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ATF Arrests Wanted Mongol Fugitive

Wanted fugitive profiled on America’s Most Wanted

Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative Reporter. July 19, 2009 at 1:30 PM PDT

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), they along with law enforcement officers from the Montebello Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested fugitive Renato Gomez, a Mongols associate, of the notorious Mongols biker gang on July 14 after a traffic stop and law enforcement stakeout .

Montebello Police Department said the arrest occurred in the El Sereno area of Los Angeles without incident. Gomez who has been a fugitive since Oct. 21, 2008, was profiled on America’s Most Wanted three times which in part lead to his arrest. Gomez was indicted for violating federal firearms and narcotics laws.

In October 2008, the ATF, along with several other law enforcement agencies served more than 120 search warrants and more than 100 arrest warrants in six states after infiltrating the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang. The gang is based in Southern California and has about 600 members. Racketeering indictments charging a total of 79 defendants, described a tightly organized criminal organization that engaged in various crimes to include, murder, torture, firearms trafficking,. prostitution and drug trafficking to achieve its goals. A number of the 79 members indicted have already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, but most of the plea agreements remained under seal. The Associated Press has challenged a federal judge's decision to seal the documents.

The indictments said the group, which is mostly Latino, also attacked black people, committed robberies and stole motorcycles. The gang funded itself in part by stealing credit card account information, prosecutors said.

Last year at the time of the arrests Michael Sullivan, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said "This is one of those celebrated investigations in which the organization from top to bottom has been charged and targeted. It puts a stake in the heart of the Mongols."

Four undercover ATF agents became fully inducted members of the gang during the three-year investigation. 

U.S. attorney Tom O'Brien says the undercover agents were able to find out about the structure and leadership in the gang. O'Brien says gang leaders made the agents take a polygraph test before they could get in. 

Agents said over 80 motorcycles, cash, weapons, drugs were confiscated during the operation.

The former national president of the notorious Mongols motorcycle gang has also pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in a case that accused other members of murder, drug trafficking and violent attacks.

Prosecutors revealed January's guilty plea by Ruben "Doc" Cavazos in court papers filed on June 29. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

Defense attorney Angel Navarro declined to say why Cavazos decided to plead guilty but noted his client was "doing as well as he can."

Cavazos, 52, and other Mongol leaders directed members to engage in murders, extortion, robberies and drug trafficking to "promote and further the activities of the Mongols gang," according to a 177-page indictment.

Among other things, prosecutors claim Cavazos was involved in negotiating with Mexican Mafia leaders over the collection of payments for drug trafficking in areas controlled by that gang and getting Mongol members to commit crimes against people who challenged the gang's authority.

Cavazos wrote a book and on a Web site promoting the book, Cavazos wrote: "I would like to thank everyone who has stood by family and I. With your support and prayers, I am confident that I will see all of you on the outside again."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mongols Colors being displayed on one members bike.

Absent from the site is the group's trademarked logo. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has barred members from wearing or distributing the image.

The Web site says, "By order of the federal attorney, image has been removed." It also has a phrase emblazoned on the bottom, "Never Touch a Mongol's Patch."

Prosecutors argue the logo should be forfeited because the trademarks were acquired and maintained by Cavazos while the gang was involved in criminal activity.

The injunction is overly broad, said attorney John MacPete, who represents Mongols Motorcycle Club Inc., which wants to have the injunction limited to only members who have been indicted.

"The club itself is not an indicted entity," he said. "The club was using the trademark (logo) long before Cavazos showed up."

Since the injunction was put in place in October, there have been numerous seizures of items bearing the Mongol logo nationwide, including clothing and motorcycles, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Welk.

"We believe the use of these symbols gives them power in terms of terrorizing the public and committing crimes," Welk said.

Not having the logo anymore "will impair their ability to operate a criminal enterprise," he said.

 

Recently Lancaster City officials shut down a Mojave Desert motel to block a meeting of the notorious Mongols biker gang.

The entrance to the Desert Inn motel has been surrounded by a chain-link fence Thursday.

Hundreds of motorcyclists were planning to hold their annual meeting there.

The Mongols have a $16,000 contract with the motel to provide space and rooms for up to 300 members of its gang. But city officials say Desert Inn owner Hui Su is past due on $180,000 in tax payments.

Mayor R. Rex Parris said the motel owners refused to comply when he asked them to renege on the contract.

The Mongols are not welcome in Lancaster because they "are engaged in domestic terrorism ... and they kill our children," Parris said.

Mongols lawyer Albert Perez Jr. said the Mongols still plan to visit Lancaster for a street fair on Friday night but would find an alternate location for their weekend meeting. He would not say where.

Perez said his clients expect a full refund and would take legal action if the motel reopened Monday, which he said would confirm why the motel was shut down.

 

                             Sources:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Montebello Police Department

U.S. Marshals Service

KTLA.COM

Photo's by Getty Images

Anonyms Mongol members

 

 

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