The State : Cyclists Tied to 4 Killings

A motorcycle gang has been linked by police to at least four people killed in the area in the last three years, including a man whose body was dug up from a San Jose back yard this week. All of the victims were members or acquaintances of the Freedom Riders, which has chapters in San Jose and Hayward, homicide investigator Dave Harrison said. Harrison said he doesn’t see any “scheme or design” among the cases. “They’re capable of murder,” Hayward Police Officer Fred Rose said of the gang. “They’re nasty people. They’re dope dealers. They carry weapons. And they’ve gotten more violent.” Three people have been arrested in the killing of the unidentified man, including James F. O’Malley, 29, president of the San Jose chapter of the Freedom Riders, who once lived at the house where the body was found, police said.