Breed Motorcycle Club

The Breed Motorcycle Club was a one-percenter motorcycle club that was formed in Asbury Park, New Jersey in the United States in 1965. The club went defunct in 2006 after prominent members were indicted on racketeering and drug trafficking charges.

Breed MC
Breed colors
Founded1965[1]
Founding locationAsbury Park, New Jersey, United States[2]
Years active1965–2006[3]
Territory3 chapters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania[2]
Membership (est.)40[4]
ActivitiesDrug trafficking, extortion, theft, witness intimidation, murder, assault[5]
RivalsHells Angels[6]
Pagans[2]
Warlocks[7]

History

The Breed Motorcycle Club was founded in Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1965.[1] At its peak in the 1970s, the club was the most prominent outlaw motorcycle club in the state and also had chapters in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, with a membership of between three- and four-hundred. The Breed expanded further by patching over the Riverside, New Jersey-based Aces and Eights Motorcycle Club as well as the Branded Motorcycle Club in 1983. In March 1971, the Breed engaged in a confrontation with the Hells Angels in Cleveland, Ohio which resulted in the deaths of five people. During the following two decades, the Breed were continuously attacked by the Hells Angels, including a hand grenade attack on the house of the Breed national president in Plainfield, New Jersey. The conflict with the Hells Angels, as well as infighting, law enforcement efforts and a rivalry with the Pagans, led to the Breed decreasing in numbers to approximately one-hundred members by 1990, and in a reduced territory comprising Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Central and South Jersey.[8] In 1989, the Breed had two chapters in New Jersey – the mother chapter operating out of Middlesex County and the South Jersey chapter operating out of Riverside – and a Pennsylvania chapter in Bucks County.[2] Membership was estimated at approximately forty in 2000.[4]

The Breed, along with their rival Pagans, became the most prominent distributors of methamphetamine in New Jersey,[9] and were reportedly infamous among outlaw motorcycle clubs due to their propensity for recruiting former members of rival clubs as well as for cooperating with law enforcement.[7] The Breed were dismantled by a law enforcement operation against the club in 2006 which led to the imprisonment of numerous leading members for methamphetamine trafficking and racketeering.[3] The club was the subject of the 2009 Gangland episode "Evil Breed".

Criminal allegations and incidents

New Jersey

Fred "Sheik" Nichlos, the Breed's South Jersey chapter president, was shot dead after being dragged from his home in Jackson Township by two men on August 30, 1968.[10] Thomas G. Russomanno, Jr pleaded no defense to Nichlos' murder on February 5, 1969 and testified that he and Patsy Truglia had gone to Nichlos' home to retrieve a motorcycle in Nichlos' possession that they believed had been stolen from Truglia, and that a gun that he was holding to threaten Nichlos had fired accidentally.[11]

On August 13, 1976, during a robbery by two gunmen of a check-cashing business in Kearny, one of the gunman killed Newark police officer John Snow.[12] A Hudson County grand jury indicted Allen Roller, Bruce Reen, Victor Forni and Vincent James Landano for felony murder and armed robbery, along with other offenses.[13] Roller was president of the Breed's Staten Island, New York chapter, Reen was also a Breed member and Forni was a club associate, while Landano was of friend of Forni.[14] The state believed that Roller and Forni planned the robbery, but that only Landano and Roller actually participated in the crime.[15] Two accomplices and three eyewitnesses identified Landano as Snow's murderer, and he was sentenced to fifteen-years-to-life in prison for the crime in April 1977. Landano was acquitted of murder in a retrial in 1998 and died at the age of sixty-three on November 11, 2002.[16]

John Belowsky and James R. "Axl" Fleming – both identified as Breed members by authorities – and a third man, Pasquel Varona, were arrested during a raid on an apartment in Asbury Park which led to the seizure of handguns and almost $5,000 worth of cocaine on January 25, 1995. The three men were charged with drug and weapons offences.[17][18]

Eugene "Gene" Bernardo, president of the Breed's Monmouth County chapter, was charged with conspiracy to distribute almost five-hundred grams of methamphetamine in a one-count federal indictment on January 6, 1998. He was convicted of the charge on May 26, 1999.[19] Bernardo had acted as a middleman in a drug sale made by Carl Chianase to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant Kalani Lopa in January 1997.[20]

Two Breed members stabbed two Pagans in a tattoo studio in Trenton in September 1998.[8][9]

Ten members of the Breed, including national president Salvatore "Old Man" DeIulio, were indicted on charges of extortion and sexual assault on January 28, 2000.[21] The club was allegedly running protection rackets on strip clubs, tattoo parlors and other businesses in Long Branch. The sexual assault charges were brought after four women, who danced at the clubs, complained to the Howell Township police. One woman claimed to have been chained to the floor for several days, forced to engage in oral sex with several men and beaten severely. David Snyder, a strip club owner and former Breed member, was allegedly assaulted after attempting to reduce the number of sexual assaults on the dancers.[4] On November 4, 2000, five Breed members were acquitted of extortion conspiracy.[22] In June 2001, a Superior Court jury in Monmouth County acquitted Delulio of aggravated assault in a case in which he allegedly beat and sexually assaulted a nude dancer. However, a hung jury was declared on six other charges, including aggravated sexual assault and weapons possession.[23]

Breed members Sanford Gorzelsky, Scott Lear and Frederick M. "Guido" DeCapua were indicted in July 2003 and charged with robbery, aggravated assault, hindering apprehension, weapons possession and retaliation against a witness.[24] The trio allegedly attacked former Breed member Arne "Ole" Olsen at a bar in West Long Branch on October 5, 2002 in retaliation for his testimony in a court case involving other club members.[25] On May 11, 2005, Gorzelsky was convicted of aggravated assault, and Lear was found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and retaliation, while DeCapua was acquitted of all charges.[26]

Ohio

On March 7, 1971, the Breed were involved in a large-scale brawl with the Hells Angels at a motorcycle show in Cleveland. Over a hundred bikers from both sides were involved, and four members of the Breed and a Hells Angel were stabbed to death. The fight had been planned earlier. Dozens of vans and cars full of police officers were called in to break up the fight. Fifty-seven bikers were arrested, although most others were able to flee.[6][27]

Pennsylvania

After being chased for over a mile by twelve Breed members on motorcycles, Michael Trunk – a Pagan and former Breed member – was shot in the head and killed by Breed member Ralph "Marlboro" Waldman in Abington Township in Montgomery County on July 22, 1973. Trunk's colors were then stolen. After Waldman and other Breed members were arrested, a brawl involving Breed and Pagans took place at Abington police station. Waldman was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, robbery, theft of movable property, criminal conspiracy, terroristic threats and two counts of simple assault on October 30, 1975, and was sentenced to life in prison.[28] Two Breed members – George Schell and Joseph Zebrowski – and three Pagans involved in the brawl were cleared of aggravated assault in September 1973 after they refused to press charges against each other.[29]

Mark Allen "Pockets" Chancellor, a prospective member of the Breed, was shot dead during a club meeting attended by seven other Breed members at the farmhouse of Masury, Ohio chapter president John Gilkey in Mercer County on October 13, 1973. Chancellor was allegedly killed for unwittingly violating a club rule during his membership initiation. His body was found on October 26, 1973 in a shallow grave approximately four-hundred feet from the Gilkey home by officers of the Pennsylvania State Police acting on an anonymous tip-off.[30] New York chapter member William M. Zillgitt[31] and New Jersey mother chapter sergeant-at-arms Gary Roman were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to ten-to-twenty years in prison,[32] and Ohio chapter president Donald David "Kraut" Treftz was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.[33] Treftz escaped from SCI Huntingdon on July 22, 1993[34] and was apprehended by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and local police in Deadwood, South Dakota on April 6, 1995.[35]

Breed member Ernest C. Custor stabbed motorist Dennis Carson in the throat with a hunting knife and attempted to stab his passenger Albert Falls following a road rage incident on Route 1 in Bucks County on April 24, 1976. Custor claimed temporary insanity, but was found guilty of attempted murder, simple assault, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a prohibited offensive weapon.[36]

In 1987 and 1989, Breed and Pagans members were involved in incidents of assault and kidnapping to settle disputes or to retaliate for acts of violence against fellow members. In one incident, a Breed member wearing his colors in the Philadelphia area – considered Pagan territory – was assaulted and robbed of his colors by Pagans members. Arrangements were made to negotiate a settlement to this dispute. However, two Breed members were arrested and charged with weapons offenses during the prearranged meeting. Reportedly, the two were present and armed to protect the chapter president, who was handling negotiations.[2]

In December 1988, members of the Warlocks kidnapped the Breed's Bucks County chapter president Craig "Coyote" Gudkneckt in retaliation for several Warlocks being assaulted by Breed members at a bar in Bensalem Township. Gudkneckt was taken to the home of a Warlock where he was tied up, beaten and pistol-whipped.[37] Gudkneckt escaped and subsequently reported the incident to police.[7]

On July 21, 2006, fifteen members of the Breed were charged with running a large-scale methamphetamine ring after a year-long investigation by the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and the Philadelphia Police Department, known as "Operation Breed on a Wire". Among the indicted were Pennsylvania chapter president John W. "Junior" Napoli, New Jersey mother chapter president John A. "Shameless" Kovacs and thirteen other club members. Police also seized more than twenty-two pounds of methamphetamine, nearly $500,000 in cash and bank deposits, forty-four firearms (including one submachine gun), ten improvised explosive devices, various vehicles and twenty-four motorcycles during a series of raids.[38] Further charges relating to racketeering were added to the indictments of Napoli, William A. "Tattoo Billy" Johnson, Christopher "Slam" Quattrocchi, Thomas E. "Fuzzy" Heilman, Frederick F. "Pan Head" Freehoff and Eric Loebsack on July 26, 2007.[39] A grand jury found that Napoli was the ring leader of the drug organization which operated in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and distributed over 120 pounds of methamphetamine between May 2005 and June 2006, which has an estimated street value of more than $11.25 million. On October 4, 2007, Napoli and Johnson were convicted of drug trafficking, racketeering and weapons charges, while Heilman was also convicted of conspiracy to traffic over five hundred grams of methamphetamine.[40] Heilman was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in January 2008[41] and Napoli to thirty-six years' in April 2008.[3] Johnson was sentenced to thirty years'.[42] "Operation Breed on a Wire" and the subsequent convictions effectively dismantled the club.[3]

References
  1. The Breed MC OnePercenterBikers.com
  2. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Report – The Breed State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation (1989)
  3. Breed Leader Gets 36 Years Archived 2009-08-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Motorcycle Gang Members Held In Sex Assaults on Nude Dancers Maria Newman, The New York Times (January 28, 2000)
  5. Attorney General Corbett announces additional charges against associate of Breed Motorcycle Gang Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Five die in clash of cycle gangs The New York Times (March 8, 1971)
  7. Badder Breed Brendan McGarvey, My City Paper (August 9, 2006)
  8. LCN Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Asbury Park Justia (April 5, 2002)
  9. New Jersey Drug Threat Assessment U.S. Department of Justice (May 2001)
  10. The Breed wears its colors with pride Asbury Park Press (September 8, 1968)
  11. Widow of murder victim angry at no defense plea Asbury Park Press (February 8, 1969)
  12. Matthew J. Salzman, Exemption 7(d) of the Freedom of Information Act - the Evidentiary Showing the Government Must Make to Establish a Source is Confidential, United States Department of Justice v. Landano, 113 S. Ct. 2014 84 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1041, 1050 (1993).
  13. State v. Landano, 637 A.2d 1270, 1271 (N.J. Super. Ct. L. Div. 1994).
  14. Prisoner fights murder convixtion Philip B. Taft Jr., The New York Times (February 10, 1985)
  15. Landano, 637 A.2d at 1272.
  16. Vincent J. Landano, 63; Cleared in 1976 Murder of Newark Officer Ronald Smothers, The New York Times (November 13, 2002)
  17. Cocaine, guns found in raid of apartment Nancy Shields, Asbury Park Press (January 28, 1995)
  18. Breed motorcycle gang not on law's A list Neil A. Sheehan, Asbury Park Press (August 2, 1995)
  19. Ex-Breed leader guilty in drug case Asbury Park Press (May 27, 1999)
  20. United States of America v. Anthony Valletto (February 12, 2003)
  21. 8 Breed members face rape, extortion charges Amy Zurzola, Asbury Park Press (January 28, 2000)
  22. Jury Acquits 5 Bikers of Charges They Schemed to Take Over Bar The New York Times (November 4, 2000)
  23. Indictments handed down for 2002 assault Sherry Conohan, Greater Media (July 4, 2003)
  24. Long Branch man was allegedly beaten by members of Breed Archived 2008-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
  25. Accused biker claims self-defense Karen Sudol, Asbury Park Press (May 6, 2005)
  26. Biker club members guilty of assault Karen Sudol, Asbury Park Press (May 12, 2005)
  27. The Nation: Hell's Angels 4, Breed 1 Time (March 22, 1971)
  28. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Waldman Justia (November 17, 1978)
  29. Cycle gangs won't prosecute, drop charges Morning Times (September 24, 1973)
  30. Motorcycle gang slaying case verdict Kane Republican (February 22, 1974)
  31. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William M. Zillgitt Justia (March 3, 1980)
  32. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Gary Roman Justia (September 23, 1975)
  33. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Donald David Treftz Justia (May 8, 1975)
  34. Crime Stoppers offering reward for prison escapee Indiana Gazette (August 7, 1993)
  35. A tatoo[sic?] artist is fighting extradition back to Pennsylvania for a murder authorities say he committed more than 20 years ago Tyrone Daily Herald (April 12, 1995)
  36. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Ernest C. Custor Justia (March 4, 1981)
  37. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation (1989)
  38. 15 Breed members arrested for running methamphetamine ring Archived 2012-02-15 at the Wayback Machine
  39. New charges filed against 6 gang members The Breed motorcycle club members now face a charge of conspiracy to distribute crystal meth Joseph A. Slobodzian, The Philadelphia Inquirer (July 28, 2007)
  40. United States of America v. Thomas Heilman, William A. Johnson, John Napoli Free Law Project (April 21, 2010)
  41. Gang member gets 20 years for role in drug ring BikerNews.org (January 7, 2008)
  42. United States v. John Napoli, William Johnson, Christopher Quattrocchi, Thomas Heilman, Frederick Freehoff, Eric Loebsack United States Department of Justice
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