Original subtitles

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.