A federal jury has discovered two members of the Hells Angels biker gang responsible for crimes associated to racketeering and a homicide plot, prosecutors introduced.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California mentioned {that a} jury convicted Christopher Ranieri of serving to plan the 2014 homicide of Joel Silva, a former member of the Hells Angels Sonoma County (HASC) department.
Prosecutors additionally mentioned that Raymond Foakes was convicted of assault with a firearm in assist of racketeering. His offense stems from the multi-hour beating of a unique, however unnamed, former HASC member who was being expelled from the gang. Both males had been additionally convicted of conspiracy expenses below the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Ranieri, the president of the Hells Angels constitution in Salem, Massachusetts, faces as much as life in jail. Foakes, former president of the HASC, faces as much as 60 years behind bars.
No sentencing date was instantly scheduled.
“Foakes and Ranieri followed a malicious code of conduct that permitted — and sometimes encouraged — the beating, maiming, and even killing of anyone who dared to cross their criminal enterprise,” U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey mentioned in a press launch. “The defendants now will be sentenced for their conduct and face the consequences of their violent racketeering activities.”
Ranieri helped plot Silva’s homicide after he threatened a member of the Salem constitution throughout an occasion in New Hampshire, based on the U.S. lawyer’s workplace.
Ranieri met with co-conspirators Jonathan Nelson and Brian Wayne Wendt at his Massachusetts house the place they determined to kill Silva. Ranieri additionally spoke to Wendt and Nelson over the telephone within the days main as much as and after Silva’s demise.
Prosecutors mentioned that Silva was lured to the Fresno Hells Angels clubhouse on July 15, 2014, the place Wendt shot him at the back of the pinnacle. Silva’s physique was incinerated the subsequent morning and his truck set on fireplace. Ranieri and others had a celebration in Fresno celebrating Silva’s demise.
Wendt, Nelson and co-conspirator Russell Taylor Ott had been convicted final 12 months of various expenses associated to Silva’s demise.
The lawyer’s workplace mentioned that Foakes put a prolonged beating on a former HASC member for having an affair with Foakes’ spouse. The gangster beat the previous member with a baseball bat, forcibly tattooed the sufferer’s brow and likewise instructed Nelson to pistol-whip the sufferer within the face.
Foakes was additionally convicted of witness intimidation for sexually assaulting the sufferer’s spouse and threatening her if she talked to police.
Trials towards the Hells Angels Sonoma County constitution come from a 2017 federal grand jury indictment towards 11 folks concerned with the gang. With the latest verdicts towards Ranieri and Foakes, 9 of the 11 defendants have been convicted. One of the defendants has since died.
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