Cookies And Candy Bars

Just when you thought that the concerts were all over, now it's Biker Aid. The Amsterdam charter of the Hell's Angels need some denari to pay for Dutch lawyers and jurors. So they've put up an appeal on their website.

Strapped for cash and under pressure from Dutch prosecutors, the Amsterdam chapter of the biker group Hells Angels is organising a benefit party on Saturday, looking to raise money to pay for legal costs.

Seems like the meth and extortion rackets aren't as profitable as they used to be. And selling marijuana and hookers in a country where it's legal may not have been the brightest idea the HA has had. After all, there is competition from countless sources to drive the price down. Oh, and those pesky union benefits will drive you crazy.

Maybe they could start up a different type of small business, like a security company. They used to do that for the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones until their business model went awry at Altamont in 1969.

“Hells Angels Amsterdam need your support”, the motorcycle club said on its website today in the party invitation as the group fights several court cases across the Netherlands in which prosecutors seek to ban Hells Angels chapters.

I wonder if the Mob ever went whining for dollars under pressure from RICO prosecutions. Used to be omerta was the rule, if you had to take a fall, you just kept your pie hole shut and did the time. But times change and the Euroweenie Angels are organizing a bake sale or something.

Dutch prosecutors are also conducting criminal investigations that could lead to a major trial in October, Dutch news agency ANP reported.

“We are facing at the moment a battle we never had to fight before”, the Hells Angels website read, asking for support: “Today they do it to us, tomorrow they do it to you."

They are absolutely right. If you engage in criminal enterprises then I certainly hope that someone will be coming after you. After all, narcotics trafficking, murder, extortion, prostitution, unrestrained violence and money laundering is bound to catch someone's attention sooner or later. And the Dutch are trying to outlaw the outlaws by closing all Hell's Angels chapters in Holland. Unfortunately they are not very successful thus far.

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM), today launched a wide-ranging attack on the Hells Angels, urging the courts to ban the organisation in the Netherlands and dissolve their associations.

The OM said the persistent involvement in crime by the seven Dutch Hells Angels’ chapters made them ‘undesirable’ in Dutch society. ‘Criminal behaviour is… part of the Hells Angels’ culture,’ the public prosecutor said in a statement. ‘It is not a question of taking action against a few members, but against widespread organised criminal activities.

It's what they do. They are bad news where ever they show up. Sorta like a Wal Mart for thugs and knaves.

Last year, police raided 45 locations as part of a long-running investigation into the Hells Angels. Twenty-two members are due to appear in court next summer on charges of murder, theft, threatening behaviour, blackmail and possession of drugs and weapons.

About par for the course for the Angels. But it seems no matter what the attrition, they have no problems recruiting new blood.

Worldwide, the Hells Angels describe themselves as a motorbike club for free spirits who live on the edge of society,’ the public prosecutor said. ‘Many others would describe it as a well-oiled criminal organisation with branches all over the world.’

So good luck with the bake sale and the candy bars guys.