Chosen Few biker club caught in federal roundup
Federal agents this morning are rounding up about 20 members and associates of the Chosen Few motorcycle gang.
The roundup caps an investigation of several months aimed at a wide range of crimes involving firearms, explosives and threats of violence by gang members, who operate from a former bank building in Depew.
According to police, members of the Chosen Few have been investigated in a number of criminal incidents in the past decade, most of them involving scraps with other biker gangs.
"They're an outlaw motorcycle club, as far as I'm concerned," one investigator said.
FBI agents and at least six other law-enforcement agencies have been investigating the gang and its operations in the Buffalo area for roughly the last 10 months.
The roundup began at about 6 a.m., and by mid-morning, at least 18 of the 20 suspects had been arrested. Authorities were expecting to arrest the other two before an afternoon press conference.
"They're being rounded up for various criminal acts involving weapons, possible explosives and assaults," said one law-enforcement official involved in the probe.
Search warrants were executed at several locations, including the Chosen Few's regional clubhouse in a former bank building at 94 Main St. in Depew.
One of those arrested on federal conspiracy charges is Alex Koschtschuk, a long-time local leader of the biker gang, police said.
Authorities said the defendants … men and women … were taken to U.S. District Court for their initial appearances.
Law-enforcement officials say that the Chosen Few declared war on the rival Kingsmen motorcycle club last summer, following two incidents that the Chosen Few blamed on its rivals:
Θ‚One of those incidents occurred at a Chosen Few "Bikes & Blues" rally in Como Park, when someone sliced a tent and wrote the initials KMC on it.
Θ‚The other occurred in August, when someone in a pickup truck was observed firing shots at the Chosen Few clubhouse in Depew.
Later in August, a man described as a Chosen Few associate was run off the road and shot at while riding his motorcycle in West Seneca.
Following that declaration of war, authorities say that the FBI used concealed listening devices and closed-circuit cameras to monitor activity and comments at the clubhouse.
Law-enforcement officials also are accusing Koschtschuk of providing Chosen Few members with general directions to commit violence against the Kingsmen.
In February, FBI agents charged a member of the rival Kingsmen gang with sending threatening text messages to a man whose brother belonged to the Chosen Few. That case, authorities said, is connected to the investigation that led to today's arrests.
In September 1997, West Seneca police said a dispute between Kingsmen and Chosen Few members resulted in a shootout that left a state corrections officer with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Among the law-enforcement agencies involved in today's roundup were the FBI, the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Erie County Probation Department and police from Depew, Lancaster, Buffalo, Amherst and the State Police.
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