Pagans? I thought they went the way of the Gypsy Jokers.
I guess they didn't go the way of the Gypsy Jokers.
Posted on Mon, Apr. 11, 2005
Pagans throw hell of a party
Gathering aimed at sending tough message to Angels
By KITTY CAPARELLA
caparek@phillynews.com
Steven "Gorilla" Mondever-gine, who oversees Pagan Outlaw motorcycle chapters in Philadelphia and South Jersey, pointed to initials on the back of a member's T-shirt outside a South Philadelphia diner: A.H.A.M.D.
"It means All Hells Angels Must Die," said a Pagan of their hated rivals late Saturday afternoon.
Three dozen Pagans on Harleys and in pickups met at the Penrose Diner parking lot, at 20th Street and Penrose Avenue, after attending a Baltimore-area funeral for a Pagan named "Lobster."
The Pagans' show of force - members from Philadelphia, New York, Maryland and West Virginia - at their second annual party to celebrate opening a chapter here, was aimed to send a message to the Angels.
The message: "This is a Pagan city and they're in charge," according to a law-enforcement source.
But another show-of-force arrived: Philadelphia police and FBI agents in six patrol cars and at least eight surveillance vehicles outside the diner. A dozen uniformed cops stood across 20th Street.
Cops and agents were determined to avert a repeat of the violence that occurred after the Angels' last party.
Acting Angels president Thomas "Thinker" Wood, 36, was fatally shot early on Jan. 14 while driving on the Schuylkill Expressway at the Vare Avenue exit, after inducting a couple of new members and celebrating at Cheerleaders, a Pagan hangout.
On Saturday the two gangs never confronted each other.
Mondevergine and Atlantic County Pagan Robert "Clean" Woodward were heard complaining about the Angels.
When Mondevergine was pulled in after Wood's death, cops gave him a 15-page statement signed by Pagan-turned-Angel Steven DeMarco to read. "I'm trying to get a copy and put on the Internet," he joked.
Inside the diner, a blonde waitress with 10 earrings swooned over a Pagan 10 years her junior. "I just want him for a night," she said.
About 6:40 p.m., the highest-ranking Pagan, Floyd "Jesse" Moore, a Pagan mother club vice president from West Virginia, showed up, changing the upbeat mood.
About 8 p.m. after Moore ate, he let authorities know the members would stop at Oasis, a Southwest Philadelphia bar.
Meanwhile in West Philadelphia, 60-70 Angels from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Maryland met at the Angels' clubhouse, on Merion Avenue near Girard, a law-enforcement source said.
Angels treasurer Donald Ekstrom, a cane by his side, and three prospects, or recruits, manned a police barricade near the party as police and agents watched. "We're just having a party," said Ekstrom, refusing to answer other questions.
Angels spilled into Merion Avenue from their red-and-white clubhouse, described by a Pagan as a "phone booth."
The Angels chapter here has had a tough first year. Its mother club, or ruling body, wanted to put the chapter on probation a year ago, but Wood developed a rapport with higher-ups, said another law-enforcement source. "They actually started to like the guy," the source said.
Then last fall, Angels chapter president Anthony "Mengie" Mengione was kicked out of the club, after he was returned to federal prison on a parole violation.
Mengione and James Wysong, a former Pagan who took over as president after Wood was killed, were described as two of the four traitors Mondevergine had fingered as "patching" over to the Angels after he was nearly assassinated in 1999, according to law- enforcement and biker sources.
Mondevergine believes Mengione set him up to be killed. He was shot multiple times outside his then-South Philadelphia home, sources said.
Last week, the Angels attempted to throw their bash at two sites - the German Hungarian Club, in Bensalem, and the Shooters N.Y.A. clubhouse, in South Philadelphia. Both parties were canceled.