Posted on 02/25/2002 6:10:12 AM PST by meandog
PLAINVIEW, N.Y. (AP) - Rival motorcycle gangs armed with daggers, baseball bats and a machine gun clashed at an indoor motorcycle and tattoo expo called the Hellraiser Ball, authorities said. One man was killed and at least 10 people were injured.
About 60 people were in custody Saturday night and the number could grow, said Nassau County Chief of Detectives Herbert Faust.
Faust said four people were shot, one fatally, and others injured when the fight erupted around 4:15 p.m. at the Vanderbilt, a concert and catering hall in Plainview, N.Y.
Faust said the fight broke out between members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, whose Long Island chapter sponsored the event, and a rival gang, the Pagans.
As many as 100 Pagans showed up at the event, which drew about 1,000 people, many of them Hells Angels members, Faust said.
"There's been a long-standing feud between the two motorcycle gangs," he said. "At some point, there was a major conflict. We have gunshots, we have people stabbed, a major fight."
Several people who fled the scene were apprehended nearby, Nassau County Police Commissioner William Willett said.
Police also recovered numerous daggers, baseball bats and an Uzi automatic weapon, Faust said.
The expo had been under surveillance by police, but was not expected to be violent, he said.
"We had surveillance. We were aware of the event. We had no reason to believe it would have erupted into this type of conflict," he said.
One man died in surgery and two others were being treated at North Shore University Hospital in Plainview, according to Betty Olt, a hospital spokeswoman. She would not describe their injuries.
Nassau University Medical Center had treated nine injured people, hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg said.
Police were searching for more suspects.
Scott Casagrande of Medford, N.Y., said he was displaying a motorcycle at the show when he saw "a herd of people running toward us, saying 'Get out, get out, there's gunshots.'"
"Everybody ran," he added. "I heard gunfire downstairs but I thought nothing of it because a band was playing. It was very loud."
According to the event's Web site, tattoo and piercing artists, motorcycle shops and other vendors paid up to $300 to rent space at the expo.
Well that's OK.... as it appears there was no use of those nasty 0.5 inch BMG with cartridges as big as Coke bottles.
Condolences for the dead, but this is just too rich....
Perhaps they could run "security", like they did for the Stones at Altamont.
It must have been a dagger law loophole. They probably bought them at a dagger show. We need a law! Next we'll be seeing the anti-daggermom protesters showing their outrage !!!
Can you imagine the employees of national chain stores starting to rumble like this? They better beef-up security at this years Housewares Show, in New York.
>sarcasm<
Posted on Sun, Feb. 24, 2002
1 killed, 10 injured as Pagans crash Hells Angels swap meet
BY MELISSA GRACE, MARTIN MBUGUA AND GREG WILSON
New York Daily News
NEW YORK - (KRT) - Gunfire and knife fights erupted at a Long Island Hells Angels swap meet Sunday, leaving one man dead and 10 injured after a rival motorcycle gang crashed the event, police said.
Four people were shot and at least two were stabbed when "a sizable number of Pagans" turned up just after 4 p.m. at the Hellraiser Ball Bike and Tattoo Expo, said Nassau County Police Chief of Detectives Herb Faust.
The two-day event, which began Sunday morning at the Vanderbilt catering hall in Plainview, N.Y., featured a tattoo show and swap meet where more than 1,000 gang members and biking enthusiasts were buying and selling motorcycle parts.
Faust put the number of Pagans at more than 20 but less than 100.
"It's been a longstanding feud between motorcycle gangs. It erupted today," he said. "There was a major conflict - gunshots, people stabbed, a major fight."
One unidentified man, whom Faust said was stabbed repeatedly and then shot, died at Plainview North Shore University Hospital. Two other victims were in stable condition there, said Betty Olt, a hospital spokeswoman.
Nassau University Medical Center was treating four people for gunshot wounds and four others with unspecified injuries, hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg said.
"I was coming down the stairs," said a leather-jacketed woman who attended the expo with her boyfriend. "It seemed like a bunch of people were trying to bust the front doors, and the next thing, everybody was being pushed and somebody started shooting. I ran back up the stairs, and then somebody came and told me my boyfriend had been hit over the head. Oh, God, it was pandemonium. Absolute pandemonium."
Sixty people were arrested, and police confiscated three handguns, one Uzi, several daggers, baseball bats and other weapons, as well as 13 vans. Charges were pending, police said.
As many as 100 cops from both Nassau and Suffolk counties responded to the violence at the hall, which is off the Long Island Expressway at the border of the two counties.
Police were taking statements from hundreds of people in attendance.
"We're talking to everybody that may have seen or heard anything or who may have been involved in the incident," said Nassau County Police Detective Tom Mazur.
"These events (swap meets) are common, and there's always friction," said Yves Lavigne, an expert on motorcycle gangs and the author of three books about the Hells Angels. "But it is unusual for them to get violent."
A Web site for the Long Island chapter of the Hells Angels touted Chuck Zito, a former gang member and Hollywood bodyguard turned actor, and Sonny Barger, the semi-retired national president of the gang, as scheduled guests at the event. Sources said Barger, who has spent much of his life in prison, is a legendary figure in the gang, revered by Angels and reviled by Pagans.
The presence of Barger, who runs a motorcycle shop in Arizona but is believed to control the gang, could have attracted Pagans, Lavigne said.
"They went because he was there," Lavigne said.
"They went to flex their muscles under the noses of the Angels, and it got out of hand. Someone blinked."
One witness said that cops seemed to be braced for trouble. John Micucci, 39, a computer operator who works across the street from the hall, said he saw several police cars in the parking lot, beginning early Sunday morning.
"The cops definitely knew something was going on," Micucci said.
"They were waiting for something to happen. How many events do you know of where cops are hanging out in the parking lot?"
The expo had been under surveillance by police, but was not expected to be violent, Faust said.
"We had surveillance. We were aware of the event. We had no reason to believe it would have erupted into this type of conflict," he said.
According to the event's Web site, www.hamcli.com/hells_angels_links_page.htm tattooists, piercers, motorcycle shops and other vendors paid up to $300 to rent space at the weekend expo.
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© 2002, New York Daily News.
Visit the Daily News online at http://www.nydailynews.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Probably boot knives.
Haven't you read the newspapers? The Promise Keepers are just as dangerous. They teach of all things,.......RESPONSIBILITY! Now, we can't have any of that, can we?
A person is guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree when:
(1) He possesses any firearm, electronic dart gun, electronic stun gun, gravity knife, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, cane sword, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, metal knuckles, chuka stick, sand bag, sandclub, wrist-brace type slingshot or slungshot, shirken or "Kung Fu star"; or
(2) He possesses any dagger, dangerous knife, dirk, razor, stiletto, imitation pistol, or any other dangerous or deadly instrument or weapon with intent to use the same unlawfully against another; or ...
(Goes on for 5 more paragraphs)
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