Election Headquarters. Updated on Sept. 16: A funeral for Sonny Barger has been planned for Sept. 24 at the Stockton 99 Speedway, the Oakland Hells Angels announced on its . As the longtime president of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, Sonny Barger, who has died aged 83, was the epitome of the outlaw biker. At the age of eighty-three, Ralph "Sonny" Barger, a founding member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club, has died. His wife and family were with him when he died. Barger, Beyea and Popkin were arrested after the Cadillac was chased for four miles by converging police. He asserted that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Angels' motorcycles. [12], In 1983, Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer after years of heavy smoking. [95], In 2000, Barger became a bestselling author with his autobiography, Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Barger&oldid=1142774329, American people convicted of drug offenses, Prisoners and detainees of the United States, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox criminal with known for parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute (1973), This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 08:41. 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." [6] He took up running for exercise in prison, saying: "I'm slow but I can go on forever". He was unimpressed with Thompson, and said of the writer: "When he tried to act tough with us, no matter what happened, Hunter Thompson got scared. [118] Barger was laid to rest at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon.[2]. Having given his word to the Outlaws that they would be safe at the meeting, Caronite who characterised himself as a "man of honor" reportedly warned away the Outlaws when he learned of the assassination plot. Sonny Barger, a founding member of the Hells Angels who provided security at a notorious and fatal Rolling Stones show in 1969, has died. When another chapter member suggested calling the Outlaws to inquire whether Webb's killing was an isolated incident, Barger replied: "Call them collect." Birthday: October 8, 1938 How Old - Age: 84 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. Sonny Barger in 1979, the year he was charged with racketeering offences of which he was acquitted. [23] Prosecutors claimed that the Angels accumulated $160,000 per day in street sales of the drug. Passaro was acquitted on grounds of self-defence. His mother left him when he was just four months old. [7] Authorities accused the Angels of dominating the production of the drug in the U.S.[58] Barger addressed such allegations by saying: "I'm sure there are some individual Angels who've sold methamphetamines. Show creator Kurt Sutter spent time with Barger and other members of Hells Angels researching for the show, and acted opposite Barger in his scene. [62] Barger and his Oakland contingent rented a house on Toledo's Sylvania Street, and the Angels showed a significant presence in the city throughout the court case. Owen. Hood and Jarman had been bound, gagged and beaten, while Huddleston had survived having his throat cut. The Appeals Court agreed with the government's position that its conduct was necessary due to the Hells Angels' violent history, and rejected Barger's argument that the government had committed entrapment because it deemed the conspiracy to have been originated by the Hells Angels themselves. Chosen Brothers Mc (Indiana) Confederate Angels Motorcycle Club, in Richmond, Virginia (defunct) [82] [83] Deathmasters Motorcycle Club [84] Demon Knights Motorcycle Club, in New York [85] Desert Road Riders [86] Desperado's Motorcycle Club [55] Dirty Dozen Motorcycle Club, in Arizona (patched over in 1997) [87] Sonny Barger, Hells Angels founder, dies at 83 June 30, 2022, 10:07 AM The FBI classified the Hells Angels as a criminal enterprise, but Sonny Barger denied that status frequently.. [18] With Barger as president, the Oakland Hells Angels traveled around California and amalgamated with the other Hells Angels chapters, dividing territory and forming club bylaws. "[5], Barger was employed as a machine operator from 1960 to 1965, when he was dismissed due to extended absences. Barger was also provided with an alibi from his girlfriend, Sharon Gruhlke, who claimed she was in bed with him at the time of the murder. Barger was attracting attention, and in 1966 Hunter S Thompsons first book, Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, appeared; though it was less gonzo than his later work, Bargers portrayal lent much to Thompsons own future image. 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. 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. July 1, 2022. 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. Between 2010 and 2012 he made three appearances on the biker TV drama Sons Of Anarchy. [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. LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) Sonny Barger, the leather-clad figurehead of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club, has died. In July 2022, the Hells Angels made a request to hold a memorial service for Barger at the Oakland Coliseum in East Oakland the following month. The biker, from California, passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife Zorana and his loved ones on June 29. [44], Along with fellow Hells Angels members Sergey Walton, Donald Duane "Whitey" Smith, and "Oakland" Gary Popkin, Barger was charged with the May 21, 1972, murder of Servio Winston Agero a drug dealer from McAllen, Texas, who had traveled to Oakland with a consignment of narcotics for sale which allegedly occurred following a dispute over an $80,000 cocaine deal. Just like I'm sure some cops have sold methamphetamines. Hood and Jarman told police that the incident was merely an initiation hazing. Flowers were laid in front of the Sonoma County Hells Angels chapter on Thursday . [7] According to police intelligence reports, he had designated San Jose chapter president Fillmore Cross as his international successor during a motorcycle run at Bass Lake prior to his imprisonment. Registered in England No. [51] The bombings prompted the California Department of Justice to issue a warning to police departments that the Angels were engaged on a campaign to eliminate law enforcement personnel who investigated their drug activities. A scene from the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter showing violence at the Altamont free festival. And in 2010, with Darwin Holmstrom, he produced a guide to safe motorcycling, Lets Ride, as if he were now fully transformed into one of the 99%. In December 1969 the Angels were hired by the Rolling Stones to provide security at the Altamont free festival. By 1960, the Oakland Hells Angels had established an extensive narcotics network within the club. Two years later Barger appeared in Tom Wolfes Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test when the author and counterculture figure Ken Kesey invited the Oakland Angels to a party; Kesey introduced the bikers to LSD. [4] He emerged as the Hells Angels' most prominent member during the counterculture era and was reputed by law enforcement and media to be the club's international president, an allegation he repeatedly denied. [57] According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Hells Angels and the Outlaws were engaged in a conflict over control of the methamphetamine trade in the United States and Canada. [91] On May 3, 2018, he testified in the racketeering trial of Bandidos former national president Jeffrey Fay Pike and former vice-president Xavier John Portillo after being called as a defense witness by lawyers for Pike. Barger's death was announced in a self-written Facebook post. Divorced amicably from Sharon, he married Beth Noel (nee Black). [23] His acquittal in that case made him eligible for parole as the California Supreme Court ruled that a five-year waiting period attached to his sentence due to the prior marijuana conviction was unconstitutional. [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. When a band of rootless outlaws on Harley-Davidsons started cutting a swathe of chaos through America, Sonny Barger emerged as maximum leader of the Hells Angels. Please, Founding member of the Hells Angels who revelled in beating up anti-Vietnam War peaceniks and pulled a gun on Keith Richards, Sonny Barger with his second wife Sharon in San Francisco in 1980 after he was acquitted of racketeering, Barger at home in Arizona in 2010 in retirement he lost his love for Harleys. Election Results. [5] The author Hunter S. Thompson called Barger "the Maximum Leader" of the Hells Angels,[6] and Philip Martin of the Phoenix New Times described him as "the archetypical Hells Angel", saying he "didn't found the motorcycle clubbut he constructed the myth". He grew up along with his alcoholic father and elder sister. [23] The indictments followed two car bombings targeting law enforcement officers in northern California, which were blamed on the Hells Angels. Sonny Barger: Funeral & Obituary. He was arrested again on the same charge the following year, and for assault with a deadly weapon in 1965 and 1966. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. [33], Barger was one of the Hells Angels present at the Rolling Stones' Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, at which the bikers were reportedly paid $500 worth of beer to provide security. [7] He appears in the documentary film about the Altamont Free Concert: Gimme Shelter (1970). [7] When students at the University of California, Berkeley announced an anti-Vietnam War rally, the Oakland Hells Angels denounced the rally as "a despicable un-American activity". He has acquired his income from his various appearances in films and television series. [85] To forestall this possibility, Barger attended the peace talks in Seattle representing the Hells Angels along with Thomas Mller of the Angels Malm chapter who was in charge of all the Hells Angels in Europe. They hated each other. He was appointed president of the Oakland chapter in 1958 following a series of meetings with Hells Angels from southern California. [4][13] Growing up, Barger was suspended from school several times for assaulting teachers, and he often fought with other boys. [4][7], The dispute between the Hells Angels and the Rolling Stones was compounded when the band refused to compensate the Angels for $50,000 in legal fees accrued by the club in the trial of Alan Passaro, who was acquitted of Hunter's murder on the grounds of self-defense. The ten defendants went on trial at Louisville federal court beginning in July 1988, accused of plotting to bomb the clubhouse of the Outlaws' Louisville chapter, located in the city's Portland neighborhood, in retaliation for the killing of John Cleave Webb. 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. "Ralph Barger" redirects here. Insert image . Died: Wednesday, June 29, 2022 ( Who else died on June 29? ) If there was a contract out on him, then he'd be dead. Details of death:. [103] Increasing tensions between the Hells Angels and other motorcycle clubs led to Barger organizing a peace conference scheduled to be held in the Arizona desert following the April 2002 Laughlin River Run motorcycle rally in Laughlin, Nevada. He and Tait discussed retaliation against the Outlaws on several occasions, and Tait encouraged Barger to travel to Alaska to provide guidance to the Anchorage Hells Angels chapter on retributive action. He stated following his conviction: "I think we won very handily in there. Barger's death was announced on his Facebook page late Wednesday. Later that year, Barger suffered a fractured skull during a fight with Oakland police. [42] Cross was also imprisoned, for possession of amphetamines in 1975, however, and Barger allegedly continued to lead the Hells Angels from his cell at Folsom State Prison. Sonny Barger, who led the way as the Hells Angels grew from a local motorcycle club into one of the world's most notorious gangs - obituary Following a troubled childhood, he found the sense. [24] Ginsberg invited Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels to a party where he provided the bikers with free alcohol, drugs and sex in exchange for their guarantee that the rally would not be attacked. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is Sonny Barger's life. [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. [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. Ralph "Sonny" Barger, the tough-living leader of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, has died after a brief battle with cancer. In October 1965 some Angels attacked an anti-war demonstration in Berkeley, California; six were arrested. He escaped drug-dealing, kidnapping and murder charges, but was finally convicted in 1973 of possession of heroin and firearms. The blacks and Latinos didn't like us. "[23] He also began studying sociology at Folsom. It was thought up by the FBI. [40] During this period, Barger's main lieutenants were Sergey Walton, James "Jim-Jim" Brandes and Kenneth "K.O." In reaction to his own traumatic childhood, Barger had created a brotherhood on two wheels in Oakland, California, in 1957. [7] At Christmas 1989, he sent one of the prosecutors in the case, assistant U.S. attorney Cleve Gambill, a card from prison, showing him posing on a towel as if he were on the beach, with the message: "Nice weather. 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. [4][12] After that club disbanded, he started riding with another group of bikers, one of whom, Don "Boots" Reeves, wore a patch that belonged to a defunct Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels in North Sacramento. Barger, 83, died of liver cancer at his Livermore home in late June. Noel suffered a broken rib and back, and a lacerated spleen. I ride them because I'm in the club, and that's the image, but if I could I would seriously consider riding a Honda ST1100 or a BMW. Fourteen months later he was discharged honourably, as he had lied about his age to join without parental permission. [30] Ingalls, a member of the Hells Angels' Oakland chapter who had previously transferred from the Omaha, Nebraska, charter, was found guilty of burglarizing Barger's valuable coin collection by a six-man kangaroo court at another member's home on February 1, 1968, and subsequently killed. June 30, (Reuters) - Ralph "Sonny" Barger, the Hells Angels motorcycle club leader who became the rough-hewn face of America's outlaw biker culture and the restlessness, hard living and. 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. Unless you cross him. A delegation of Angels and their chief rival motorcycle gang, the Gypsy Jokers, met the activist Jerry Rubin and poet Allen Ginsberg in front of 1,000 people at San Jose State College to negotiate clearance for the November march scheduled for Oakland. [1] Between 1966 and 1973, the majority of his legitimate personal income was derived from advising various film projects. [29] He denied, however, that authorities permitted crimes committed by the Hells Angels. Mr. Barger's former attorney, Fritz Clapp, said he . This is not surprising. He used us for dupes". I've asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing," a . [7] According to Barger's chief attorney James Crew, Ivaldi himself was involved in the conspiracy to kill Agero and, knowing he was a prime suspect and fearing retaliation from the "Texas Mafia", he tried to shift the blame to the Hells Angels. [7] On July 2, 1980, following an eight-month trial in which 194 witnesses testified, a mistrial was declared when a jury failed to reach a verdict on counts against eighteen defendants. Barger's third guest appearance on Sons of Anarchy was during season 5, episode 10, which aired on November 13, 2012. As he was a former felon, both were illegal. We really missed the boat not switching over to the Japanese models when they began building bigger bikes. Though the outcome of most cases was mistrial, he and Sharon were the only two acquitted outright. 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. On October 18, 1987, Tait informed Barger of a fictitious plot to bomb the Outlaws' Chicago headquarters, which he purported would likely kill five or six people, and Barger replied: "That'll be really nice after that Joliet thing." Sonny Barger, the longstanding kingpin of the US motorcycle club Hells Angels, has died aged 83 after a brief battle with cancer. 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. Hippies no longer dug us. [48] In April 1977, Barger won an appeal to face a retrial on a prior marijuana possession conviction. [110] Barger remained married to Zorana until his death in 2022. [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. LIVERMORE, Calif. Sonny Barger, the leather-clad fixture of 1960s counterculture and figurehead of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who was at the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. [41], On April 11, 1970, Barger was arrested on narcotics charges after Donald Howarth, a film studio property manager and 1967 Mr. America from Studio City, was apprehended while walking towards Barger's home with 17 ounces of cocaine and 30 ounces of heroin (with an estimated retail worth of $350,000) in a suitcase. [87] Barger's role within the Arizona Hells Angels was reportedly an advisory position, as he did not hold officer status and he rarely attended rallies or public events. The sale of the various books he has authored adds up his total earnings. He was 83 years old when he died. He joined the Hells Angels' Cave Creek chapter, and operated a motorcycle repair shop. That's the way it goes. Keep your head up high, stay loyal, remain free, and always value honor. His prostate was removed and he was subsequently declared free of cancer.[112]. [66], Barger and nine other Hells Angels from California and Alaska were extradited to Kentucky to stand trial for conspiring to transport firearms and explosives across state lines. He was a total fake. "[43] Barger and the others were charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon. Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, Jr. (October 8, 1938 June 29, 2022) was an American outlaw biker, convicted criminal, author and actor who was a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1957. [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. Ralph "Sonny" Barger was a founding member of the Oakland, California, chapter of the Hells Angels in 1957. . Sonny Barger was a founding member of the Oakland, California Hells Angels and a bestselling author and actor. [1] He had no biological children. [60] Cleveland Hells Angel-turned-government witness Clarence Crouch testified for the prosecution that Gentry had murdered Tanner as part of an initiation process into the Hells Angels. He was 83 years old. Thu 30th Jun 2022 15.32 BST. He was convicted of aggravated assault, but he served only eight days in jail. The apostrophe you would expect in Hells would not fit on their new patch. An estimated 7,000 people attended, and the event was peaceful. [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. [79][80][81][82] In another New Year's Eve speech on December 31, 1994, Bowman declared that the Outlaws would in turn attack the Hells Angels in California. [7] Barger and the Hells Angels became associated with the counterculture phenomenon of the 1960s. According to Carlson, he was . [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. Sonny Barger would not pull up roots, after forty years in the Bay Area, on a whim. Net Worth, Salary & Earnings of Sonny Barger in 2023. Though law enforcement saw the Angels as more of a gang than a club, in the 1960s the media latched on to Barger (pronounced Bar-gurr), selling the outlaw image to the world as a form of countercultural protest that took celluloid form in films such as Easy Rider (1969). Tait called Barger on November 9, 1987, and reported that he had accomplished his mission. Sonny Barger, a Hells Angel known for his role on Sons of Anarchy, died of cancer on June 29 at age 83. Sonny Barger has died aged 83 after a cancer battle surrounded by his wife Zorana and his loved ones The Oakland, California, biker was the founding member of the Hells Angels motorcycling. [66] He said of the government's case against him: "There never was a crime thought up by the Hells Angels. And I went to jail for it. Jordan Potter. Hells Angels Motorcycle Clubs founder Sonny Barger passed away on June 29 following a long battle with cancer. Hell's Angel Sonny Barger is just a regular guy. For over 60 years, Barger was the quintessential leader and one of the early founding members of the Harley Davidson straddling countercultural organisation. [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. Though . [9] Barger refuted accusations from law enforcement characterizing the Hells Angels as an organized crime syndicate, and maintained that the club should not be held accountable for the actions of individual members. The death of Aquarius. [47], On March 16, 1973, Barger was sentenced to a prison term of ten years-to-life after he was convicted of possession of narcotics for sale (37 grams of heroin), and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. It's that simple, he wouldn't still be singing. I've asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing. He has nothing else to live for". Unable to travel to the trial in San Antonio, Texas due to medical reasons, Barger testified via video link from the federal courthouse in San Francisco, denying that the Hells Angels and the Bandidos were enemies.