Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers' Global Empire
Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers' Global Empire
by William Marsden and Julian Sher
Hodder & Stoughton, $261
As opening lines go, 'They had not intended on beheading her' is certainly arresting. And so begins this expose of the world's most infamous motorcycle gang, which William Marsden and Julian Sher argue is less an endearing band of rogues on wheels and more of a sinister criminal organisation along the lines of the mafia and the triads.
From origins on the west coast of the US shortly after the second world war, the Hells Angels have expanded around the globe, causing mayhem in Australia, Scandinavia, Britain and elsewhere. Cynthia Garcia, a single mother who made the mistake of bad-mouthing Angels at a club in Arizona, was the aforementioned victim. A retired police officer was blown up by a Hells Angel bomb in Australia, in revenge for his shooting one of their number. Another bomb levelled a rival gang's headquarters in Norway, killing two innocent passers-by. And former biker Billy Grondalski and his family - including a five-year-old girl - were slaughtered in cold blood in their California home after he quit the gang 'in bad standing'.
From using drugs recreationally, the Angels have moved into dealing by the container load, in addition to extortion and other nefarious activities. The Hells Angels have sporadically sown their seeds of destruction over the past few decades in what has been the worst of times for the police forces trying to bring them under control.
Presumably due to the bikers' code of silence, Angels of Death contains little in the way of interviews with gang members. Perhaps the best-known Angel, Sonny Barger, former president of the Oakland chapter, is now 66, partially blind and deaf, and speaks through a throat valve, after a bout with cancer. He seems more interested in promoting his website now. When the authors buttonholed him at a rally he brushed off their questions while his bodyguard glowered in the background.
Undercover police provide a grittier picture of the Angels' lives. Several agents have managed to join the gangs, sporting the tattoos and attitude that eventually got them recognised as 'brothers'. A mixture of bravado, luck and phone taps resulted in a number of arrests and convictions - although police forces around the world have at times appeared unprepared or unwilling to take on the Angels. But the undercover cops have paid a price, forced to relocate to escape the gangs' quest for vengeance. As one agent says: 'My family takes the hit for what I do for a living.'
Angels of Death follows an earlier book by Marsden and Sher laying bare the activities of Canada's Hells Angels. Realising they were onto a good thing, the authors have expanded their coverage. However, this book smacks of too much haste and too little depth.
Many of the tales of death and devastation seem to have been lifted directly from news reports, court transcripts or police blotters, and little effort has been made to investigate the Angels' underlying motives and psychology. And several of the cases examined end with the statement that they have still to come up in court - leaving the feeling that this book is more of a pot-boiler than an in-depth analysis.
The authors' thesis - that the Angels are an international crime cartel of unimagined proportions - is never backed up, and is less credible in the light of quotes such as 'the [Angels] are just bullies with stickers on their backs' from a high-ranking Canadian police officer. Despite some of the scarier stories, the Angels come across not as Marlon Brando in The Wild One but as vicious punks on bikes, with computers to facilitate their drug deals.