SAN FRANCISCO – Federal agents raided Hells Angels motorcycle gang hangouts across the West Wednesday and made 38 arrests after a two-year undercover investigation into alleged violations of gun and drug laws.
All 38 people arrested were either members or associates of the Hells Angels, according to Patrick Berarducci, senior special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Los Angeles.
The San Francisco headquarters of the Hells Angels gang was targeted, and other search and arrest warrants were executed in Southern California, Arizona, Washington state, Nevada and Alaska.
Agents arrested five people in Washington state at homes in Tacoma, Kirkland, Silverdale, Spokane and Wenatchee, said ATF spokeswoman Vera Fedorak in Seattle. Four arrests were made in Alaska, at three homes in Anchorage and one in Two Rivers.
Agents also searched three clubhouses in Spokane, Wash., and Anchorage and North Pole, Alaska, but made no arrests there.
The raids came before dawn, and the arrests were for drug trafficking, weapons charges, possession of stolen explosives and other crimes, Fedorak said.
The Northern California warrants resulted in 16 or 17 arrests, said Marti McKee, a bureau spokeswoman in San Francisco. She declined to say what agents were looking for, saying the supporting documents were sealed by court order.
Targets in Northern California included 29 search warrants and 24 arrest warrants in locations that included Richmond, San Jose and Santa Cruz County.
“San Francisco police did the entry and secured the scene,” she said of the Hells Angels raid. “Now that they’ve taken care of that, ATF agents are going in to search.”
More information on the raids will be released “once we’ve determined the court documents have been unsealed,” McKee said.
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