There are many ways to talk about the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC); as a reporter illuminating the record, as an advocate praising their actions or as an undercover agent providing clear insight into the mind of a biker enterprise. Sure, not everyone agrees with the mission and tactics of law enforcement just like not everyone is going to praise OMG. It’s the way of the world.
Much thanks to G. Walker (Det. Retired) who provided me a preview of the book “No Angel” by Jay Dobyns and Nils Johnson-Shelton. I wanted to pass this along because as the preview suggests, this is going to be one great read!
“No Angel – My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels”
ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns and Nils Johnson-Shelton
(Crown Publishers, 2009)
ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns sat with his back to me. He was furiously typing on a well-used keyboard. He wore a white wife-beater t-shirt and both his exposed arms were fully “sleeved”, or covered with tattoo work. Pulled down low over his bald skull was a dirty blue knit cap. I quietly watched him as his fingers danced over the keyboard, wondering how no one else at the outlaw motorcycle gang conference I was attending hadn’t spotted this brazen infiltrator who was even now probably sending license plate numbers and other handy information to whichever 1%er club he belonged to.
It had happened before. Two full patch members of the Vagos MC had openly walked into a past OMG conference presentation, the room filled with cops and investigators. The Vagos went unnoticed for several minutes before being identified and ushered out of the hotel.
I found the conference coordinator and shared my concern about the tough-looking b*astard using the business room Internet service. “Oh,” he replied, “that’s just Jay…Jay Dobyns. He’s our ATF guest speaker on the Hells Angels.”
Well f*ck me…
Later in the conference I listened to Dobyns speak about his role in Operation Black Biscuit, a two-year ATF undercover operation against the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Arizona. Pacing back and forth in front of a table featuring some of the OMG props he and his ATF team of UC bikers, known as the “Solo Angels”, had used to gain introduction and then admittance into the inner sanctum of the HAMC, Jay’s rapid-fire account of the deepest UC thrust into the heart of the Angels’ organization came alive.
Today Jay Dobyns, in conjunction with co-author Nils Johnson-Shelton, has written the true story of both his greatest professional and near personally ruinous achievement – riding shoulder to shoulder with the Hells Angels to include the ultimate Angel himself, Ralph “Sonny” Barger. It is a book the Red & White won’t appreciate; however in all fairness, it’s also a book some in the ATF will hate with equal passion.
Whether brokering deals for illegal automatic weapons, taking on murder for hire contracts, arming up to do battle with the rival Banditos on behalf of the “81”, or riding 18″ off the rear wheel of an Angel juggernaut Jay Dobyns shoves us down the slippery steep steps that lead to the glowing red inferno that is the world of the Hells Angels.
Finely woven throughout the book is the agent’s personal decent into the madness of both the investigation and his increasing loss of identity as a human being. He writes “As I said, dark days. I turned to the only things I had left: God, friend, and family…It wasn’t my job, it wasn’t ATF, and it wasn’t the Hells Angels that had transformed me into the worst version of myself. It was I alone who had done that.”
There have been several previous books on the HAMC and Operation Black Biscuit but none comes close to the knife-edge reality and factual accuracy of Jay’s memoir. Of the Hells Angels he observes “I realized in that single moment that the brotherhood the Hells Angels claimed to be part of was nothing more than a support group for misunderstood loners held together by hate and money…I’d thought I was the one infiltrating them. I had it backwards. They were the ones who had infiltrated me.”
In mid-2003 Operation Black Biscuit was brought to closure in a series of search warrants and arrests. The case, however, was gutted by squabbles among prosecutors and the decision makers at the ATF and by 2006 “Black Biscuit” looked more like Brier Rabbit’s badass tar baby. Earlier, in 2004, the Angels put a contract on Dobyns’ head. In 2008 his home mysteriously caught on fire and while no one was injured the implications were obvious to the man once draped with the Angel’s coveted Deathhead for “killing” a rival Mongol down Mexico way, an elaborate mock murder that brought Dobyns to the goal he’d always thought he wanted – to become a fully patched Hells Angel as an undercover ATF agent.
You can advance order your copy of “No Angel” through Amazon.com. The book will be released this February. Warning! Once you’ve opened its cover and entered the world of Special Agent Jay “Bird” Dobyns there’s no putting it down. This is one 5-star weekend’s reading about the man who dared enter the innermost sanctuaries of the Hells Angels and returned with his soul singed but intact.
More information available on Jay Dobyns web site. Book pre-order information from Amazon.
Previous posts on 1%er bikers (1, 2, 3, 4).
UPDATE: February 5, 2009 – Good interview and summary written by Leo W. Banks of the Tucson Weekly.
Book cover photo used with permission.
Northwest Harley Blog 
I wonder if the actual outcome of all that tax money being spent on such an investigation will also be included in his book.
Here is an exerpt I copied from another post on this site.
Government concealment of evidence again!
A much ballyhooed racketeering case against Arizona’s Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has all but ended in federal court with the U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissing charges against some defendants and settling for lesser convictions against the rest.
When the two-year sting known as Operation Black Biscuit became public in 2003, it was touted as the most successful infiltration ever of the notorious biker group. Undercover agents were feted in Washington, with Top Cop awards from the National Association of Police Officers. The government’s case of drug violations, gun running, murder, racketeering and other crimes came to a close Wednesday, in part because of a feud between federal prosecutors and undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The result:
* Authorities failed to convict any of the 16 defendants on the key charge of racketeering, or running a criminal enterprise.
* Half of those indicted were given plea deals on lesser offenses.
* Federal charges against five others were dismissed.
* Under the indictment, most of the bikers faced possible life terms. As a result of plea deals, none will serve more than five years in federal prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office described the outcome as a “good thing” because eight defendants pleaded guilty. “This is but one of many cases brought against the Hells Angels around the country, in Canada and around the world,” office spokeswoman Sandy Raynor said in an e-mail. Joe Abodeely, attorney for Tucson Hells Angels President Craig T. Kelly, whose charges were dismissed, scoffed: “I was a prosecutor for 15 years, and this wasn’t a ‘good’ result. Talk about spin . . . The government tried to prosecute some people simply because they were Hells Angels. This was a waste of time, effort and taxpayers’ money.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had no cost figure for the case, which included years of work by undercover agents, prosecutors and public defenders. Brian Russo, who represents former Mesa Hells Angels President Robert Johnston Jr., put the public expense in “millions and millions of dollars.”
You can read more of this article, but it just amazes me that the feds are so anxious to hold press conferences and write books when they conduct operations like this, but when the truth comes out and everyone is released or pleads to far lesser charges, where are they then? Why aren’t they holding press conferences and bragging about their use of our money then?
Respects,
Hermano Roadrash
Problem is there are too many lawyers in the mix. One only has to look at the OJ trial. Guilty as hell but he got off too.
Lawyers? The Federal government has literally limitless legal counsel. Defendants have only whatever they can afford. I seriously doubt that the prosecutors on any federal case are second rate or have any shortage of whatever tools they need and yet in case after case, time after time, year after year the result remains the same.
The govenment rounds up dozens of these “dangerous gangsters” or “domestic terrorists” or whatever catch phrase is in fashion and trots out flashy film footage of action-movie-style raids by black-suited SWAT teams. They splash dazzling photos of captured contraband and proudly read off volumes of federal, state and local charges levelled against these awful defilers of society. Then they always get to the part where they assure the American public that they have “broken the back” of whatever dangerous, organized criminal gang they are targetting today. They promise that the threat has been eliminated, and that the streets are once again safe for good, God-fearing citizens to walk down, unafraid!
Then, six or twelve months later when there is a tiny footnote on the umpteenth page of the local paper announcing that charges against all or most of the accused have been dropped and that the rest have either been released for time served or have plead to lesser, unrelated charges, where are they then? Where are the big charts with fancy color-coordinated graphs showing how effectively they are spending our hard-earned tax-dollars? When is the American public going to wake up and realize what a hoax this is?
Every time they want a new budget increase or some new crimefighting gadget they drag out one of these hollywierd-style shows designed to terrify viewers into believing that they are in mortal danger and if law enforcement does not get what it wants they will simply be unable to protect them from the ravaging hordes clawing at their doors.
In the past they have tried similar tactics using the traditional Italian mafia, but without much success. After all, they dress and act just like everyone else. Not very threatening images for the average citizen.
Then they tried street gangs. A little scarier, but in the end they are mostly just children. How much firepower could law enforcement really need to deal with teenagers?
Bikers, however (especially patch-holders) are big, visible, loud, juicy targets. They ride those gawd-awful motorcycles and many of them even have TATTOOS! How could they not be the living embodiment of evil?
So, like the good sheep they are, most citizens are only too happy to herd themselves right down to the local polling places to vote for whatever it is their government and/or law enforcement agencies tell them to.
Don’t get me wrong. Like most bikers I love my country. I have served in her armed forces and defended the rights of her citizens. I just happen to be awake and aware enough to fear my govenment.
Respects,
Hermano Roadrash
HEY HERMANO,YOU NO BIKER,YUR A CLOWN WHO PROBABLY RIDES A HONDA OR SPORTY AT THE VERY MOST,YUR NOT A QUOTE OUTLAW BIKER,AND YOU SAID IT YURSELF YUR SCARED OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT,THATS THE DIFFERANCE BETWEEN YOU AND US……WE NOT ”SCARED” OF SHIT,ESPEACIALLY SUM LAME ASS COPS……GO HIDE DUDE,WE WILL TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN AND DEAL WITH THE PIGS ON AN AS NEEDED BASIS…… RED -N-WHITE ”ANGEL’81”
From your statement, it appears the defendants who couldn’t afford great lawyers did ok after all against the government hot shots.
Most of the time, cases are plea bargained because the defendants turn on each other and agree to testify against each other for reduced sentences. Makes the government’s job easier and saves taxpayer money.
Better to have too much firepower and not need it, than to need it and not have it. But thats just me.
An educated and informed citizenry is a good thing.
Actually, “most of the time” defendants do not turn on each other. Most of the time, defendants are released from custody before they even see the inside of a courtroom due to lack of evidence prior to their arraignments.
The few who do come to trial usually sit patiently until the government presents it’s case. Once the government closes, they simply ask the judge to dismiss all or most of the charges based, once again, on a complete lack of evidence.
Even in our flawed judicial system you usually have to have some kind of evidence to back up charges against those who are being accused.
But none of these things ever make it into the press or onto the news programs,… at least not as headlines. You are right, an informed and educated citizenry IS a good thing. The problem is when the only information or education they are exposed to is filled with lies and smokescreens designed to do nothing more than to generate increased revenue for the very groups who are providing the “education”.
As to those few defendants who do turn on each other, it’s one way of weeding out the weak.
Anyway, I don’t expect to change the world, or even most people’s minds with a “blog”. We have a lot more important things going on around the globe than that. Plus it’s the holidays.
Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I’m sure I’ll be busy for the rest of the weekend getting the house ready for Christmas. At least, I’m sure that’s what the Ol’ Lady has in store for me.
Respects,
Hermano Roadrash
The picture isn’t as bad as you paint it. It is still the best system around. True, mistakes are made, but that is the human equation.
I sure as heck wouldn’t want to live under Taliban rule, or be subject to the ideologies of some of the middle eastern or former Soviet bloc models.
At least here, you can have a dissenting view…
AZ HAMC got punked by the ATF – End of Story
I WILL PUNK YOU OUT,PUNK.ASS PAPPY……….. BEGINING OF STORY…..
WATCH YUR COCK HOLSTER THERE PAPPY
Hey, can’t we all just get along. LOL I think this is a really cool blog. Maybe we can share some ideas, I am building a huge biker community and have 6 sites in production. I could use your advice http://www.bikerornots.com
http://www.azharleyblog.com
http://www.harleydavidsonblogger.com
http://www.unitedbikersonline.com
http://www.friendlybikers.com
http://www.friendlybikersonline.com
Would you like some links put on? email me, I could use some feedback.
PS Nice work on your site.
Well there is a reason they are called 1% clubs they all carry this distiction with pride but when faced by law enforcement they drop there 1% badge of honor and say “I am a Law Abiding Citizen” and “help the community” but if you are going to be a 1% don’t get soft! And as far a law enforcement is concernded don’t give the Vet a hard time for having a few of his old patches on his “Cut” because we are not the 1% Clubs!!!!
why cant you let people live out there lives in peace. if you were a member you would be pist off and not be patted on the back for a job well done
Its interesting to note in this case: The ATF refused to turn over video evidence which, based on the testimony of their undercover informant (not a law enforcement officer as Dobyns), would have clearly demonstrated law officials breaching legal protocol to entrap members. He said (and I’m paraphrasing): “We were just as bad as the Hell’s Angels. We were worse.”. The undercover ATF informant also openly admitted using illegal recreational drugs on behalf of the ATF to gain the Angel’s trust, so that Dobyns wouldn’t have to.
Thankfully, ‘The History Channel’ gave a more unabridged version of what really transpired between the two groups.
hope jay has a great life hiding as a coward.
Proud to be a snitch. NOT
the truth is they arrest good men most of which are vets treated as trash by the feds and they use people they take out of jail who make deals to get themselves off that are drunks and drug addicts themselves all u have to do is check the facts theres no sence in name calling i am a 1%er that is a legitimate person that doesnt break the law. just facts friends u should check the shit going on in ga right now im just telling u what i know.