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How I (Barely) Survived a Near-Fatal Holiday Weekend With a Biker Gang


Retired ATF agent Ken Croke is the only federal agent to ever infiltrate the notoriously violent Pagans motorcycle gang in a now-legendary campaign, killing 20 villains. Ken has a long history of secret work, but nothing could have prepared him for the two years he ended up living undercover as a cyclist and becoming a full-fledged member of the clan. Pagans.

In this chapter from his book, Riding with Evil: Take down the notorious motorcycle gang Paganswritten with veteran crime reporter and New York Times Bestselling author Dave Wedge, Croke describes one of his first steps into the Pagan lifestyle, when he visited the gang over St Patrick’s weekend in 2009 in Rocky Point, NY on Long Island.

He is immediately confronted with threats from the chapter heads and quickly learns of their depravity and brutal tendencies.

It was eye-opening to see how the Pagans literally run the town. They slap the people around, and the bar owner and the doorman do nothing. The police were not called. The Pagans are the police in those bars. They are also judges, jurors, and executioners.

After drinking down the city, we headed back to Roadblock’s house, where I was taken back to the living room floor to sleep. Just like the night before, Roadblock continued to glide past me throughout the night. It’s haunting. Once, he stopped next to me, leaning over and staring down at me as I lay on the ground pretending to be asleep. I can feel his gaze. His breath hit my face and I could smell his stench.

Does this guy ever sleep?

I got through another sleepless night. The next day was the St. Patrick’s Day parade — the reason we came. I don’t have any crimes on file yet, but I’m increasingly certain that there’s an opportunity for some degree of intrusion. I know I can at least be a hangout, and maybe more.

Bob and I were asked to stand behind the clubhouse along with several other lairs to make sure no Hell Angels sneaked into the club. Tension is high. The Pagans had three days of rowdy, and whether Angels showed up or not, violence was inevitable.

Ice Bear goes on a rampage, which is normal, as its temperament is notorious and unpredictable. The number “13” on his colorway represents Mom’s Club membership. Only Mom Club members can wear the #13.

Ken Croke

The entire chapter is “slick”, meaning they don’t wear color, so as not to attract the attention of the small army of policemen patrolling the parade. It was bone-chilling and the rain was silent — St. Patrick’s Day kind of calls for a lot of booze.

Partygoers drank from plastic Solo cups as they walked up and down Main Street, dressed in green and wearing Mardi Gras-style beads. The members of the security team joined the crowd, ready to respond if the Hell Angel appeared or if I needed to get out of Dodge Hell.

Members of the Mother Cano Club, Hellboy, Bluto, Jersey Jim, Izzo, JR, and more Pagans outside the Binns Motel at Pagan’s mandatory Roar to the Shore, September 2010.

Ken Croke

The fact that the Pagans wear street clothes is bad news for any drunkard who decides to slander a certain guy. All are wrong guys, with or without color. If you have fought with one, you have fought with all. Not surprisingly, that’s what happened.

Firearms seized or acquired during the investigation.

Ken Croke

One of the members of the Long Island chapter is Michael Thornton, nicknamed Tumbleweed, a drug and assault felon. Yes, that’s right — maiming. It’s an actual federal criminal charge. The legal definition is “mutilating or causing injury to a person that causes that person to lose the right to use any limb.” I’m not sure about the situation how Tumbleweed caught that, but I knew about the charges in my preparation before I got to Rocky Point.

Tumbleweed is the oldest in the club and looks like Blue from the Will Ferrell movie Old school. He lost his leg in a motorcycle accident and required a prosthetic limb. However, it is not a fancy titanium or plastic part. It’s wooden – like a pirate’s leg in a story.

Tumbleweed jumps onto his good leg and uses his prosthetic as a weapon.

A group of drunks walked down the sidewalk, and one of them made the mistake of telling a member to get out of the way. Next thing you know, he was beaten up by some Pagans. Bob and I heard the commotion and ran around to the front to watch the melee. Tumbleweed was in the middle of it, blowing away this poor sap. At one point, his leg wobbled and fell.

Many high-ranking Pagans and Mongols in New Jersey before meetings to form an alliance between the two OMGs. Photo taken in September 2010.

Ken Croke

You might think his dislodged prosthetic would end the fight, but not with the barbarians. Tumbleweed jumps onto his good leg and uses his prosthetic as a weapon. He swung it wildly, delivering blows with his own prosthetic leg at his victim. When the beatings stopped, the victim’s friends scratched him off the ground and pushed him out of the area.

Hellboy in a state of hysteria at a mandatory contest in New Jersey in 2010.

Ken Croke

That evening, there was another explosion at the Roadblock’s house, and several suburban Pagans joined me and crashed into the floor. Most of them smelled fishy and snored like bears, but somehow it was the best night of sleep I had that weekend. Unlike other nights, Roadblock doesn’t do its walking guard duty. Maybe he’s finished threatening me for now, or perhaps he just passed out. Whatever it was, I took little consolation in the stinking mass of humanity. At least I’m not the only one there, if that ax-wielding mammoth decides to stalk and threaten.

This is the hole I dug with Hogman and Tracy at Tracy’s home in the Catskills and what was discovered by the agents who searched the property at the conclusion of the case.

Ken Croke

As I lay there on the floor, fainting in a sea of ​​filthy cyclists, I thought of my beautiful little girls snuggled up in their beds and realized how far away I had come from my family. .

From the book RUN WITH A Shirt: Take down the notorious Pagan motorcycle gang by Ken Croke and Dave Wedge. Copyright © 2022 by Ken Croke and Dave Wedge. Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing. Reprinted by permission.



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