Mongols biker gang member killed Pinellas associate believed to be informant, sheriff says
A Pinellas grand jury has indicted a member of the Mongols biker gang who is accused of killing another gang member he believed to be a police informant.
Paul Mogilevsky, 48, faces a first-degree murder charge in the April shooting death of Dominick Paternoster, 46, in Palm Harbor. Paternoster was a member of the Raiders, a feeder group for the Mongols. The two share a clubhouse in Tampa, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference Monday.
“Paternoster was not just killed. He was executed,” Gualtieri said. He declined to say, however, whether Paternoster was an informant.
Mogilevsky and Paternoster were at the Mongols’ clubhouse in Tampa together on April 27, the night Paternoster was killed, Gualtieri said. They then went to Paternoster’s Palm Harbor home with another person.
Video evidence and witnesses placed the suspects at Paternoster’s home on the night of the shooting, Gualtieri said.
Mogilevsky initially said he and another person left Paternoster asleep in a recliner at home, according to court documents. However, investigators said Mogilevsky lied about the timeline of events that night.
A confidential witness also told authorities that Mogilevsky had planned the shooting and admitted to killing Paternoster, court documents say, and authorities were able to verify some of the information the witness provided.
Mogilevsky and the other suspect got rid of some evidence in Tampa Bay, Gualtieri said. Members of the sheriff’s office dive team helped recover the evidence.
Gualtieri said multiple guns were used to shoot Paternoster in his home, where he was found dead about 4:30 p.m. on April 28, according to court documents. Law enforcement is still investigating the death and plans to make other arrests, the sheriff said.
The Mongols are based in California, but have a Tampa Bay chapter with a membership that is in the double digits, Gualtieri said. Members rarely enact violence on those outside of biker gangs, Gualtieri said, but have been known to traffic drugs, guns and sex workers.
“These people are not the people that you see out on a Sunday afternoon motorcycle ride,” he said.
The Mongols aren’t the only biker gang operating in the Tampa Bay area.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Outlaws dominated the biker gang scene in Florida and were known for torture, drug dealing and gun smuggling. Several high profile prosecutions sent its leaders to prison, but the group has remained active in parts of South Florida and in the Tampa Bay region.
In 2019, two members of the 69ers Motorcycle Club were convicted of killing the leader of a Pasco Outlaws chapter in 2017. A group called the Pagans has also been active in Pasco County.
Gualtieri said the motorcycle gangs have been active for many years.
“People hear about them,” Gualtieri said. “But this isn’t something you just see in the movies or read about happening in California or in other places. It’s alive and well here.”
