[BOOK] Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers' Global Crime Empire

[Elano]

I have just finished reading this book,its sick


Review
'This is a fascinating and disturbing study of a group of macho outsiders in the modern world. There is a terrific movie just waiting to be made out of this book.' -- Daily Mail 'Frightening stuff ! a virtual anthology of badness; 452 pages of documented murder and mayhem perpetrated by the worst of the worst.' -- Sun Herald 'A true crime book that reads like a fiction thriller' -- Canadian Press on THE ROAD TO HELL by Marsden and Sher

Review

'This is a fascinating and disturbing study of a group of macho outsiders in the modern world. There is a terrific movie just waiting to be made out of this book.'

(Daily Mail )


‘Frightening stuff … a virtual anthology of badness; 452 pages of documented murder and mayhem perpetrated by the worst of the worst.'

(Sun Herald )

'A true crime book that reads like a fiction thriller' (Canadian Press on THE ROAD TO HELL by Marsden and Sher )

The award-winning authors of The Road to Hell: How the Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada bring us a definitive, up-to-the-minute account of the Hells Angels and the international biker network.

Marsden and Sher explain how the expansion of America’s foremost motorcycle gang has allowed this once ragtag group of rebels, outcasts and felons to become one of the world’s most sophisticated criminal organizations. While the media has continued to toast the Hells Angels California leader, Sonny Barger, as an American legend, the facts tell another story – they are America’s major crime export. With an estimated 2,500 full-patch members in 25 countries, the Hells Angels have inspired a global subculture of biker gangs that are among the most feared and violent underworld players.

Angels of Death takes readers to Arizona, inside the biggest American police undercover operation to infiltrate the bikers; to British Columbia where wealthy bikers dominate the organized crime pyramid; to Australia where the “bikies” shoot it out with police; to Curaçao where terrorist organizations funnel drugs to Dutch bikers; and to the streets of Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki where a murderous biker war saw rocket attacks and bombs turn Scandinavia into a war zone.

For the first time, police officers who have infiltrated biker gangs tell their secrets – revealing the challenges, fears and horrors they’ve discovered going undercover. Sher and Marsden take the reader behind the latest headlines to tell the story of how the Hells Angels became so powerful, and how the police – with only a few successes – have tried to stop them.

[Elano]

On Friday morning February 13, 2004 an employee of the Rijkswaterstaat discovers three bodies in a river near the small town of Echt in the Dutch province Limburg. Autopsy reveals that the three bodies are Paul de Vries (54), his soon-to-be son-in-law Cor Peijnenburg (33) and the Belgian Serge Wagener (34). And these were not ordinary men, these were members of the Hells Angels. Paul de Vries was the president of the so called Nomads chapter. Police immediately think these three men have become victims in a gangland war between motorcycle gangs. Not too far away are located the towns of Kerkrade and Aken where chapters of rival motorcycle gang the Bandidos has chapters. On that Friday morning a witness tells police he saw a white van and three people along the A2 freeway near the place where the bodies were later found. Police put 25 detectives on the case. Belgian and German police are also contacted for the investigation.

On Wednesday 18 February the Nomads are buried under huge interest. Police count some 300 motorcycles and 150 cars with Dutch and foreign Hells Angels and friends. At this point the general thought was that the Hells Angels would avenge their dead brothers. A war was brewing and more murders would surely follow. And then out of nowhere, there was the hostage situation involving two members of motorcycle club Caribbean Brothers.

Angelo Diaz is a successful businessman and comes from a respectable family. Angelo’s family is originally from Colombia but moved to the island of Curacao. Angelo was born on Curacao on January 28, 1959. His father worked in the phosphate mines on the eastern side of the island. Angelo’s brother Ruben is a lawyer with a lot of political influence. Angelo has a fishing boat and fishes near the islands Bonaire, St Maarten and Trinidad and stays at sea for as long as three whole days. The big fish that are caught are sold on the island the smaller ones are frozen and exported to Rotterdam in The Netherlands. But fish wasn’t the only thing Angelo was exporting. Somewhere along the line Angelo had begun shipping cocaine for Colombians.

On March 8 police get a call that two men are held hostage by two Hells Angels. Police react quickly and take action, they arrest four men. The two hostage takers are the Nomads Jack S. And Marco H. The two hostages are Caribbean Brothers MC members Angelo Diaz and John D. Caribbean Brothers MC at that point is a support club of the Dutch Hells Angels. In police custody Angelo still fears for his life and decides to tell police everything so he can enter the witness protection program. Angelo tells police that all the problems started with the shipment of 293 kilos of Colombian cocaine to The Netherlands.

Angelo Diaz had gotten involved more and more in the smuggling of cocaine. And descended deeper and deeper in the criminal underworld. He was a member of the motorcycle club Caribbean Brothers and through this club he met Nomads president Paul de Vries. De Vries visited Curacao in November 2002. Officially to check out Caribbean Brothers MC because they wanted to become full fledged Hells Angels but unofficially to set up a cocaine line between Curacao and The Netherlands.

Paul de Vries was born on September 17, 1949 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In 1996 he is a prospect of the Hells Angels. Two years later he is vice president of the Nomads and shortly thereafter he is the president. His daughter Sandra says her father was a “friendly and funny man”. Another relative said: “There wasn’t a better person. He made the atmosphere enjoyable.” His wife Iet said: “He was a funny man with whom you could laugh.” But behind that “friendly” man was a hardcore criminal.

Angelo says he set up a deal with a Colombian from Cartagena for 293 kilos of cocaine. Angelo refuses to say the name of this Colombian out of fear for retribution. The deal is that De Vries and company will take care of the shipment to The Netherlands. Once in the Netherlands the shipment will be split in two between the Colombians (who will take care of the sale themselves) and the Nomads. The ship’s route goes from Brazil to Portugal where it will be moved via truck to a company owned by Donny K. (a De Vries business associate) in The Netherlands. Anyway that was the plan....

Irritations run high during the course of the shipment. The Colombians think it takes too long and want a bigger percentage. At the other side there are internal irritations as well. De Vries and Donny K. also have heated arguments about their own percentages. The man who would sell the 150 kilos of cocaine for Donny K. was Steven Chocolaad. In April 2003 Chocolaad comes to Curacao and tells people there that he is “on a mission”. People who saw him then said he looked in bad shape. At this point all parties were arguing with each other about the shipment. Chocolaad became the first victim. In May 2003 parts of his body are found in the Juliana channel in Limburg. All body parts are found, except for the head. It becomes clear that when Chocolaad visits The Netherlands he is murdered in Serge Wagener’s home in Sittard. It remains unclear what Steven Chocolaad had done wrong.

The Colombians don’t care about problems, they want their money. They say Angelo Diaz is responsible. In November 2003 Angelo travels to The Netherlands to visit Donny K. Donny K. tells him that the shipment of drugs had been “ripped” (stolen). Donny K. literally said: “I am not giving back anything. I am ready for the war.”

Angelo flies back to Curacao and for a while things remain quiet. In January 2004 there is bad news. One of the Nomads who wasn’t involved in the drug deal has good connections with the Colombians and gets to hear from them that the Nomads who stole the drugs are on the death list. Also on the death list is Angelo. The Nomads panic, do the Colombians know which Nomads were involved?

What happens next is what nobody could imagine. The Nomads who were not involved in the drugs deal decide to murder the men who they hold responsible for this mess. On February 11, 2004 the Nomads hold a club meeting at their clubhouse in Oirsbeek. What exactly happens only those present know but sometime around 21:00h a person driving by the clubhouse in his car sees a person falling from the first story window. Marco H. later tells Angelo that he, together with Jack S., had “cleaned the poop from the stoop”. Paul, Cor and Serge were dead.

The house cleaning doesn’t stop there. The Nomads call Angelo Diaz and tell him they suspect him of involvement in the stolen shipment of drugs. Angelo has no choice and reports to the Nomads in Sittard together John D. who is also a member of Caribbean Brothers MC. In Sittard he is told by Marco H. that Paul de Vries, while he was drunk, said that Angelo was involved in the rip deal as well. Angelo denies he is involved but the Nomads say they have another witness. In the evening he will meet this witness. The Nomads order Angelo to remain in The Netherlands until that showdown. At one point he has the chance to call his family in Curacao. They make some more calls and Angelo is freed by police.

After the testimony of Angelo Diaz police raid the Nomads clubhouse to search for fingerprints and DNA tracks. Police also arrest all the remaining Nomads. When police search the clubhouse they notice the clubhouse was redecorated very recently. The laminate floors were replaced and the paint on the walls is still wet. But most importantly, police find blood of the murdered Nomads in the clubhouse. All in all 14 Nomads are arrested and charged with murder and one more Nomad is arrested on other charges.

In police custody the Nomads keep their mouths shut. When detectives get ready to interrogate Nomad Jan L. for the 6th time they have little faith they will get him to talk. But when the detectives enter the interrogation room the suspect is a broken man. He starts crying and for the next hour and a half he tells them his story. “If I had known all this in advance I would never have joined the Hells Angels.” “For the past five years there have been problems within the Nomads chapter. President Paul de Vries was involved in murders and rip deals (stealing drugs) even though that is against the rules of the Hells Angels. I told Paul de Vries I didn’t take this shit and would tell the leaders of the Hells Angels Holland. Paul then threatened to kill me. Serge Wagener took out a knife and held it against my throat. He asked Paul if he should kill me right there.” Jan L. also tells the detectives that he found “Paul de Vries the most evil man on the planet” “He has committed 11 to 15 murders and is the most hated man within the chapter. Everybody was afraid of him. What type of man are you when you kill someone and cut them in pieces? The men who killed those three deserve a statue.”

The next day Jan L. tells some more about the things that went on within the motor club. “Paul de Vries was a coward who himself never pulled the trigger but always got others to do his dirty work. He was a butcher though. His right hand man, I’m talking about Moon (Serge Wagener), was a psychopath.” The Angel then gives some examples of extortion, planned bomb attacks and threats within the club. A week later Jan L. has regrets about talking to the cops. He asks the detectives to weaken his stories. “I am a psychological mess. I’ve never told a cop as much as I told you. A Hells Angels normally does not talk to police. I’ve already told you too much. I can’t tell you anymore if I would do that I would get a bullet through my head.” The detectives ask Jan if this would be done by the Hells Angels. The answer is short: “yes”. Another Nomad, Marco H., told police that the club had a fall out with a group of Belgians, a group of Turks and a group of Dutchmen, "We were walking around as live targets" he says. In the end however non of the Nomads turns government witness.

In the end keeping their mouths shut saved the Nomads. Justice did not want to give all twelve Nomads life, as was demanded by prosecutors. Justice felt it unfair to sentence all men to life when some of these men did not actually pull the trigger. In the end 12 Nomads were sentenced to 6 years in prison for the manslaughter of Paul de Vries. The court found that there was no evidence of a premeditated decision to kill the three. Instead, the court found it was clear there had been an argument between De Vries and several other Nomads at a weekly club meeting. For some reason, the court said, the other two victims sided with De Vries only to be shot almost immediately. De Vries tried to escape by jumping out the window of the building, but was brought back to the meeting room and shot, the court said.

And so came an end to a story where “brothers” killed “brothers”.