Spokane Hells Angels members arrested
Four current or former members of the Washington state Hells Angels chapter and one former associate were arrested in a series of raids early Tuesday at various locations, including the outlaw motorcycle gang’s headquarters in east Spokane.
The arrests were based on a newly unsealed indictment returned by a grand jury in Seattle accusing the defendants of federal racketeering. The charge embraces crimes including murder, robbery, extortion and trafficking in stolen motorcycles.
Richard “Smilin’ Rick” Fabel, the president of the chapter for the past decade, was arrested shortly after dawn at his home in northwest Spokane, and club member Ricky Jenks was arrested at his residence in the northeast part of the city, authorities said.
At the same time as the arrests, a team of federal and state officers raided the Hells Angels clubhouse at 1308 E. Sprague, where a sign in the window says: “Honesty matters.” The Washington State Patrol’s SWAT team and aircraft, along with FBI and ATF agents, were involved in the raids and the arrests.
Investigators did not immediately disclose what evidence, if any, was seized from the suspects’ homes or the clubhouse.
Also named in the indictment were former Hells Angels member Rodney Rollness, 45, of Snohomish, Wash., and Joshua Binder, 30, of North Bend, Wash. The former associate is Paul Foster, 49, of Arlington, Wash.
The racketeering indictment – seldom used by prosecutors – alleges Fabel and his associates have engaged in an “organized criminal enterprise” since 1999, held together by a series of crimes.
A similar RICO indictment filed in 1985 in Western Washington was used by the Justice Department to charge, convict and dismantle a band of neo-Nazi terrorists who called themselves The Order and committed a string of violent crimes.
The alleged crimes in the Hells Angels case include the July 2001 murder of Michael “Santa” Walsh, an armed robbery of an unidentified victim, the transportation of three stolen motorcycles, extortion and mail fraud.
Walsh was last seen at a party at Foster’s home in 2001. Foster is accused in the indictment of being an accessory after the fact for allegedly assisting Rollness and Binder in covering up the Walsh murder.
Fabel, 48, and Jenks, 28, were ordered held without bond at least until Thursday after an initial appearance Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno. Both defendants were wearing red sweatshirts – the trademark color of the Hells Angels.
“Apparently none of this has nothing to do with me,” Fabel told the judge when she asked if he wanted the indictment read to him.
Fabel also has been West Coast president of the Hells Angels, which has 227 chapters worldwide and a reported membership of 2,500.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Kimbell asked the court to detain the two men without bond as flight risks and dangers to the community.
But defense attorney Bevan Maxey, representing Fabel, and Assistant Federal Defender Amy Rubin, representing Jenks, both said the two should be released because they are already free without bond for unrelated federal charges previously filed in Nevada.
Both men have faithfully reported to their respective pre-trial probation officers and shown up for court dates, Maxey and Rubin argued to the court.
The magistrate said she needed more information and scheduled a bail hearing on Thursday, where investigators could be called to testify to support the prosecutor’s argument that the men are dangerous flight risks.
Fabel and Jenks earlier were indicted for involvement in a deadly brawl in 2002 involving members of the Hells Angels and the Mongols motorcycle gangs at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev.
In the Nevada case, Fabel faces 19 counts of violence in aid of racketeering and 13 counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Fabel was arrested in October, but later released from custody in Nevada and allowed to return to Spokane under pre-trial release conditions, including regular check-ins with a probation officer. Jenks, arrested in 2004, also was released under similar conditions imposed by a federal judge in Nevada.
The Nevada indictments allege prospective Hells Angels members carried out the violent casino brawl as a way of earning their full-membership patch in the club. While it’s not alleged Fabel directly participated in the fight, he is accused of being one of the masterminds.
Caught on the hotel’s video security system, the brawl left two Hells Angels and one Mongol dead. It was carried out with guns, knives, hammers and wrenches.