A GROUP OF aging Brooklyn bikers — who earned patches for attacks on police — were busted Tuesday for peddling a deadly arsenal of weapons, including a cast iron cannon.
Undercover officers bought the old-time artillery for $2,000, along with 41 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, from the leather-clad biker goons during a two-year investigation that began October 2010.
Eight members of the Forbidden Ones, the Dirty Ones and the Trouble Makers — whose average age was 51 — were charged with firearms trafficking. But four of them were too sick to make their arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court, and were admitted to the hospital instead.
Accused gun smuggler Scott (Spider) Brannigan, 61, was complaining of high blood pressure and a bad ticker; Frank (Afro) Miranda, 50, and Samuel Moya, 44, needed heroin detoxification, and Jose (Rusty) Perez, 49, the reputed “supreme president” of the Forbidden Ones, needed treatment for sleep apnea, sources said.
“The suspects should consider changing their names to ‘Busted Bikers,’ ” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly in a statement.
While the three gangs may be minor players compared with more established groups like the Hell’s Angels and the Pagans, their activities were potentially lethal. They eagerly sold numerous weapons out of tattoo parlors they controlled in Brooklyn and Queens.
Members of the Forbidden Ones earned “bangout patches,” an emblem of two handguns crossing, as a badge of honor for assaulting NYPD cops, according to papers unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Even Bushwick’s hipsters ran afoul of the Forbidden Ones, who had a clubhouse on the ground floor of a three-story loft building at 15 Thames St.
“My roommates said they got assaulted by members of the biker gang,” said Wendy Scher, a 33-year-old resident of the building. “Two of them won’t come back because they’re afraid.”
But other residents got a kick out of the outlaws.
“They're really nice guys. “They’re really chill. I party with them all the time,” said Alex Syner, 25.
But even the most free-spirited bohemian might have been uneasy to know that a two-wheeled cannon was loaded and aimed at the front door of the Forbidden Ones’ lair, ready to fire at infiltrators, according to the prosecutor.
“The defendants wear the ‘patch’ to make it known that they are ‘outlaws’ who reject mainstream society and live outside the law,” wrote Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Celia Cohen.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Brannigan transported the cannon along with numerous other guns from Florida to the group’s crummy two-story clubhouse at 15 Thames St. in Bushwick. The two-wheeled cannon was operational and parked at the front door of the bikers’ lair ready to be fired at infiltrators, the prosecutor said.
An undercover officer purchased the cannon, fuses and .50 caliber projectile shells for $2,000 last April and loaded the weaponry into his vehicle.
Officials were able to get close to the group with the help of a gang-member-turned-informant, who has admitted to participating in violent crimes and drug trafficking for the Forbidden Ones.
Court papers state that the Forbidden Ones’ reputed “supreme president,” Perez, had ordered the informant to kill the hit-run driver of a car that struck and killed gang member Dwan Gonzalez on the Long Island Expressway in January 2011.
The driver pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, and the gang also plotted to kill him in prison.
Recently the informant visited the headquarters of all three gangs and reported to his handlers that he had observed guns, drugs, a grenade and a taser stun gun.
Agents found seven improvised explosive devices in Brannigan’s home, where his wife also operated a day care center. Also seized were 20 guns, 2,000 envelopes of heroin and 2 ounces of cocaine and marijuana.
“Violent biker gangs are not outside the reach of the law no matter how many patches or tattoos they wear,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
NY DAILY NEWS
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