Original subtitles

(engine revving)

>> NARRATOR: They're an army

of outlaws...

>> DONALD C. DAVIS: There are

between 2,500 and 4,000 Hells

Angels in the world right now.

>> NARRATOR: ...highly

organized...

>> KERRIE DROBAN: They are the

Mafia on wheels.

>> NARRATOR: ...and extremely

violent.

>> CHARLES FALCO: They may

firebomb.

They sniper with high-powered

rifles.

>> NARRATOR: But who are the

Hells Angels?

>> JAY DOBYNS: They are a nasty,

vicious, international

crime syndicate.

>> NARRATOR: How dangerous

are they?

>> FALCO: They have 1,000 men

behind them that will do

anything they can for each

other, including kill somebody.

>> NARRATOR: And is their

reputation as freewheeling

rebels simply a smoke screen for

a more secret and terrifying

agenda?

>> DOBYNS: If you wonder if the

Hells Angels have the ability to

infiltrate our government, stop

worrying... because they have.

>> NARRATOR: There are those

who believe in the existence

of a book.

A book that contains the most

highly guarded secrets of the

United States of America.

A book... whose very existence

is known to only a select few.

But if such a book exists,

what would it contain?

Secret histories?

Secret memberships?

Secret crimes?

Does there really exist

America's Book of Secrets?

Government officials estimate

that there are between 300 and

500 outlaw motorcycle gangs with

approximately 20,000 full-patch

members and another 200,000

associates.

But for six decades, no biker

gang has been more feared than

the Hells Angels Motorcycle

Club.

>> DOBYNS: The Hells Angels are

the biggest, most powerful

motorcycle gang in the world.

>> STEVE COOK: A lot of other

bikers would like to be

a Hells Angel, but they're

not all gonna make the cut,

so their only other option is,

is to start another outlaw

motorcycle gang.

The problem with that being is,

unless they are openly

subservient to the Hells Angels,

then they're gonna have issues

with the Hells Angels.

>> DAVIS: There are between

2,500 and 4,000 Hells Angels

in the world right now.

They're on every continent

except Antarctica.

To become a Hells Angel at the

most basic level, you have to be

white, Latino or Asian,

a man at least 21 years old,

and you have to have an

American-made motorcycle with

an engine displacement of

at least 1,000 cc's.

>> NARRATOR: While the Hells

Angels keep their membership

list a closely guarded secret,

what is known is that most club

members have an inherent

distrust of authority figures,

and, of course...

a passion for riding

motorcycles.

>> BILL HAYES: There's nothing

like getting on that bike

and going down the road and

doing whatever you want to do.

All those things about

freedom and this and that,

they're not clichés.

They're true.

>> DENISE DALAIMO: It's hard not

to hoot and whoop when you get

on a Harley.

The open road... it's freedom,

it's America, it's being in

nature and on a machine

at the same time.

>> NARRATOR: Over the years,

however, the Hells Angels has

established a fearsome

reputation for being loyal,

tough and extremely

short-tempered.

>> DAVIS: Among the rules

that all motorcycle outlaws

have to obey is to not suffer

insults and to never let a club

brother fight alone.

>> FALCO: I can't tell you how

many times I've seen them beat

up innocent bystanders in bars

for giving them a dirty look.

>> NARRATOR: Sturgis, South

Dakota.

Hundreds of thousands of

bikers and their bikini-clad

"old ladies" converge on the

city for a week of riding,

racing and revelry.

>> COOK: The Sturgis

Motorcycle Rally is

the biggest and best motorcycle

rally in the United States and

arguably in the world.

>> DALAIMO: Sturgis is an

absolute crazy week of

debauchery and sex and bikes

and bad behavior.

>> JEFF SCHWARTZ: Don't do this

at home.

At Sturgis, there's probably not

a lot of G- or PG-rated stuff

going on there.

There's the R-rated,

there's the X-rated.

Anything can be had there.

>> NARRATOR: August 10, 2011.

Amid this carnival-like

atmosphere, several members of

the Mongols, a notorious

motorcycle gang based in

Southern California, hold court

at a restaurant called

One-Eyed Jack's.

>> SCHWARTZ: The Mongols were

kind of cranked up.

They looked like they'd been

drinking for quite a while,

very loud, raucous.

>> NARRATOR: As the sun sets,

the Mongols walk towards a

nearby bike shop owned and

operated by their longtime

rivals, the Hells Angels.

>> FALCO: The Mongols were

Hispanic bikers that were

not allowed to join

the Hells Angels.

So they decided to say "F you"

to the Hells Angels and start

their own club.

>> COOK: Some Mongols made the

approach to the business, it

appeared that they were there,

at least, making their presence

known but not in a...

aggressive manner.

>> NARRATOR: Jeff Schwartz is

standing on a nearby balcony,

unaware of the events unfolding

below him.

>> SCHWARTZ: All of a sudden,

I heard, like, a popping noise,

pop-pop-pop.

And I looked down, and there's

20, 25 guys going at it.

>> NARRATOR: The fighting lasts

only seconds, bue attack

leaves two bikers bleeding on

the ground.

A dozen others suffer

superficial stab wounds.

The sudden outbreak of violence

sends a wave of fear through

the crowd.

>> SCHWARTZ: I always considered

Sturgis to be a safe

environment.

I'll never forget watching it.

It's-it's, like, ingrained

into my memory.

>> FALCO: One of the things the

public doesn't know and they

should know: Sturgis is a run

that the Hells Angels

consider theirs.

And if a club that they are at

war with shows up, there is a

huge opportunity that something

very, very bad will happen.

>> NARRATOR: But why did it

happen?

Was this a simple fight for

respect or perhaps

something more?

According to insiders, the Hells

Angels and Mongols have been

fighting a war with each other

since the mid-1970s.

>> DAVIS: The core of the feud

between the Mongols and the

Angels was the Mongols were

much more numerous

than the Hells Angels in

Southern California.

And so, as a result of that,

they started wearing a bottom

rocker that said "California."

Before that, they had had bottom

rockers that said "Montebello"

or "East L.A." or wherever the

chapter was from.

The Hells Angels noticed that

the Mongols were wearing a

"California" bottom rocker,

and they took it as an insult.

>> NARRATOR: The Hells Angels

would not let this insult

go unpunished.

In 1977, on a freeway near San

Diego, they opened fire with

machine guns on a pack of

of Mongols...

killing two members

of the rival biker gang.

But just to make sure

the message got through,

at the funeral of one Mongol,

the Angels set off a car bomb.

And it didn't end there.

>> DAVIS: Within the next month,

there were three bombings

against the Mongols.

And the Mongols have never

forgotten those three bombings.

>> FALCO: Once these wars start,

they never stop.

>> NARRATOR: According to law

enforcement officials, the

Mongols and Hells Angels are

members of a secret society of

outlaw motorcycle gangs known as

"one-percenters" that are waging

a bloody turf war across

America.

>> COOK: They are one percent

that don't conform.

They don't follow the laws, they

live life on their terms, and

they don't worry about

repercussions.

>> CHRISTOPHER BRUNWIN: An

outlaw motorcycle gang is gonna

be comprised of a group of

people who are going to engage

in anything that can make them

money.

Drug trafficking, heroin,

marijuana.

And you'll also see assaults,

murders, extortion.

>> NARRATOR: But are the Hells

Angels just another motorcycle

gang with violent tendencies?

Or might there be something more

to fear?

>> DROBAN: If there were an

America's Book of Secrets, the

big secret of the Hells Angels

would be that they are the Mafia

on wheels.

The Hells Angels have members

who hold down real jobs.

They're stockbrokers and pilots,

and they have this persona that

they give out to the public.

And yet they have been known to

do arms deals, murder for hire.

They have beat down people that

have tried to leave the club.

>> COOK: They are extremely

violent.

They're very dedicated, and

whereas the Mafia tends to try

to hide who they are, the Hells

Angels proclaim it on their

backs.

They want people to know who

they are, and there's an

intimidation factor that comes

along with that.

>> NARRATOR: The Angels and

their supporters insist that any

crimes committed are the acts of

individuals, and that the club

itself shouldn't be judged by a

few bad seeds.

But are the Hells Angels really

victims of propaganda?

Or are they domestic terrorists?

How did the Hells Angels become

America's most infamous outlaws?

>> NARRATOR: In September 2008,

the TV series Sons of Anarchy

premiered and quickly became

one of the most popular shows

in America.

For the first time, a program

featured an inside look at an

outlaw motorcycle club caught up

in the violent world of illegal

drugs, guns and contract

killings.

>> HAYES: You know, in 43

minutes, you've had all these

gunfights and you're burying

bodies and castrating a

pedophile clown and bribing

government officials.

And it's like, man, that's a day

in the life.

>> NARRATOR: Hollywood's

fascination with motorcycle

gangs is nothing new.

In the 1950s and '60s, movies

such as The Wild One and Easy

Rider created a lasting image

of the rebel biker.

>> DROBAN: The Hells Angels are

the only biker gang that has

branded the idea of the rebel

biker.

So they have brilliantly,

masterfully created a PR

campaign that has enabled them

to franchise their brand

worldwide.

>> DOBYNS: You ask a

schoolteacher, a housewife,

a businessman to describe the

stereotype of a biker... they

say, "A Hells Angel."

>> FALCO: Our society looks at

them as rebels without a cause.

They look at them as a cowboy.

A bandito.

Uh, an outlaw, but with a

romantic view.

>> DALAIMO: Women are drawn to

danger and power.

And the Hells Angels embody

both of those beautifully.

And I don't think it gets much

more dangerous than riding on

the back of-of a Hells Angel.

There is something sexual and

sensual about that.

Would you ride on the back of

Jesse James' horse?

I would.

>> NARRATOR: This image,

however, has proven to be a

double-edged sword for

the Hells Angels, who have both

prospered and been persecuted

because of their outlaw

reputation.

But what is fact and what is

fiction when it comes to the

notoriously secret biker gang?

The image of the outlaw biker

can be traced back to July 4,

1947, when 4,000 motorcyclists

from around the country

converged on the sleepy town of

Hollister, California.

The media coverage painted a

picture of a town taken over by

packs of out-of-control

motorcycle gangs.

And when LIFE magazine published

a photograph of a drunken club

member surrounded by beer

bottles, the image of the rebel

biker was born.

But did the picture tell the

whole story?

>> HAYES: The secret truth in

that was that the picture was

100% staged.

There was a reporter from the

San Francisco Chronicle there,

named Barney Peterson.

And he saw this guy on the

street, threw him on a

motorcycle, gathered up

bottles-- broken bottles, beer

bottles and beer cans and

stuff-- put it around him and

took several pictures.

>> NARRATOR: In the wake of the

incident in Hollister, one biker

who attended the event, Otto

Friedli, formed a new motorcycle

club in San Bernardino,

California.

He called it the Hells Angels.

>> DALAIMO: There's a lot of

myths about how they were

created... that they were old

war veterans, coming back, and

not being able to find a place

to... to belong.

Some of that's true.

But the Hells Angels themselves

were working-class white males,

disenfranchised.

They were trying to capture the

American dream in a place where

they couldn't find where it was.

>> DROBAN: The Hells Angels name

itself comes from a World War

One and Two bomber squadron.

>> NARRATOR: The Hells Angels

adopted red and white as their

colors and decorated their

jackets, or "cuts," with the

club's name and chapter along

with their logo, a winged skull

wearing a helmet.

>> DROBAN: They adopted a lot of

the military styles, so they

have a patch system that is

modeled after the military

medals.

They have a rank and file

system, very much like the

military.

They have a hierarchy within

their own group that is very

much like the military.

>> NARRATOR: The club quickly

expanded.

New chapters opened up across

California, and by the 1960s,

even overseas.

The public, however, remained

largely ignorant of the Hells

Angels until 1964, when police

in Monterey, California, charged

four members of the Angels with

raping two teenaged girls.

Local and state politicians

demanded action, resulting in

the first official law

enforcement investigation into

the club.

>> HAYES: Thomas Lynch was

the attorney general of the

state of California in 1965.

And he issued the Lynch Report.

It was written pretty

dramatically-- like fiction, in

a way.

>> DAVIS: The Lynch Report

portrayed the Hells Angels as

a real menace in the state of

California and got a lot of

people stirred up.

>> NARRATOR: Although the rape

charges were dropped,

the New York Times, TI and

Newsweek picked up on the lurid

accusations and turned the Hells

Angels into a household name.

*

But the image of the Hells

Angels as dangerous and violent

outlaws was truly cemented when

the Rolling Stones hired them to

provide security at a concert

outside San Francisco in 1969.

>> ERIC HICKEY: The Rolling

Stones had no idea who they were

really dealing with until they

got onstage and they realized

th've got Hells Angels out

here who are using drugs and

someone's probably gonna get

hurt.

And sure enough, somebody did

get hurt and was killed.

>> DAVIS: Nobody loved, uh, the

Hells Angels anymore.

They were portrayed as bad

hippies, like the Manson Family,

and that's sort of the

reputation that's stuck with

them ever since.

>> NARRATOR: But while their

star faded in Hollywood, one

member transformed the Hells

Angels into the world's largest

and most powerful motorcycle

club, Ralph "Sonny" Barger.

>> COOK: I firmly believe that,

but not for Sonny Barger, the

Hells Angels wouldn't be around

today.

I think he's that important in

the historical sense of that

organization.

>> DAVIS: Sonny Barger became a

Hells Angel at 19.

He very quickly became the

president of the Oakland charter

of the Angels.

>> NARRATOR: Under Sonny

Barger's leadership, the Hells

Angels dramatically expanded

their numbers and power by

absorbing smaller

"one-percenter" clubs.

When he became president in

1958, the club had approximately

200 members.

A decade later, that number had

grown to over a thousand.

According to law enforcement

officials, the Angels also

expanded their criminal

activities, running guns and

dealing drugs, especially LSD

and methamphetamine.

While several club members were

arrested and jailed, including

Sonny Barger, the Hells Angels

continued to grow stronger.

>> COOK: With the Hells Angels,

the way that they cover up a

lot of the crimes that they

commit is because people are too

afraid to cooperate against

them.

>> NARRATOR: The federal

government proved unsuccessful

at infiltrating the Hells Angels

for years, until one agent

finally earned their trust by

becoming an outlaw himself.

>> NARRATOR: Laughlin, Nevada.

April 27, 2002.

During the city's annual River

Run motorcycle rally, the Hells

Angels and Mongols arrived with

more on their minds than

partying.

>> COOK: The 2002 Laughlin

River Run, uh, that was

something that was a powder keg

waiting to explode.

>> DAVIS: The Mongols were

staying at one end of the

Laughlin Strip at a hotel called

Harrah's, and the Angels were

staying at the other end of the

Strip at a hotel called the

Flamingo.

But there was one charter of the

Hells Angels-- the Frisco Hells

Angels had always stayed at

Harrah's-- and some Mongols, for

various reasons, started

harassing them.

>> NARRATOR: The Angels called

for reinforcements.

Minutes later, the casino floor

was filled with 40 to 50 Hells

Angels facing off with nearly

115 Mongols.

>> DAVIS: A Mongol walked up to

a Hells Angel named "Ray Ray"

Foakes and said, "We're gonna

(bleep) you up."

And Ray Ray Foakes kicked him

in the chest, and that's how it

started.

(gunshots)

>> NARRATOR: Security camera

footage shows several men

exchanging gunfire, while others

attack with knives.

A number of innocent bystanders

were caught in the crosshairs of

the deadly brawl.

(gunshots)

(siren wailing)

When it was over, three men lay

dead.

Nearly a dozen more were sent to

the hospital.

A search of the casino turned up

nine guns and 65 knives, as well

as a number of hammers and other

heavy tools scattered about the

floor.

>> BRUNWIN: The public can't

grasp what's happening.

In a lot of ways, it's only when

you see the effects.

We're desensitized to seeing car

crashes or tragedies on the news

or in the newspaper, but the

destructive effects of violent

crimes are very real.

>> NARRATOR: Was this another

spontaneous turf battle, or was

it, as the Angels contend, a

planned attack by the Mongols to

make a name for their club in

Nevada?

Some believe the truth is even

more unsettling: that the fight

was instigated by undercover

officers working for the Bureau

of Alcohol, Tobacco and

Firearms.

>> DAVIS: The ATF knew what was

going on.

The extent to which the ATF

agitated that incident is one of

the ATF's many secrets.

There were ATF agents who were

watching the fight brew for

more than an hour in the

surveillance rooms at Harrah's.

I have been told and I tend to

believe that there were two

confidential informants working

for the ATF who were on the

casino floor in Harrah's at the

time the fight erupted.

>> NARRATOR: If agents working

for the federal government

caused or even allowed the

Laughlin shootout to happen, is

it possible they have taken

other questionable actions in

monitoring outlaw motorcycle

gangs?

During the 1980s and '90s,

efforts by both national and

local law enforcement agencies

to recruit informants or

infiltrate undercover officers

into the Hells Angels proved

impossible.

The club's president, Sonny

Barger, bragged that the Angels

were impenetrable.

>> DROBAN: The reason the Hells

Angels have been so difficult

to infiltrate is because of

their excruciatingly long

prospecting period.

Sonny Barger has been known to

say it can be as long as it

takes.

So it's been a deterrent to law

enforcement because they don't

have years and years to

infiltrate this club.

>> DOBYNS: They're uniquely

paranoid.

They're uniquely skeptical.

Everything you say, everything

you do, the clothes you wear,

how you talk, the motorcycle you

ride, the car you drive, the

people you associate with,

where you live and the

appearance of where you live are

all reviewed and examined for

any clue to them that will tip

them that you're not legit.

>> NARRATOR: The tables finally

began to turn in the wake of the

Laughlin shootout when the ATF

initiated Operation Black

Biscuit.

>> COOK: Operation Black Biscuit

was a very sophisticated, uh,

undercover operation carried out

by the Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco, Firearms and

Explosives.

The goal of that investigation

was to take the Hells Angels out

in Arizona, and I think as

importantly to get inside on the

Hells Angels, especially right

in Sonny Barger's backyard.

>> NARRATOR: ATF officials

selected as their lead

undercover agent Jay Dobyns, a

former college football star and

15-year veteran with the bureau.

Dobyns assumed the identity of

"Jaybird," a member of the Solo

Angels hoping to be patched

into the Hells Angels.

>> DOBYNS: I played myself off

to be a violent person, a hit

man, someone who had connections

to weapons trafficking, someone

who could move narcotics,

someone who could handle

business on a violent level on

the club's behalf.

>> NARRATOR: In an effort to

convince the Angels to patch

him in as a full member, Dobyns

hatched a plan to stage the fake

murder of a rival gang member

hiding out in Mexico.

>> DOBYNS: I convinced the

Hells Angels that I had

committed a murder on behalf of

the gang by taking a living,

breathing member of our task

force, dressed him up in the

colors of the Mongols, took him

into the desert and used a

homicide detective to basically

create a homicide scene for us

with blood, with brain matter,

with a victim laying in a

shallow grave with his hands and

feet duct-taped together.

>> NARRATOR: Two days later,

Dobyns returned with crime scene

photographs and the dead man's

leather vest or "cut."

>> DOBYNS: I brought physical

evidence back to the Hells

Angels as an actual display that

a murder had been done,

something that they could see

and they could touch and that

they could feel to make it real

to them.

>> NARRATOR: Once in the club,

Dobyns gained a rare insight

into the Hells Angels' secret

agenda.

>> DOBYNS: When someone says to

me the Hells Angels are just a

simple group of thugs, my

response to them is, "Turn

around and run away as fast as

you can."

That's the secret.

That's the joke on us.

The truth is they are a nasty,

violent, vicious, international

crime syndicate that will stop

at nothing to defend their club,

to defend the name of their club

and to defend the membership

within the club.

>> NARRATOR: Jay Dobyns spent

nearly two years undercover, but

in the end, would Operation

Black Biscuit pay off?

Or would the Hells Angels emerge

even more emboldened and more

dangerous than before?

(siren wailing)istinct radio transmissio

>> NARRATOR: On July 8, 2003,

Operation Black Biscuit ended

with indictments against 16

Hells Angels members and

associates, including three

chapter presidents, on

racketeering, gun, drug and

murder charges.

But before the cases could be

brought to trial, the defense

lawyers argued that government

informants had compromised

themselves by using illegal

drugs and participating in

criminal activities.

The feds were forced to drop all

criminal charges.

>> DOBYNS: The reality of it is

the infighting inside the

government on how to present

that case in the courtroom

became so extreme and so heated

that we killed our own case.

>> NARRATOR: A decade later,

Dobyns remains disillusioned by

the outcome of his undercover

work.

>> DOBYNS: I would love to say

that what I did put such a

significant dent in the Hells

Angels that they'd never be the

same.

The reality of it is they've

only gotten stronger.

They've only gotten bigger.

They've only become more

empowered.

>> NARRATOR: Today, the Hells

Angels view their struggles with

the federal government as just

part of doing business.

But a much bigger concern for

both the Hells Angels and the

American public is the rapidly

growing threat posed by other

outlaw motorcycle gangs and the

secret war being fought on the

streets for control of the drug

trade.

Sparks, Nevada.

September 23, 2011.

Jethro Pettigrew, chapter

president of the San Jose,

California Hells Angels, is

shot and killed on the floor of

John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino.

(gunshots)

Several members of the Vagos, a

rival one-percenter club, are on

the attack.

Hours later, on the street, a

Vago is shot and killed in a

drive-by shooting.

>> BRUNWIN: Members of the

public are always in danger of

being in the wrong place at the

wrong time with an organization

like an outlaw motorcycle gang,

and most of the public is very

unaware.

>> DOBYNS: As a society, we

cannot allow gang-on-gang

violence to spill into areas

where our families are at, where

our kids are at.

>> NARRATOR: Although the

Sparks incident passed without

further bloodshed, outlaw

motorcycle gangs remain mired

in an unending war.

The largest and most violent of

these clubs are the so-called

"Big Four" MCs: the Outlaws,

Bandidos, Pagans and, of

course, the Hells Angels.

>> HICKEY: They're very

territorial-- not just physical

territory where they live, but

also the types of crimes that

they're doing.

They don't want to deal with

other gangs, and so what they

do is stake out their territory

and they send messages.

And if it requires the killing

of another gang member in

another group, it's done in a

way to send a message.

>> FALCO: When you join a gang

like the Hells Angels, you join

it to have power and power in

the streets.

90% of it would be to bully a

normal citizen.

They don't like society.

They don't like our world.

>> NARRATOR: Charles Falco spent

nearly three years infiltrating

the Vagos, and then later spent

another five years infiltrating

the Outlaws.

Falco witnessed firsthand the

extreme methods used by the

Hells Angels to protect their

turf.

>> FALCO: The Hells Angels were

hunting us, following us,

staking us out.

They're very methodical in

planning their retaliation.

They may wait a year, and they

may place a bomb.

They may firebomb.

They sniper with high-powered

rifles.

That's not stuff normal gang

members have to worry about.

(gunshot)

The general public needs to know

that because they're murderers

and menaces to society.

Different biker gangs have

different weapons they like.

The Pagans, they have a big wood

cane that's kind of like a bat.

The Hells Angels have the

ball-peen hammer.

And the ball-peen hammer is

perfect because it's legal, so

there's no way the police can

tell you you can't have it.

It's not like a claw hammer,

where you can only really use

one side to bash someone's head

in.

I can pull this out and bash

someone's head in using either

side.

>> NARRATOR: If the Hells Angels

are at the center of this

underground war, then why

haven't law enforcement

officials been able to stop

them?

>> DOBYNS: My house was burned

down to the ground in 2008,

murder contracts offered against

me, threats to kidnap and

videotape the gang rape of my

wife.

When the threats came down on

me, my own government and my own

agency abandoned me.

They told me the Hells Angels

are too big, they're too

powerful and you're on your own.

>> NARRATOR: Ironically, the

Angels often conduct

countersurveillance on the

police, looking for undercover

officers or club informants.

>> COOK: I have found

photographs of myself,

photographs of my unmarked

police vehicle inside different

motorcycle gang members' homes.

>> NARRATOR: The Angels also

use their "old ladies" and

other friends of the club to

infiltrate law enforcement

agencies.

>> DROBAN: Some of them will be

dispatchers, for example, at

police agencies, so they are

there to gather intelligence in

the same purpose as, you know,

a government agent might use an

informant.

>> FALCO: They might have

someone who's in law enforcement

that's a traitor.

It's a whole string of people

and connections that do stuff

for them.

>> DOBYNS: If you are concerned

or wonder if the Hells Angels

have infiltrated our government

or have the ability to

infiltrate our government, stop

worrying... because they have.

>> NARRATOR: While the police

continue to search for ways to

break up the Angels' criminal

empire, the club keeps growing,

especially overseas.

But just how powerful and

dangerous are these new foreign

chapters becoming?

And can anything be done to

control them?

>> NARRATOR: Half a century ago,

the Hells Angels were a ragtag

group of rebels dedicated only

to bikes, booze and babes.

Today, the club is a global

empire with more than 100

sanctioned chapters in 25

countries around the world.

>> DROBAN: Biker gangs are

America's export.

Anywhere that you go, you're

gonna be able to walk into any

chapter and find exactly the

same thing.

And they have franchised

themselves so that they can

control the drug trafficking.

Their mission is to become the

dominant gang, so they do that

by absorbing other biker gangs

so that they can become the big

Red and White.

>> NARRATOR: As the

international money and power

has grown, so too has the

violence.

In Canada, a turf war involving

the Quebec chapter of the Hells

Angels witnessed the use of not

just military assault rifles

but bombs and rocket-propelled

grenades.

The fighting has left an

estimated 160 people dead and

countless more maimed or

injured, including innocent

bystanders.

>> FALCO: They're like the

equivalent of the cartels in

Mexico.

>> DOBYNS: The Hells Angels wear

a tab on their vest-- the ones

that have earned it-- that says

"Filthy Few."

Now, their explanation of the

"Filthy Few" to the public is

that it's the "Filthy Few" that

remain at the parties after the

party's done.

The truth of it is, is that you

get a "Filthy Few" tab for the

Hells Angels if you've committed

a murder on their behalf.

>> NARRATOR: The U.S.

government declared the Hells

Angels "an organized criminal

gang" in 1981 and since 2012 has

prohibited international club

members from entering the

country.

But on August 16, 2012, the

Hells Angels filed a lawsuit

against the Department of

Homeland Security to have that

criminal label officially

removed.

How is it that this brotherhood

of bikers, with a reputation for

being "free-wheeling

anarchists," have become so well

organized they can take on the

U.S. government in a court of

law?

>> COOK: The Hells Angels are

so wealthy at this point that

they can hire the best

attorneys and they can really

fight anything that you throw up

against them.

But as far as their worth, they

let you see what they want you

to see.

>> DAVIS: There are about 240

charters in the club, and each

charter is a force unto itself,

and so there is no central fund.

>> DOBYNS: One of the things

that I learned on the inside is

that there's rules and

regulations and protocols beyond

anything I ever expected.

>> NARRATOR: Members are

required to attend regular

meetings and pay club dues.

Even an ordinary activity like

riding around town is regimented

by what some call "the code of

the road."

>> FALCO: In most cases, when

riding in a pack, uh, Hells

Angels, you usually have your

president up front, and right

next to him would be your

sergeant-at-arms because he's

the bodyguard for the president

of the chapter.

And that way, you keep the

president up front and

protected, just like you would

the president of the United

States.

>> COOK: The Hells Angels are

the business model for every

other outlaw motorcycle gang to

follow.

They know what they're doing,

and they've obviously been very

successful in their endeavors up

to this point.

People can look at it and say,

"Oh, you know, they're

incorporated.

They can't be a bad

organization."

>> NARRATOR: But as they become

more corporate, are the Hells

Angels moving away from their

violent past?

Or has it only helped them to

wage a more effective public

relations campaign?

>> DALAIMO: Their motto is,

"When we do something nice,

everyone forgets, and when we

do something bad, they remember

forever."

>> HICKEY: There are gang

members who marry, have

children.

They have families.

They provide for their families.

Hells Angels want some of the

same similar things that we

want, but they're willing to

engage in criminal activities

to obtain them.

>> NARRATOR: Is it possible that

the Hells Angels' most dangerous

crime has been convincing the

public that they are simply a

band of rebel bikers out in

search of the American dream?

>> DROBAN: They have a... an

image for the public, and then

they have their private image.

And so the public image is what

they would like people to

believe that they are just

motorcycle enthusiasts that have

come together and they, um, fund

charities, Toys For Tots, and

the public image is really a

foil for criminal exploits.

>> BRUNWIN: They exist to

commit crimes to protect each

other.

And yet, for most of the public,

it's hard to accept that

something could be that bad.

>> DOBYNS: A lot of these guys

don't fit the stereotype.

You could be standing next to

one of these guys pumping gas or

at a grocery store or at a movie

theater, and you wouldn't know

they're Hells Angels.

As a society, as civilians in

communities where the Hells

Angels are present, have we seen

the tip of the iceberg?

Just the tippy tip of it, and

it's massive beneath it.

>> NARRATOR: The Hells Angels

live by a creed of Angels

Forever, Forever Angels.

It's a lifelong bond and a

brotherhood forged in chrome,

leather and blood.

And until law enforcement

agencies and the public take

their threat more seriously, no

doubt the Angels will ride on

through the 21st century

bigger, bolder and badder than

ever.

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