Kailua man among motorcycle gang arrests in 3 states

Federal agents Friday arrested a 57-year-old Kailua man, one of 23 alleged leaders, members and associates of a transnational motorcycle outlaw gang indicted on federal racketeering, murder, robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault charges.

Kailua resident Edward Claridan Chelby, aka “Recon,” arrested in Kailua, was one of 19 members of the Vagos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMG) arrested in early morning operations Friday in California, Nevada and Hawaii. (Three other members already were in custody, and one died recently.)

“Today, the rule of law dealt a serious blow to the Vagos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, a so-called ‘brotherhood’ responsible for drug addiction, death and mayhem in multiple locations, including California, Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon and Nevada,” acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) news release.

The indictment, filed Wednesday and unsealed Friday, reveals the organization controlled the Vagos Hawaii chapter and that at least one rival gang exists in the state.

On Nov. 13, 2010, a subordinate Hawaii chapter member told a California-based Vagos OMG senior member, Pastor Fausto Palafox, in a recorded phone call that he was concerned over rival Hells Angels’ rapid growth in Hawaii.

Palafox, aka “TaTa,” told the Hawaii subordinate that as long as Vagos members “give what we get” and “they don’t push us,” then “we’ll be fine.”

He allegedly gave the “green light” to a Vagos Hawaii chapter member to attack any rival Hells Angels support club member who disrespected the Vagos gang in Hawaii. The permission was granted in a Dec. 5, 2010, recorded phone call, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges defendants conspired to participate in the affairs of the Vagos OMG, which has more than 87 chapters in at least seven countries on four continents, with 54 chapters in Nevada and California, the news release said.

Eight leaders and members are charged with the September 2011 murder of a member of the rival Hells Angels gang at the Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks, Nev.

On Jan. 25, 2013, Chelby and other Vagos members allegedly kidnapped a person to gain entrance to and maintain and increase position in the Vagos OMG.

In another incident on that same day, the Kailua man and other Vagos members allegedly attacked a patron in the bathroom of Count’s Vamp’d Rock Bar &Grill in Las Vegas.

Chelby has lived in Aiea, as well as the University, Kapiolani and Punchbowl areas, since 1991, according to a database search, with relatives living in California and Oregon.

Chelby has a few traffic infractions but no Hawaii state criminal history, according to a state Judiciary database. He was sued in March for child support and by a bank in 2009 for money owed. The latter case was dismissed because the complaint could not be served on him.

ICE and Honolulu Police Department officials would not comment on motorcycle gang activity in Hawaii.

“Hawaii’s totally different from the mainland,” where it is territorial, said Michael Panzo, president of the Rock and Roll Motorcycle Club in Hawaii. On the mainland, if you drive into a district wearing a vest with a patch from a different territory, you’ll be told to take off the patch, he said. But he acknowledged there are “1 percent clubs,” clubs that comprise 1 percent of the biker community with memberships of fewer than 40 people. The 1 percent term “was derived from an apocryphal statement” that 99 percent of the country’s motorcyclists are law-­abiding, according to the indictment.

“They’re the hard-core criminal element, just like the Hells Angels,” he said, but added many “just want to wear the patch,” whereas others are soldiers, he said.

“The majority of bikers are not hard-core,” he said. “A lot of motorcycle riders in this state are attorneys, doctors, every facet of life.”

Panzo, current president of Street Bikers United Association, which holds the Toys for Tots parade and lobbies for freedom of choice for helmet use, says 50,000 motorcycles are registered in Hawaii.

When the Hells Angels came in the 1960s to establish the drug trade, HPD went toe to toe with them, and they left, Panzo said. A few stayed, some went to Maui, but they kept quiet, he said.

Panzo said he’s known a few Vagos members and the past president, who was a “really nice guy,” a family man and a Harley-Davidson salesman, but he had a stroke and no longer rides.