Clubs used to represent more than territory, it was about freedom and doing what you wanted. Both men also rejected the claim that Mr. Santillan had revealed privileged defense information to the government while his motorcycle club was on trial. Such an order would allow anyone to use the image. A jury ordered the forfeiture, but Judge Carter reversed the order, concluding that it infringed on the groups constitutional rights. They are sick and tired of the gangster shit, they want to be bikers and be apart of a scene that was once true to itself (Thus the reason for pop up clubs and lack of respect for protocol and tradition). He explained: We wanted them to know we were there monitoring.. Now the Mongols want a new trial and say their former president, David Santillan, was a confidential informant for the ATF.The explosive allegations come after a secretly recorded video surfaced of Santillan talking to his wife about the lead ATF agent on the case John Ciccone.Eyewitness News has obtained the video that was recorded in June of 2021 when David Santillan was drunk and despondent. And he was tireless, Mr. DAlesio said. The #1 Biker News Website Since 2011-Covering up to minute biker news including Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs & Biker News Worldwide. After testifying briefly in court Monday, Annie told Eyewitness News that her husband has never been a confidential informant and that she only sent the text message because she wanted to destroy him in the eyes of the Mongols. I think it would be time to really clean house over there, anyone that lil Dave came in contact with on a regular basis would have to go? In one of them, according to their court papers, Mr. Santillan crashed his Mercedes in 2017 while driving impaired, damaging numerous cars parked on the street. A federal appeals court is separately considering an appeal of the conviction. You can now listen to full episodes of the podcast right from the app. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. "All I wanted to do was to tarnish his image," says Annie Santillan. Mr. Santillan walking into a federal courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., during the 2018 racketeering trial against the Mongols. In another instance, in 2014, Mr. Santillan and his wife got into a brawl with other people at a racetrack, the Mongols filing says. "He goes, I know you've been doing a bang-up job at the club, can't protect you from this point forward," Santillan recounted of their conversation. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Eyewitness News asked Santillan what he meant in the video about ATF agent Ciccone "protecting him." Both Mr. Ciccone and the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment on the motion beyond the government response filed in court, which said the petition for a new trial was replete with false and unsupported allegations and speculation.. He cant protect me, he told me, so we have to have an exit strategy, he told me, Mr. Santillan, who sounded drunk and sounded distraught, said to her. Prosecutors convinced a jury in California that these crimes were not just the result of individual bikers behaving badly, but the work of an organized criminal enterprise that had participated in a campaign of mayhem. The Mongols Motorcycle Club was convicted in late 2018 of racketeering and conspiracy. After this mistake I realized I went against everything i believed in regarding both sides of the story and said enough of this drama bullshit . ", LA County sheriff's recruits graduate months after Whittier crash, Highways into the San Bernardino Mountains are closed to drivers, LA County passes motion requiring retrofit of some buildings by 2033. He said their communication was for public safety and showed the Mongols that there is ATF presence at their events. The indictment did not target any individuals but alleged that the club itself had engaged in an organized conspiracy of crimes such as murder, attempted murder and drug dealing. During the almost 13 years he led the Mongols, Mr. Santillan appeared to steer the organization away from its past recruitment of Mexican criminal gang members and a culture of total underworld activity that the feds feasted on, in terms of prosecutions, said William Dulaney, an expert on motorcycle groups who was formerly an associate professor of national security at the U.S. Air Forces Air Command and Staff College. Self-Improvement. Such an order would allow anyone to use the image. Marshal that Mr. Santillan and Mr. Ciccone had been seen chatting at a Starbucks near the courthouse. Prosecutors convinced a jury in California that these crimes were not just the result of individual bikers behaving badly, but the work of an organized criminal enterprise that had participated in a campaign of mayhem. But then he began to talk about now-retired ATF agent John Ciccone, the lead agent on the racketeering case. But the group that was once the most powerful biker organization in the West other than its archrivals, the Hells Angels, is returning to court next week, hoping to set aside the racketeering and conspiracy convictions based on what it says is new evidence about its previous leader, David Santillan. Ciccone said whenever he worked a Mongols event and there was the potential for problems or violence, he would go to Santillan because he's the president of the Mongols and can convey the message to his members. The judge will most likely consider a series of procedural matters on Monday, lawyers said, with additional hearings expected before any final ruling. "Absolutely not, unequivocally no," says David Santillan. In 2018, the government scored a victory of sorts. Hopefully it will go back internally and people can worry about the profiling and patch case. In exchange, the club said in its motion, the agent appears to have spared Mr. Santillan from serious legal consequences for several offenses since 2011. A jury sided with the prosecution in 2019 and ordered the group to give up the emblem, but Judge David O. Carter rejected the verdict as an infringement on the clubs constitutional rights. He's accused of being a confidential informant and working with the government during the Mongols' trial after his wife,. David Santillan, the president of the Mongols, was ousted by the group after a video surfaced that implied he was being protected by a federal agent. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. Judge Carter conducted an extensive inquiry to unearth any evidence that Mr. Santillan had cooperated with law enforcement and acknowledged his difficulty in explaining away the contents of the video. Federal prosecutors have been focusing on the Mongols logo since 2008. agent on the case, John Ciccone, sharing inside information about the club in exchange for lighter penalties for various offenses. Mr. Santillan holding a photo of himself with fellow Mongols members. Cavazos was raised by his father in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California and joined the Avenues, a Mexican American street gang, at an early age before . The lawyer in charge of the retrial motion, Joseph A. Yanny, said the Mongols hoped to prove that an improper relationship between Mr. Santillan and Mr. Ciccone during the 2018 trial allowed the government to hear things it should not have about the Mongols defense strategy and even adversely influenced the Mongols presentation of their case. LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- There's a new twist in a federal case already marked by murder and mayhem. The only thing he is guilty of is talking to John a lot and having some kind of rapport with him, she said in an interview. Jesse gave other Mongols more of the same. ", RELATED: Racketeering verdict in OC might force Mongols biker club to lose logo. Now the Mongols want a new trial and say their former president, David Santillan, was a confidential informant for the ATF. The unusual legal imbroglio provides a rare glimpse into the hidden and volatile politics of the outlaw motorcycle club and the degree to which law enforcement and its targets may engage in limited cooperation when it is seen as mutually beneficial. This wasnt the case . Now its onto covering what the biker lifestyle is all about- Fun and riding motorcycles. Two years after a federal jury deemed the notorious Mongols Motorcycle Club a criminal organization, attorneys for the club are asking a judge for a new trial accusing its former president of. In the case that led to the racketeering conviction against the Mongols, Mr. Ciccone had acted as the case agent. In 2018, the government scored a victory of sorts. He is a rat, Mr. Santillans wife, Annie, suggested in a text message that became a key piece of evidence in the case against the group, which was founded in Southern California in 1969 and whose members are mostly Hispanic. Join u. AboutPressCopyrightContact. The U.S. Attorneys Office had earlier tried and failed to force the Mongols to forfeit their rights to the clubs trademarked logo, a drawing of a brawny Genghis Khan-like figure riding a chopper while brandishing a sword, a landmark case that prosecutors felt would help weaken the club by undermining its visual identity. If youre a rat, youre the scum of the earth, he said in an interview. Discussion in 'Mayberry Lounge' started by Pliny Pete, Jul 18, 2021. T wo years after a federal jury deemed the notorious Mongols Motorcycle Club a criminal organization, attorneys for the club are asking a judge for a new trial accusing its former president of . Lil Dave, the president of the Mongols motorcycle club, was caught cheating on his wife so she decided to revenge his ass by putting this video on Youtube which shows him supposedly. Former Mongols Biker Club Leader Denies He Was Ever a Rat The Mongols Motorcycle Club allege that their former president David Santillan was a confidential informant during their RICO. agent over the years because it helped avert trouble. The A.T.F. Hes apart of a club that started with Cops and COS. "I assumed it was going to be her, so we videotaped," Annie Santillan tells Eyewitness News. Now the Mongols want a new trial and say their former president was a confidential informant for the ATF. In this Oct. 21, 2008 file photo a Mongols' motorcycle gang member vest is displayed during a news conference in Los Angeles. He's accused of being a confidential informant and working with the government during the Mongols' trial after his wife, Annie, shared a June 2021 recorded phone conversation with other members of the biker gang calling him a rat. The. In other words, she wrote, he is a rat.. A petition for a new trial and reversal of the half-million-dollar fine, which is scheduled for an initial hearing on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., claims that Mr. Santillan, 52, covertly cooperated for years with a special agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Mongols attorney Joe Yanny says his clients want their 2018 racketeering conviction thrown out or at the very least a new trial. I take the hit on this one because I shouldve waited for his side- But I always take a the word of a club member and this time it was a mistake. That was all it was about. Theres a new twist in a federal case already marked by murder and mayhem. The government, in its own appeal, is making another run at the Mongols logo, renewing an earlier request for a narrower forfeiture order that would take away the clubs right to trademark exclusivity over the emblem. The group has about 1,200 members in the United States, most of them Hispanic, and numerous chapters around the world. Mr. Santillan said he talked with the A.T.F. agent over the years because it helped avert trouble. New features, smoother menu and backgrounds- PLUS!! That is the conviction and fine the Mongols are now trying to have set aside. Representatives from several local law enforcement departments also said they had no such records. #MONGOLSMC #MONGOLS #LILDAVEFor more than two decades, federal law enforcement authorities pursued the Mongols, a notorious motorcycle club whose members had a long history of murder, assault, drug dealing and robbery.In 2018, the government scored a victory of sorts. And he was tireless, Mr. DAlesio said. Mongols Motorcycle Club Says Its Leader Was an Informant, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/us/mongols-new-trial.html. Testimony will help determine if Mongols get new trial. The Mongols are now claiming that throughout their attempt to defend the club in the long-running criminal case, their own leader was secretly talking to the government. In 2018, the government scored a victory of sorts. Mr. Dulaney said that Mr. Santillan instituted new policies, like no more club-driven drug business, and made it mandatory that members had to have a motorcycle and things like a valid drivers license and registration and a job.. No one at all can keep blaming LEO (Which I do all the time) when there is gang shit happening all the time. "He's retiring, he's retiring. In the call, David Santillan sobs and says he wants to reconcile. The explosive allegations come after a secretly recorded video. The California motorcycle group had claimed that its former president, David Santillan, was a government informant. ", "So, he gave me a heads up and that was it. He said they discussed matters such as public safety when the Mongols or other clubs were planning parties or motorcycle rallies to ensure that members stayed in line and that rival groups kept their distance. In court testimony and in an earlier interview, Ms. Santillan said she had shared the video and the text with the Mongols in an attempt to destroy her husband but had since regretted it; she said she was not being truthful when she claimed he had been an informant. The Mongols claimed in their motion for a new trial that Mr. Santillan had an inappropriate working relationship over the years with the lead A.T.F. In other words, she wrote, he is a rat.. She also said in a text message to other Mongols, now filed with the court, that her husband had acted for a time as a confidential government informant. and other law enforcement agencies have long gone after biker organizations by co-opting members as informants and infiltrating the groups with their own undercover agents.