Two undercover federal agents infiltrated the violent Pagans biker gang and smashed a plot to kill rival Hells Angels members with homemade grenades, authorities said Wednesday.
Nineteen Pagan members — including a 70-year-old man — and associates were rounded up in coordinated, early-morning raids in Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware. An explosive device packed with nails and 34 guns was seized.
During the 21-month investigation dubbed "Operation On the Road Again," one of the two U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents was inducted into the secretive gang.
He even wore the gang's denim vest emblazoned with its trademark patch depicting a Norse fire giant wielding a sword.
The agent was so trusted he was given access to the gang's bookkeeping, which contained names, addresses and motorcycle descriptions. He rose to become the Long Island chapter's second-highest ranking member, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Miskiewicz said in court papers.
The Pagans and Hells Angels have been bitter enemies for years, but the murder conspiracy detailed in the 31-count indictment began in August 2009 after the beating of a Pagans member.
Then-Pagans "president of presidents" John (JR) Eberling ordered the violent response and tasked the undercover agent to carry out the plot, court papers say.
The agent secretly taped a planning session at a Rocky Point, L.I. tattoo parlor that doubled as the Pagans' headquarters.
"Eberling cautioned that the Pagans were outnumbered at present and must be 'smart' about attacking. He promised the 'hammer's still going to drop on them (the Hells Angels),'" Miskiewicz said.
The Pagans members referred to the homemade grenades as "Christmas presents" they would lob at the Hells Angels as they rode through Long Island.
Eberling, 39, of Suffolk County, was arraigned in Long Island Federal Court and ordered held without bail.
Agents recovered the nail bomb in a safe in gang member Ezra Davis' home in Holbrook.
A shotgun was stashed under Davis' bed and a handgun was next to him on a nightstand.
The feds decided to bring the racketeering case to a close after a Pagans exhorted fellow members at a national gathering last weekend in New Jersey to be prepared to die or go to jail in the coming war with the Hell's Angels
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