Feds add to Chosen Few allegations; Kingsmen under investigation
Published: May 20, 2009, 12:30 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
Federal prosecutors and agents revved up their case against members of the Depewbased Chosen Few biker gang Tuesday.
The actions of the Chosen Few’s fierce rivals, the Kingsmen, are also under investigation, law enforcement officials said.
The U. S. attorney’s office filed a criminal forfeiture action against the Depew clubhouse of the Chosen Few and against the Alden home of the motorcycle gang’s president, Alex Koschtschuk.
Several new allegations of criminal activity — including the May 21, 2005, shooting of a biker from the rival Kingsmen gang — were added in a superseding indictment filed by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Anthony M. Bruce and John E. Rogowski.
According to court papers, after wiping fingerprints off his ammunition at the Chosen Few clubhouse, club member Bradley Beutler drove to a location in the 300 block of Connecticut Street on Buffalo’s West Side, where he shot Kingsmen member William Slater.
Slater, 47, of Depew, survived the shooting. On May 1, police identified him as one of two Kingsmen who were arrested after someone used an AK-47 assault gun to fire 12 rounds at the Chosen Few clubhouse.
“As I stated in court [last week], there is nothing in the law that allows bikers to commit acts of violence against other bikers, whether they have a rivalry with them or not,” Bruce said.
Two other law enforcement officials told The Buffalo News that the actions of the Kingsmen also are being examined for possible federal or state charges.
Twenty men identified as Chosen Few bikers were arrested on federal racketeering conspiracy charges May 7, following a lengthy investigation by the Safe Streets Task Force, comprised of FBI agents, the State Police, the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and other agencies.
Seven men — including Koschtschuk, 58, of Uebelhoer Road — were held in jail after the arrests. Thirteen others were released on bail.
One of the defendants, Matthew Watkins, 33, of Elmira Heights, was arrested because of a case of mistaken identity, and the charges against him will be dropped, Bruce said Tuesday.
In addition to seeking the forfeiture of Koschtschuk’s home and the Depew clubhouse, prosecutors sought the forfeiture of six guns seized from the gang and 371 rounds of ammunition.
dherbeck@buffnews.com
Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.