3 Bay Area-based Hell’s Angels members sentenced to life: DA
(KRON) — Three Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club members operating out of the Bay Area were all sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison, U.S. District Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey announced on Friday.
Prosecutors said this subset of Hell’s Angels members mainly operate out of Sonoma County but also have bases in Santa Rosa and Fresno. Ramsey described Hell’s Angels members and the following case as a “brutal brotherhood” whose deeds “should shock the conscience of us all.”
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Here are the names of the following Hell’s Angels members in this case:
Jonathan Nelson, 46, aka “JonJon”
Russell Taylor Ott, 70, aka “Rusty”
Brian Wayne Wendt, 45
FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp describes the three as “the most violent of the dozens convicted.”
On October 10, 2017, a federal grand jury indicted eleven members and associates of the chapter for “a swath of criminal activity,” including “murder, narcotics distribution, assaults, robberies, extortion, illegal firearms possession, and obstruction of justice,” prosecutors said.
Approximately a year later, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment, adding a charge of murder related to the killing of Hell’s Angels member Joel Silva.
“Nelson, who was then the president of HASC, arranged for Ott to take Silva to Fresno, and Silva agreed to travel there with Ott. After the two arrived at the Hell’s Angels Fresno clubhouse, Wendt, then president of the Fresno Hells Angels charter, shot Silva in the back of the head,” the indictment said.
The following morning, Silva’s body was delivered to a local crematory and was incinerated, prosecutors said.
In addition to the Silva murder, the indictment said this Hell’s Angels chapter made “clear” threats of harm to anyone cooperating with the police concerning the motorcycle club.
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The jury convicted the three Hell’s Angels members with the following:
Participating in a racketeer-influenced and corrupt organization conspiracy
Conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering
Prosecutors said Nelson was also convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering and use or possession of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Five other defendants pleaded guilty to charges of RICO conspiracy and have been sentenced to terms in prison of up to 84 months, prosecutors said.
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