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Ex-Vagos Motorcycle Club leader: ‘Romeo saved my life that night’

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by Rio Lacanlale from https://www.reviewjournal.com Vagos Motorcycle Club leader Robert Wiggins lay on the casino floor staring down the barrel of a gun as two rival Hells Angels members stomped on his body. Wiggins thought he was going to die. So did Ernesto “Romeo” Gonzalez. Moments later, Gonzalez opened fire, killing Jeffrey Pettigrew, the man aiming a gun at Wiggins. “Romeo saved my life that night. There hasn’t been a day that goes by I haven’t thought about him,” Wiggins, now 66, recalled in a phone interview Tuesday, one day after Gonzalez and seven other Vagos members were acquitted of all charges in a federal racketeering trial centered around that shooting. That September 2011 night changed everything, Wiggins told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and eventually, he left the club. The rival motorcycle clubs crossed paths that night inside the Nugget hotel-casino in Sparks during Street Vibrations, an annual motorcycle festival. Around 11:30 p.m., a brawl broke out on the casino floor after Pettigrew picked a fight with Vagos members. Video captured by casino security cameras shown during the lengthy Las Vegas trial showed Pettigrew drawing his weapon first and shooting alongside Cesar Villagrana, another Hells Angels member. Two people already had been shot by the time Pettigrew and Villagrana zeroed in on Wiggins, who had lost his balance and fallen during the chaos of the fight. “If Romeo was a police officer, there would have been a parade for him,” Wiggins said. Instead, seven years later, Gonzalez would be among nearly two dozen reputed Vagos members indicted in connection with a laundry list of violent crimes characterized as a broad criminal conspiracy dating to 2005 and spanning more than a decade. At the time of his death, Pettigrew was president of the Hells Angels chapter in San Jose, California. “Pettigrew […]

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Hells Angels bikers banned by Netherlands court

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A court in the Netherlands has banned the Hells Angels biker club because of its culture of violence. The court in the city of Utrecht ruled that the group was a danger to public order and the rule of law. It referred to several violent clashes over the years with rival motor gangs, like the Bandidos. It is unclear whether the Hells Angels will appeal against the verdict. The group was founded in 1948, and now has thousands of members around the globe. In Wednesday’s ruling, the Utrecht court stated that “the violence is often so serious and causes so much social unrest that it can be considered in contravention of social order”. The court specifically referred to Hells Angels Holland and the global organisation to which it belonged. The verdict makes the Netherlands the first country to outlaw the entire club – and not just some of its local branches, known as chapters. The Hells Angels club was founded in California. Its members around the world are known for favouring Harley-Davidson bikes and wearing denim and leather.

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Red Light Camera Victim Wins Jury Verdict

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Woman arrested in St. Peters, Missouri over a red light camera ticket wins $100,000 judgment, plus legal fees. The city of St. Peters, Missouri, will have to write a check for $100,000 for arresting Bonnie A. Roeder over a red light camera ticket. After a jury in St. Charles County delivered its verdict, Circuit Court Judge Jon A. Cunningham on Friday ordered the city to also pay the considerable legal bills Roeder racked up since her ordeal began seven years ago with the photo ticket she received in the mail. On June 7, 2012, a Redflex red light camera photographed Roeder’s car allegedly entering a St. Peters intersection shortly after the light turned red. Redflex mailed Roeder a $110 ticket, but she ignored it. Roeder believed the citation was unlawful, ultimately having one of her main arguments validated by the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor in 2015 (view St. Peters v. Roeder, 180k PDF). Prior to that high court victory, St. Peters municipal court administrator Greg M. White on September 11, 2012, issued a warrant for Roeder’s arrest for failing to appear in court — even though the city had no ordinance making failure to appear an arrestable offense. Roeder beat the failure to appear charge at trial, and she also beat the red light running charge (which the city appealed, and lost, at the high court). Roeder fought back by suing St. Peters for false arrest and malicious prosecution. Roeder’s attorney, W. Bevis Schock, pointed out that the city used a trick by charging her not with failing to appear for the red light camera allegation, but for failing to appear on a charge of failing to appear. “The city wished to aggressively pursue revenue from its red light camera ticket program by causing citizens to

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