February 19-25, 2004

city beat

Holding the Line

A local biker gang stares down its rival -- and a tattooing legend.

by Brendan McGarvey

In their latest effort to keep the Hells Angels from gaining a toehold in Philadelphia, the Pagans have apparently turned to swiping T-shirts.

Underworld has learned that at a tattoo convention held at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza hotel two weekends ago, Pagans invaded the floor and went from vendor to vendor confiscating any posters or insignias with Hells Angels logos on them. It was a well-planned raid that was executed with military precision.

Several younger Pagans and at least two "prospects" -- or aspiring members -- were involved and vendors didn't complain as the burly, tattooed outlaw bikers ripped up posters and made off with shirts. Two Pagan "clean patches" -- new members with no criminal history -- waited nearby with explicit instructions: If police arrived, those taking shirts and posters would make an escape while the "clean patches" would stick around to be arrested. (With no prior offenses, they're less likely to be convicted; but if convicted, they'd receive more lenient sentences.)

Supervising from a distance were a few "old patches," or older, hard-core members who excel at violence -- up to and including murder. In other words, they're the club's muscle.

One Pagan associate recently described old patches as "guys who have been in the wind. You can see from their faces they've done a lot of riding. Their faces have deep lines, crow's-feet. They're weathered from the sun. They're tough. They do whatever they have to do. Live Pagan, die Pagan. If you're ever in trouble with the Pagans and you see the old patches coming for you, you're in serious shit. You're dead."

The Pagans weren't just ripping down Hells Angels posters that day. They also cleaned out a booth selling the symbols of the Warlocks, the smallest outlaw-biker mob in town. Former rivals, the Warlocks and the Pagans have been cooperating off-and-on for some time, but with the Pagans at war with the Hells Angels, they don't want to be seen as too easy on potential rivals.

The Pagans at the tattoo convention were more than mere outlaw fashionistas in search of T-shirts and posters belonging to their deadly rivals, though. One eyewitness also saw several Pagans go after two members of the Tribe motorcycle club.

According to police sources, the Tribe is a much smaller group recently taken over by the Hells Angels. One insider says the Hells Angels are using the Tribe as a kind of advance scouting patrol -- part skirmishers and part intelligence gatherers -- to prod and test the Pagans. The witness says he saw several Pagans grab two Tribesmen near the lobby bar but he bolted before anything happened.

"I got out of there just in case the bullets starting flying," he recalled. "As I was on my way out the door, the cops were rolling up. I guess that everybody else split as soon as the cops showed. That was lucky for the guys with the Tribe patches."

More worrisome to organized crime cops, though, is a rumor that the Pagans are turning their gaze toward longtime tattoo artist "Crazy Philadelphia Eddie" Funk. Funk, a legend credited with inventing the East Coast style of tattooing, recently retired and sold his area parlors. A four-decade tattooing veteran, he was honored at the recent convention.

Still, a Pagan associate tells Underworld that if Funk sold his business to anyone associated with the Hells Angels, "he's a dead man. The Pagans will kill Eddie if he sold out to the Angels. They really will kill him. And they'll send some old patches to do it."

Attempts to reach Funk this week were unsuccessful.

So, just why are the Pagans so keyed up these days?

"The Pagans say, "Remember Long Island.' After what happened at Long Island we have to be ready for Angels to attack us right here on our turf," says one Pagan associate. "Everybody knows that sooner or later, the Hells Angels are gonna show up for some major stomping. They owe us for Long Island."

Two years ago, 100 angry Pagans invaded the Hellraiser Ball at a Long Island catering hall and attacked their rivals with baseball bats, knives and guns -- including an Uzi. The Pagans were furious that the Hells Angels had started recruiting new members and opening chapters in the traditionally Pagan territories of Philadelphia and South Jersey. So, they decided to give the Angels a friendly reminder of what they were up against. During the Long Island melee, one Pagan was shot dead by a Hells Angel. Twelve other people were beaten or stabbed and 73 Pagans were arrested. A few weeks after the Long Island attack, a South Philadelphia tattoo parlor was firebombed.

The parlor was owned by a Philadelphia Pagan member who had been arrested in the Long Island brawl and police believe the Hells Angels were responsible for the firebombing.