Simi Raid Part of 18-State Move Against Biker Gangs

Federal agents Thursday arrested 51 motorcycle gang members and associates in a series of raids in 18 states--including one raid in Simi Valley--that netted illegal weapons, silencers, explosives and drugs, law-enforcement authorities said.

Nationwide, among those arrested were chapter presidents of three of the country’s largest motorcycle gangs--the Hells Angels, Outlaws and Bandidos--said William E. Newberry, agent in charge of the Van Nuys office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

In California, federal agents, assisted by police, raided houses in Simi Valley and San Bernardino, Newberry said.

The Simi Valley Police Department’s special weapons team fired tear gas into the loft of a home in the 6300 block of Katherine Road when suspects refused to come downstairs, Newberry said. Police arrested six people and seized three silencers, parts for 20 others, a dynamite bomb, a sawed-off shotgun and four pounds of dynamite, he said.

Nationwide, authorities confiscated 10 machine guns, 63 rifles, 4,500 rounds of ammunition, four hand grenades, 15 stolen vehicles, a drug lab and unknown amounts of cocaine, marijuana and PCP, a federal spokesman said. The suspects face charges of arson, possession of illegal weapons, and drug trafficking.

Search for Weapons

Authorities entered the Simi Valley house at 6:10 a.m. looking for a machine gun with a silencer and other firearms, Newberry said, and also searched a machine shop outside. They found the other weapons but no machine guns, he said.

William T. Fisher, 31, a convicted felon who lived at the house, was arrested on a federal warrant, Newberry said.

Based on information provided by informants, federal agents believe Fisher has distributed silencers to drug dealers and other criminals in the San Fernando Valley for seven years, Newberry said.

Authorities also suspect Fisher’s shop was a source for the illegal manufacture of machine guns and silencers for the Hells Angels and other “outlaw” motorcycle gangs, said Robert Skopeck, special agent in charge of the bureau’s Los Angeles office.

Fisher was charged Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with possession of a silencer, a sawed-off shotgun and a destructive device, and held without bail, Skopeck said.

Fisher associates with the Hells Angels but is not a member, Newberry said.

Items Confiscated

The police also confiscated more than $100,000 worth of suspected stolen property, including videocassette recorders, tools and X-rated videocassettes, authorities said.

Simi Valley Police Lt. Bob Klamser said criminals are using more sophisticated weapons and silencers in recent years, often made in home machine shops.

The manufacture, possession or transfer of silencers is a federal offense punishable by a maximum 10-year prison term for each offense, Newberry said.

At the Simi Valley house, police also arrested Richard Louis Bauer, 44, and four others on suspicion of possessing stolen property. Bauer was held on outstanding misdemeanor warrants, but the others were released pending the outcome of a police inventory of the property, Klamser said.

Cooperative Venture

Simi Valley police and the bureau’s agents were assisted by agents from the U.S. Treasury Department and sheriff’s deputies from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Newberry said.

In the San Bernardino raid, federal agents arrested one man on suspicion of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, and sheriff’s deputies arrested a woman on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance for sale, Newberry said.

The bureau expects to arrest about 50 more suspects in the next two weeks, he said, but no more arrests are expected in Southern California.

The raids were dubbed “Operation 1 Percenter” because the American Motorcycle Assn. once estimated that only 1% of motorcyclists are “outlaws.”

Since 1972, the bureau has investigated more than 8,000 members or associates of about 800 motorcycle gangs.