ARE RENO AREA CASINOS SAFE? NOT DURING STREET VIBRATIONS!The President of the San Jose Hells Angels was gunned down and stabbed last Friday in a Sparks, Nevada casino. Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew (picture, left) was shot and stabbed inside the John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino during a clash with the Vagos motorcycle club. He was near the Trader Dick's Bar in the casino. At least 20 shots were fired. The next morning when a retaliatory shooting took place, the event was cancelled. The mayor of Sparks declared a state of emergency. Luckily the bikers did not destroy the Reno/Sparks area but many bikers were dissatisfied with the event organizer and the City of Sparks. Once when dining in the buffet at the Peppermill Casino in Reno (not during Street Vibrations), we were seated next to a table of four. Two of the men were wearing their colors. UPDATE: One Angel was gunned down on October 15, 2011 at the Pettigrew funeral. Should be an interesting Street Vibrations next year.
From 2010:
More details about the John Ascuagua Casino murder
Court documents: Hells Angels president seen punching, pistol whipping others before shooting
RIP JETHRO - Sep. 7, 1960 to Sep. 24, 2011
The city canceled its part in an annual multi-city motorcycle festival on Saturday and neighboring Reno increased police patrol amid fears of retaliation over the shooting death of a prominent Hells Angels boss by a rival gang.
Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, the 51-year-old head of the motorcycle gang's San Jose chapter, was killed late Friday in a shootout that sent hotel guests and gamblers diving under tables at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino, police said. Two California members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club also were wounded.
The gunfight apparently sparked a retaliatory drive-by shooting several hours after the casino gunfire, prompting Mayor Geno Martini to declare a formal state of emergency. A motorcyclist was
injured after he was shot Saturday morning.
"We don't want to alarm our residents," he said. "The declaration merely provides some tools and tactics our city can and should use if it comes to that."
"We don't expect further violence, but we must be prepared," he added. Martini said he also pulled the plug on the live entertainment and other festivities in Sparks related to Street Vibrations, an annual weekend-long event that has drawn tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts to the area for 18 years.
Festival organizers had said they expected up to 30,000 visitors to this year's event, which began Thursday and was to run through Sunday in Reno, Sparks and Virginia City.
The man who was shot in the stomach during the drive-by shooting had been riding a motorcycle down the street from the public square where the festival was anchored. He was not being identified for his protection, police said.
That man was in stable condition, as were the two wounded Vagos members Leonard Ramirez, 45, who was shot in the abdomen, and Diego Garcia, 28, who was shot in the leg.
Deputy Police Chief Brian Allen said investigators could not independently link the casino to the attack on the cyclist, which was carried out by a gunman in a black sedan with tinted windows.
But Martini told the Reno Gazette-Journal that it "definitely" was a case of retaliation.
"After the retaliation, it's just too tense of a situation," he said. "It's hard to say what's going to happen. It's just not worth the chance."
Security also was heightened at the Reno hospital where the two Vagos members were being treated. All doors were locked there, except the emergency entrance.
Allen said there were no suspects in the killing of Pettigrew but that police arrested one Hells Angel member from California in connection with the shootings at the casino. Cesar Villagrana, 36, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a stolen firearm, Allen said. He said Villagrana was caught on videotape shooting into the crowd, but there was no evidence yet
that he struck anyone.
Allen appealed for assistance from any witnesses who might have videotaped or photographed any portion of the incident.
Martini said he had been in contact with Gov. Brian Sandoval, who pledged support if the city needed more law enforcement resources.
Allen said law enforcement was monitoring traffic on I-80 and other main routes into Reno but had no indication any motorcycle clubs were attempting to marshal more forces in the area.
Reno police said they were increasing patrols but continuing the festival there, including downtown concerts on the main casino drag where the streets were closed to traffic. They also said they would request assistance from federal law enforcement if necessary.
Police said some hotel-casinos in Reno intended to staff their doors and allow entry only to registered guests Saturday night.
Witnesses to the casino shootout described chaos erupting after a group of Vagos club members was confronted by Hells Angels members at the Nugget. Daniel Sharp, of Stockton, Calif., told the Reno Gazette-Journal that within five minutes, shots rang out: "It was mayhem."
Joe Franco, of Reno, said he saw one Hells Angel member pull out a gun after he was knocked to the ground in a fistfight.
"He was down with the bloody nose, gets up and pulls out the gun, and that's the first shot" apparently at the man who punched him, Franco told the Gazette-Journal.
The casino was evacuated and put on lockdown around midnight. The Nugget said in a statement that the casino and all its restaurants had since reopened, but that in addition to its own "extensive security force," uniformed officers would patrol inside the casino for the rest of the weekend.
Authorities in Arizona arrested more than two dozen members of the two gangs in August 2010 after a shootout between them wounded five people but none seriously in the small community of Chino Valley, north of Prescott.
-Associated press
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Welcome to Nevada boys:
Mayor Geno Martini declares a formal state of emergency. Lets clean house Geno!:
Calling all cars, calling all cars, its a state of emergency in Sparks!
Heck with Street Vibrations and the Air Races, instead try climbing in downtown Reno. Even without a rope, its safer!:
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Tourist in middle of shootout at casino, he was "just a trigger away from being blown away" at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino:
UPDATE: Jethro Pettigrew funeral, Saturday, October 15, 2011:
UPDATE: Hells Angel gunned down at Pettigrew funeral on October 15, 2011 - Funeral mourner Steve "Mr. 187" Tausan, a sergeant-at-arms for the Santa Cruz chapter of the Hells Angels, was killed:
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Saturday's murder at a San Jose cemetery occurred at mid-day in front of 4,000 people -- but the killer has not been found, and useful evidence has vanished.
Hells Angels honcho Steve Tausan, 52, reportedly got into a fight while attending the funeral of close friend and bike gang president Jeffery "Jethro" Pettigrew at Oak Hill Memorial Park, himself a slaying victim, when he was felled by a bullet.
Police were nearby -- standing at the gates and perimeter of the cemetery -- but by the time they arrived at the scene, Tausan had been carried out by private vehicle, the shooter was gone and, police say, someone had tried to cover up the crime in an apparent attempt to foil an official investigation.
"Although police responded quite quickly, by the time they arrived, they noticed that the scene had been tampered with," said San Jose police spokesman Jose Garcia. He would not comment whether guns, shell casings or other pieces of evidence were missing from the scene.
The Hells Angels, a secret society of motorcycle riders, typically eschew police protection and end their feuds internally, and often violently.
So despite Saturday's very public crime, the shooter was not caught. It is not known if he escaped or was killed at the scene, then hidden.
And the victim was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle, not an ambulance, also avoiding official intervention. Tausan was declared dead at a local hospital at 1:44 p.m.
Police are interviewing several witnesses, and encourage others to come forward.
Tausan was a "sergeant-at-arms," or rules enforcer, for the Santa Cruz chapter of the club who had been acquitted for murder in 1999. A former member of the San Jose chapter, he was attending the funeral of San Jose gang president Jeffery "Jethro" Pettrigrew, slain last month in a Nevada casino shootout by a member of the rival Vagos club.
Nicknamed "Mr. 187" after the state penal code number of murder, Tausan was a father and professional bail bondsman.
On Sunday, an unidentified person at Tausan Bail Bonds on San Jose's N. 1st Street would not answer questions about Tausan's death, saying simply "I don't have any information. I have no clue."
The police have no motive for Saturday's violence.
Some witnesses said that the shooter was angered after being punched by Tausan. Another said that he fired after Tausan accused him of failing to protect Pettigrew, and stripped a patch from his vest.
San Jose police would not confirm Tausan as the victim, saying that the medical examiner would release a name on Monday after the family has been notified.
The Hells Angels began in 1948 in Southern California. The San Jose chapter, headquartered in a building near Interstate 280 and Bird Avenue, was founded in 1998. The hierarchy consists of a sergeant-at-arms, as well as president, vice president and secretary-treasurer.
According to Jorge Gil-Blanco, an investigator who has specialized in outlaw motorcycle gangs since the 1990s, the Hells Angels are heavily involved in the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs like methamphetamine -- dubbed "crank" because riders carried it on or near their crankcases for long road trips.
A former Marine and professional middleweight boxer raised in East San Jose, in 1997 Tausan was suspected of murder in the beating death of a man at the Pink Poodle strip club. During trial testimony, Gil-Blanco quoted an informant as saying that defendant Tausan was involved in illegal drug activity, information that was later declared inadmissible.
The jury acquitted Tausan, persuaded that he had acted in self-defense.
A series of police raids after Tausan's arrest also backfired. The raids were conducted to gather evidence of his Hells Angels membership and portray the club as a criminal street gang, potentially adding three years to Tausan's sentence. The raids not only failed to bolster the case, they also wound up costing local governments $1.8 million in legal settlements after the bike club filed a civil-rights lawsuit.
Saturday's funeral drew thousands of bikers from clubs all across the West Coast, such as the Henchmen, East Side Riders Car Club, Devil Dolls, Top Hatters and more.
Uniformed officers from various law enforcement agencies ringed the perimeter of the cemetery.
Tausan must have sensed his vulnerability -- after Pettigrew's death, he received death threats, he told a reporter for this newspaper recently.
No date has been set for his funeral.
Anyone with information can called homicide detectives Sgt. Dave Gutierrez or detective Brian Spears at 408-277-5283.
-Santa Cruz Sentinel
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Funeral of Steve Tausan:
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1983 movie - Hells Angels Forever:
Watch Hells.Angels.Forever.avi in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Where is Steve Ruiz?
