All language subtitles for Gangland Chronicles - S01E05 - The Mongols MC

Gangs rule their territories through
ruthless enterprises, fear, and a strict code.

Deviate from this code, or challenge
their power, and retribution soon follows.

Especially in one of the most
violent biker gangs in history.

The Mongols Motorcycle Club.

Here are three stories that forge the
fearsome reputation of this vicious gang.

First, the Mongols wage a brutal war
over California with the Hells Angels.

They were murderers. They were
willing to do whatever it took.

Next, an ATF agent risks his life to
infiltrate the gang and bring it down.

He said, if I put a bullet
in the back of your head,

nobody's going to know
where to start looking for you.

And finally, years of bad
blood with their oldest rivals

reaches a boiling point
inside a crowded casino.

It was a lot of carnage, a lot
of blood. It was just chaos.

These are the stories from
inside the Mongols Motorcycle Club.

This is Gangland Chronicles.
1969, Montebello, California.

Police are on the alert for a new
menace on L.A. County highways.

It's an outlaw motorcycle
gang called the Mongols.

The Mongols really formed during
the height of the Vietnam War.

Returning stateside, some
vets miss the rush of combat.

So what's going to substitute for that?

Being an outlaw gangster gets
about as close to it as it can be.

Many of these vets
returning home to California line

up to join the state's most
infamous biker gang, the Hells Angels.

But the Angels tell one
group they're not welcome.

Because they were Latino.

There are stories about the
Hells Angels not letting them in.

These new outlaws start
their own gang, the Mongols.

And their logo puts the world on notice.

Their center patch is kind of
like Genghis Khan on a chopper.

It personified who the Mongols were. They
used violence as part of their lifestyle.

They say, this is who we are.

I just got back from a
war. You want another one?

Let's go.

During the 1970s, the gang's
members rack up hefty rap sheets,

stealing motorcycles, selling guns,

and committing random
assaults on whoever crosses them.

Their rage is fueled by
the gang's drug of choice.

These guys are doing methamphetamine all
the time. They'd stay up all night long.

Soon, the Mongols aren't just
doing meth, they're dealing it.

In the late 1970s,
California police estimate a single

pound to have a street
value of just over $11,000.

Nearly 60,000 today.

From a street-level
standpoint, putting that drug out,

you're going to make a lot of money
because there is an endless supply of customers.

The gang traffics the
drug across a network

of new chapters that spring up throughout

Southern California in what will become a
multi-million dollar criminal enterprise.

As the Mongols expand
their California foothold,

it's only a matter of time
before they run up against

the state's original outlaw biker gang,

the Hells Angels, igniting a turf war.

1977. The Mongols at a California patch
called a bottom rocker to their gang colors.

Putting that on was a direct
affront to the Hells Angels

that we're claiming this area now, too.

They're vying for
territory because they are trying

to be not only the dominant biker gang,

but the dominant in their drug trade.

The Angels demand that the Mongols
remove California from their colors.

You're talking a bunch of
Vietnam veterans, badasses and stuff,

and they're not going to
bend to the Hells Angels.

And they said bring it on.

The feud between the two gangs comes to
a head on California's Interstate 15.

September 5th, 1977.

Two Mongols, Raymond Jingle
Smith and Emerson Redbeard Morris,

are cruising south from Los Angeles.

Jingles and Redbeard were
coming back from a Mongol event,

heading back to San Diego, where they
were from, and a car pulled up next to them.

What happens next starts a war.

September 5th, 1977.

A suspicious car pulls up alongside two
Mongols as they cruise down the highway.

Jingles and Redbeard were going down
south on the 15 freeway in San Diego.

A car rolled up and just sprayed them
with a machine gun, and they passed away.

The Hells Angels have declared
full-scale war on the Mongols.

There was a lot of car
bombings back and forth in

that era and a lot of
shootings back and forth.

It was just tit for tat for
years after that. I mean,

we were just blowing up each other.

Throughout the conflict, the
Mongols have a standing order.

If you can catch a Hell's
Angel out by himself somewhere,

you have to kill that Hell's Angel.

It's a ruthless policy
that will attract unwanted

attention to the gang's operations.

January 17th, 1982,
Lemon Grove, California.

A group of Mongols, including Scott Jr.
Erickson, parties at the Horseshoe Tavern.

Erickson spots a man
wearing a telltale ring.

A death's head worn only by Hell's Angels.

This isn't just any
low-ranking Hell's Angel, though.

This is actually the
sergeant-at-arms of the

San Diego chapter, Raymond Fat Ray Piltz.

Erickson sees his chance
and moves in for the kill.

During the scuffle, Erickson's gun
falls out and falls to the floor.

Junior Erickson dumped some bullets
in him and killed him on the spot.

Junior Erickson takes a plea deal
and goes to prison for manslaughter.

But the fallout doesn't end there.

Killing Fat Ray in a crowded bar
brings major heat down on both gangs,

who have millions of reasons to avoid it.

The Angels have a
massive criminal organization.

Likewise, the Mongols also
have a criminal enterprise.

So the angels sit down
and start to hash out

a plan to broker a truce with the Mongols.

The Hells Angels agree to back
off on the bottom rocker beef,

as long as the Mongols stick to
Southern California and don't

try to open any new chapters
in Hells Angels territory.

You cannot cross over into
Northern California without repercussion.

The truce keeps the Hell's Angels
at bay and the money rolling in.

But in the 1990s, the Mongols will
have a new target on their back,

one the gang fails to see.

March 1998, Los Angeles.

The ATF launches Operation Ivan,

sending in one of its own
to infiltrate the Mongols.

And bring the gang down.

The Mongols are involved in
drug manufacture and distribution,

and firearms trafficking,
and a lot of violent crime.

Agent Billy Queen goes undercover.

I was riding undercover
with the name Billy St. John.

Working my way in took months because you
just don't go up to the Mongols and say,

howdy, how you doing? I
want to become a Mongol.

Queen knows what's at
risk if his cover is blown.

They're going to move in
and take care of business.

They're going to kill you.

A month later, Queen
is invited to ride with

the gang to a motorcycle rally in Nevada,

where he bunks with a
meth-snorting mongol named Rocky.

He took his big Bowie
knife and cut that bag open

and then he lined two
lines out on the table, meth.

He put that big Bowie knife in my
face and he pointed at it and he said,

is that line too much for you?

ATF agents are forbidden to
use drugs, even undercover,

as it could jeopardize
any future case in court.

But if Billy refuses,
Rocky will assume he's

a cop and alert the
gang, who will kill him.

April 1998.

Undercover ATF agent Billy Queen has
just been offered meth by a Mongol biker.

If he refuses to do it,
the gang will kill him.

Queen has to think fast.

I was able to roll up a bill over
top of that line and wipe that line

off in my hand and into the
floor where Rocky couldn't see it.

And Rocky patted me on the back.

Yeah, come on, let's
party, dude, let's party.

A few months later, Queen
makes a major breakthrough.

The president of the San Fernando Valley
chapter came up to me and said, Billy,

we want you to be a Mongol.

But I was told that I was going to have
to prove to him that I could shoot a gun.

But on arrival at a remote gun range,
the Mongols National Sergeant at Arms,

Donald Red Dog Jarvis, confronts Queen.

Red Dog started getting in my
face, saying, you're a cop.

I said, Red Dog, I ain't no cop.

Then Red Dog said, so if I put a
bullet in the back of your head,

nobody's going to know where to start
looking for you. Is that right, Billy?

I said, that's right, Red Dog.

And then he said, I'll go out
there and set some targets up for us.

Queen continues to maintain his composure.

I put up with whatever
I had to put up with.

And his efforts eventually pay off.

October 1999.

After six months of
high-risk undercover work,

Billy Queen is made a full
member of the San Fernando Mongols.

And he's unexpectedly handed an
important job in the chapter.

The president came to me one day and he
said, I'm going to make you an officer.

You're going to be the
secretary-treasurer.

As a treasurer, Queen will have full
access to the Mongols' accounting records.

They kept books that showed
their criminal activities.

Selling dope or selling
guns or stealing motorcycles.

For the next six months, Queen
collects highly detailed evidence against

the Mongols, until law
enforcement has enough to make its move.

May 19th, 2000.

Shortly after dawn, 700 agents raid
locations across Southern California.

Fifty-four Mongols are
arrested on charges ranging

from drug and gun
trafficking offenses to murder.

As a result of his efforts,
he brings down this chapter,

and he brings down the leadership,
and they get indicted and convicted.

The arrests decimate the Mongols' ranks.

But instead of being the final
nail in the coffin for the gang,

they increased their recruiting efforts.

The international president
at that time was Doc Cavazos,

and he was really pushing
kind of a recruitment drive.

He helped the San Jose chapter of the
Mongols start in Northern California.

But this doesn't sit well
with their former rivals.

The Hells Angels,
they're upset with us because

we started moving up
north into their backyard.

This violates the terms of the agreement
between the Mongols and the Hells Angels.

So after 20 years of relative peace,

the two gangs are once
again heading for a showdown.

April 27, 2002, Laughlin, Nevada.

An estimated 80,000
bikers roar into the city

for the annual River Run motorcycle rally.

Among them are dozens of
members of both the Mongols

and their long-time
rivals, the Hell's Angels.

2 a.m.

Inside Harris Casino, a
confrontation is brewing between

an estimated 40
Mongols and 60 Hells Angels.

People in the casino are starting
to get really nervous when they see

these two groups sort of
mad-dogging each other and eyeing each other.

It was becoming an issue.

We knew that something
was going to kick off.

The Mongols and Hell's Angels are just
one blow away from reigniting a war.

April 27, 2002, Laughlin, Nevada.

40 Mongols have squared
off against 60 Hells Angels

in a crowded casino,
itching to throw down.

Leaders from both sides make a
last-ditch attempt to defuse the situation.

When the Hells Angels
entered Haraz and, you know,

basically confronted the Mongols,

there was conversation going
on to talk the situation down.

We were talking, the
talks were going good.

And next thing you know, a Hell's
Angel threw a kick, and the melee started.

Harrah's Casino erupts in a massive brawl.

It was just chaos, full chaos.

The violence quickly escalates.

There's not enough security or law
enforcement there to stop anything.

Both gangs pull knives and
show no mercy to the other side.

Guns appear and bullets fly.

Hera's casino is now a war zone.

Helpless bystanders take cover wherever
they can, while the two gangs battle it out.

It was a lot of carnage, a lot of blood.

The Mongols were outnumbered. They
stood up for themselves. They fought back.

The Mongols will defend
themselves to the end.

When the dust settles, two Hells
Angels are dead from gunshot wounds,

and one Mongol, Anthony Bronson
Barrera, has been stabbed to death.

There are other people
that eventually passed away.

They succumbed to their injuries
that a lot of people didn't know.

It wasn't publicized
because it didn't happen

on the casino floor. It happened after.

The Harrah's Casino battle restarts the
war between the Mongols and Hells Angels,

a conflict that continues to this day.

Today, when you see a Hells Angel and
you're a Mongol, you confront each other.

That's just the way it is.

It's full scale right now.
There's too much bad blood.

Five decades of going back and
forth, tit for tat. It'll never be right.

And every time you get into it,
it's a life-threatening situation.

You don't know where
they're going to pull guns.

You're going to be involved in a big
shootout, like what happened in Laughlin.

Today, despite efforts by law
enforcement, Mongol's membership continues to grow.

As of 2023, there are an
estimated 1,200 members

in chapters across the United States.

They're trying to grow quickly in
numbers so that they can, you know,

then acquire more and more territory.

Now we're in Southeast Asia.

We were in Canada for a while. We
were in Russia. We're in Germany.

You know, we're all over.

Now they are in the top eight of
motorcycle gangs worldwide. So yeah,

they're a very, very formidable group.

They're a terrible, violent
organization, and they scare the crap out of people.

They scare the crap out of communities.

They use their colors to do it.

They are outlaws.