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In the Summer of 1980, The U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of California, got its ass handed to them.
By the Hells Angels and Sonny Barger.
This offering is for two items that were part of that historic win.It all began with what is now famously known as ‘The First Hells Angels Conspiracy Trial’.
Hello again from The Twisted Starfish & Company here in our frozen snow buried HQ in the Sierra of Northern California!
We have on offer today something VERY special for our 1%er Real One’s and Fans. Actually, we think it’s way beyond special:
This is ONE of freakin ONE and even this ONE isn’t something one will find just rando. Nope. This came right from its never-to-be-released-official file. Raw and real history; being:
United States Department of Justice Official Case Correspondence between U.S. Attorney G. William Hunter and Santa Clara County District Attorney Louis T. Bergna. RegardingSonny Barger RICO case and admitting the case as a loss for the prosecution.
Not only was this first RICO case used against the Hells Angels, it was also the first large-scale RICO case ever.
This is an ORIGINAL (not a copy) signed document from the official case files.
The case is ‘United States v. Ralph Hubert Barger Jr. et al’ Criminal Number 79-0226-SC
The letter references the cooperation of the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office and their representative who was the Chairman of the ‘Northern California Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators’
The award to this employee is seen in the pictures and is included in your purchase. We kinda think they would be cool together in a larger frame and displayed on a Chapter wall maybe? I personally find the irony of that intriguing but then it’s not my wall and that’s a big distinction. Made by people much bigger distinctions than me.
Bonus:If a VERIFIABLE Chapter / Chapter Officer purchases this, there are other related items that can come as ride alongs at zero extra cost. Free. We will only share what these additional artifacts are to a buyer meeting the description described above under ‘bonus’. We’re offering this out of respect, privacy and for the opportunity to own a curated grouping of items that cannot be duplicated anywhere or even found.
Case HistorySourced from:[link removed by ]
“ On June 13th, 1979, 200 federal agents raided the homes of top Hells Angels members in and around Oakland, California. The Department of Justicecharged 32 Angelswith conspiracy charges, connected to a methamphetamine operation that prosecutors alleged netted $160,000 in daily street sales.
The 64 collective indictments charged the Angels under theRICO statute.
The RICO trial for Barger and 17 of his fellow indicted Angels began on October 4th, 1979.Billy Hunterwas the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. Hunter, a 36-year-old ex-NFL punt returner who would later lead the National Basketball Association’s player’s union, was helped in the prosecution by ayoung Assistant U.S. Attorneynamed Robert Mueller. Hunter and Mueller presented their case toJudge Samuel Conti, a conservative jurist known as “Hanging Sam” for his enthusiastic support for the death penalty.
Shortly after the trial began, Barger, whose bail was set at $1 million, sat with Washington Post reporter Cynthia Gorneyfor a defiant jailhouse interview. Barger attacked law enforcement: “As far as the beaters-up of the poor innocent citizen, the killing of the poor innocent citizen, such as that, the authorities got a way bigger part in it than we do.”
Barger went on to fiercely criticize RICO: “I think that this is probably the most important case that’s ever come down in the history of the United States. Because it’s a mass criminal trial,” Barger explained. “They’re trying everybody for what everybody done, even though the majority of us have already been to prison for what we done.”
One of Barger’s lawyers, Frank Mangan, also chimed in. “This is in essence taking his whole life, everything that he’s ever done and everything bad 31 people have ever done, and throwing it all out in front of a jury,” Mangan complained. “If they don’t get him on this case, maybe they’ll leave him alone.”
Another defense attorney, Richard Mazer, argued that the Angels were not a formal criminal enterprise: “A lot of Angels are guilty of a lot of stuff, but they are not club activities.”
The Angels ran with the anti-RICO sentiment. They paid for a full-page San Francisco Chronicle advertisement accusing the government of using a sprawling statute to violate civil liberties.
The sprawling portrait of the Angels’ misdeeds, however, did not convince the jury that there was a centralized meth distribution scheme, the charge on which the indictments depended. After 17 days of deliberation, the jury hung. On August 7th, 1980, the government dropped the conspiracy and racketeering charges against most defendants, including Barger, who celebrated by seeing his friend Willie Nelson at the Oakland Coliseum. At the show, Nelson dedicated his song “Whiskey River” to Barger and his wife Sharon. “
81: 1
Feds: 0
Questions? Special requests? Hand Delivery to Oakland? (Respect) Gift wrap? (No charge) No problem! Please ask; we are happy to help and will respond promptly. Thank You!!
Shipping:Your purchase will be shipped to you very well protected, padded, secured and flat. We go a bit overboard in this department however we want you to be happy to see whats inside and that won’t happen if it’s not zipped up proper. So whilewe can’t always control what the outside of the box ends up looking like,we commit to you that your purchase inside is respected, appreciated and cared for from our place to yours. Your package is fully tracked along its journey and monitored at every step.Where appropriate, we use clean, one time prior use recycled packing materials from new shipments received by us from places such as Amazon etc. We hope you will find a way to recycle them as well. ((Txt) 2 fiftytwo 5 sixtyone 58 sixtyone)
WHY BUY FROM TTS & Co?We only represent high-quality items and have worked hard toearn our 100% satisfied customerrating. If we somehow fall short of this expectation, please say so andWE WILL MAKE IT RIGHT.We are a small business and believe in doing what we say and saying what we do. This isn’t marketing BS from a faceless corporation, we hold ourselves to doing the right thing and investing in our small town rural economy.
The Twisted Starfish and Company is based out of the snowing, shaking, sliding and burning Sierra in Northern California. We sell high-quality toys and oddities to help offset the hella expensive cost of living here. So buy something and know you’re helping a kinda sus yet loyal and decent solid homeboy out with the $9.00 eggs and $7.00 bread goodness that can only be….Cali. I really don’t want to have to return to work in the Christian Adult Film Industry again but a Starfish gotta do what it do..
From all of us here at The Twisted Starfish & Company: THANK YOU!!!
