Hoodoo
2010-06-16 05:06:47 UTC
Suspected Outlaws leader arrested in raid of Milwaukee clubhouse
Nationwide, 26 members of the gang rounded up after indictment alleged
attempted murder, drug dealing, other crimes
By John Diedrich, Ryan Haggerty and Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel
June 15, 2010 10:32 a.m.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/96370809.html
Loading Image...
Onlookers watch as boxes are carried out of the south side Milwaukee
clubhouse of the Outlaws motorcycle gang near S. 2nd and W. Maple
streets in Walker's Point after agents with the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided the building Tuesday morning.
[On the webpage:]
TMJ4 Video
RAW VIDEO: ATF Outside Motorcycle Gang Building
Federal agents raided the south side Milwaukee clubhouse of the Outlaws
motorcycle gang Tuesday and arrested its purported national leader -
part of a seven-state roundup that included a shootout in Maine where a
gang leader was killed.
Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
surrounded the gang's Milwaukee clubhouse near S. 2nd St. and W. Maple
St. at dawn and arrested Jack Rosga, 53, known as "Milwaukee Jack" and
the Outlaws' national leader since 2006, officials said.
Elsewhere in the country, agents rounded up 26 members of the gang after
a grand jury in Virginia indicted them last week. A 12-count indictment,
which was unsealed Tuesday, describes the gang's strict hierarchy and
brutal tactics against rivals, especially the Hell's Angels.
In Maine, Thomas "Tomcat" Mayne, 59, a purported regional gang
treasurer, was killed in a shootout with ATF agents Tuesday.
The gang's crimes included attempted murder, kidnapping, assault,
robbery, extortion, witness intimidation, drug dealing, illegal gambling
and gun charges, according to documents.
None of the beatings or shootings occurred in Milwaukee, but Rosga was
implicated as directing some of the violence from Milwaukee, according
to documents.
"Today's arrest of the national president and leadership of the American
Outlaws Association mark another aggressive attempt by the Department of
Justice to dismantle what the indictment alleges to be a gang whose
entire environment revolves around violence," said Neil MacBride, U.S.
attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.
It is at least the third round of federal charges against Outlaws with a
Milwaukee connection. More than two dozen Outlaws were convicted in 1997
and 2001 cases. Several are serving life terms in prison.
Wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a long gray goatee, Rosga appeared Tuesday
in federal court in Milwaukee, where Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence
ordered him held without bail.
At least 11 federal agents were in court as Rosga shuffled in wearing
handcuffs and ankle shackles. Rosga waived extradition. His next court
appearance will be in Virginia. No date has been set.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering through violence.
If convicted, Rosga faces up to 23 years in prison. Others in the gang
face life in prison.
Public defender Chip Burke, who was representing Rosga for the hearing,
said his client runs a trucking company and is not the leader of a
violent biker gang. He noted that Rosga's name comes up only four times
in the 50-page indictment.
"If you think a guy who is running a moving company can run the Outlaws
from thousands of miles away, I would beg to differ," Burke said after
the hearing. "He is a working stiff."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Kraft and the court documents portray
Rosga as acting as president of the Outlaws who, at one point, "declared
war" on the Hell's Angels.
During the four-year investigation, undercover agents infiltrated the
gang and secretly recorded Outlaw members. Documents describe the gang's
inner workings and traditions, such as patches that say "snitches are a
dying breed" and ADIOS ("Angels Die in Outlaw States.").
In June 2007, an Outlaws member was fatally shot outside a strip club in
Georgia. Rosga "gave the 'green light' " to retaliate against Renegades
gang members, the indictment says.
Rosga also told a lower-ranking Outlaws member that it was a "good time
to clean your own house," that is to kill anyone suspected of
cooperating with law enforcement, the indictment says. In July, Rosga
told undercover agents posing as Outlaws members that they should shoot
Hell's Angels members and predicted he himself would one day go to jail,
it says.
In October, Rosga demanded that a subordinate known as "Madman" take
revenge on the Hell's Angels after two Outlaws were attacked at a
Florida gas station, it says.
Four days later, Mayne - who was killed Tuesday - shot a Hell's Angels
member outside a clubhouse in Canaan, Maine, the indictment says. The
rival biker survived.
During Tuesday's raid in Milwaukee, ATF agents removed boxes from the
Outlaws' clubhouse and placed them in a U-Haul truck.
The black brick building sits at a dead end. The Outlaws' logo - a white
skull with red eyes in front of crossed pistons - is painted on at least
two of the building's walls.
Several neighbors said they have never had problems with the club.
Members notify neighbors when they are organizing large motorcycle rides
and make sure their vehicles don't block nearby driveways, residents said.
Andrew Balistreri, who lives a block from the clubhouse, said he had
heard the building is well-guarded. A large camera is mounted above its
front door.
"I always thought that there was possibly something going on,"
Balistreri said. "I've heard that place is more guarded and harder to
get into than a penitentiary. That makes it suspicious, doesn't it?"
Rosga and the Milwaukee chapter of the Outlaws have had previous run-ins
with law enforcement.
Rosga and two other Outlaws members sued the City of Milwaukee in 2007,
contending that police had harassed the club's members and searched
their clubhouse without a warrant. The lawsuit was dropped in 2008.
In 2003, three other club members filed a federal lawsuit against the
Milwaukee Police Department and Summerfest, contending they were wrongly
ejected from the music festival because they refused to take off or
obscure their colors showing the Outlaws' logo. That lawsuit was
dismissed in 2004.
Nationwide, 26 members of the gang rounded up after indictment alleged
attempted murder, drug dealing, other crimes
By John Diedrich, Ryan Haggerty and Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel
June 15, 2010 10:32 a.m.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/96370809.html
Loading Image...
Onlookers watch as boxes are carried out of the south side Milwaukee
clubhouse of the Outlaws motorcycle gang near S. 2nd and W. Maple
streets in Walker's Point after agents with the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided the building Tuesday morning.
[On the webpage:]
TMJ4 Video
RAW VIDEO: ATF Outside Motorcycle Gang Building
Federal agents raided the south side Milwaukee clubhouse of the Outlaws
motorcycle gang Tuesday and arrested its purported national leader -
part of a seven-state roundup that included a shootout in Maine where a
gang leader was killed.
Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
surrounded the gang's Milwaukee clubhouse near S. 2nd St. and W. Maple
St. at dawn and arrested Jack Rosga, 53, known as "Milwaukee Jack" and
the Outlaws' national leader since 2006, officials said.
Elsewhere in the country, agents rounded up 26 members of the gang after
a grand jury in Virginia indicted them last week. A 12-count indictment,
which was unsealed Tuesday, describes the gang's strict hierarchy and
brutal tactics against rivals, especially the Hell's Angels.
In Maine, Thomas "Tomcat" Mayne, 59, a purported regional gang
treasurer, was killed in a shootout with ATF agents Tuesday.
The gang's crimes included attempted murder, kidnapping, assault,
robbery, extortion, witness intimidation, drug dealing, illegal gambling
and gun charges, according to documents.
None of the beatings or shootings occurred in Milwaukee, but Rosga was
implicated as directing some of the violence from Milwaukee, according
to documents.
"Today's arrest of the national president and leadership of the American
Outlaws Association mark another aggressive attempt by the Department of
Justice to dismantle what the indictment alleges to be a gang whose
entire environment revolves around violence," said Neil MacBride, U.S.
attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.
It is at least the third round of federal charges against Outlaws with a
Milwaukee connection. More than two dozen Outlaws were convicted in 1997
and 2001 cases. Several are serving life terms in prison.
Wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a long gray goatee, Rosga appeared Tuesday
in federal court in Milwaukee, where Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence
ordered him held without bail.
At least 11 federal agents were in court as Rosga shuffled in wearing
handcuffs and ankle shackles. Rosga waived extradition. His next court
appearance will be in Virginia. No date has been set.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering through violence.
If convicted, Rosga faces up to 23 years in prison. Others in the gang
face life in prison.
Public defender Chip Burke, who was representing Rosga for the hearing,
said his client runs a trucking company and is not the leader of a
violent biker gang. He noted that Rosga's name comes up only four times
in the 50-page indictment.
"If you think a guy who is running a moving company can run the Outlaws
from thousands of miles away, I would beg to differ," Burke said after
the hearing. "He is a working stiff."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Kraft and the court documents portray
Rosga as acting as president of the Outlaws who, at one point, "declared
war" on the Hell's Angels.
During the four-year investigation, undercover agents infiltrated the
gang and secretly recorded Outlaw members. Documents describe the gang's
inner workings and traditions, such as patches that say "snitches are a
dying breed" and ADIOS ("Angels Die in Outlaw States.").
In June 2007, an Outlaws member was fatally shot outside a strip club in
Georgia. Rosga "gave the 'green light' " to retaliate against Renegades
gang members, the indictment says.
Rosga also told a lower-ranking Outlaws member that it was a "good time
to clean your own house," that is to kill anyone suspected of
cooperating with law enforcement, the indictment says. In July, Rosga
told undercover agents posing as Outlaws members that they should shoot
Hell's Angels members and predicted he himself would one day go to jail,
it says.
In October, Rosga demanded that a subordinate known as "Madman" take
revenge on the Hell's Angels after two Outlaws were attacked at a
Florida gas station, it says.
Four days later, Mayne - who was killed Tuesday - shot a Hell's Angels
member outside a clubhouse in Canaan, Maine, the indictment says. The
rival biker survived.
During Tuesday's raid in Milwaukee, ATF agents removed boxes from the
Outlaws' clubhouse and placed them in a U-Haul truck.
The black brick building sits at a dead end. The Outlaws' logo - a white
skull with red eyes in front of crossed pistons - is painted on at least
two of the building's walls.
Several neighbors said they have never had problems with the club.
Members notify neighbors when they are organizing large motorcycle rides
and make sure their vehicles don't block nearby driveways, residents said.
Andrew Balistreri, who lives a block from the clubhouse, said he had
heard the building is well-guarded. A large camera is mounted above its
front door.
"I always thought that there was possibly something going on,"
Balistreri said. "I've heard that place is more guarded and harder to
get into than a penitentiary. That makes it suspicious, doesn't it?"
Rosga and the Milwaukee chapter of the Outlaws have had previous run-ins
with law enforcement.
Rosga and two other Outlaws members sued the City of Milwaukee in 2007,
contending that police had harassed the club's members and searched
their clubhouse without a warrant. The lawsuit was dropped in 2008.
In 2003, three other club members filed a federal lawsuit against the
Milwaukee Police Department and Summerfest, contending they were wrongly
ejected from the music festival because they refused to take off or
obscure their colors showing the Outlaws' logo. That lawsuit was
dismissed in 2004.
--
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Trout Mask Replica
KFJC.org, WFMU.org, WMSE.org, or WUSB.org;
because the pigoenholed programming of music channels
on Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck