Police sought to curb biker violence
Met in March with leader of Chosen Few
At least three cops met in March with Alex Koschtschuk, the leader of a local biker gang, trying to persuade him to shut down the violence between his Chosen Few and a rival gang known as the Kingsmen.
The unusual meeting was held in a local park.
“We were worried that an all-out war was going to break out,” said Laurie J. Bennett, special agent in charge of the Buffalo FBI office. “It was a public safety issue.”
Koschtschuk would not agree to stop hostilities with the Kingsmen, the FBI said, although he did pledge that he would be careful not to hurt any innocent bystanders.
And later that night, the FBI listened in as Koschtschuk talked to gang members in their club headquarters in Depew.
“[We] aren’t going to do anything in a public place,” Koschtschuk was heard telling the other members. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to [expletive] happen, but it ain’t going to be where other citizens get involved and get hurt.”
Realizing that their attempts at peace talks hadn’t worked and seeing further evidence of the violence growing worse, police and prosecutors moved in and arrested 20 Chosen Few members and associates early Thursday morning.
“[Koschtschuk] could say that his intention was not to harm innocent citizens, but when you’re using firearms or bombs, innocent people can get hurt,” Bennett said.
The 20 are accused of using death threats, beatings, bombings and shootings against their rivals in the Kingsmen and another local biker group, the Lonely Ones.
Buffalo has seen the effects of other biker battles. The region’s worst incident occurred in September 1994, when an estimated 100 gunshots were fired during a battle between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws during a biker drag race event at Lancaster Speedway, recalled another FBI supervisor, James A. Jancewicz.
One Hells Angels leader and one Outlaw leader were killed, although no “civilians” were hit by the flying bullets.
A series of allegations against the Chosen Few were cited in 60 pages of court documents filed by Assistant U. S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce:
• With Koschtschuk acting like “a mob boss,” the Chosen Few is a local club loyal to the Outlaws, one of the most feared international biker gangs.
• In addition to the Kingsmen, the Chosen Few committed violent acts against the Lonely Ones, a club that is aligned with the Hells Angels, the Outlaws’ chief rivals.
• The Outlaws were so concerned about the violence that they sent their national president to Buffalo last year to negotiate a truce. But like the FBI and State Police, he was not successful.
• Chosen Few members damaged the Lonely Ones’ Blasdell clubhouse with Molotov cocktails in August 1993, starting a fire, and again in April 2004, that time using pipe bombs. Koschtschuk made the bombs in his home.
• In December 2003, Chosen Few members tried to shoot and kill a Lonely Ones biker in West Valley. They missed him.
• In March 2004, Chosen Few members followed a Lonely Ones member from the Blasdell clubhouse and fired shots at him on the Southern Tier Expressway, again missing the intended victim.
• Last August, the Chosen Few “declared war” on the Kingsmen biker gang after a Chosen Few tent was vandalized at a “Bikes & Blues” event and someone fired shots through the front door of the Chosen Few clubhouse.
• During an August meeting recorded by the FBI, Koschtschuk told members they should “pick out your own little crew” and go after Kingsmen.
• In March of this year, a club member said he went to the home of a former club member and shined a spotlight into his home. Another, on videotape, was seen turning a Taser device on and off and talking about torturing the ex-member with it.
• Another video taken in March shows a club member stepping into a walk-in vault and coming out with a shotgun, and another swinging a baseball bat and talking about hitting a man in the face with it.
Safe Streets Task Force members broke into the Chosen Few’s club on Main Street in Depew late at night to install listening devices and tiny hidden cameras, after receiving an eavesdropping warrant from U. S. District Judge William M. Skretny.
Club members didn’t know agents were listening in, but they were well aware as long ago as last August that they were under investigation.
“Let’s be realistic, the feds are all over [us],” club member Norman Herzog said on tape. “Cops are jamming us up big time.”
Defense attorney Paul J. Cambria, who rides a motorcycle and has represented a number of bikers in the past, said the public should not jump to conclusions about this case or any other involving motorcycle clubs.
Most of the defendants were held in jail after their arrests Thursday, and detention hearings for them will begin today in federal court.
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