Warlocks Motorcycle Club (Pennsylvania)

The Warlocks Motorcycle Club is a "one-percenter" Outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1967. It was the first official 1% outlaw motorcycle club founded in Pennsylvania. The club is most prominent in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and throughout the Delaware Valley, including Wilmington, Chester, Marcus Hook, and South Jersey. However, there are now chapters all throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina as well as Florida. The club's insignia is a Harpy, female monsters in the form of birds with human faces. Roman mythology, and their colors are Red and White. The club expanded rapidly at the end of the Vietnam War when thousands of ex-soldiers returned to the United States, many to Pennsylvania.

Criminal activities

In December 1988, the individuals associated with the Warlocks kidnapped the then Breed chapter president Craig "Coyote" Gudkneckt. After several Warlock members had been jumped in a Bensalem bar, Gudkneckt was taken to the home of a Warlock where he was tied up, beaten and pistol-whipped. Gudkneckt escaped.

On May 6, 1995 Police Sgt. Ippolito "Lee" Gonzalez of Franklin Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey pulled over Warlocks members Robert "Mudman" Simon and Charles Staples on a traffic stop moments after the two had committed a commercial burglary. Simon shot Gonzalez twice, in the head and neck, and Gonzalez died instantly. Simon later said he shot Sergeant Gonzalez because he did not want to return to prison. Simon was quickly apprehended, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to death. At the time of Gonzalez's murder Simon was barely three months out of jail and on parole after a 1981 conviction for killing a woman in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. In 1999, Simon was stomped to death by Ambrose Harris, another death-row inmate, in New Jersey's Trenton State Prison. Harris argued self-defense, and charges were dropped.^[6]

In 2006, Tommy Zaroff, born about 1972 (age 43–44), a former President of the Bucks County chapter of the Warlocks was arrested on suspicion of possessing ten pounds of methamphetamine, and was sentenced to at least five years after pleading guilty to charges including distributing a controlled substance, profiting from illegal acts and conspiracy.^[7][8] On February 4, 2009, Daniel "Dirty Dick" McElheney, born about 1944 (age 71–72), was arrested under his alias Richard McElheney, after his home was raided by police. Police seized six rifles, ten handguns and various illegal drugs.^[9]

In October 2008, Pennsylvania State Attorney General Tom Corbett alleged that the Warlocks motorcycle club is involved with a methamphetamine manufacturing operation based in Berks County Pennsylvania. The sting was dubbed "Operation Underground". Corbett said the operation manufactured and distributed $9 million worth of methamphetamine throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and possibly (supplied) to members of the Warlocks motorcycle club, which has allegedly been linked to organized crime and drug trafficking. "The Warlocks have been the subject of other investigations, and we will continue to investigate the Warlock-Spadafora meth connection," Corbett said. He added that the investigation is continuing and he expects more arrests. There were no Warlocks arrested or charged at the time of this press release.^[10]

References

External links/sources

• The Original Warlocks MC
• Text from New Jersey State Commission of Investigation report on outlaw motorcycle gangs, as posted on New Jersey Mafia website