Hell's Angels: What do you think?

Being that the motorcycle/leather image is often sported in the metal world, what do you guys think of the actual gang? Misunderstood or genuine creeps?

I know the Rolling Stones wish they'd never hired them to work security at Altamont....

I wouldn't want to cross paths with them..........

Don't know much about Hell's Angels, but my sister's husband* gave us some info about The Bandidos (the motorcycle gang that runs Texas and other states). All gangs operating in their area must have their permission, otherwise... well, let's just say nobody is stupid enough to do that. The only exception is if a member is/was a member of law enforcement (for obvious reasons). If they are anything alike, then I'd say creeps.

*BTW, this information is reliable as Craig used to escort prisoners for the Rangers.

The History channel had a show called Gangland that I used to watch. There was more than a few episodes about biker gangs like the Hell's Angels and Mongols. They usually start out as legitimate motorcycle clubs by war vets. But somewhere down the line they become criminal. If you have cable with In Demand, check out a History channel mini series about a police informer that infiltrated the Vagos gang. I read the book before they made the TV version.

All of my knowledge of bikers came from this Brian Bosworth documentary...

I have immediate family both living and dead who were/are in the club. There was once a brotherhood involved, but greed and power took over the sensibilities of those making the decisions.

I have my memories of going to club BBQ's with Canned Heat as the house band as a kid and going on runs riding in a sidecar, especially to Sturgis in the 70's before it became the corporate thing it has now become. The bike rodeos back then were awesome. I found Christ and my family usually found a DOC number and/or the grave. I still ride and love it beyond measure, but no patch for me. Even the Christian clubs with rockers on top & bottom of the back of their cuts have to pay a license fee to them. They own the patent on the concept & design.

My knowledge of the Hells Angels comes mostly from my Hunter S. Thompson reading and while the Angels claimed he got a lot of stuff wrong, even Sonny Barger admits they basically became glorified drug runners after a while.

I'm not sure what the original point would have been, but they basically became mobile street gangs and there's not much I can find to respect there other than the internal loyalty (and even that could apparently be dropped for the right reason).

I have met some when working during my lifetime (they only told me after they figured out I was ok maybe), and my first girlfriend's father was a member.
Never seen anything to suggest what everybody sees in movies or on TV.
They were all very nice, and laid back, family-oriented, hard working  guys.

I used to frequent a cigar lounge whose owner was either a member or very friendly with them because he had a bunch of Hell's Angels posters all over his shop and quite a few used to be in the shop while I would be there. The guy ended up burning the place down to get insurance money. It makes me wonder if there was any connection.

One time I was at a bar and the Mongols showed up. At the time I didn't know who they were, but my friend told me to just keep it cool and not talk to them. I just remember one big guy with a shaved head that had it all tattooed. Only learned about them after an episode of Gangland.

I used to work for a few of them many years ago, mostly doing chainsaw and landscaping jobs. They paid damn well and were nice enough to me. They all were family men at least on the surface.
Also smoked a tremendous amount of free marijuana with them

GrandNational wrote:

I used to frequent a cigar lounge whose owner was either a member or very friendly with them because he had a bunch of Hell's Angels posters all over his shop and quite a few used to be in the shop while I would be there. The guy ended up burning the place down to get insurance money. It makes me wonder if there was any connection.

One time I was at a bar and the Mongols showed up. At the time I didn't know who they were, but my friend told me to just keep it cool and not talk to them. I just remember one big guy with a shaved head that had it all tattooed. Only learned about them after an episode of Gangland.

Yeah, both the Bandidos and the Angels fear the Mongols so that tells you how bad they are.

Since this thread, I've been doing some biker gang research. Turns out the Bandidos and Hells Angels have had some bloody battles over territory in Europe (particularly the Scandinavia region). All of these guys are bad news.

DallasBlack wrote:

GrandNational wrote:

I used to frequent a cigar lounge whose owner was either a member or very friendly with them because he had a bunch of Hell's Angels posters all over his shop and quite a few used to be in the shop while I would be there. The guy ended up burning the place down to get insurance money. It makes me wonder if there was any connection.

One time I was at a bar and the Mongols showed up. At the time I didn't know who they were, but my friend told me to just keep it cool and not talk to them. I just remember one big guy with a shaved head that had it all tattooed. Only learned about them after an episode of Gangland.

Yeah, both the Bandidos and the Angels fear the Mongols so that tells you how bad they are.

Since this thread, I've been doing some biker gang research. Turns out the Bandidos and Hells Angels have had some bloody battles over territory in Europe (particularly the Scandinavia region). All of these guys are bad news.

Where I live, the Vagos have a mean reputation as well.

Since you're doing some research, here's a interesting report about the top five outlaw clubs.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/147691NCJRS.pdf

MetalGuy71 wrote:

All of my knowledge of bikers came from this Brian Bosworth documentary...

I LOVED that movie! I actually saw it during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run!!

Fat Freddy wrote:

I LOVED that movie! I actually saw it during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run!!

There is a better-than-average chance that I saw this in the theaters too.

What was that Charlie Sheen biker movie called? That was pretty good too.

Troublezone wrote:

What was that Charlie Sheen biker movie called? That was pretty good too.

Beyond the Law

We have the Pagans around here. A former co-worker of mine was pleased when his old neighbor passed away and a Pagan member (presumably a family member) moved in. He said it was constant parties and the dude apparently would put the boots to his old lady.

There was a song by Iron Cross " Hell's Angels " - on youtube.
It's been taken off. About them raising hell in a small town - not caring -
I'm nervous around any motorcycles - from 2 - upwards -
I'll take a side street - and let them by - those guys are usually tough -
those younger dudes - 20 in a pack - stopping traffic - as a side note -
5,000 riders, in the US, die each year - some states - no helmet law.

Unfortunately, my oldest step sister has been seduced by the romantic version of biker gangs from Sons Of Anarchy. She is becoming friends with the Bandiddos (her current boyfriend is a president of a Bandiddos' sponsored gang. My blood sister's husband became suspicious when he found out their gang will not ride with cops (I mentioned earlier that biker gangs don't mess with groups that have former cop members). He told him that they can't hang out at his house anymore because it puts all of us in danger (including an 8 year old boy and a 15 year old girl). Since then we haven't seen much of my step-sister. She has apparently become even deeper involved since then. Their presence is starting to make her youngest daughter (16) very uncomfortable. He thinks it's time to talk to her father (her parents have been divorced for a long time now) and hopefully get her away from that crap. What my sister fails to understand is that in biker gangs (the 1%-ers), unmarried women are considered property and can be used however they feel. It's sad really, my step-sister used to be a good, responsible woman and she's getting mixed in with that culture.

On another note, does anyone know if the Hell's Angels and most motorcycle gangs in general are homophobic?

muckie wrote:

On another note, does anyone know if the Hell's Angels and most motorcycle gangs in general are homophobic?

I'm going to guess that depends on the gang.

If you read Hunter S. Thompson's "Hell's Angels," the members were not averse to being photographed kissing. My suspicion is that had more to do with "See how deviant we are? Ha ha!" playing with perception of who/what they were than any genuine buggery going on though. Keep in mind, that book was written in the 60s, so even a photo like that was likely to send some folks running for their smelling salts and fainting couches.

Interesting. Also, how technically adept are the HA and these gangs in general? Like are they good at pulling off computer hacks, and such? I always thought of them as being more centered towards offline life and not the digital world.

muckie wrote:

Interesting. Also, how technically adept are the HA and these gangs in general? Like are they good at pulling off computer hacks, and such? I always thought of them as being more centered towards offline life and not the digital world.

Well, the Angels do have their own website, so I'm sure some of them have SOME computer knowledge.

The local club near me was Staffordshire Eagles, I knew a few of them way back but was never involved in that life, they were nice enough guys but definitely fairly serious characters (mostly drugs) The Hells Angels are all but extinct in the U.K now though as there was a bust up between the hierarchy in the U.S and (to begin with) some clubs in the Midlands (including the Eagles) and they all became part of The Outlaws and pretty quickly the other U.K clubs followed suit.