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:

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.

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.