{"id":107,"date":"2022-06-30T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T14:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/sonny-barger-biker-outlaw-and-founder-of-hells-angels-dies-at-83\/"},"modified":"2022-06-30T14:25:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T14:25:00","slug":"sonny-barger-biker-outlaw-and-founder-of-hells-angels-dies-at-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/sonny-barger-biker-outlaw-and-founder-of-hells-angels-dies-at-83\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonny Barger, biker outlaw and founder of Hells Angels, dies at 83"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sonny Barger, the bigger-than-life godfather of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, equal parts brawler, bully, braggart, rule breaker and shrewd huckster of his own outlaw mystique, died June 29 at his home in California. He was 83.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A statement on his official Facebook page read: \u201cIf you are reading this message, you’ll know that I’m gone. I’ve asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing. “His former lawyer, Fritz Clapp, confirmed the death and said the cause was liver cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For decades, the stocky, muscular Mr. Barger stood not only as the founder of the original Oakland, Calif., Angels chapter in 1957, but for decades after that also as the public face of a nationwide counterculture tribe of bearded, denim-clad road warriors memorialized in literature and film \u2014 roaring down the open highway and through crossroads towns, shocking the locals with their boisterous, often menacing presence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It was a rowdy, frequently lawless brotherhood bound, in no particular order, by machismo, tattoos, winged death-head insignia, booze, dope, rides to nowhere on thundering Harley-Davidson hogs and a lust for the unfettered freedom found on the open road.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDiscover your limits by exceeding them,\u201d Mr. Barger urged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Woven into the Hells Angels history was a tradition of crime and violence \u2014 much of it involving Mr. Barger, a fact he boastfully acknowledged. He once referred to himself as belonging to a band of \u201ccard-carrying felons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He was convicted in 1988 of conspiracy to kill members of a rival club in Kentucky and blow up their headquarters, serving five years in federal prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A confessed cocaine addict who supported his habit by selling heroin in the 1960s and 1970s, he served stints totaling eight years for assorted drug and firearms charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Hells Angels \u2014 as a corporate entity with chapters from California to New York \u2014 faced incessant federal investigation on criminal enterprise and racketeering offenses. In 2013, authorities obtained convictions against 16 members and hangers-on in South Carolina for a conspiracy involving drug distribution, gunrunning, money laundering and arson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1979, Mr. Barger and other leaders beat a similar conspiracy rap in which they were accused of running a mammoth methamphetamine (\u201cbiker’s coffee\u201d) operation out of Oakland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Most infamous in Hells Angles lore was their role in the chaotic 1969 Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, Calif., where a pistol-wielding 18-year-old concertgoer, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed to death by a Hells Angel \u2014 all captured on film in the 1970 documentary \u201cGimme Shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Angels, hired to provide security, were fighting off fans rushing the stage, according to Mr. Barger, who was present. The drug-fueled crowd pressed against the Angels’ security line, damaging some of their bikes, and Angels waded into the crowd swinging fists and cue sticks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In his autobiography \u201cHell’s Angel \u2014 The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club,\u201d Mr. Barger accused Stones guitarist Keith Richards of delaying the band’s performance to work up the crowd. He claimed that he pressed a pistol to Richards’s ribs and ordered him to start playing immediately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Richards complied, but the crowd, including Hunter, kept swarming toward the stage, according to Mr. barger. Hunter fired a single shot, winging a Hells Angel, Mr. Barger said. Other Angels quickly subdued Hunter, punching and kicking him. One Angel was charged with fatally stabbing him but was acquitted after claiming self-defense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the years Barger served as a technical consultant for biker movies and appeared in several, including \u201cHells Angels on Wheels\u201d (1967), a low-budget exploitation movie featuring Jack Nicholson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For the real-life Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, he drew inspiration from an earlier movie \u2014 the 1953 classic \u201cThe Wild One,\u201d with Marlon Brando playing a strangely sensitive gang leader. Mr. Barger preferred Lee Marvin’s more aggressive performance as a biker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Barger’s rough and anarchic manner believed a disciplined entrepreneurial streak. He promoted his renegade brand, carefully marketing Hells Angels-themed T-shirts, yo-yos, sunglasses and California wines. He registered trademarks on club logos and designs, and retained an intellectual property rights lawyer to sue poachers, a frequent occurrence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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To give the Angels a little gloss, he initiated periodic charity drives for children’s toys and clothes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe’s smart and he’s crafty, and he has a kind of wild animal cunning,\u201d author Hunter S. Thompson told The Washington Post in 2000. Hunter spent a year with the Angels researching his seminal book \u201cHell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga \u201d (1966).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ralph Hubert Barger Jr. was born in Modesto, Calif., on Oct. 8, 1938. His mother ran off with a Trailways bus driver when Sonny was 4 months old. His father, a day laborer loading ships and trucks at the Oakland docks, spent his nights and much of his money at waterfront bars, often bringing Sonny with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There, according to his autobiography, Sonny filched pretzels and hard-boiled eggs, and learned his first cuss words from an obscenity-squawking parrot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His father married a second time. Like the first wife, she ran off, taking everything including the family radio and encyclopedia, according to Mr. barger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He hated school and was repeatedly suspended for mouthing off and occasionally hitting his teacher. \u201cI never liked being told what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For a time, he came under the care of his paternal grandmother, a strict Pentecostalist. In quick order, he rejected what he called the \u201ctongue-yammering Holy Rollers,\u201d smoked his first marijuana cigarette at 14, dropped out of high school at 16 and joined the Army with a forged birth certificate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fourteen months later, military authorities discovered the subterfuge and ousted him. Back home, he drifted from job to job \u2014 janitor, pipe threader, potato chip assembly-line worker. \u201cI couldn’t get a grip on this nine-to-five working stuff,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He joined his first biker group, the Oakland Panthers, in 1956 and formed the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Oakland the next year. \u201cI needed a close-knit club of men who could jump on their bikes, ride cross-country if they wanted to, and not abide by rules or clocks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the next several decades, he grew his single club into a financially sustainable network with thousands of members in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. Despite its many run-ins with the law, the organization was fundamentally successful \u2014 an all-male, virtually all-White, dues-paying fraternal order with a brisk retail trade in club paraphernalia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Barger published two novels, \u201cDead in 5 Heartbeats\u201d (2003) and \u201c6 Chambers, 1 Bullet\u201d (2006), detailing murder and mayhem in the biker world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His epithet-strewn autobiography was a New York Times bestseller, and two other books, \u201cFreedom: Credos From the Road\u201d (2005) and \u201cRidin’ High, Livin’ Free\u201d (2002), received positive reviews. Some were co-written with writers Keith and Kent Zimmerman. He co-authored a sixth book, \u201cLet’s Ride: Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling\u201d (2010), with writer Darwin Holmstrom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1982, he was diagnosed with throat cancer \u2014 he had smoked three packs of Camels a day for 30 years \u2014 and had his vocal cords removed. He learned to speak through a surgically inserted hole in his throat, giving his voice an eerie rasp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. Barger’s first wife, Elsie George, died in 1967 during a self-induced abortion. His marriages to Sharon Gruhlke and Beth Noel Black ended in divorce. He married his fourth wife, Zorana Katzakian, in 2005. In addition to his wife survivors include a sister, according to Clapp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1998, he moved from Oakland to suburban Phoenix, dropping his official duties in the Hells Angels but remaining a rank-and-file member. Her ran a motorcycle repair shop and mellowed in suburban life, doing yoga and continuing to lift weights, a pastime he acquired in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He kept riding the open road, thousands of miles a year, eventually professing a preference for high-powered Hondas and BMWs to the Angels’ traditional Harley choppers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What did his nonconformist life teach him? \u201cTo become a real man,\u201d he counseled in his autobiography, \u201cyou need to join the army first and then do some time in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Placeholder while article actions load Sonny Barger, the bigger-than-life godfather of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, equal parts brawler, bully, braggart, rule breaker and shrewd huckster of his own outlaw mystique, died June 29 at his home in California. He was 83. A statement on his official Facebook page read: \u201cIf you are reading this …<\/p>\n

Sonny Barger, biker outlaw and founder of Hells Angels, dies at 83<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1096,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/hells-angels-founder-sonny-barger-dead-motorcycle-club-leader-passed-peacefully-from-cancer-at-83\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":0},"title":"Hells Angels founder Sonny Barger dead: Motorcycle club leader ‘passed peacefully’ from cancer at 83","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Hells Angels motorcycle club founder Sonny Barger died Wednesday after a \"brief battle with cancer.\" He was 83.The \"Sons of Anarchy\" actor, who starred as Lenny the Pimp, shared a posthumous Facebook post announcing his death.\"If you are reading this message, you'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":439,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/sonny-barger-figurehead-of-hells-angels-dies-at-83\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":1},"title":"Sonny Barger, figurehead of Hells Angels, dies at 83","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Sonny Barger, the leather-clad fixture of 1960s counterculture and figurehead of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club who was at the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, has died. He was 83.Barger's death was announced on his Facebook page late Wednesday.\u201cIf you are reading this message,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":189,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/hells-angels-founder-sons-of-anarchy-actor-deadline\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":2},"title":"Hells Angels Founder, ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Actor \u2013 Deadline","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sonny Barger, the notorious founding member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, author, ex-convict, occasional Sons of Anarchy actor and one of the bikers who provided the violent, bloody security at the infamous 1969 Rolling Stones Altamont concert, died of cancer yesterday. He was 83. Barger announced his own death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/TCDSOOF_EC127.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":263,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/see-hells-angels-leader-sonny-barger-through-the-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":3},"title":"See Hells Angels leader Sonny Barger through the years","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sonny Barger, founder of Hells Angels, has died at 83.The iconic biker's death, reportedly caused by a\u201dbrief battle\u201d with cancer, was announced in a statement on his official Facebook page Thursday morning. \u201cIf you are reading this message, you'll know that I'm gone. I've asked that this note be posted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":448,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/sonny-barger-face-of-the-hells-angels-dies-at-83\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":4},"title":"Sonny Barger, Face of the Hells Angels, Dies at 83","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sonny Barger, who as the charismatic face of the Hells Angels grew the hard-charging motorcycle club from its roots in the San Francisco area to a global phenomenon, in the process making it an emblem of West Coast rebellion \u2014 and, federal authorities said, criminal enterprise \u2014 died on Wednesday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2990,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/sonny-barger-and-hells-angels-how-hollywood-shaped-the-outlaw-ethos\/","url_meta":{"origin":107,"position":5},"title":"Sonny Barger and Hells Angels: How Hollywood Shaped the Outlaw Ethos","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"With the death this week of Ralph \u201cSonny\u201d Barger, national president of famed motorcycle club the Hells Angels, a piece of vibrant American pop culture history recedes farther into the past. It's hard to appreciate today, but when Barger founded the Oakland chapter in 1957, the mythology of the outlaw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"Lazy loaded image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2022-07-01-at-3.13.33-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/KSPMN7HYM4I6ZAO3VQD2HFFINM.jpg&w=1440","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}