Four of five Hells Angels Motorcycle Club members pled guilty on Jan. 29 for their roles in a fight between themselves and rival gang members in September.
The last of the five has a trial set for March.
The rival gang members were from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club. The Hells Angels and the Pagans are considered two of the larger outlaw motorcycle gangs, along with the Bandidos and the Outlaws.
These four are referred to “Big Four” outlaw motorcycle gangs by both the FBI and the Canadian intelligence service, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada.
Richard West, Joseph Paturzo and Nathaniel Villaman each plead guilty to malicious wounding by a mob, according to Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin.
“They each have four-year active sentences,” Martin said. “That’s 20 years with 16 suspended. And then one of them that took the offer is a shooter, and he received an eight-year active sentence.”
The defendant Martin referred to was Anthony Milan, 28, who fired a gun during the altercation and seriously wounded one of the Pagans. Martin said that Milan’s sentence went above the sentencing guidelines of six and a half years that are usually applied in cases such as this case.
Both of the gang members were in the area for the same motorcycle convention, and the fighting began when the Pagans, who were from southern Virginia, arrived in the parking lot of the Hometown Inn in Greenville on Lee Jackson Highway. The Hells Angels bikers were members of a New York charter, according to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office.
“In my experience as a prosecutor, I have not seen a shooting in any jurisdiction I was prosecuting at that time,” said Martin, who was elected the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Augusta County in 2015. “Nationally, they are occasionally known to be violent.”
The last of the Hells Angels members in this trial, Dominick Eadicicco, is the only one that did not accept the plea deal. His trial is scheduled for March.
USA - BNN.
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