomish County. Prosecutors said Rollness and another man killed Walsh for pretending to have been a Hells Angels member. For the killing they received a "Filthy Few" patch indicating they had killed for the club.
Rollness was one of three motorcycle-club members convicted in June after a 10-week racketeering trial in Seattle.
Rollness was convicted of 12 crimes, including murder, conspiracy and being a member of a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO), a statute originally enacted to be used against crime syndicates like the Mafia. The Department of Justice has since adapted its use against street gangs and other violent organizations.
Rollness and the three other members or former members of the Hells Angels were convicted of racketeering and other charges in a prosecution that the government said proved that the Seattle-based Nomad Chapter of the outlaw motorcycle club was anything but the benign weekend bikers its members would have the public believe.
In fact, the jury found that the chapter and its members were ruthless criminals who defended the club's reputation.
It was common for them to punish — and, in Rollness' case, kill — anyone who pretended to be a member.
The convictions were hailed as a victory in the government's long-running — and spotty — battle to dismantle outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Rollness, according to government lawyers, was an enforcer of the Hells Angel "patch," the winged-skull emblem worn on a denim vest or leather jacket that declares the wearer a member of the club. Rollness, according to sentencing documents, spent years trying to become a member of the club and zealously guarded it.
"In Rollness' view, wearing the patch was an honor and anyone who dared to falsely claim they were a Hells Angel deserved to be punished," federal prosecutors said in sentencing documents.
In 2001, after receiving permission from the club, he nearly beat one 60-year-old man to death, and stole the man's Hells Angels paraphernalia. That summer, Rollness shot and killed Walsh and left his body along a road.
In another instance, the government claims Rollness stole at least two Harley Davidson motorcycles after threatening their owners. When a "mentally disabled" friend of one of the men called police, Rollness "terrorized"
the man and threatened to remove his tattoos "with a wire brush." That man also ended up giving Rollness his motorcycle "to end their dispute."
"The evidence at trial established Rollness as a petty ... mean, cruel and violent bully," prosecutors wrote.
Also convicted at trial were Richard "Smilin' Rick" Fabel and Joshua Binder. The jury, however, deadlocked on several counts against Binder and the only two charges against a fourth defendant, Ricky Jenks. The government vowed it would reprosecute those cases.
Court documents show that both Binder and Jenks have since pleaded guilty to less serious charges to avoid another trial. They are scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Information from Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Carter and Times archives is included in this report.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company.
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The Difference Between a Republican and a Democrat
Fred Thompson and Hillary were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person.
The Republican, Fred Thompson, gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his office for a job. He then took $20 out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.
Hillary was very impressed, so when they came to another homeless person, she decided to help. She walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. She then reached into Thompson's pocket and got out $20. She kept $15 for her administrative fees and gave the homeless person $5.
Now, do you understand the difference?
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By David Riley /Daily News staff MetroWest Daily News Tue Oct 09, 2007, 03:13 PM EDT
BOSTON - A jury found one man not guilty and failed to reach a verdict for another in a federal hate crime trial in which the men were accused of attacking a black man at an Ashland bar on June 3, 2005.
A jury this afternoon found Brian McHugh, 33, formerly of Framingham, not guilty, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan's office. Jurors were hung, or failed to reach a verdict, on Stephan Stelmach, 33, formerly of Ashland, Sullivan's office said.
The jury deliberated four days before telling Judge Reginald Lindsay they had cleared McHugh, but were deadlocked on whether Stelmach was guilty of interfering with the alleged victim's federally protected civil rights.
Federal prosecutors said Stelmach and McHugh attacked Alan Baptiste, a Haitian-born biomedical worker, unprovoked at T.J. Spirits on Rte. 135 in Ashland. Witnesses said Stelmach used a racial slur in conversation and bragged about beating up another black man before the attack.
However, defense attorneys questioned witness accounts and focused on inconsistencies in their testimony. They said the incident was a brief bar altercation blown out of proportion, with no racial motive.
Stelmach's parents, who attended throughout the nine-day trial, have maintained their son is not a racist.
The defendants were members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club at the time of the alleged attack. |
Harley-Davidson 3Q Profit Falls 15.3 Pct By EMILY FREDRIX – 1 day ago MILWAUKEE (AP) — A continued sluggish U.S. market for motorcycles pushed Harley-Davidson Inc.'s third-quarter profit down 15.3 percent, and the motorcycle maker said it expects next year to be difficult, too.
Domestic buyers are seeing oil prices rising and the home market crumbling, so they're being cautious about spending, even when it comes to the iconic brand's bikes, Chief Executive Jim Ziemer said in an interview.
"It's all of those, with the consumer on the sidelines saying 'We're going to wait and see what's going on,'" he said.
Domestically, sales were down 2.5 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30, while the overall U.S. heavyweight market fell 4.4 percent. Overseas, Harley's sales were up 8.8 percent. Worldwide retail sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles were flat in the quarter, down 0.2 percent. Revenue dropped 5.8 percent to $1.54 billion from $1.64 billion last year.
The company had figured sales would be difficult, so they cut bike shipments and earnings expectations in September. Shipments were down 10.8 percent to 86,535 units.
The earnings decline still beat Wall Street projections. Analysts had expected a profit of $1.05 per share on revenue of $1.52 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. Revenue was slightly above analyst expectations of $1.52 billion.
Harley-Davidson shares fell 65 cents, or 1.33 percent, to close at $48.30 Friday. |
Net income for the quarter totaled $265 million, or $1.07 per share, compared with a profit of $312.7 million, or $1.20 per share, a year ago.
Ziemer said the results were disappointing but not unexpected. The company knew in September that sales were slowing and expects a challenging environment next year, he said.
"We know what we have right now, we're going to manage the business prudently and cautiously, and err on the side of being very cautious," Ziemer said.
The company lowered its earnings expectations for the year last month and maintained those on Friday. Harley anticipates 2007 net income to drop 4 percent to 6 percent, to a range of $3.69 to $3.77 per share. Analysts have predicted earnings of $3.73, according to Thomson. The company reported a 2006 profit of $3.93 per share.
Harley also kept intact its 2008 earnings expectations of growth between 4 percent and 7 percent, on moderate revenue growth and lower operating margins. It had previously forecast earnings growth between 11 percent and
17 percent for 2008 as well as 2009.
Last month, Harley-Davidson announced it was no longer providing 2009 guidance.
The Milwaukee-based company expects full-year shipments to be between 328,000 and 332,000 units, down from
349,196 units last year.
For the first nine months of the year, worldwide retail sales were down 0.8 percent, with U.S. sales down 4.7 percent, slightly outpacing the overall U.S. heavyweight market's drop of 4.4 percent in the same period.
International sales were up 12.9 percent for the year. Revenue so far this year fell 1 percent to $4.34 billion, while earnings per share have fallen 0.3 percent to $2.95 a share.
The company expects international sales to continue outpacing domestic ones, as they've been doing for the past three years.
International sales are growing as Harley-Davidson takes over independent distributors in countries such as Italy and Australia, Ziemer said. International bike shipments account for nearly 27 percent of shipments so far this year, compared with 22.5 percent last year.
Harley repurchased 9.7 million shares of stock, at a cost of $509 million, during the quarter. So far this year, the company has repurchased 17.3 million shares at a cost of $1 billion.
UBS analyst Robin Farley wrote in a research note that UBS expected the company to repurchase $200 million in stock in the quarter. Each $100 million of repurchase may add 2 cents to earnings per share for the full year in
2008, she wrote. |
Oct 18, 2007 09:33 PM Peter Edwards Staff reporter
thestar. com
After a decade of bombings, murders and imprisonment, the world's second largest outlaw motorcycle club has given up its attempt to expand into Canada.
"There isn't no more Bandidos MC (motorcycle club) membership in Canada," says a posting on the official Bandidos Motorcycle Club website.
The posting is signed "Cisco 13. 1 %er Canada," the biker moniker for Frank (Cisco) Lenti, 60, who's now in jail, awaiting trial of second-degree murder charges for allegedly shooting David (Dred) Buchanan of the West Toronto Hells Angels chapter.
Lenti also faces two attempted murder charges in relation to the early morning gunfire at the Club Pro strip club near Hwy. 7 and Jane St. in Vaughan in December 2006.
The "13" in Lenti's Internet moniker stands for the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, "M," which can signify motorcyclist, marijuana or murder in the Bandidos world, biker experts say.
The "1 %er" stands for the tiny fraction of the population who chose to live their lives outside the law.
The Ontario Hells Angels are the world's largest outlaw motorcycle club, and the Bandidos' bitter rivals.
The posting notes the website will remain open for a while longer to commemorate the eight members of Lenti's Toronto chapter, whose bodies were found outside the southwestern Ontario town of Shedden in April 2006. Six members of the Bandidos and their associates are charged with first-degree murder in their slayings, the largest mass murder in Ontario history.
As a final act of defiance against the Hells Angels, the Bandidos' website now plays "House of the Rising Sun," the song also played on the official website of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, another bitter Hells Angels rival.
The Canadian Bandidos' website started up in April 2004 by Lenti and Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, one of the bikers who was murdered in April 2006 near Shedden.
The Bandidos began their move into Canada a decade ago, when they were wooed by members of the now-defunct Rock Machine gang, who were in the midst of a bloody war with the Hells Angels in Quebec over drug turf.
The Bandidos expanded into Ontario in the early 2000s, setting up their Toronto base in the basement of a Queen St. E. restaurant in south Riverdale.
They called themselves "The No Surrender Crew," a name they copied from a faction of fighters in the Irish Republican Army.
One of the last Bandidos members on the GTA streets was Jason (Jay) Pellicore, 34, who was shot gangland-style outside Richmond Hill fitness club in August.
Pellicore was a former probationary member of the West Toronto Hells Angels, who quit the club after becoming irate about having to do menial chores at biker functions.
In the summer of 2006, he received a serious beating from West Toronto Hells Angels, the biker said.
Pellicore went to York Regional police two weeks before his murder to say he felt his life was in danger, the Star has learned.
He was about to stand trial in a mortgage fraud scheme. He had also run afoul of York Region mobsters by collecting mob debts without
permission of local mobsters, the biker said.
Sometimes, Pellicore would pocket some of the money for himself and other times he would keep it all, the biker said.
Other times, people approached by Pellicore would contact police, which "burned" the mobsters, since it was then considered too risky to collect the money.
His murder remains unsolved.
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Young
riders pick a 
