December 10, 2009 • 34 mins
In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck discuss the notorious Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, more commonly referred to as the Hells Angels.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know
from house Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast, room Room, etcetera. I'm Josh Clark. With me
(00:21):
is always as Charles W Chuck Bryant. That may have
been the most realistic Harley Davidson impression made by human mouth. Thanks, Room, Room, etcetera. Yeah,
I was practicing that. It's good. So Chuck, how are
you doing? Oh? I'm good dude. About to start the
old Thanksgiving break vacation. I know this is the last
thing we have to do and then a week off.
(00:43):
But this will probably come out after thank Giving people
to be like, yeah, weird, weird. Indeed, Hey, can I
take you back in time? We don't have to go
the way back machine. I'm just going to paint a
picture for you, all right. So, a balmy Saturday night,
April seventh, two two. Do you know where you were?
(01:05):
I was living in Los Angeles, Okay, so it probably
wasn't balmy for me. Okay, It's probably clear and cool,
all right. Well, not too far away from where you were,
in a town called Laughlin, Nevada. There is a hair
Is casino and on that night a couple of guys
who were there for the Lafflin River Run. It's a
motorcycle uh run ride right, guy named Jeff King and
(01:29):
Walter Boosts to two buddies, just normal guys. We're walking
into the casino. The hair is at um Laughlin and
this burly guy pushed past him and said that they'd
better get the blank out of the way, because trouble's
about to happen. Sure enough, within two minutes, King and
Boost here, Uh two shots fired, and then another shot
(01:53):
and then all holy hell breaks loose in the middle
of this hair Is casino. Yet they remained after giving
the warning. I take it, Yeah they did. I would
have been so gone. They actually did remain because um
one of them testified later on that a guy pushed
past him going the other way out of the casino
holding a long knife with blood all over it. So
(02:13):
this thing, this this casino erupts into a melee. And
what it happened was, uh, the Mongols, a motorcycle club.
You might call him a biker gang. That's what some
people might say, ran into a Hell's Angels. The Hell's
Angels Motorcycle Club. Yes, and again all hell broke loose
of melee started. Two Hell's Angels died and one Mongol died,
(02:38):
just like the old days. Have you seen this? Have
you seen the security video of it? It's nut still
you know what I did back when it happened, and
they go absolutely crazy. Um, but that's kind of what
happens when the Hell's Angels encounter another rival group they're
not too fond of, especially the Mongols. From what I've read,
apparently there aren't enemies. So we're not going to talk
(02:59):
about the Angles today, and maybe another podcast in the works.
Respect to the Mongols, we don't know within them, seriously,
we're total squares. We have no affiliation whatsoever now. But
we do have an article on the site here at
how stuff works dot com called how the Hell's Angels
Motorcycle Club Works. Chuck and I kind of cooled it
up by calling this podcast how the Hell's Angels Work, right, Yeah,
(03:21):
And that's what generally most people think of them as
the Hell's Angels, But that is in fact their full name. Yes,
and that's what's adorned on their their jackets and such.
Nicely done and by the way. Um. I think forty
two Hell's Angels stood trial for that melee, and all
but six head charges dropped into plea. Bargain. The government
was trying to go after these guys and go after
him and go after him, which we'll find out later
(03:43):
is a real pattern, um, and couldn't get anything to stick.
And I think the most any of the six guys
who actually did plea, who got like thirty months something
like that bad casino behavior pretty much. Yeah right, yeah,
they didn't kissed the dice before you roll them. Right, So, Chuck,
let's talk about the Hell's Angels, man, alright, let's do it, room, room, etcetera.
(04:07):
The Hell's Angels, Josh, the little history they were started
in the Fontana San Bernardino area of California, which, by
the way, I don't know if you know this, but
the Hell's Angels refer to that chapter as Burdu and
Burdue was still around. Yeah, oh yeah, they still remain,
although they said I think I read that most of
those original Burdue members did migrate north to Oakland, which
(04:31):
is why a lot of people think that it started
in Oakland, which is faults. So burd was the first
chapter who started the best we can tell, a guy
named Otto Freedley. Yeah, that's that's in the late nineteen Yeah,
and actually he was with another biker gang called the
piste Off Bastards, and they've gotten into a war with
(04:51):
another honest. Um, they got in a war with another
biker gang. And I guess once the war was over, Freedly,
I'm out. I'm gonna go start my own thing. Right,
maybe that could be disappointing bastards. Um, that's uh, right
after World War Two, right, these guys must have been
(05:13):
disenchanted um servicemen who couldn't fit back into society. Miscreant pilots, right, Yeah,
wasn't there like a bomber squadron called the Hell's Angels? Yeah, Josh.
That is one of the most common misconceptions is that
the Hell's Angels were in fact ex servicemen, outlaw pilots
from World War Two, miscreants, miscreant drinkers, who were you know,
(05:37):
didn't say answer to anybody, even in the army. Not true,
because we read it on the Hell's Angel's website. Yeah,
if you go into the Hell's Angels website, one guy
from the Charleston, South Carolina chapter and another guy from
one of the English chapters got together and did some serious,
extensive research trying to find out if there was a
(05:58):
connection between this armor group. And at no point did
they say, we're not, you know, miscreating drunks. But these
guys weren't. You know, it's kind of a disservice to
these uh, actually really highly decorated and very successful bomber
squadron servicemen. And they couldn't have operated they were miscreants
and been successful if they were drunks and miscreants know,
(06:19):
and they were highly successful. The closest they found, from
what I can understand, is that a guy named are
avaid arvid arvid Olsen was actually in a third pursuit
group called the Hell's Angels, and he was friends with
some of the founding members of the Burdoue chapter. UM,
(06:40):
but he was never a Hell's Angel himself. And that's
the closest they could find for a link between the two.
They share a name, and that's it. That's it from
what we can tell. Ye, So false false false false.
So Chuck, we've got the founding in but the Hell's Angels,
I guess kind of rode a little under the radar
until nine team fifty seven, right, yes, when that Oakland
(07:03):
Chapter was founded. Yeah, that's when they really started rolling,
right thanks to a guy named sunny Barger, Yes, Ralph
sunny Barger. He uh, I believe founded the Oakland UM
Chapter and he wrote a bunch of books that were
really successful that kind of kind of peeled back the
curtain behind the Hell's Angels up front. I was reading
one of them on Google Books today. It's called Hell's Angel,
(07:26):
The Life and Times of sunny Barger, I think. And
it's an autobiography because he kept using the word I
and it was by him, um giveaway for an autobiography
usually um. And he in his heyday was a very
cool dude, it sounds like it. And also let me
let me let me also, um add a caveat to that.
(07:49):
I'm also aware that he was also a major drug
trafficker who engaged in violence, um and toward women, towards
squares like you and me, chuck. Um did all manner
of bad things. But who's still kind of cool dude. Right. Yeah,
we'll talk about that too a little bit later about
(08:10):
the Hell's Angels in whether or not they are uh
want to run a foul of the law or ride
you know for charity and stuff like that. Well, what
are we going to talk about now? Right now, we're
gonna talk about um, let's talk about their their colors
in their insignia and all that stuff. They call it
their colors much like a military people call their uniform
their color sometimes. And red and white are the actual
(08:33):
colors of the letters. It's a red letters in a
white field. Absolutely. And then the thing at the top
top patch that actually says Hell's Angels call it the
top rocker top rocker, right, and then the bottom rocker
is there, um the name of the city that their
chapters in right, their chapter location right. And then in
the middle is what the middle is. The death head
(08:56):
is what it's called. And that is a copy written
as death Head it is, and as is their name.
And that was designed by the San Francisco chapter president,
Frank Satellac Sedillac. And here's an interesting fact for you.
Did you know that the Hell's Angels motorcycle Club is
at California Corporation. They're incorporated, and they do jealously guard
(09:20):
their copyrighted materials, their images, all that stuff. They sued
Disney for They sued Disney a couple of years ago
for that movie Wild Hogs about all the middle aged
bikers Martin Lawrence and Tim Tim Allen and Trivolda and
William Macy. Just terrible. I'm sure I would have sued too.
(09:42):
I can't believe you saw it. No, I didn't see it,
kidding me. I saw that they sued. Yeah, so when
did they sue over? These guys weren't supposed to be
Hell's Angels, were they? I think so? They sued because
they said they used the Hell's Angels logo and everything
without their permission. I don't know if they were specifically.
I don't wonder if the antagonists were Hell's Angels or something. Maybe,
But all I know is they sued and I couldn't find.
As usual, you can never find out what happens with
(10:04):
the lawsuit. No, it's probably some deal. But yeah, they
sued because they are, like you said, they zealously guard
their name. And uh they ride Harley Davidson's but apparently
are not required to do so. No, but it's all
They almost exclusively ride Harley's. I can't imagine if you
wheel upon a Honda that they're gonna come on in. Yeah,
(10:25):
come on in, brother, we'll jump you in prospect um.
They also apparently a typical member drives about twenty thousand
miles a yearly rides, rides. We will get down, say
that you drive a motorcycle. Yeah, so, Chuck, you've seen
you know, we talked about the patches and and you've
seen guys wearing them here. They're right. Well, yeah, there's
different patches, Like if you're the president of your chapter,
(10:46):
you'll have a little patch that like the boy Scouts
sort of. Yeah, and there's all sorts. Oh man, there's
all sorts of other patches and insignia. Sure that um,
no one outside of the club gang whatever, uh knows
the meaning of Yeah, I know the A F F
A is a common one, but we do know the
meaning of that because that's one of their slogans, which
(11:07):
is uh angels Forever, Forever angels. And then you'll also
see eighty one a lot of times. Eight H is
the eighth letter of the alphabet, and A is the
first letter, So eight one J Hell's angels. Yeah, and
they'll say call it like local eighty one. Sometimes it
sounds for like a union. And apparently they also refer
to themselves as one percenters. I heard about that too, Yeah,
(11:30):
one percent of the outlaw bikers giving of respectable biker
is a bad name. Yes, yeah, pretty cool, Yeah, it
is kind of I told you so, Chuck. How do
you become a member? Well, Josh, like I said, you
need to own a working motorcycle. That's probably first, and
have a driver's license. And have a driver's license. That's
(11:52):
that's funny that those are rules, but it makes sense. Also,
you can't ever have applied to be a police officer,
prison guard. I got an a one. You cannot be
a child molester. Hell's Angels don't like child molesters. They
really don't. Good for them. Yeah, because you know what
I don't either. The Hell's Angels have a longstanding hatred
of the cops. Um and with good cause Pigs as
(12:16):
they call him. Sure, Um Hunter Thompson are our shared hero.
Wrote about the Hell's Angels and we can talk about
that a little more in depth. But um he said
that he was talking about how the average Hell's Angel
views the establishment or the law, and he said he
knows that somewhere behind the moat, the main cop has
(12:37):
scrawled his name on a blackboard in the big briefing
room with a notation beside it. Get this boy, give
him no peace. He's incorrigible like an egg sucking dog.
So apparently that's how Hell's Angels tend to view um
the cops. Yeah, why couldn't we get Johnny Depp to
have read that wouldn't have been great? Maybe we know, No,
(12:57):
that would have been great. Uh So back to membership,
if you want to be a member, takes a little while.
Sometimes it can take a year or more. Yeah, to
become a full patch member. As they say, so you
start out as a hang around. Yeah, that's what it's
just hang around them, but you're you're invited to hang around. Like,
you can't just hang around and be a hang around.
(13:19):
They'll say, what are you doing here? Uh? Square, get
out of here, drive your motorcycle on out of here,
or they'll hit you over the head of the tire
iron right can when you drop up in your vol
foe to hang around? Uh So, yeah, you're you're invited
to hang around and you can attend uh some events.
Evidently as a hang around, then you are made an
(13:40):
associate if you do a good job as a hang around.
How do you do a good job as a hang around?
I would guess this is just a guess, But if
I was a Hell's Angel, I would say that you
don't cause a lot of trouble, You're fun to be around,
You bring chicks to the party. Sure, that probably didn't hurt. Okay,
So after the hang around you become an associate and
(14:00):
then what you become a prospect? And this is apparently
full acknowledgement that you are in the pipeline for official
membership consideration. Yeah. Do you remember when we did our
fight Clubs podcast and we talked about how fight clubs,
especially in California, often used to like jump in prospects
into gangs. These would be the people who are on
their last night. Right. Did they get thrown into like
(14:23):
a cage match with a bunch of other people and
I imagine it gets pretty ugly. Yeah, no, thank you,
that's what I say. Uh. And actually, if you're in
a prospect at this point, you can participate in the
club activities, but you cannot vote. You don't have voting privileges. Yet.
That seems funny, doesn't it that they vote? It's democracy? Yeah?
And Josh, what's after that? After that, my friend, you
(14:46):
are a full patch member. Yep, you are allowed to
wear the Death's Head logo. You can wear your top
and lower rocker. Yeah, you get your jacket. Yeah, and um,
apparently and this is this is one of those things
that it may or may not be lower it could
be who knows. Apparently, during initiation there is a um
(15:10):
bucket filled with feces and urine passed around and dumped
on the person. And they're never allowed to wash their colors,
so that's on their on their jacket forever. Well, that's
not fun. No, it's not um. And I don't think
that this is correct. Apparently, our buddy Hunter T wrote that,
(15:31):
and um, you get in trouble. He didn't get in trouble.
He got away with murder. Apparently, not literally. But Sonny
Barger said that that's just not true. That doesn't sound
like to be right. It seems like they would not
want to desecrate their colors, would be gross. Yeah, it's
just a thought. Alright, I'll give us some advice if
that's what you're doing, guys, not at all. You should
(15:52):
respect your own colors. Advice for the Hell's Angels from
Chuck Bryant the end. So now you are a full
patch member, you're in the Alls Angels, and um, you're
you're a member for life. That's why they say Angels Forever,
Forever Angels. There's no retirement. No, there's not. And uh,
even if you're not allowed to associate with the Hell's
Angels anymore because of your terms of parole, you're still
(16:15):
considered a Hell's Angel. Yeah. Pretty cool. Yeah, So Chuck, Um,
let's talk a little more about Hunter t He literally
he literally wrote the book on Hell's Angels and the
mid sixties early mid sixties. He wrote an article in
sixty in the Nation, and then that article got book published.
(16:36):
A sniffing around say you should write a book on this.
Sunny Barger also wrote wrote or read that article. He
liked it and um he said it was a little exaggerated,
but he liked Thompson's writing style. So when Thompson started
hanging around some of the bars that the Burdue chapter
Oakland chapter hung out at I think it was Oakland. Um.
(16:57):
They they finally introduced him to Sunny Barger and Barger said,
you know what, fine, you can hang out with us
um in return for two cakes of beer, which By
the way, Hunter Thompson never paid up on UM, and
Hunter spent the next year hanging out with the Hell's Angels.
Apparently he um helped them unload shipments of meth like
(17:20):
planeloads of meth. Um. He helped them. He wont on
a gun run with them at least once. Uh. When
they got into it with the cops, he apparently jumped
into his car and pulled the trunk catch down on him,
and Sonny Barger said that that was it. He was
like after that, I never looked at Hunter Thompson in
the same way again. He figured out he was a coward,
(17:41):
but he was also a kind of a skinny guy
in a literary type. So yeah, I don't think he
ever claimed to be a wise with the fisticuffs, which
is why he carried guns. And then finally, this whole
thing ends, his whole association ends um when Hunter gets
the crap kicked out of him by the Hell's Angels,
some of which he considered friends. Right, Yeah, Well, actually
(18:01):
what I read was that he later said the ones
who actually did the beating were the ones he wasn't
hanging around with the most, and they were sort of
on the on the fringe there. You know what happened, well,
I I couldn't find I heard they he made a
remark at a party he did, and I couldn't figure out.
I couldn't find what that remark was. Hell's Angel by
the name of Junkie George had his dog. No, this
(18:23):
is not Hippie robb Um, although I could see Hippie
rob knowing Chunkie George. Um. Anyway, Junkie George had his
dog with him, and his dog bit him, and Junkie
George kicked his dog, and Hunter Thompson walked up to
him and said, only punk slapped their old ladies and
kicked their dogs. And Junkie George did not like that
one bit that started ye, so he um he put
(18:45):
the smack down on Hunter Thompson. A bunch of other
guys jumped in, and Hunter Thompson drove himself to the
police station. The police turned him away and he drove
himself to the hospital. He was treated and he never
hung out with the Hell's Angels again. That was in
but he did publish the book Hell's Angels, The Strange
and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and apparently
(19:06):
a lot of it was exaggerated. But this is where
Sonny Barger said he wrote the book for law enforcement,
Like law enforcement all read it and they're like, oh, well, sure,
this is what we're dealing with. And a lot of
it was. Well, gang rape was in there, and I
don't know if that was exaggerated or not. He said
he witnessed gang rape on more than one occasion and
that they used it as a form of punishment. And uh.
(19:29):
He said that they admitted that it was a form
of punishment that Hell's Angels did, so I will say
allegedly here, but it was in the book. Thompson apparently
also lent his notes to another journalist at least equally good,
by the name of Tom Wolf. Yes, of the of
the Right Stuff fame, as well as the electric Koliate
asseid tests. Yes. Um, the Hell's Angels factor hugely in
(19:51):
the electric koal Aid asset test, which is actually about
the Mary pranksters. And uh, I think in nineteen sixty five,
the Hell's Angels went to the Lee, Oakland border and
beat the tar out of some lefty anti war protesters.
College students beat him up and then vowed to break
up any anti war demonstration they ever came across um
(20:14):
So Hunter. Apparently it took um Alan Ginsburg the poet
and Ken Kizi, the leader of the Mary Pranksters, and
introduced him to Sonny Barger, then went off his own way.
And uh, that meeting kind of made peace between the
hippies and the Hell's Angels famously. Yeah, and I think
(20:35):
Ginsberg even wrote a poem about the Hell's Angels. Yeah, yeah,
I couldn't find it though, Okay, but I would like
to see you didn't dream that. Yeah, man, it was
a beautiful poem. Now he really did write a poem though, Okay,
it's funny thing about Alan Ginsberg hanging out with the
Hell's Angels. It's really weird, especially like the head Hell's Angel. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah, Sonny Barger said that he loved acid and
(20:59):
it was the one thing he his people in the
hippies had in common, are one of the main things.
And they did plenty of the acid tests that La
Honda and Stid all sorts of crazy stuff with the prankster. Yeah.
Those are the days. Huh, those were the days. And actually,
let me say another thing about law enforcement. Apparently, when
Hunter Thompson was hanging out with the Hell's Angels there,
(21:20):
um their their influence and their membership was drastically on
the wing. And then a guy named Thomas Lynch, who
was the Attorney General for California at the time, he
issues a report on the Hell's Angels and it is
ridiculous and bloated and exaggerated, and but apparently it just
(21:42):
blew up the Hell's Angel street cred and all of
a sudden they were just their members. They have more
members than ever after that report. Yeah, so sometimes it
works against you when you try and quash something. So
I guess we should talk about some of the good
they do and some of the bad they've done, because
there's the fight an opinion the Hell's Angels. Uh, they
raised money for charity. They're famous for their uh their
(22:05):
work with the Toys for Tots and they do charity
rides and stuff like that over the years, and I
think they've cleaned up their act a lot, probably now
compared to what it was like in the sixties. But
they've had some scrapes with the law many many times
along the way, uh, notably at Altamont Speedway that was
a big one. Yeah, we can't talk about the Hell's
(22:26):
Angels without talking about this. This was the ultimont free
concert and it was famously recorded in the concert film
Gimme Shelter. It was apparently the day the sixties died?
Is that what they say? Is that that what that
stupid song is about from that guy American Pie. Yeah,
he's not talking about that now, that's about the death
of Buddy Holly. That's the day the music died. Either him.
(22:48):
I hate that song. Anyone who can listen, sit still,
sit down and listen to that song all the way through,
right in. And I've got a prize for you. You're
a special person. I forget to send you information the
Hell's Angels. So back to altamont Um. It was a
free concert there and a bunch of bands played, Jefferson
Airplane and the Rolling Stones. The Dead was supposed to play.
(23:09):
They helicoptered in and then by that time things had
gone south. Well, yeah, they the Stones helicoptered into and
what happened was the Stones hired the Hell's Angels. Although
there's been back and forth over the years that whether
or not they were hired for the show by the
organizers or whether the Stones specifically hired them as their
personal security, and it's a he he said, she said
(23:31):
type of deal with the Stones saying we did not
hire them specifically, and the Hell's Angel saying, yes you did.
You said you'd give us five with a beer if
you we would, we would be your bodyguards. So they
show up. They parked their bikes between the audience and
the stage. Stones go on and actually before this happened
(23:51):
that the violence had been escalating at this at this
show free show in the sixties at Altamont, it was
not good. There were I think two or three deaths
and numerous fights and beatings breaking out, and one of
the Hell's Angels smacked down Marty Balan of Jefferson Airplane
knocked him unconscious. The Grateful Dead see this and they're like,
(24:12):
we are out of here. This is not our scene
and we're not gonna play and we're leaving, and they
got back on their little helicopter and left. Have you
seen that footage? And uh, yeah, give me shelter is great.
If if you guys haven't seen that, you should definitely
watch it. Um. So back to the Stones. Stones take stage,
things start to devolve into violence and a guy named
(24:34):
Meredith Hunter pulls a gun, points it at the stage
and you can see all this in the film, and
he gets jumped and stabbed to death by Alan Pizzaro,
a Hell's Angel, famously, and the concert stopped. And you know,
the Stones had a pretty awful time with the pr
obviously about this. And apparently the Hell's Angels um were
exposed for plotting to kill Mick Jagger for criticizing them
(24:56):
after that. Yeah, true, and uh Pissarrow actually got off
Scott Free Equitt. Yeah, because the film clearly showed that
that that guy had a gun and he did pull it,
and so he was the aiming it. They don't know.
They said it was towards the stage, and um, you
can't really tell from the footage from what I remember,
but um, you know, the reports were that he was
(25:17):
going to kill the Rolling Stones, which I didn't know
that that was gonna happen by then. So the Hell's
Angels already had a pretty rough reputation. This is this
just cements it, right, So they just kind of go
balls out. Um, which is a motorcycle term and not
a vulgar expression. By the way. We learned that um
and uh by throughout the seventies, they own the market
(25:42):
on meth amphetam means yeah, apparently just the burd dude
chapter alone. This is a law enforcement estimate from nineteen
seventy nine, right after they staged a raid on that
chapter's clubhouse, where Sunny Barger was right um that this
this chapter alone controlled five meth labs that could make
(26:03):
a hundred and sixty thousand dollars or the pills a day. Wow,
and this is nine man. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. So
they don't call it like biker speed for nothing. It
was because the bikers, specifically the Hell's Angels, cornered the
market meth am fed amine in the seventies. They're also
they also sold, allegedly sold cocaine, heroin, pretty much anything. Sure,
(26:27):
prostitution was a big one apparently. And over the years
they've been um indicted and accused and booked for everything
from rape to to murder. Sonny Barger himself was in
federal prison for four years for conspiring to blow up
a rival gangs clubhouse. I don't know what the gang was,
probably the Mongols is my guess. And so yeah, they've
(26:50):
run a foul the law quite a bit over the years,
they definitely do. But if you'll notice Sonny Barger got
four years in federal pent right, you never hear about
a Hell's Angel being put by God. You would hear
about it if it happened. Yeah, I would imagine you
would never hear about them getting life imprisonment. So you
start to give the impression after everything you hear about
the Hell's Angels, but then these pittily convictions that are
(27:11):
slapped against them that maybe they are right in thinking
that law enforcement and the establishment has it out for him.
I think they definitely have it out for him, and
they probably have participated in illegal activities throughout the years.
But it's a big organization, and like you said, if
there's you know, a small handful of of actual convictions
(27:32):
compared to their vast history, that's, you know, that's not
too bad because it's not saying they're great guys or anything,
but it's not like they've been run up on, like
you said, murder charges like all over the place. Although
last this week they were in the news the the
Vegas cops rated six Hell's Angels locations in Las Vegas
(27:52):
and they seized records and knives and evidence, because last
year there was a brawl once again between the Mongols
and Hell's Angels, and I think two people were stabbed.
Allow me to interrupt if we have anything to impart
in this podcast, it's if you ever find yourself in
the same room, the same building, the same parking lot,
(28:13):
same town as a bunch of Mongols and a bunch
of Hell's Angels, get out. Do you know what happened
in Vegas? Oh, it's actually kind of funny. Huh. Two
people were stabs, so it's not funny. But that was
at a They both show up at a they were
double booked at a wedding chapel, a Mongol wedding. Oh yeah,
a Hell's Angel's wedding. We're both booked at the same
wedding chapel at the same time. Not good, No, And
(28:34):
I'm sure the person who booked that didn't wasn't brought
up on charges or anything. And in fact, they're probably
the ones that originally are to blame. They sat back
and went exactly right. So, Chuck, what started out in
Burdou and then blew up in Oakland has grown into
like a worldwide organization. Whether or not it's an outlaw,
biker gang or whatever. Um, they have a legitimate chapters
(28:58):
in how many countries? Twenty nine countries? How many chapters?
Want more than a hundred? Yeah, in all sorts of
places too. I think in nineteen eighty four they had
their first South American chapter open in Rio. Now they
have them in Um, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic, Wales, Luxembourg, Luxembourg,
(29:20):
the Luxemburghs Angels. Yeah, and that's money to me. Apparently
the ones in Europe are going nuts these days. There's
a huge turf woar that's been ongoing in Scandinavia. Australia
is having real problems with them too. Um. And there's
things like, you know, rocket launchers showing up, grenades being
used like in these gang wars. Yeah, that's not in
(29:41):
the like the old days with knives and fists. Rocket
launcher Yeah, yeah, that's a different deal. I told Joe Square.
The first chapter outside the US web was in New
Zealand in ninette. And little known fact, George Harrison of
the Beatles God Rest his Soul is allegedly responsible for
bringing the Hell's Angels to England. Yeah. He invited a
(30:02):
couple vide a couple of dudes that he met in
San Francisco viting them over in England. They come over
and hang out and boom, a London Hell's Angels chapter
pops up afterwards. Pretty cool or is it? I don't know.
And right now Poland and Iceland are currently seeking chapter.
So good luck to Iceland, that's what I say, Poland, Yes, alright,
good luck with that. So that's the Hell's Angels. I'm
(30:24):
quite sure that there's a lot, a lot, you could
even say a hell of a lot more information out
there that will never find out because again, Chuck and
I are squares who will never get to hang out
with the Hell's angel ever, mainly because we don't want
to get beat up. Yeah. I'm not a big fan
of throwing punches or taking them on the chin. It's
(30:48):
just not me. I'm a fan of running away. Um,
if you want to learn a little more about The
Hell's Angels, you can take that into the handy search
bar at how stuff works dot com. Uh. You might
also want to you go onto the Hell's Angels Motor
Club website. It's pretty interesting. It's got links to other
chapters two and also congratulations uh to the Burdue chapter
(31:10):
on their sixtieth anniversary, which and um, since I said
the Burdu chapter, I guess that means it's time for
listener mate. Yes, indeed, Josh, I have a couple of
corrections here for a change that we're going to acknowledge. Well,
we haven't read corrections in a while. First of all,
(31:32):
if I want to say that Bernie Gets, Bernard Gets
is not a serial killer, I mistakenly said that and
pre killer right. He didn't kill anyone. He shot some
guys in New York and no one died, and he
was not even convicted of attempted murder or anything. And
he's still alive and living in New York. And I
feel like a big jerk because I got him confused
(31:54):
with Charles Bronson and death Witch. I was dead wrong,
and I'm man enough to admit it. I'm sorry Bernard Gets,
you didn't. You're not a real killer, obviously, so I
apologize for that. We had angry people right in about
that dude. That one lady man, it's like Bernie Gets
his sister or something. I think she was she was scared.
But I do feel bad because that's not right. Uh.
We have a quick correction. Remember the toling Get Indians
(32:17):
that we were trying to pronounce. Apparently it's pronounced clinkett.
And we had people right in from Alaska. Matthew actually
Matthews from Seattle, Washington. He wrote in and says it's
pronounced clink clink up. So there he had that. Thanks,
And then finally we have another correction. I remember when
I said about the Amish not being able to listen
to us rooms spring up and that if they actually
(32:38):
wrote in they would be liars. I'm not true because
of what rum. Yes, we had a farmer, John of
New York right in and said that we had a
few people write in on this. The Amish, every Amish teenager,
nearly every homist teenager goes on rum spring out where
they effectively leave the community and live with us regular
English folks, Americans for a period of time, and they
(33:01):
are free to indulge in the things that American kids
indulge in, drugs, drinking, smoking, whatever if they want. And
podcast podcast listening is is definitely one. So evidently we
could very well have been heard by an Amish person.
Here's my argument to that. Okay, so they go on
(33:21):
rump springing to decide whether they want to live with
the English or stay in Amish. Sure during this period,
in my opinion, they're in some sort of middle ground
between the two, so they're technically not Amish. So if
one of them on rum spring I heard this, send
it in and be like, dude, you haven't made your
decision yet, I don't want to hear it from me.
(33:42):
Or what if they heard our podcast and we're so
taken with it they refused to go back to the
Amish lifestyle, or if they heard it and hated it
so much they went screaming back to Mom and Paul sportily.
So thank you. Farmer John in New York, he says, ps,
I'm not Amish, but I'm a lowly cal farmer. Although
rum spring it would be pretty sweet, that's what he says. Yeah,
So I encourage John just go on his own room springing.
(34:04):
I went on my own room springing. I'm still online. Well,
if you have a story about your own personal rum
spring of whether you were Amish or not, you can
send in an email to Stuffed podcast at how stuff
works dot com. For more on this and thousands of
(34:24):
other topics, visit how stuff works dot com want more
how stuff works, check out our blogs on the house
stuff works dot com home page. Brought to you by
the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know
from house Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast, room Room, etcetera. I'm Josh Clark. With me
(00:21):
is always as Charles W Chuck Bryant. That may have
been the most realistic Harley Davidson impression made by human mouth. Thanks, Room, Room, etcetera. Yeah,
I was practicing that. It's good. So Chuck, how are
you doing? Oh? I'm good dude. About to start the
old Thanksgiving break vacation. I know this is the last
thing we have to do and then a week off.
(00:43):
But this will probably come out after thank Giving people
to be like, yeah, weird, weird. Indeed, Hey, can I
take you back in time? We don't have to go
the way back machine. I'm just going to paint a
picture for you, all right. So, a balmy Saturday night,
April seventh, two two. Do you know where you were?
(01:05):
I was living in Los Angeles, Okay, so it probably
wasn't balmy for me. Okay, It's probably clear and cool,
all right. Well, not too far away from where you were,
in a town called Laughlin, Nevada. There is a hair
Is casino and on that night a couple of guys
who were there for the Lafflin River Run. It's a
motorcycle uh run ride right, guy named Jeff King and
(01:29):
Walter Boosts to two buddies, just normal guys. We're walking
into the casino. The hair is at um Laughlin and
this burly guy pushed past him and said that they'd
better get the blank out of the way, because trouble's
about to happen. Sure enough, within two minutes, King and
Boost here, Uh two shots fired, and then another shot
(01:53):
and then all holy hell breaks loose in the middle
of this hair Is casino. Yet they remained after giving
the warning. I take it, Yeah they did. I would
have been so gone. They actually did remain because um
one of them testified later on that a guy pushed
past him going the other way out of the casino
holding a long knife with blood all over it. So
(02:13):
this thing, this this casino erupts into a melee. And
what it happened was, uh, the Mongols, a motorcycle club.
You might call him a biker gang. That's what some
people might say, ran into a Hell's Angels. The Hell's
Angels Motorcycle Club. Yes, and again all hell broke loose
of melee started. Two Hell's Angels died and one Mongol died,
(02:38):
just like the old days. Have you seen this? Have
you seen the security video of it? It's nut still
you know what I did back when it happened, and
they go absolutely crazy. Um, but that's kind of what
happens when the Hell's Angels encounter another rival group they're
not too fond of, especially the Mongols. From what I've read,
apparently there aren't enemies. So we're not going to talk
(02:59):
about the Angles today, and maybe another podcast in the works.
Respect to the Mongols, we don't know within them, seriously,
we're total squares. We have no affiliation whatsoever now. But
we do have an article on the site here at
how stuff works dot com called how the Hell's Angels
Motorcycle Club Works. Chuck and I kind of cooled it
up by calling this podcast how the Hell's Angels Work, right, Yeah,
(03:21):
And that's what generally most people think of them as
the Hell's Angels, But that is in fact their full name. Yes,
and that's what's adorned on their their jackets and such.
Nicely done and by the way. Um. I think forty
two Hell's Angels stood trial for that melee, and all
but six head charges dropped into plea. Bargain. The government
was trying to go after these guys and go after
him and go after him, which we'll find out later
(03:43):
is a real pattern, um, and couldn't get anything to stick.
And I think the most any of the six guys
who actually did plea, who got like thirty months something
like that bad casino behavior pretty much. Yeah right, yeah,
they didn't kissed the dice before you roll them. Right, So, Chuck,
let's talk about the Hell's Angels, man, alright, let's do it, room, room, etcetera.
(04:07):
The Hell's Angels, Josh, the little history they were started
in the Fontana San Bernardino area of California, which, by
the way, I don't know if you know this, but
the Hell's Angels refer to that chapter as Burdu and
Burdue was still around. Yeah, oh yeah, they still remain,
although they said I think I read that most of
those original Burdue members did migrate north to Oakland, which
(04:31):
is why a lot of people think that it started
in Oakland, which is faults. So burd was the first
chapter who started the best we can tell, a guy
named Otto Freedley. Yeah, that's that's in the late nineteen Yeah,
and actually he was with another biker gang called the
piste Off Bastards, and they've gotten into a war with
(04:51):
another honest. Um, they got in a war with another
biker gang. And I guess once the war was over, Freedly,
I'm out. I'm gonna go start my own thing. Right,
maybe that could be disappointing bastards. Um, that's uh, right
after World War Two, right, these guys must have been
(05:13):
disenchanted um servicemen who couldn't fit back into society. Miscreant pilots, right, Yeah,
wasn't there like a bomber squadron called the Hell's Angels? Yeah, Josh.
That is one of the most common misconceptions is that
the Hell's Angels were in fact ex servicemen, outlaw pilots
from World War Two, miscreants, miscreant drinkers, who were you know,
(05:37):
didn't say answer to anybody, even in the army. Not true,
because we read it on the Hell's Angel's website. Yeah,
if you go into the Hell's Angels website, one guy
from the Charleston, South Carolina chapter and another guy from
one of the English chapters got together and did some serious,
extensive research trying to find out if there was a
(05:58):
connection between this armor group. And at no point did
they say, we're not, you know, miscreating drunks. But these
guys weren't. You know, it's kind of a disservice to
these uh, actually really highly decorated and very successful bomber
squadron servicemen. And they couldn't have operated they were miscreants
and been successful if they were drunks and miscreants know,
(06:19):
and they were highly successful. The closest they found, from
what I can understand, is that a guy named are
avaid arvid arvid Olsen was actually in a third pursuit
group called the Hell's Angels, and he was friends with
some of the founding members of the Burdoue chapter. UM,
(06:40):
but he was never a Hell's Angel himself. And that's
the closest they could find for a link between the two.
They share a name, and that's it. That's it from
what we can tell. Ye, So false false false false.
So Chuck, we've got the founding in but the Hell's Angels,
I guess kind of rode a little under the radar
until nine team fifty seven, right, yes, when that Oakland
(07:03):
Chapter was founded. Yeah, that's when they really started rolling,
right thanks to a guy named sunny Barger, Yes, Ralph
sunny Barger. He uh, I believe founded the Oakland UM
Chapter and he wrote a bunch of books that were
really successful that kind of kind of peeled back the
curtain behind the Hell's Angels up front. I was reading
one of them on Google Books today. It's called Hell's Angel,
(07:26):
The Life and Times of sunny Barger, I think. And
it's an autobiography because he kept using the word I
and it was by him, um giveaway for an autobiography
usually um. And he in his heyday was a very
cool dude, it sounds like it. And also let me
let me let me also, um add a caveat to that.
(07:49):
I'm also aware that he was also a major drug
trafficker who engaged in violence, um and toward women, towards
squares like you and me, chuck. Um did all manner
of bad things. But who's still kind of cool dude. Right. Yeah,
we'll talk about that too a little bit later about
(08:10):
the Hell's Angels in whether or not they are uh
want to run a foul of the law or ride
you know for charity and stuff like that. Well, what
are we going to talk about now? Right now, we're
gonna talk about um, let's talk about their their colors
in their insignia and all that stuff. They call it
their colors much like a military people call their uniform
their color sometimes. And red and white are the actual
(08:33):
colors of the letters. It's a red letters in a
white field. Absolutely. And then the thing at the top
top patch that actually says Hell's Angels call it the
top rocker top rocker, right, and then the bottom rocker
is there, um the name of the city that their
chapters in right, their chapter location right. And then in
the middle is what the middle is. The death head
(08:56):
is what it's called. And that is a copy written
as death Head it is, and as is their name.
And that was designed by the San Francisco chapter president,
Frank Satellac Sedillac. And here's an interesting fact for you.
Did you know that the Hell's Angels motorcycle Club is
at California Corporation. They're incorporated, and they do jealously guard
(09:20):
their copyrighted materials, their images, all that stuff. They sued
Disney for They sued Disney a couple of years ago
for that movie Wild Hogs about all the middle aged
bikers Martin Lawrence and Tim Tim Allen and Trivolda and
William Macy. Just terrible. I'm sure I would have sued too.
(09:42):
I can't believe you saw it. No, I didn't see it,
kidding me. I saw that they sued. Yeah, so when
did they sue over? These guys weren't supposed to be
Hell's Angels, were they? I think so? They sued because
they said they used the Hell's Angels logo and everything
without their permission. I don't know if they were specifically.
I don't wonder if the antagonists were Hell's Angels or something. Maybe,
But all I know is they sued and I couldn't find.
As usual, you can never find out what happens with
(10:04):
the lawsuit. No, it's probably some deal. But yeah, they
sued because they are, like you said, they zealously guard
their name. And uh they ride Harley Davidson's but apparently
are not required to do so. No, but it's all
They almost exclusively ride Harley's. I can't imagine if you
wheel upon a Honda that they're gonna come on in. Yeah,
(10:25):
come on in, brother, we'll jump you in prospect um.
They also apparently a typical member drives about twenty thousand
miles a yearly rides, rides. We will get down, say
that you drive a motorcycle. Yeah, so, Chuck, you've seen
you know, we talked about the patches and and you've
seen guys wearing them here. They're right. Well, yeah, there's
different patches, Like if you're the president of your chapter,
(10:46):
you'll have a little patch that like the boy Scouts
sort of. Yeah, and there's all sorts. Oh man, there's
all sorts of other patches and insignia. Sure that um,
no one outside of the club gang whatever, uh knows
the meaning of Yeah, I know the A F F
A is a common one, but we do know the
meaning of that because that's one of their slogans, which
(11:07):
is uh angels Forever, Forever angels. And then you'll also
see eighty one a lot of times. Eight H is
the eighth letter of the alphabet, and A is the
first letter, So eight one J Hell's angels. Yeah, and
they'll say call it like local eighty one. Sometimes it
sounds for like a union. And apparently they also refer
to themselves as one percenters. I heard about that too, Yeah,
(11:30):
one percent of the outlaw bikers giving of respectable biker
is a bad name. Yes, yeah, pretty cool, Yeah, it
is kind of I told you so, Chuck. How do
you become a member? Well, Josh, like I said, you
need to own a working motorcycle. That's probably first, and
have a driver's license. And have a driver's license. That's
(11:52):
that's funny that those are rules, but it makes sense. Also,
you can't ever have applied to be a police officer,
prison guard. I got an a one. You cannot be
a child molester. Hell's Angels don't like child molesters. They
really don't. Good for them. Yeah, because you know what
I don't either. The Hell's Angels have a longstanding hatred
of the cops. Um and with good cause Pigs as
(12:16):
they call him. Sure, Um Hunter Thompson are our shared hero.
Wrote about the Hell's Angels and we can talk about
that a little more in depth. But um he said
that he was talking about how the average Hell's Angel
views the establishment or the law, and he said he
knows that somewhere behind the moat, the main cop has
(12:37):
scrawled his name on a blackboard in the big briefing
room with a notation beside it. Get this boy, give
him no peace. He's incorrigible like an egg sucking dog.
So apparently that's how Hell's Angels tend to view um
the cops. Yeah, why couldn't we get Johnny Depp to
have read that wouldn't have been great? Maybe we know, No,
(12:57):
that would have been great. Uh So back to membership,
if you want to be a member, takes a little while.
Sometimes it can take a year or more. Yeah, to
become a full patch member. As they say, so you
start out as a hang around. Yeah, that's what it's
just hang around them, but you're you're invited to hang around. Like,
you can't just hang around and be a hang around.
(13:19):
They'll say, what are you doing here? Uh? Square, get
out of here, drive your motorcycle on out of here,
or they'll hit you over the head of the tire
iron right can when you drop up in your vol
foe to hang around? Uh So, yeah, you're you're invited
to hang around and you can attend uh some events.
Evidently as a hang around, then you are made an
(13:40):
associate if you do a good job as a hang around.
How do you do a good job as a hang around?
I would guess this is just a guess, But if
I was a Hell's Angel, I would say that you
don't cause a lot of trouble, You're fun to be around,
You bring chicks to the party. Sure, that probably didn't hurt. Okay,
So after the hang around you become an associate and
(14:00):
then what you become a prospect? And this is apparently
full acknowledgement that you are in the pipeline for official
membership consideration. Yeah. Do you remember when we did our
fight Clubs podcast and we talked about how fight clubs,
especially in California, often used to like jump in prospects
into gangs. These would be the people who are on
their last night. Right. Did they get thrown into like
(14:23):
a cage match with a bunch of other people and
I imagine it gets pretty ugly. Yeah, no, thank you,
that's what I say. Uh. And actually, if you're in
a prospect at this point, you can participate in the
club activities, but you cannot vote. You don't have voting privileges. Yet.
That seems funny, doesn't it that they vote? It's democracy? Yeah?
And Josh, what's after that? After that, my friend, you
(14:46):
are a full patch member. Yep, you are allowed to
wear the Death's Head logo. You can wear your top
and lower rocker. Yeah, you get your jacket. Yeah, and um,
apparently and this is this is one of those things
that it may or may not be lower it could
be who knows. Apparently, during initiation there is a um
(15:10):
bucket filled with feces and urine passed around and dumped
on the person. And they're never allowed to wash their colors,
so that's on their on their jacket forever. Well, that's
not fun. No, it's not um. And I don't think
that this is correct. Apparently, our buddy Hunter T wrote that,
(15:31):
and um, you get in trouble. He didn't get in trouble.
He got away with murder. Apparently, not literally. But Sonny
Barger said that that's just not true. That doesn't sound
like to be right. It seems like they would not
want to desecrate their colors, would be gross. Yeah, it's
just a thought. Alright, I'll give us some advice if
that's what you're doing, guys, not at all. You should
(15:52):
respect your own colors. Advice for the Hell's Angels from
Chuck Bryant the end. So now you are a full
patch member, you're in the Alls Angels, and um, you're
you're a member for life. That's why they say Angels Forever,
Forever Angels. There's no retirement. No, there's not. And uh,
even if you're not allowed to associate with the Hell's
Angels anymore because of your terms of parole, you're still
(16:15):
considered a Hell's Angel. Yeah. Pretty cool. Yeah, So Chuck, Um,
let's talk a little more about Hunter t He literally
he literally wrote the book on Hell's Angels and the
mid sixties early mid sixties. He wrote an article in
sixty in the Nation, and then that article got book published.
(16:36):
A sniffing around say you should write a book on this.
Sunny Barger also wrote wrote or read that article. He
liked it and um he said it was a little exaggerated,
but he liked Thompson's writing style. So when Thompson started
hanging around some of the bars that the Burdue chapter
Oakland chapter hung out at I think it was Oakland. Um.
(16:57):
They they finally introduced him to Sunny Barger and Barger said,
you know what, fine, you can hang out with us
um in return for two cakes of beer, which By
the way, Hunter Thompson never paid up on UM, and
Hunter spent the next year hanging out with the Hell's Angels.
Apparently he um helped them unload shipments of meth like
(17:20):
planeloads of meth. Um. He helped them. He wont on
a gun run with them at least once. Uh. When
they got into it with the cops, he apparently jumped
into his car and pulled the trunk catch down on him,
and Sonny Barger said that that was it. He was
like after that, I never looked at Hunter Thompson in
the same way again. He figured out he was a coward,
(17:41):
but he was also a kind of a skinny guy
in a literary type. So yeah, I don't think he
ever claimed to be a wise with the fisticuffs, which
is why he carried guns. And then finally, this whole
thing ends, his whole association ends um when Hunter gets
the crap kicked out of him by the Hell's Angels,
some of which he considered friends. Right, Yeah, Well, actually
(18:01):
what I read was that he later said the ones
who actually did the beating were the ones he wasn't
hanging around with the most, and they were sort of
on the on the fringe there. You know what happened, well,
I I couldn't find I heard they he made a
remark at a party he did, and I couldn't figure out.
I couldn't find what that remark was. Hell's Angel by
the name of Junkie George had his dog. No, this
(18:23):
is not Hippie robb Um, although I could see Hippie
rob knowing Chunkie George. Um. Anyway, Junkie George had his
dog with him, and his dog bit him, and Junkie
George kicked his dog, and Hunter Thompson walked up to
him and said, only punk slapped their old ladies and
kicked their dogs. And Junkie George did not like that
one bit that started ye, so he um he put
(18:45):
the smack down on Hunter Thompson. A bunch of other
guys jumped in, and Hunter Thompson drove himself to the
police station. The police turned him away and he drove
himself to the hospital. He was treated and he never
hung out with the Hell's Angels again. That was in
but he did publish the book Hell's Angels, The Strange
and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and apparently
(19:06):
a lot of it was exaggerated. But this is where
Sonny Barger said he wrote the book for law enforcement,
Like law enforcement all read it and they're like, oh, well, sure,
this is what we're dealing with. And a lot of
it was. Well, gang rape was in there, and I
don't know if that was exaggerated or not. He said
he witnessed gang rape on more than one occasion and
that they used it as a form of punishment. And uh.
(19:29):
He said that they admitted that it was a form
of punishment that Hell's Angels did, so I will say
allegedly here, but it was in the book. Thompson apparently
also lent his notes to another journalist at least equally good,
by the name of Tom Wolf. Yes, of the of
the Right Stuff fame, as well as the electric Koliate
asseid tests. Yes. Um, the Hell's Angels factor hugely in
(19:51):
the electric koal Aid asset test, which is actually about
the Mary pranksters. And uh, I think in nineteen sixty five,
the Hell's Angels went to the Lee, Oakland border and
beat the tar out of some lefty anti war protesters.
College students beat him up and then vowed to break
up any anti war demonstration they ever came across um
(20:14):
So Hunter. Apparently it took um Alan Ginsburg the poet
and Ken Kizi, the leader of the Mary Pranksters, and
introduced him to Sonny Barger, then went off his own way.
And uh, that meeting kind of made peace between the
hippies and the Hell's Angels famously. Yeah, and I think
(20:35):
Ginsberg even wrote a poem about the Hell's Angels. Yeah, yeah,
I couldn't find it though, Okay, but I would like
to see you didn't dream that. Yeah, man, it was
a beautiful poem. Now he really did write a poem though, Okay,
it's funny thing about Alan Ginsberg hanging out with the
Hell's Angels. It's really weird, especially like the head Hell's Angel. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah, Sonny Barger said that he loved acid and
(20:59):
it was the one thing he his people in the
hippies had in common, are one of the main things.
And they did plenty of the acid tests that La
Honda and Stid all sorts of crazy stuff with the prankster. Yeah.
Those are the days. Huh, those were the days. And actually,
let me say another thing about law enforcement. Apparently, when
Hunter Thompson was hanging out with the Hell's Angels there,
(21:20):
um their their influence and their membership was drastically on
the wing. And then a guy named Thomas Lynch, who
was the Attorney General for California at the time, he
issues a report on the Hell's Angels and it is
ridiculous and bloated and exaggerated, and but apparently it just
(21:42):
blew up the Hell's Angel street cred and all of
a sudden they were just their members. They have more
members than ever after that report. Yeah, so sometimes it
works against you when you try and quash something. So
I guess we should talk about some of the good
they do and some of the bad they've done, because
there's the fight an opinion the Hell's Angels. Uh, they
raised money for charity. They're famous for their uh their
(22:05):
work with the Toys for Tots and they do charity
rides and stuff like that over the years, and I
think they've cleaned up their act a lot, probably now
compared to what it was like in the sixties. But
they've had some scrapes with the law many many times
along the way, uh, notably at Altamont Speedway that was
a big one. Yeah, we can't talk about the Hell's
(22:26):
Angels without talking about this. This was the ultimont free
concert and it was famously recorded in the concert film
Gimme Shelter. It was apparently the day the sixties died?
Is that what they say? Is that that what that
stupid song is about from that guy American Pie. Yeah,
he's not talking about that now, that's about the death
of Buddy Holly. That's the day the music died. Either him.
(22:48):
I hate that song. Anyone who can listen, sit still,
sit down and listen to that song all the way through,
right in. And I've got a prize for you. You're
a special person. I forget to send you information the
Hell's Angels. So back to altamont Um. It was a
free concert there and a bunch of bands played, Jefferson
Airplane and the Rolling Stones. The Dead was supposed to play.
(23:09):
They helicoptered in and then by that time things had
gone south. Well, yeah, they the Stones helicoptered into and
what happened was the Stones hired the Hell's Angels. Although
there's been back and forth over the years that whether
or not they were hired for the show by the
organizers or whether the Stones specifically hired them as their
personal security, and it's a he he said, she said
(23:31):
type of deal with the Stones saying we did not
hire them specifically, and the Hell's Angel saying, yes you did.
You said you'd give us five with a beer if
you we would, we would be your bodyguards. So they
show up. They parked their bikes between the audience and
the stage. Stones go on and actually before this happened
(23:51):
that the violence had been escalating at this at this
show free show in the sixties at Altamont, it was
not good. There were I think two or three deaths
and numerous fights and beatings breaking out, and one of
the Hell's Angels smacked down Marty Balan of Jefferson Airplane
knocked him unconscious. The Grateful Dead see this and they're like,
(24:12):
we are out of here. This is not our scene
and we're not gonna play and we're leaving, and they
got back on their little helicopter and left. Have you
seen that footage? And uh, yeah, give me shelter is great.
If if you guys haven't seen that, you should definitely
watch it. Um. So back to the Stones. Stones take stage,
things start to devolve into violence and a guy named
(24:34):
Meredith Hunter pulls a gun, points it at the stage
and you can see all this in the film, and
he gets jumped and stabbed to death by Alan Pizzaro,
a Hell's Angel, famously, and the concert stopped. And you know,
the Stones had a pretty awful time with the pr
obviously about this. And apparently the Hell's Angels um were
exposed for plotting to kill Mick Jagger for criticizing them
(24:56):
after that. Yeah, true, and uh Pissarrow actually got off
Scott Free Equitt. Yeah, because the film clearly showed that
that that guy had a gun and he did pull it,
and so he was the aiming it. They don't know.
They said it was towards the stage, and um, you
can't really tell from the footage from what I remember,
but um, you know, the reports were that he was
(25:17):
going to kill the Rolling Stones, which I didn't know
that that was gonna happen by then. So the Hell's
Angels already had a pretty rough reputation. This is this
just cements it, right, So they just kind of go
balls out. Um, which is a motorcycle term and not
a vulgar expression. By the way. We learned that um
and uh by throughout the seventies, they own the market
(25:42):
on meth amphetam means yeah, apparently just the burd dude
chapter alone. This is a law enforcement estimate from nineteen
seventy nine, right after they staged a raid on that
chapter's clubhouse, where Sunny Barger was right um that this
this chapter alone controlled five meth labs that could make
(26:03):
a hundred and sixty thousand dollars or the pills a day. Wow,
and this is nine man. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. So
they don't call it like biker speed for nothing. It
was because the bikers, specifically the Hell's Angels, cornered the
market meth am fed amine in the seventies. They're also
they also sold, allegedly sold cocaine, heroin, pretty much anything. Sure,
(26:27):
prostitution was a big one apparently. And over the years
they've been um indicted and accused and booked for everything
from rape to to murder. Sonny Barger himself was in
federal prison for four years for conspiring to blow up
a rival gangs clubhouse. I don't know what the gang was,
probably the Mongols is my guess. And so yeah, they've
(26:50):
run a foul the law quite a bit over the years,
they definitely do. But if you'll notice Sonny Barger got
four years in federal pent right, you never hear about
a Hell's Angel being put by God. You would hear
about it if it happened. Yeah, I would imagine you
would never hear about them getting life imprisonment. So you
start to give the impression after everything you hear about
the Hell's Angels, but then these pittily convictions that are
(27:11):
slapped against them that maybe they are right in thinking
that law enforcement and the establishment has it out for him.
I think they definitely have it out for him, and
they probably have participated in illegal activities throughout the years.
But it's a big organization, and like you said, if
there's you know, a small handful of of actual convictions
(27:32):
compared to their vast history, that's, you know, that's not
too bad because it's not saying they're great guys or anything,
but it's not like they've been run up on, like
you said, murder charges like all over the place. Although
last this week they were in the news the the
Vegas cops rated six Hell's Angels locations in Las Vegas
(27:52):
and they seized records and knives and evidence, because last
year there was a brawl once again between the Mongols
and Hell's Angels, and I think two people were stabbed.
Allow me to interrupt if we have anything to impart
in this podcast, it's if you ever find yourself in
the same room, the same building, the same parking lot,
(28:13):
same town as a bunch of Mongols and a bunch
of Hell's Angels, get out. Do you know what happened
in Vegas? Oh, it's actually kind of funny. Huh. Two
people were stabs, so it's not funny. But that was
at a They both show up at a they were
double booked at a wedding chapel, a Mongol wedding. Oh yeah,
a Hell's Angel's wedding. We're both booked at the same
wedding chapel at the same time. Not good, No, And
(28:34):
I'm sure the person who booked that didn't wasn't brought
up on charges or anything. And in fact, they're probably
the ones that originally are to blame. They sat back
and went exactly right. So, Chuck, what started out in
Burdou and then blew up in Oakland has grown into
like a worldwide organization. Whether or not it's an outlaw,
biker gang or whatever. Um, they have a legitimate chapters
(28:58):
in how many countries? Twenty nine countries? How many chapters?
Want more than a hundred? Yeah, in all sorts of
places too. I think in nineteen eighty four they had
their first South American chapter open in Rio. Now they
have them in Um, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic, Wales, Luxembourg, Luxembourg,
(29:20):
the Luxemburghs Angels. Yeah, and that's money to me. Apparently
the ones in Europe are going nuts these days. There's
a huge turf woar that's been ongoing in Scandinavia. Australia
is having real problems with them too. Um. And there's
things like, you know, rocket launchers showing up, grenades being
used like in these gang wars. Yeah, that's not in
(29:41):
the like the old days with knives and fists. Rocket
launcher Yeah, yeah, that's a different deal. I told Joe Square.
The first chapter outside the US web was in New
Zealand in ninette. And little known fact, George Harrison of
the Beatles God Rest his Soul is allegedly responsible for
bringing the Hell's Angels to England. Yeah. He invited a
(30:02):
couple vide a couple of dudes that he met in
San Francisco viting them over in England. They come over
and hang out and boom, a London Hell's Angels chapter
pops up afterwards. Pretty cool or is it? I don't know.
And right now Poland and Iceland are currently seeking chapter.
So good luck to Iceland, that's what I say, Poland, Yes, alright,
good luck with that. So that's the Hell's Angels. I'm
(30:24):
quite sure that there's a lot, a lot, you could
even say a hell of a lot more information out
there that will never find out because again, Chuck and
I are squares who will never get to hang out
with the Hell's angel ever, mainly because we don't want
to get beat up. Yeah. I'm not a big fan
of throwing punches or taking them on the chin. It's
(30:48):
just not me. I'm a fan of running away. Um,
if you want to learn a little more about The
Hell's Angels, you can take that into the handy search
bar at how stuff works dot com. Uh. You might
also want to you go onto the Hell's Angels Motor
Club website. It's pretty interesting. It's got links to other
chapters two and also congratulations uh to the Burdue chapter
(31:10):
on their sixtieth anniversary, which and um, since I said
the Burdu chapter, I guess that means it's time for
listener mate. Yes, indeed, Josh, I have a couple of
corrections here for a change that we're going to acknowledge. Well,
we haven't read corrections in a while. First of all,
(31:32):
if I want to say that Bernie Gets, Bernard Gets
is not a serial killer, I mistakenly said that and
pre killer right. He didn't kill anyone. He shot some
guys in New York and no one died, and he
was not even convicted of attempted murder or anything. And
he's still alive and living in New York. And I
feel like a big jerk because I got him confused
(31:54):
with Charles Bronson and death Witch. I was dead wrong,
and I'm man enough to admit it. I'm sorry Bernard Gets,
you didn't. You're not a real killer, obviously, so I
apologize for that. We had angry people right in about
that dude. That one lady man, it's like Bernie Gets
his sister or something. I think she was she was scared.
But I do feel bad because that's not right. Uh.
We have a quick correction. Remember the toling Get Indians
(32:17):
that we were trying to pronounce. Apparently it's pronounced clinkett.
And we had people right in from Alaska. Matthew actually
Matthews from Seattle, Washington. He wrote in and says it's
pronounced clink clink up. So there he had that. Thanks,
And then finally we have another correction. I remember when
I said about the Amish not being able to listen
to us rooms spring up and that if they actually
(32:38):
wrote in they would be liars. I'm not true because
of what rum. Yes, we had a farmer, John of
New York right in and said that we had a
few people write in on this. The Amish, every Amish teenager,
nearly every homist teenager goes on rum spring out where
they effectively leave the community and live with us regular
English folks, Americans for a period of time, and they
(33:01):
are free to indulge in the things that American kids
indulge in, drugs, drinking, smoking, whatever if they want. And
podcast podcast listening is is definitely one. So evidently we
could very well have been heard by an Amish person.
Here's my argument to that. Okay, so they go on
(33:21):
rump springing to decide whether they want to live with
the English or stay in Amish. Sure during this period,
in my opinion, they're in some sort of middle ground
between the two, so they're technically not Amish. So if
one of them on rum spring I heard this, send
it in and be like, dude, you haven't made your
decision yet, I don't want to hear it from me.
(33:42):
Or what if they heard our podcast and we're so
taken with it they refused to go back to the
Amish lifestyle, or if they heard it and hated it
so much they went screaming back to Mom and Paul sportily.
So thank you. Farmer John in New York, he says, ps,
I'm not Amish, but I'm a lowly cal farmer. Although
rum spring it would be pretty sweet, that's what he says. Yeah,
So I encourage John just go on his own room springing.
(34:04):
I went on my own room springing. I'm still online. Well,
if you have a story about your own personal rum
spring of whether you were Amish or not, you can
send in an email to Stuffed podcast at how stuff
works dot com. For more on this and thousands of
(34:24):
other topics, visit how stuff works dot com want more
how stuff works, check out our blogs on the house
stuff works dot com home page. Brought to you by
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Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
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