title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville features a climate that borders between a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa"/Trewartha "Do") and an oceanic climate (Koppen Cfb) with noticeably cooler temperatures than the rest of the Piedmont region of the Southeast due to the higher elevation; it is part of USDA Hardiness zone 7a. The area's summers in particular, though warm, are not as hot as summers in cities farther east in the state, as the July daily average temperature is and there is an average of only 9.4 afternoons with + highs annually; The last time a calendar year passed without a single reading was as recent as 2009. Moreover, warm mornings where the low remains at or above are much less common than afternoons. Winters are cool, with a January daily average of and highs remaining at or below freezing on 5.5 afternoons.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Official record temperatures range from on January 21, 1985 to on August 21, 1983; the record cold daily maximum is on February 4, 1895, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is on July 17, 1887. Readings as low as or as high as rarely occur, the last occurrences being January 7, 2014 and July 1, 2012, respectively. The average window for freezing temperatures is October 17 to April 18, allowing a growing season of 181 days.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is located in the Appalachian temperate rainforest and precipitation is relatively well spread, though the summer months are slightly wetter, and averages annually, but has historically ranged from in 1925 to in 2018. Snowfall is sporadic, averaging per winter season, but actual seasonal accumulation varies considerably from one winter to the next; accumulation has ranged from trace amounts in 2011–12 to in 1968–69. Freezing rain often occurs, accompanied by significant disruption. Hail is not uncommon during the spring and summer, accompanied by intense severe thunderstorms but the number of days with thunderstorms varies dramatically from year to year ranging from as low as 15 days in 2008 to as much as 44 in 2018.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Notable architecture in Asheville includes its Art Deco Asheville City Hall, and other unique buildings in the downtown area, such as the Battery Park Hotel, the original of which was 475 feet long with numerous dormers and chimneys; the Neo-Gothic Jackson Building, the first skyscraper on Pack Square; Grove Arcade, one of America's first indoor shopping malls; and the Basilica of St. Lawrence. The S&W Cafeteria Building is also a fine example of Art Deco architecture in Asheville. The Grove Park Inn is an important example of architecture and design of the Arts and Crafts movement.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville's recovery from the Depression was slow and arduous. Because of the financial stagnation, there was little new construction and much of the downtown district remained unaltered.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Montford Area Historic District and other central areas are considered historic districts and include Victorian houses. Biltmore Village, located at the entrance to the famous estate, showcases unique architectural features. It was here that workers stayed during the construction of George Vanderbilt's estate. The YMI Cultural Center, founded in 1892 by George Vanderbilt in the heart of downtown, is one of the nation's oldest African-American cultural centers.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is the largest city in the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison counties, with a combined 2014 population of 442,316, as estimated by the Census Bureau.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is the larger principal city of the Asheville-Brevard CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Asheville metropolitan area (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison counties) and the Brevard micropolitan area (Transylvania County), which had a combined population of 398,505 at the 2000 census.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 94,589 people, 40,340 households, and 18,902 families residing in the city.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: At the 2000 census, there were 68,889 people, 30,690 households and 16,726 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,683.4 per square mile (650.0/km). There were 33,567 housing units at an average density of 820.3 per square mile (316.7/km). The racial composition of the city was: 77.95% White, 17.61% Black or African American, 3.76% Hispanic or Latino American, 0.92% Asian American, 0.35% Native American, 0.06% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 1.53% some other race, and 1.58% two or more races.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: There were 30,690 households, of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.5% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.81.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Age distribution was 19.6% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 18.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.9 males.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The median household income was $32,772, and the median family income was $44,029. Males had a median income of $30,463, and $23,488 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,024. About 13% of families and 19% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.9% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: There are a number of Baptist churches, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Churches of Christ, as well as a few non-Christian places of worship, such as Urban Dharma, a Tibetan Buddhist center of the Drikung Kagyu school. Asheville is the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, which is seated at the Cathedral of All Souls. Asheville is an important city for North Carolinian Catholics, who make pilgrimages to the Basilica of St. Lawrence. There are several historical churches located throughout the city, including the First Baptist Church of Asheville.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Major corporations headquartered in the Asheville area include HomeTrust Bancshares, Ingles, Earth Fare, The Biltmore Company, Moog Music and the eastern headquarters for Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing Company.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: According to the city's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are:


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The city of Asheville is home to a Duke Energy Progress coal power plant near Lake Julian. This power plant is designated as having Coal Combustion Residue Surface Impoundments with a High Hazard Potential by the EPA. In 2012 a Duke University study found high levels of arsenic and other toxins in North Carolina lakes and rivers downstream from the Asheville power plants coal ash ponds. Samples collected from coal ash waste flowing from the ponds at the Duke Energy Progress plant to the French Broad River in Buncombe County contained arsenic levels more than four times higher than the EPA drinking water standard, and levels of selenium 17 times higher than the agency's standard for aquatic life. In March 2013 the State of North Carolina sued Duke Energy Progress in order to address similar environmental compliance issues. In July 2013 Duke Energy Corp. and North Carolina environmental regulators proposed a settlement in the lawsuit that stated coal ash threatened Asheville's water supply. The settlement called for Duke to assess the sources and extent of contamination at the Riverbend power plant in Asheville. Duke was to be fined $99,100. However, following the coal ash spill in Eden, NC, the North Carolina DENR cancelled all previous settlements with Duke Energy.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The city of Asheville claims a clear focus on sustainability and the development of a green economy. For Asheville, this goal is defined in their Sustainability Management Plan as: "Making decisions that balance the values of environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic vitality to meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." As part of the Zero Waste AVL initiative, which began in 2012, each resident receives "Big Blue," a rolling cart in which they can put all of their materials unsorted. Residents can recycle a great variety of materials and "in this first year of the program 6.30% of waste was diverted from the landfill for recycling."


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Asheville City Council's goal is to reduce the overall carbon footprint 80% by 2030. This means 4% or more reduction per year. In 2009 the reduction was made when the "City installed over 3,000 LED street lights, managed its water system under ISO 14001 standards for environmental management, improved the infrastructure and management of many of its buildings, and switched many employees to a 4-day work week (which saves emissions from commuting)." Asheville is recognized by the Green Restaurant Association as the first city in the U.S. to be a Green Dining Destination (significant density of green restaurants).


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Live music is a significant element in the tourism-based economy of Asheville and the surrounding area. Seasonal festivals and numerous nightclubs and performance venues offer opportunities for visitors and locals to attend a wide variety of live entertainment events.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville has a strong tradition of street performance and outdoor music, including festivals, such as Bele Chere and the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival (LAAFF). One event is "Shindig on the Green," which happens Saturday nights during July and August on City/County Plaza. By tradition, the Shindig starts "along about sundown" and features local bluegrass bands and dance teams on stage, and informal jam sessions under the trees surrounding the County Courthouse. The "Mountain Dance & Folk Festival" started in 1928 by Bascom Lamar Lunsford is said to be the first event ever labeled a "folk festival". Another popular outdoor music event is "Downtown After 5," a monthly concert series held from 5 pm until 9 pm that hosts popular touring musicians as well as local acts. A regular drum circle, organized by residents in Pritchard Park, is open to all and has been a popular local activity every Friday evening.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville plays host to The Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, an annual charity event which raises money for Habitat For Humanity, and features notable musicians. DJ music, as well as a small, but active, dance community are also components of the downtown musical landscape. The town is also home to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, the Asheville Lyric Opera, the Land of the Sky Symphonic Band, the Asheville Jazz Orchestra, the Smoky Mountain Brass Band, and the Asheville Community Band. There are a number of bluegrass, country, and traditional mountain musicians in the Asheville area. A residency at local music establishment the Orange Peel by the Smashing Pumpkins in 2007, along with the Beastie Boys in 2009, brought national attention to Asheville. The rock band Band of Horses have recorded two albums at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, as have the Avett Brothers (who have also traditionally played a New Year's Eve concert in Asheville). Christian vocal group the Kingsmen originated in Asheville.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Asheville Community Theatre was founded in 1946, producing the first amateur production of the Appalachian drama "Dark of the Moon". Soon after, the young actors Charlton Heston and wife Lydia Clarke took over the small theatre. The current ACT building has two performance spaces – the Mainstage Auditorium (and named the Heston Auditorium), and the more intimate black box performance space 35below.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Asheville Lyric Opera celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009 with a concert featuring Angela Brown, David Malis, and Tonio Di Paolo, veterans of the Metropolitan Opera. The ALO has typically performed three fully staged professional operas for the community in addition to its vibrant educational program.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Asheville Film Festival completed its sixth year, but the City of Asheville ceased to fund it, putting its future in doubt. The city is an annual participant in the 48-Hour Film Project.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Twin Rivers Media Festival is an independent multi-media film festival held annually in downtown Asheville. The festival held its 20th annual event in May 2013.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Places of worship in Asheville include the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Lawrence, the Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls and St. Luke's Church, and the Jewish Congregation Beth Israel.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville was the first U.S. city recognized by the Green Restaurant Association as a Green Dining Destination (significant density of green restaurants).


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Area colleges and universities, such as the University of North Carolina at Asheville, compete in sports. UNCA's sports teams are known as the Bulldogs and play in the Big South Conference. The Fighting Owls of Warren Wilson College participate in mountain biking and ultimate sports teams. The college is also home of the Hooter Dome, where the Owls play their home basketball games. The Blue Ridge Rollergirls, Asheville's first women's flat-track roller derby team, was established in 2006.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is a major hub of whitewater recreation, particularly whitewater kayaking, in the eastern US. Many kayak manufacturers have their bases of operation in the Asheville area. Some of the most distinguished whitewater kayakers live in or around Asheville. In its July/August 2006 journal, the group American Whitewater named Asheville one of the top five US whitewater cities.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Soccer is another popular recreational sport in Asheville. There are two youth soccer clubs in Asheville, Asheville Shield Football Club and HFC.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Asheville Hockey League provides opportunities for youth and adult inline hockey at an outdoor rink at Carrier Park. The rink is open to the public, and pick-up hockey is also available. The Asheville Civic Center has held recreational ice hockey leagues in the past.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The City of Asheville operates under a council-manager form of government, via its charter. A mayor and a six-member city council are elected at-large for staggered four-year terms. The city council appoints a city manager, a city attorney, and a city clerk. The City Council appoints a vice-mayor from among its members. In the absence or disability of the mayor, the vice-mayor performs the mayoral duties. City Council determines the needs to be addressed and the degree of service to be provided by the administrative branch of city government.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In 2005 Mayor Charles Worley signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and in 2006 the City Council created the Sustainable Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment. In 2007 the Council became the first city on the East Coast to commit to building all municipal buildings to LEED Gold Standards and to achieve 80 percent energy reduction of 2001 standards by 2040. Also in 2007 the Council signed an agreement with Warren Wilson College stating the intent of the city and college to work together toward climate partnership goals.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Following President Donald Trump's decision to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, Mayor Esther Manheimer was one of the original 61 mayors to commit to uphold the agreement in the city.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: On July 14, 2020, the Asheville City Council voted unanimously to approve reparations to the city's Black citizens. The move came during the 2020 George Floyd protests. The resolution called for increased investment in Black communities in the city. The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners soon followed the adoption of the measure. The protest also started a move to remove and replace the Vance Monument in the city; that decision is still underway.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In 2009, a group of Asheville citizens challenged the legitimacy of Cecil Bothwell's election to the City Council, citing the Constitution of North Carolina, which does not permit atheists to hold public office. Bothwell has described himself as a "post theist" rather than an atheist, and is a member of a local Unitarian Universalist congregation. The opponents to his election never filed suit. In response to the charge, legal scholars explained that the U.S. Supreme Court held in "Torcaso v. Watkins" that religious tests for political office are unconstitutional.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Bothwell served his four-year council term and was re-elected in 2013. He was defeated in the primary when he ran for a third term in 2017.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: While the city council elections are non-partisan, party politics may enter into play, as Republican and Democratic party members back their registered members' candidacy. An effort by the council to return to partisan elections was defeated by voters in a referendum held in November 2007.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In the North Carolina Senate, Julie Mayfield (D-Asheville) and Chuck Edwards (R-Hendersonville) both represent parts of Buncombe County. Mayfield represents most of the city of Asheville. Edwards represents a small portion of the southern part of Asheville.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In the North Carolina House of Representatives, Caleb Rudow (D-Asheville), John Ager (D-Asheville), and Brian Turner (D-Asheville) all represent parts of the county. All three of them represent parts of the city, although the majority of it is in Fisher's district.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama won the entirety of Buncombe County with 55% of the vote. Obama visited the city on a few occasions. In April 2010, he and his family vacationed in the city; it was the first time he had visited since October 5, 2008.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In the United States presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton won 54% of the vote in Buncombe County and Donald Trump 40%, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. In 2020, Joe Biden won 59.74% of the vote in Buncombe County and Donald Trump 38.63%.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: North Carolina is represented in the United States Senate by Richard Burr (R-Winston-Salem) and Thom Tillis (R-Greensboro). The city of Asheville is located in North Carolina's 11th congressional district, which is currently represented by Madison Cawthorn (R-Hendersonville).


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Students (K-12) are assigned to one of two public school systems in the city of Asheville, Buncombe County Schools or Asheville City Schools, based on address.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Public Asheville City Schools include Asheville High School (known as Lee H Edwards High School 1935–1969), School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville, Asheville Middle School, Claxton Elementary, Randolph Learning Center, Hall Fletcher Elementary, Isaac Dickson Elementary, Ira B. Jones Elementary, and Vance Elementary.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Buncombe County Schools System operates high schools, middle schools and elementary schools both inside and outside the city of Asheville. North Buncombe High School, T. C. Roberson High School and A. C. Reynolds High School are three Buncombe County schools located in Asheville.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville was formerly home to one of the few Sudbury schools in the Southeast, Katuah Sudbury School. It is also home to several charter schools, including Francine Delany New School for Children (one of the first charter schools in North Carolina), ArtSpace Charter School, Invest Collegiate Imagine, and Evergreen Community Charter School, an Outward Bound-Expeditionary Learning School, recognized as one of the most environmentally conscious schools in the country.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Two private residential high schools are located in the Asheville area: the all-male Christ School (located in Arden) and the co-educational Asheville School. Other private schools include Carolina Day School, Veritas Christian Academy, Asheville Catholic School, and Asheville Christian Academy.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is in the "Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson" television DMA and the "Asheville" radio ADI for the city's .


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The primary television station in Asheville is ABC affiliate WLOS-TV Channel 13, with studios in Biltmore Park and a transmitter on Mount Pisgah. Other stations licensed to Asheville include WUNF, a PBS (UNC-TV) station on Channel 33 and The CW affiliate WYCW on Channel 62. Asheville is also served by the Upstate South Carolina stations of WYFF Channel 4 (NBC), WSPA-TV Channel 7 (CBS), WHNS-TV Channel 21 (FOX), MyNetworkTV station WMYA Channel 40 and 3ABN station Channel 41. SCETV PBS affiliates from the Upstate of South Carolina are generally not carried on cable systems in the North Carolina portion of the DMA, though are accessible via an HD antennae in some areas.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The "Asheville Citizen-Times" is Asheville's daily newspaper, which covers most of Western North Carolina. The "Mountain Xpress" is the largest weekly in the area, covering arts and politics in the region. The "Asheville Daily Planet" is a monthly paper.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The "Biltmore Beacon" is a weekly newspaper specifically written to be of interest to residents and businesses in the various Biltmore communities including Biltmore Forest, Biltmore Park, Biltmore Lake, and Biltmore Village.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: WCQS: Blue Ridge Public Radio is Asheville's public radio station. It airs National Public Radio news and other programs, classical and jazz music. WYQS (BPR News) is the sister station to WCQS, offering local news and NPR programming.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Friends of Community Radio created WSFM-LP, a volunteer-based, grassroots community radio station. The station is licensed under the "Free Form" format. There are also a variety of broadcasts dedicated to poetry, interviews, selected topics, children's radio, and comedy. The staff have remote broadcast many local concerts including Monotonix from Israel, JEFF the Brotherhood from Nashville, Screaming Females from New Jersey, and local acts.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville is served by Asheville Regional Airport in the southernmost portion of the city, and by Interstate 40 (east-west), Interstate 240 (north loop from I-40), and Interstate 26 (north-south). Additional major roadways providing access to Asheville include U.S. routes 19 and 74, and North Carolina state routes 191 and 280. Passenger rail service is not available for the city. The city operates Asheville Rides Transit (ART), which consists of sixteen bus lines, providing service throughout the City of Asheville and to Black Mountain, North Carolina.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: A milestone was achieved in 2003 when Interstate 26 was extended nine miles from Mars Hill (north of Asheville) to Johnson City, Tennessee, completing a seven-year -billion dollar construction project, part of a twenty-year -billion dollar construction project through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Work continues to improve Interstate 26 from Mars Hill to Interstate 40 by improving U.S. Route 19 and U.S. Route 23 and the western part of Interstate 240. This construction will include a multimillion-dollar bridge to cross the French Broad River.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The Norfolk Southern Railway passes through the city, but passenger service is no longer available in the area. The city was last served in 1975 by the Southern Railway's "Asheville Special" (New York-Washington-Asheville, ended, 1970; Asheville-Salisbury, ended, 1975). Before that, it was served by the Southern's "Skyland Special" (Asheville-Columbia-Jacksonville, ended, 1959) and "Carolina Special" (Cincinnati-Goldsboro and Charleston branches, ended, 1968). In 1968, passenger service shifted from Asheville's station to the nearby Biltmore station. The Asheville station, built in 1905, was demolished.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The North Carolina Department of Transportation has proposed the restoration of train service between Asheville and Salisbury, as has Amtrak.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: In 2020, the city received a $US1 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to be used primarily on the ART bus transit system.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The residents of Asheville are served by the Buncombe County Public Libraries, consisting of 11 branches located throughout the county; the headquarters and central library, Pack Memorial Library, is located in downtown Asheville. The system includes a law library in the Buncombe County Courthouse and a genealogy and local history department located in the central library.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Drinking water in Asheville is provided by the Asheville water department. The water system consists of three water treatment plants, more than of water lines, 30 pumping stations and 27 storage reservoirs.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Sewer services are provided by the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County, power provided by Duke Energy, and natural gas is provided by PSNC Energy.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Asheville offers public transit through the ART (Asheville Rides Transit) bus service that operates across the city and to the town of Black Mountain. Routes originate from a central station located at 49 Coxe Avenue.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Author Thomas Wolfe (d. 1938) was born and grew up here, writing about the city; he and O. Henry (d.1910) are buried in Riverside Cemetery. Other authors with Asheville ties include Charles Frazier ("Cold Mountain"), Chicago poet Carl Sandburg (d.1967 in his home in Flat Rock), and F. Scott Fitzgerald (who wrote while staying at the Grove Park Inn).


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: Thomas Wolfe's debut novel "Look Homeward, Angel" (1929) is set largely in Asheville and features a protagonist recognizably similar to the author; the town is named Altamont in the book.


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The 2008 film "Anywhere, U.S.A." was locally produced, and won a Special Jury Prize for Spirit of Independence at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The character Harrison Shepherd, the narrator and protagonist of Barbara Kingsolver's 2009 novel "The Lacuna", lived in Asheville. Asheville is featured as a location in the 2009 novel "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen (an area resident).


title: Asheville, North Carolina

text: The 2012 film "The Hunger Games" was filmed near Asheville. The 2017 film "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was shot in the Asheville area. The North Carolina tourism board has developed a guide for visitors interested in sites used in the film.


title: Crossrail

text: Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway lines terminating in London: the Great Western Main Line and the Great Eastern Main Line. The project was approved in 2007, and construction began in 2009 on the central section and connections to existing lines that became part of the route, which has been branded the Elizabeth line in honour of Queen Elizabeth II who opened the line on 17 May 2022 during her Platinum Jubilee. The central section of the line between Paddington and Abbey Wood opened on 24 May 2022, with 12 trains per hour.


title: Crossrail

text: The main feature of the project is the construction of a new railway line that runs underground from Paddington Station to a junction near Whitechapel. There it splits into a branch to , where it joins the Great Eastern Main Line; and a branch to Abbey Wood in southeast London.


title: Crossrail

text: Once the Elizabeth line is fully operational in May 2023, the new nine-carriage Class 345 trains will run at frequencies in the central section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction. At each end of its central core services it will divide into two branches: in the west to and to ; in the east to and to . In May 2015, local services on the section of the Great Eastern Main Line between and Shenfield were transferred to TfL Rail; TfL Rail also took over Heathrow Connect services in May 2018 and replaced some local services between Paddington and Reading in December 2019. The TfL Rail brand was discontinued when the core section opened in May 2022.


title: Crossrail

text: The Elizabeth line is operated by MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London (TfL), in a similar manner to London Overground. TfL's annual revenues from the line were forecast in 2018 to be nearly £500million in 2022–23 and over £1billion from 2024–25.


title: Crossrail

text: The total estimated cost rose from an initial budget of £14.8 billion to £18.8 billion by December. Originally planned to open in 2018, the project has been repeatedly delayed, including several months caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Crossrail

text: The concept of large-diameter tunnels crossing central London to connect Paddington in the west and Liverpool Street in the east was first proposed by railwayman George Dow in "The Star" newspaper in June 1941. The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943 County of London Plan and 1944 Greater London Plan by Patrick Abercrombie. These led to a specialist investigation by the Railway (London Plan) Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948.


title: Crossrail

text: The term "Crossrail" emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report. Although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given: £300million. A feasibility study was recommended as a high priority so that the practicability and costs of the scheme could be determined. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded while a final decision was taken.


title: Crossrail

text: The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the existing rail network as the "East–West Crossrail", "City Crossrail", and "North–South Crossrail" schemes. The east–west scheme was for a line from Liverpool Street to Paddington/Marylebone with two connections at its western end linking the tunnel to the Great Western Main Line and the Metropolitan line on the Underground. The City route was shown as a new connection across the City of London linking the Great Northern Route with London Bridge.


title: Crossrail

text: The north–south line proposed routing West Coast Main Line, Thameslink, and Great Northern trains through Euston and King's Cross/, then under the West End via , and Victoria towards and . The report also recommended a number of other schemes including a "Thameslink Metro" route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885million.


title: Crossrail

text: In 1991, a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. The bill was promoted by London Underground and British Rail, and supported by the government; it was rejected by the Private Bill Committee in 1994 on the grounds that a case had not been made, though the government issued "Safeguarding Directions", protecting the route from any development that would jeopardise future schemes.


title: Crossrail

text: In 2001, Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), a joint-venture between TfL and the DfT, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, and also a Wimbledon–Hackney scheme.


title: Crossrail

text: While CLRL was promoting the Crossrail project, alternative schemes were being proposed. In 2002, GB Railways put forward a scheme called SuperCrossRail which would link regional stations such as , , , , and via a west–east rail tunnel through central London. The tunnel would follow an alignment along the River Thames, with stations at , and . In 2004 another proposal named Superlink was promoted by a group of senior railway managers. Like SuperCrossRail, Superlink envisaged linking a number of regional stations via a tunnel through London, but advocated the route already safeguarded for Crossrail. CLRL evaluated both proposals and rejected them due to concerns about network capacity and cost issues.


title: Crossrail

text: The Crossrail Act 2008 was given royal assent in July 2008, giving CLRL the powers necessary to build the line. In September 2009, TfL was loaned £1billion towards the project by the European Investment Bank. Both Conservatives and Labour made commitments in their 2010 election manifestos to deliver Crossrail, and the coalition government following the election was committed to the project.


title: Crossrail

text: In April 2009, Crossrail announced that 17 firms had secured 'Enabling Works Framework Agreements' and would now be able to compete for packages of works. At the peak of construction up to 14,000 people were expected to be needed in the project's supply chain.


title: Crossrail

text: The threat of diseases being released by work on the project was raised by Lord James of Blackheath at the passing of the Crossrail Bill. He told the House of Lords select committee that 682 victims of anthrax had been brought into Smithfield in Farringdon with some contaminated meat in 1520 and then buried in the area. On 24 June 2009 it was reported that no traces of anthrax or bubonic plague had been found on human bone fragments discovered during tunnelling.


title: Crossrail

text: Invitations to tender for the two principal tunnelling contracts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union in August 2009. 'Tunnels West' (C300) was for twin tunnels from Royal Oak through to the new Crossrail Farringdon Station, with a portal west of Paddington. The 'Tunnels East' (C305) request was for three tunnel sections and 'launch chambers' in east London. Contracts were awarded in late 2010: the 'Tunnels West' contract was awarded to BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction (BFK); the 'Tunnels East' contract was awarded to Dragados and John Sisk & Son. The remaining tunnelling contract (C310, Plumstead to North Woolwich), which included a tunnel under the Thames, was awarded to Hochtief and J. Murphy & Sons in 2011.


title: Crossrail

text: By September 2009, preparatory work for the £1billion developments at station had begun, with buildings (including the Astoria Theatre) being compulsorily purchased and demolished.


title: Crossrail

text: In March 2010, contracts were awarded to civil engineering companies for the second round of 'enabling work' including 'Royal Oak Portal Taxi Facility Demolition', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Bond Street Station', 'Demolition works for Crossrail Tottenham Court Road Station' and 'Pudding Mill Lane Portal'. In December 2010, contracts were awarded for most of the tunnelling work. To assist with the skills required for the Crossrail project, Crossrail opened in 2011 the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in Ilford. The academy was handed over to Transport for London in 2017, who have sub-contracted its management to PROCAT.


title: Crossrail

text: In February 2010, Crossrail was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling for less than the market value. A subsequent London Assembly report was highly critical of the insensitive way in which Crossrail had dealt with compulsory purchases and the lack of assistance given to the people and businesses affected. There were also complaints from music fans, as the London Astoria was forced to close.


title: Crossrail

text: In December 2011, a contract to ship the excavated material from the tunnel to Wallasea Island was awarded to a joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall Limited and Van Oord UK Limited. Between 4.5 and 5million tonnes of soil would be used to construct a new wetland nature reserve (Wallasea Wetlands). The project eventually moved seven million tons of earth.


title: Crossrail

text: Restoration of Connaught Tunnel by filling with concrete foam and reboring, as originally intended, was deemed too great a risk to the structural integrity of the tunnel, and so the docks above were drained to give access to the tunnel roof in order to enlarge its profile. This work took place during 2013.


title: Crossrail

text: Boring of the railway tunnels was officially completed at Farringdon on 4 June 2015 in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London.


title: Crossrail

text: Installation of the track was completed in September 2017. The ETCS signalling was scheduled to be tested in the Heathrow tunnels over the winter of 2017–2018. The south east section of the infrastructure was energised in February 2018, with the first test train run between Plumstead and Abbey Wood that month. In May 2018 the overhead lines were powered up between Westbourne Park and Stepney, the installation of platform doors was completed, and video was released of the first trains travelling through the tunnels.


title: Crossrail

text: At the end of August 2018, four months before the scheduled opening of the core section of the line, it was announced that completion was delayed and that the line would not open before autumn 2019.


title: Crossrail

text: In April 2019, it was announced that Crossrail would be completed between October 2020 and March 2021, two years behind schedule, and that it would not include the opening of the Bond Street station, one of ten new stations on the line. The London Assembly's transport committee concluded that Transport for London (TfL) played down the prospect of delays to the project in updates to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and called for TfL commissioner Mike Brown to consider his position. Crossrail said major challenges before completion included writing and testing the software that would integrate the train with three different track signalling systems, and installing equipment inside the tunnels.


title: Crossrail

text: In July 2019, it was announced that the line would not open in 2021, with TfL not expecting the full line from Heathrow to Shenfield to open until the early part of the 2023/24 financial year.


title: Crossrail

text: In August 2020, Crossrail announced that the central section would be ready to open "in the first half of 2022".


title: Crossrail

text: In May 2021 trial running commenced, with the core section opening for passenger service on 24 May 2022.


title: Crossrail

text: The project used eight diameter tunnel-boring machines (TBM) from Herrenknecht AG (Germany). Two types are used; 'slurry' type for the Thames tunnel, which involves tunnelling through chalk; and 'Earth Pressure Balance Machines' (EPBM) for tunnelling through clay, sand and gravel (at lower levels through Lambeth Group and Thanet Sands ground formation). The TBMs weigh nearly 1,000tonnes and are over long. The main tunnelling contracts are valued at around £1.5billion.


title: Crossrail

text: The TBMs were named (per tradition). Crossrail ran a competition in January 2012 in which over 2,500 entries were received and 10 pairs of names short-listed. After a public vote in February 2012, the first three pairs of names were announced on 13 March and the last pair on 16 August 2013:


title: Crossrail

text: In 2012, Crossrail faced accusations of blacklisting. It was revealed that an industrial relations manager, Ron Barron, employed by Bechtel, had routinely cross-checked job applicants against the Consulting Association database. An employment tribunal in 2010 heard that Barron introduced the use of the blacklist at his former employer, the construction firm Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I), and referred to it more than 900 times in 2007 alone. He was found to have unlawfully refused employment to a Philip Willis. Aggravated damages were awarded because Barron had added information about Willis to the blacklist.


title: Crossrail

text: In May 2012, a BFK manager challenged their subcontractor, Electrical Installations Services Ltd. (EIS), saying that one of their electricians was a trade union activist. Some days later, Pat Swift, the HR manager for BFK and a regular user of the Consulting Association, again challenged EIS. EIS refused to dismiss their worker and lost the contract. Flash pickets were held at the Crossrail site and also at the sites of the BFK partners. The Scottish Affairs Select Committee called on the UK Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to set up a government investigation into blacklisting at Crossrail. The electrician was reinstated. Further allegations of blacklisting against Crossrail were made in Parliament in September 2017.


title: Crossrail

text: In September 2012, a gantry supporting a spoil hopper, used to load rail wagons with excavated waste at a construction site near Westbourne Park Underground station, collapsed. It tipped sideways, causing the adjacent Network Rail line to be closed.


title: Crossrail

text: On 7 March 2014, Rene Tkacik, a Slovakian construction worker, was killed by a piece of falling concrete while working in a tunnel. In April 2014, "The Observer" reported details of a leaked internal report, compiled for the Crossrail contractors by an independent safety consultancy. The report was alleged to have pointed to poor industrial relations arising from safety concerns, and that workers were "too scared to report injuries for fear of being sacked".


title: Crossrail

text: Three construction workers died from suspected heart attacks over six months in 2019, but Crossrail announced that, following extensive testing, the air quality at Bond Street station was within acceptable limits.


title: Crossrail

text: Much like the Thames Tideway Scheme and the High Speed 2 projects, which were under development in London at the same time as Crossrail, the excavation works that took place during the project gave archaeologists a valuable opportunity to explore the earth underneath London's streets that was previously seen as inaccessible. Crossrail undertook what was described as one of the most extensive archaeological programmes ever seen in the UK. Over 100 archaeologists have found tens of thousands of items from 40 sites, spanning 55 million years of London's history and prehistory. Many of the items were placed on show at the Museum of London Docklands from February to September 2017.


title: Crossrail

text: In the first half of 2021, Crossrail entered trial running stage of construction. This means that Crossrail in partnership with Transport for London are running trains to a timetable through the core section, to check the reliability of the railway. In November 2021, Crossrail entered trial operation which is the final stage before opening.


title: Crossrail

text: With an initial budget of £14.8 billion, the total cost rose to £18.25 billion by November 2019, and increased further to £18.8 billion by December 2020.


title: Crossrail

text: Delays to the project of several months were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in England, and in late 2020 this reduced the number of workers that could be safely on-site.


title: Crossrail

text: The Abbey Wood to Paddington section opened to passengers on 24 May 2022, although initially trains did not run on Sundays to allow for further testing, nor did they call at Bond Street, which opened on 24 October 2022. From Sunday 6 November trains began running directly from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood, and from Shenfield in the east through to Paddington as the surface railways connect with the central tunnels. TfL expects that the full line, with final timetable, will be operational by May 2023.


title: Crossrail

text: In the west, the new tunnel connects with the Great Western Main Line at Royal Oak, west of . East of the line splits at an underground junction. The north-eastern branch emerges to join the existing Great Eastern Main Line at . The south-eastern branch runs underground to Abbey Wood via Canary Wharf, Custom House and Woolwich. This branch takes over a stretch of the former North London line built by the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway, and connects it with the North Kent Line via a tunnel under the Thames at North Woolwich.


title: Crossrail

text: There are new stations at Paddington, , , , and Whitechapel, with interchanges with London Underground and National Rail services. The stations in the central section all have distinctive architecture at street level; at platform level stations have identical "kit-of-parts" architecture, including full height platform screen doors with integrated passenger information displays. Due to the length and positioning of the new platforms, Farringdon station is also connected to station, and Liverpool Street to station.


title: Crossrail

text: From the western end of the tunnel Elizabeth line services continue to where they either remain on the Great Western Main Line and run to or via or split off to the Heathrow branch terminating at Heathrow Terminals 4 or 5. Existing stations were refurbished and upgraded, including the provision of step-free access at all stations, and platform lengthening at most to accommodate the new trains.


title: Crossrail

text: Earlier plans suggested terminating at Maidenhead, with an extension to Reading safeguarded. Various commentators advocated an extension further west as far as Reading because it was seen as complementary to the Great Western Electrification project which was announced in July 2009. A Reading terminus was also recommended by Network Rail's 2011 Route Utilisation Strategy. On 27 March 2014 it was announced that the line would indeed extend to Reading.


title: Crossrail

text: A flyover at Airport Junction near Hayes & Harlington station allows Heathrow Express trains to pass over the track used by Crossrail, avoiding delays caused by crossings. The line between the junction and Heathrow Central (mostly in a tunnel) is not owned by Network Rail but by Heathrow Airport Holdings.


title: Crossrail

text: A "dive-under" was constructed at Acton to allow passenger trains to pass slower freight trains leaving and entering a goods yard. It was completed in July 2016 and was brought into use in 2017.


title: Crossrail

text: The north-eastern Crossrail tunnel connects with the Great Eastern Main Line at . The Elizabeth line runs to via , and .


title: Crossrail

text: "Crossrail" is the name of the construction project and of the limited company, wholly owned by TfL, that was formed to carry out construction works. The "Elizabeth line" is the name of the new service that will be seen on signage throughout the stations. It is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The Elizabeth line logo will feature a Transport for London roundel with a purple ring and blue bar with white text. "TfL Rail" was an intermediate brand name which was introduced in May 2015 and discontinued in May 2022. It was used by TfL on services between Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 and Reading, as well as trains between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.


title: Crossrail

text: of twin-bore tunnels were constructed by tunnel boring machines (TBM), each with an internal diameter of (compared with for the deep-level Victoria line). The wide-diameter tunnels allow for new rolling stock, which is larger than the traditional deep-level tube trains. The tunnels allow for the emergency evacuation of passengers through the side doors rather than along the length of the train.


title: Crossrail

text: The tunnels are made up of three main sections: a tunnel from Royal Oak portal near Royal Oak station to Victoria Dock portal near Custom House station, a tunnel from portal connecting to the longer tunnel at an underground junction at Stepney Green cavern, and a separate tunnel from Plumstead to North Woolwich underneath the Thames. The Custom House to North Woolwich section, included a £50 million investment to renovate and reuse the Connaught tunnel.


title: Crossrail

text: Crossrail will use 25kV, 50Hz AC overhead lines, already in use on the Great Eastern and Great Western Main Lines.


title: Crossrail

text: The Heathrow branch started using the European Train Control System (ETCS) in 2020. The Automatic Warning (AWS) and Train Protection & Warning (TPWS) systems are used on the Great Western and Great Eastern Main Lines, with possible later upgrades to ETCS. Communications-based train control (CBTC) is installed in the central section and the Abbey Wood branch.


title: Crossrail

text: Crossrail will have depots in west London at Old Oak Common TMD, in south-east London at Plumstead Depot, and in east London at Ilford EMU Depot and at a new signalling centre at in Havering, East London.


title: Crossrail

text: Although the Crossrail route passes very close to London City Airport, there is no station serving the airport directly. London City Airport had proposed the re-opening of Silvertown railway station, in order to create an interchange between the rail line and the airport. The self-funded £50 million station plan was supported 'in principle' by the London Borough of Newham. Provisions for re-opening of the station were made in 2012 by Crossrail. However, it was alleged by the airport that Transport for London was hostile to the idea of a station on the site, a claim disputed by TfL.


title: Crossrail

text: In 2018, the airport's chief development officer described the lack of a Crossrail station as a "missed opportunity", but did not rule out a future station for the airport. The CEO stated in an interview that a station is not essential to the airport's success. In May 2019, the chief development officer confirmed discussions are ongoing about a station for the airport as part of the proposed extension to Ebbsfleet.


title: Crossrail

text: As part of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link from London to Birmingham, a new station would be built at between Paddington and Acton Main Line station. The new station would connect HS2 services with Crossrail and National Rail services on the Great Western Main Line, as well as London Overground services running through the area. The station would open with High Speed 2 in 2026, with preliminary construction beginning in 2019.


title: Crossrail

text: In the 2003 and 2004 consultations into Crossrail, the South East branch was proposed to go beyond Abbey Wood, running along the North Kent Line to Ebbsfleet, linking up with the (then under construction) Channel Tunnel Rail Link. However, prior to the submission of the Crossrail Hybrid Bill to Parliament in 2005, the branch was truncated at Abbey Wood to cut overall project costs. Although dropped from the main scheme, the route was safeguarded by the Department for Transport as far as Gravesend and Hoo Junction, protecting the route from development.


title: Crossrail

text: With the Crossrail project nearing completion in 2018, local MPs, council leaders and local businesses began lobbying the government to fund the development of a business case for the extension to Ebbsfleet, with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan including the project in his Mayor's Transport Strategy. The Mayor's Transport Strategy estimated that an extension could assist in delivering 55,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs planned along the route in Bexley and north Kent. In March 2019, the Government committed £4.8 million on exploratory work into the extension as part of the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission.


title: Crossrail

text: The following stations are on the protected route extension to Gravesend: , , , , , for Bluewater, , Ebbsfleet, , and .


title: Crossrail

text: Network Rail's July 2011 London & South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended that a short railway line could be built to connect the West Coast Main Line (WCML) with the Crossrail route. This would enable train services that currently run between and London Euston to be re-routed via Old Oak Common to serve central London, and . The report argued that this would free up capacity at Euston for the planned High Speed 2, reduce London Underground congestion at Euston, make better use of Crossrail's capacity west of Paddington, and improve access to Heathrow Airport from the north. Under this scheme, all Crossrail trains would continue west of Paddington, instead of some of them terminating there. They would serve Heathrow Airport (10 tph), stations to Maidenhead and Reading (6 tph), and stations to Milton Keynes Central (8 tph).


title: Crossrail

text: In August 2014, a statement by transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as and , with potential Crossrail stops at , , , , , , , , , , and . The extension would relieve some pressure from London Underground and London Euston station while also increasing connectivity. Conditions to the extension were that any extra services should not affect the planned service pattern for confirmed routes, as well as affordability. This proposal was shelved in August 2016 due to "poor overall value for money to the taxpayer".


title: Crossrail

text: As part of the Heathrow Southern Railway scheme proposed in 2017, the western extent of the Crossrail route could be extended beyond Heathrow Airport to terminate at . This extension would form part of a wider scheme to create new rail links in west London and Surrey serving Heathrow, and would require the construction of an extra platform at Staines station. This proposal has not been approved or funded.


title: Crossrail

text: Stobart Aviation, the company that operates Southend Airport in Essex, has proposed that Crossrail should be extended beyond Shenfield along the Shenfield–Southend line to serve Southend Airport and . The company has suggested that a direct Heathrow-Southend link could alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow. The extension proposal has been supported by Southend-on-Sea City Council.


title: Crossrail

text: Crossrail was built by Crossrail Ltd, jointly owned by Transport for London and the Department for Transport until December 2008, when full ownership was transferred to TfL. In 2007, Crossrail had a £15.9billion funding package in place for the construction of the line. Although the branch lines to the west and to Shenfield will still be owned by Network Rail, the tunnel will be owned and operated by TfL.


title: Crossrail

text: On 18 July 2014, TfL London Rail said that MTR Corp had won the concession to operate the services for eight years, with an option for two more years. The concession will be similar to London Overground. It is planned for the franchise to run for eight years from May 2015, taking over control of Shenfield metro services from Abellio Greater Anglia in May 2015, and Reading / Heathrow services from Great Western Railway in 2018.


title: Crossrail

text: In anticipation of a May 2015 transfer of Shenfield to Liverpool Street services from the East Anglia franchise to Crossrail, the invitation to tender for the 2012–2013 franchise required the new rail operator to set up a separate "Crossrail business unit" for those services before the end of 2012, to allow transfer of services to the new Crossrail Train Operating Concession (CTOC) operator during the next franchise.


title: Crossrail

text: The infrastructure of the core section is managed by Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI), a subsidiary of TfL. Signalling is controlled by Network Rail‘s Romford Rail Operating Centre.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Ralph Hubert "Sonny" Barger, Jr. (October 8, 1938 – June 29, 2022) was an American outlaw biker, author and actor who was a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1957. After forming the Oakland chapter, Barger was instrumental in unifying various disparate Hells Angels chapters and had the club incorporated in 1966. He emerged as the Hells Angels' most prominent member during the counterculture era and was reputed by law enforcement and media to be the club's international president, an allegation he repeatedly denied. The author Hunter S. Thompson called Barger "the Maximum Leader" of the Hells Angels, and Philip Martin of the "Phoenix New Times" described him as "the archetypical Hells Angel", saying he "didn't found the motorcycle club...but he constructed the myth". He authored five books, and appeared on television and in film.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger served a total of 13 years in prison, following a conviction for heroin trafficking in 1974, and a 1988 conviction for conspiracy to bomb the clubhouse of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws. He was also acquitted of murder in 1972, and of racketeering in 1980. Barger refuted accusations from law enforcement characterizing the Hells Angels as an organized crime syndicate, and maintained that the club should not be held accountable for the actions of individual members.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Ralph Hubert Barger, Jr. was born in Modesto, California, on October 8, 1938, the son of Kathryn Carmella (née Ritch) and Ralph Hubert Barger. His father had German and Dutch ancestry, and his mother was of Italian descent. His mother left the family when Barger was four months old, leaving him and his older sister Shirley to be raised by their Pentecostal grandmother and alcoholic father, a day laborer on the Oakland docks. Barger grew up in Oakland in the post-war era, during which time the city's shipbuilding and automobile industries went into decline, leading to a significant rise in unemployment. Growing up, Barger was suspended from school several times for assaulting teachers, and he often fought with other boys. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade. Although many of his school friends became drug addicts, Barger worked at a grocery store and enlisted in the U.S. Army, aged sixteen in 1955, but was given an honorable discharge fourteen months later when it was discovered that he had forged his birth certificate in order to be able to join. After his return from the Army, Barger drifted between menial jobs and lived with his father in a single residence at a hotel, later moving in with his sister and her children.


title: Sonny Barger

text: In 1956, Barger joined his first motorcycle club, the Oakland Panthers, which he founded with a group of fellow military veterans. After that club disbanded, he started riding with another group of bikers, one of whom, Don "Boots" Reeves, wore a patch that belonged to a defunct Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels in North Sacramento. Founding their own Hells Angels club on April 1, 1957, each member wore the patch – a small skull wearing an aviator cap set within a set of wings, later copyrighted as the Hells Angels' "Death's Head" logo – after having replicas made at a trophy store in Hayward. Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels were unaware at the time that there were several other, loosely affiliated, clubs using the same name throughout California. The founding members of the Oakland Hells Angels were "basically honest blue-collar or unskilled workers looking for excitement", according to George "Baby Huey" Wethern, who became the chapter vice-president in 1960. Unlike the World War II veterans who formed the early Hells Angels chapters, many of the founding members of the Oakland chapter were former servicemen with disreputable military records. After a chance encounter a member of a pre-existing Hells Angels chapter, Barger learned of the club's history, rules, regulations and procedures. He was appointed president of the Oakland chapter in 1958 following a series of meetings with Hells Angels from southern California. With Barger as president, the Oakland Hells Angels traveled around California and amalgamated with the other Hells Angels chapters, dividing territory and forming club bylaws. While infighting did take place between the chapters, conflicts predominantly arose with other clubs such as the Gypsy Jokers. When Otto Friedli, the founder of the original San Bernardino Hells Angels chapter, was imprisoned in 1958, Barger was proclaimed "de facto" national president. One of his first actions was to relocate the club's "mother chapter" – the national headquarters – from San Bernardino to Oakland. Later that year, Barger suffered a fractured skull during a fight with Oakland police. Although the basic organization was in place when Barger took over leadership of the club, he introduced additional rules pertaining to new members, club officers, and the establishment of new chapters. Barger was not the founder of the Hells Angels as often claimed-the group was founded in 1948-but he became its best known member to such an extent that he is often misidentified as the group's founder.


title: Sonny Barger

text: According to George Wethern – who later testified against the club and entered the Federal Witness Protection Program – in his 1978 book "A Wayward Angel", Barger convened a meeting of the leaders of the Hells Angels and other California motorcycle clubs in 1960 in which the various clubs parleyed over the mutual problem of police harassment. The clubs voted to ally under a "1%er" patch to be worn on their respective "colors". The term refers to a comment allegedly made by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last one percent were outlaws. The Oakland chapter, with Barger serving as its president, assumed an informal position of authority within the Hells Angels that began following a standoff with local police and the California Highway Patrol in the aftermath of an outlaw motorcycle meeting in Porterville in September 1963. The Oakland Hells Angels maintained a preeminent position as "first among equals" by having the largest membership of any U.S. chapter and because of Barger's esteem among club members internationally. The author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote in his 1967 book "" that "in any gathering of Hell's Angels, there is no doubt who is running the show", describing Barger as "a 6-foot, 170-pound warehouseman from East Oakland, the coolest head in the lot, and a tough, quick-thinking dealer when any action starts", and saying of him: "By turns he is a fanatic, a philosopher, a brawler, a shrewd compromiser and a final arbitrator." Barger continually denied that he was the Hells Angels' leader or that Oakland was the club's headquarters, however, saying: "There’s no charter that's the boss. That's all cops and newspapers."


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger was employed as a machine operator from 1960 to 1965, when he was dismissed due to extended absences. His criminal record began in 1963 after he was arrested for possession of marijuana. He was arrested again on the same charge the following year, and for assault with a deadly weapon in 1965 and 1966. Through always a predominantly male organization, the Hells Angels had female members until 1964 when Barger imposed a rule making the group male only. Barger justified the male only ruling under the grounds that female Hells Angels were less able to defend themselves against rival bikers looking to steal their patches. Barger and the Hells Angels, many of whom were military veterans, considered themselves anti-Communist and anti-subversion. On October 16, 1965, Barger led a group of Hells Angels in an attack on anti-Vietnam War demonstrators marching from Berkeley to the Army Terminal in Oakland to protest against munitions shipments. The Oakland police reportedly stood aside and let the attack commence, whereas the Berkeley police intervened to stop the bikers from assaulting the protesters. Six Hells Angels members were arrested and a Berkeley police sergeant suffered a broken leg in the brawl. The incident led to a collection of students, left-wing political groups, and labor unions led by Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Rubin meeting with motorcycle club representatives, headed by the president of the Sacramento Hells Angels chapter, in a cafeteria at San Jose State College, seeking assurance that a planned Vietnam Day Committee protest march in Oakland on November 20 would go undisturbed. On November 19, five Hells Angels led by Barger held a press conference at their bail bondsman's office, announcing that the club would not attend the protest the following day as "Any physical encounter would only produce sympathy for this mob of traitors", according to Barger. He went on to read out a telegram sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson, reading "I volunteer a group of loyal Americans for behind the line duty in Vietnam. We feel that a crack group of trained guerillas could demoralize the Viet Cong and advance the cause of freedom." President Johnson did not reply to the letter.


title: Sonny Barger

text: After the spate of publicity the Hells Angels received in 1965, Barger had the club's name copyrighted. The Hells Angels were incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 1966. Barger and the Hells Angels became associated with the counterculture phenomenon of the 1960s. Between 1966 and 1973, the majority of his legitimate personal income was derived from advising various film projects. Onscreen, Barger was identified but did not speak in "Hells Angels on Wheels" (1967) and was one of several members of the Angels who had speaking parts playing themselves in "Hell's Angels '69" (1969); he appeared in several additional films. Barger features prominently in Hunter S. Thompson's book, "Hell's Angels". He was unimpressed with Thompson, and said of the writer: "When he tried to act tough with us, no matter what happened, Hunter Thompson got scared. I ended up not liking him at all, a tall skinny, typical hillbilly from Kentucky. He was a total fake." Barger and the Hells Angels are also depicted in Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (1968), during Ken Kesey's La Honda encampment.


title: Sonny Barger

text: For at least five years beginning in 1967, Barger and the Hells Angels turned over weapons acquired on the black market or locations of weapons, which could otherwise be used by Black Panther Party and Weather Underground radicals, to the Oakland Police Department in exchange for the release of jailed Hells Angels members. Oakland police sergeant Edward "Ted" Hilliard testified in 1972 that he accepted guns, dynamite, and grenades from Barger personally in return for deals on arrests during at least fifteen separate meetings, the most recent of which took place in the spring of 1971. Hilliard also testified that Barger had offered "to deliver the bagged body of a leftist for every Angel released from jail". He denied, however, that authorities permitted crimes committed by the Hells Angels.


title: Sonny Barger

text: The first internal murder of a Hells Angels member sanctioned by the club was allegedly carried out when Paul "German" Ingalls was forced to ingest a large quantity of barbiturates until he suffered a fatal overdose. Ingalls, a member of the Hells Angels' Oakland chapter who had previously transferred from the Omaha, Nebraska charter, was found guilty of burglarizing Barger's valuable coin collection by a six-man kangaroo court at another member's home on February 1, 1968 and subsequently killed. In the late 1960s, Barger began selling heroin and also developed an addiction to cocaine. He was among 33 members of the Oakland chapter arrested on drug charges after police raided a bar and a duplex apartment in the city on August 30, 1968. $7,000 worth of heroin and $2,500 worth of other narcotics were confiscated, as were firearms — including an M16 rifle, two shotguns, and an M1 carbine – and a large cache of ammunition, knives, chains, and suspected stolen merchandise.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger was one of the Hells Angels present at the Rolling Stones' Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, at which the bikers were reportedly paid $500 worth of beer to provide security. Concert goers and musicians alike were subjected to violence from the Hells Angels, including Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane, who was knocked unconscious, and audience member Meredith "Murdock" Hunter, who was stabbed to death. Barger claimed to have been sitting on stage drinking beer when the violence was taking place. As a result of critical media attention given to the HAMC after the concert, he went on KSAN, a local Bay Area radio station, to justify the actions of the Hells Angels and to present their side of the story. He asserted that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Angels' motorcycles. Barger would later state that Hunter fired a shot that struck a Hells Angels member with what he described as "just a flesh wound." Barger maintained that the Rolling Stones were ultimately responsible for the violent events that took place at the concert, saying: "They agitated the crowd, had the stage built too low, and then used us to keep the whole thing boiling. They got exactly what they wanted – a dark scary atmosphere to play 'Sympathy for the Devil'...Just because you sing well doesn't mean you can act like a bunch of assholes to your fans – and that's what they did that night at Altamont". He blamed the Rolling Stones' extended delay before making an onstage appearance for worsening the hostility of the crowd, and said the Hells Angels refused to act as bodyguards for "a bunch of sissy, marble-mouthed prima donnas" when the band asked the bikers to escort them to the stage. He also claimed that he stuck a gun into Keith Richards' side, to force the Rolling Stones to keep on playing through the riot despite the band's misgivings. Barger took umbrage with what he felt was the Stones' refusal to take responsibility for the catastrophe and he said in the days after the concert: "...Mick Jagger, like, put it all on us. He used us for dupes". He appears in the documentary film about the Altamont Free Concert: "Gimme Shelter" (1970). Reflecting on the Altamont concert, which has been referred to variously as "the end of the hippie dream" and "the day the Sixties died", Barger wrote in his 2000 autobiography "Hell's Angel": "All that shit about Altamont being the end of an era was a bunch of intellectual crap. The death of Aquarius. Bullshit, it was the end of nothing...Altamont may have been some big catastrophe to the hippies, but it was just another Hells Angels event to me".


title: Sonny Barger

text: After Altamont, Barger sought to expand the Hells Angels and improve the club's image. Members who were of little value to the Hells Angels were drummed out, and intravenous drug use was banned by the club. Barger also stripped the Hells Angels' "colors" of offensive patches, such as Nazi regalia and various colored wings awarded to members as a reward for sexual adventures performed in the presence of other members. The club also hired public relations specialists and began participating in charity fund drives.


title: Sonny Barger

text: The dispute between the Hells Angels and the Rolling Stones was compounded when the band refused to compensate the Angels for $50,000 in legal fees accrued by the club in the trial of Alan Passaro, who was acquitted of Hunter's murder on the grounds of self-defense. In March 1983, Clarence "Butch" Crouch, a founding member of the Hells Angels' Cleveland chapter, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the club had an "open contract" on members of the Rolling Stones and had made two failed attempts on the life of Mick Jagger. Barger denied the claims of a murder contract on Jagger in an interview with the "Phoenix New Times" in 1992, saying: "I personally don't like the guy, but that doesn't mean I want him dead. There are seven [Hells Angels] chapters in England and he comes over here a lot. If there was a contract out on him, then he'd be dead. It's that simple, he wouldn't still be singing."


title: Sonny Barger

text: On April 11, 1970, Barger was arrested on narcotics charges after Donald Howarth, a film studio property manager and 1967 Mr. America from Studio City, was apprehended while walking towards Barger's home with 17 ounces of cocaine and 30 ounces of heroin (with an estimated retail worth of $350,000) in a suitcase. Barger temporarily resigned as president of the Oakland chapter in June 1970 to fight the charges, but returned to the position within months after his successor, John "Johnny Angel" Palomar, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for shooting a bartender. The drug charges against Barger were later dismissed, although Howarth was convicted and sentenced to serve five years-to-life in prison. Barger was, however, sentenced to ninety days in jail after walking out of a court session.


title: Sonny Barger

text: On January 22, 1972, Barger and four other Hells Angels – Russell Beyea, Bobby "Durt" England, "Oakland" Gary Popkin and Bert Stefanson – were traveling through Redwood Regional Park in two cars, a Pontiac and a Cadillac, when they were pursued in a high-speed chase by park rangers, who suspected the occupants of the vehicles of poaching. The Pontiac struck a tree after its tires were shot out by pursuing park rangers, and England and Stefanson fled into the brush only to be apprehended later. Discovered in the trunk of the Pontiac were three club "prospects" – William Hood, Russell Huddleston and Danny Jarman. Hood and Jarman had been bound, gagged and beaten, while Huddleston had survived having his throat cut. Barger, Beyea and Popkin were arrested after the Cadillac was chased for four miles by converging police. Various objects were thrown from the Cadillac during the pursuit, including four handguns, a shotgun, surgical gloves, and a belt with an ammunition pouch and a silver buckle engraved with the caption: "Sonny Barger Jr., 1957–67 president, Hells Angels Oakland." Barger and the others were charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon. Hood and Jarman told police that the incident was merely an initiation hazing. Amidst claims by the Hells Angels' attorneys, Jack Berman and Herman Mintz, of insufficient evidence and an illegal search by arresting officers, all five defendants pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful imprisonment.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Along with fellow Hells Angels members Sergey Walton, Donald Duane "Whitey" Smith, and "Oakland" Gary Popkin, Barger was charged with the May 21, 1972 murder of Servio Winston Agero — a drug dealer from McAllen, Texas who had traveled to Oakland with a consignment of narcotics for sale – which allegedly occurred following a dispute over an $80,000 cocaine deal. A prosecution witness, Richard Ivaldi, testified that he witnessed Barger shoot Agero dead as he slept at the home of an absent acquaintance, and that Barger subsequently ordered the others to set fire to the residence. Barger and his three co-defendants were acquitted on December 29, 1972, following a seven-week trial after Ivaldi's credibility came under scrutiny. Barger was also provided with an alibi from his girlfriend, Sharon Gruhlke, who claimed she was in bed with him at the time of the murder. According to Barger's chief attorney James Crew, Ivaldi himself was involved in the conspiracy to kill Agero and, knowing he was a prime suspect and fearing retaliation from the "Texas Mafia", he tried to shift the blame to the Hells Angels. The killing of Agero was one of five possibly linked murders committed in the area around that time. Three men — drug dealers Kelly Patrick Smith, Willard Thomas and Gary Kemp, an acquaintance of Ivaldi — were found shot to death in a house near San Leandro the day after Agero's murder, and the body of a woman, Karen S. Long, was discovered in the trunk of a car in Oakland on May 26. An informant had led investigating detectives to the location of the automobile in which Long's corpse was found. John Joseph Devaney, Long's former husband, was found dead in a car in Hayward on June 14 in an apparent suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.


title: Sonny Barger

text: On March 16, 1973, Barger was sentenced to a prison term of ten years-to-life after he was convicted of possession of narcotics for sale (37 grams of heroin), and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. His future wife Sharon was a co-defendant; her case ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a verdict. As a result of his imprisonment, Barger was forced to relinquish his presidency of the Oakland chapter for the first time since its inception. According to police intelligence reports, he had designated San Jose chapter president Fillmore Cross as his international successor during a motorcycle run at Bass Lake prior to his imprisonment. Cross was also imprisoned, for possession of amphetamines in 1975, however, and Barger allegedly continued to lead the Hells Angels from his cell at Folsom State Prison. During his incarceration, a bikers' magazine ran a "Free Sonny Barger" campaign, selling T-shirts and bumper stickers, which helped pay his legal expenses. Barger gave a series of interviews, including one with Geraldo Rivera for his "Good Night America" television program, in which he portrayed himself as a model prisoner and said: "They got to let me out sometime." He also began studying sociology at Folsom. In April 1977, Barger won an appeal to face a retrial on a prior marijuana possession conviction. His acquittal in that case made him eligible for parole as the California Supreme Court ruled that a five-year waiting period – attached to his sentence due to the prior marijuana conviction – was unconstitutional. He was paroled on November 3, 1977, after serving four-and-a-half years of his sentence. On 5 December 1977, Barger opended the first Hells Angels chapter in Canada and awarded Yves Buteau the right to wear a Hells Angels jacket with the word "International" written on the bottom-a great honor within the world of the Hells Angels where jackets normally list only the state in which the Hells Angel lives in.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger was arrested on a parole violation charge of possession of firearms when police officers discovered a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, a .38 caliber revolver, and a rifle after arriving at his Oakland home on March 27, 1978, to serve a subpoena and to conduct a parole search. The case was dismissed when Barger's wife Sharon testified that the guns belonged to her, not her husband.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger and his wife were among 33 members and associates of the Hells Angels' Oakland, San Francisco, Marin County, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Vallejo chapters indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statutes on June 13, 1979. He and fifteen others were arrested during a series of raids carried out in the Bay Area by around 200 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents. The indictments followed two car bombings targeting law enforcement officers in northern California, which were blamed on the Hells Angels. The bombings prompted the California Department of Justice to issue a warning to police departments that the Angels were engaged on a campaign to eliminate law enforcement personnel who investigated their drug activities. The RICO case against the Hells Angels was the most substantial effort in federal history against the club at the time, and charged the defendants with various crimes dating back to 1971, including manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine; conspiring to commit murder; assault; use of false identification; intimidation; and bribery. Barger was held on a $1 million bail and spent 14 months in San Francisco County Jail before and during the trial. In a jailhouse interview with Cynthia Gorney of "The Washington Post" in October 1979, he stated: "I can tell you why they want to get rid of the Hells Angels, what I think. First of all we're a virtual army. We're all across the country, and now we're in foreign countries also. And they have no idea how many of us there are...We have money, many allies that are outlaw bikers that are not Hells Angels, that would probably do anything we asked them to, if something happened".


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger and 17 of his co-defendants went on trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California at the San Francisco federal courthouse beginning on October 4, 1979. The prosecution team, representing the federal government, attempted to demonstrate a pattern of behavior to convict Barger and other members of the Hells Angels of racketeering offenses related to illegal weapons and drugs. According to U.S. Attorney William Hunter, the "cornerstone" of the Hells Angels' drug enterprise was the "large‐scale manufacture and mass distribution of methamphetamine". Prosecutors claimed that the Angels accumulated $160,000 per day in street sales of the drug. The defense maintained that the club should not be held accountable for crimes committed by individual members. Barger himself admitted during the trial that he had used and sold narcotics in the 1960s, but asserted that his actions did not involve the Hells Angels. On July 2, 1980, following an eight-month trial in which 194 witnesses testified, a mistrial was declared when a jury failed to reach a verdict on counts against eighteen defendants. Of the remaining twelve, nine were convicted and three — including Sonny and Sharon Barger — were acquitted.


title: Sonny Barger

text: The Hells Angels declared war on the Outlaws during a summit of various chapter presidents in Rochester, New York in November 1978. The feud between the two clubs began in 1974 when Outlaws bikers in South Florida murdered three members of the Hells Angels' Lowell, Massachusetts chapter as retribution for an Outlaw being beaten by Hells Angels at a party in New York City. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Hells Angels and the Outlaws were engaged in a conflict over control of the methamphetamine trade in the United States and Canada. Authorities accused the Angels of dominating the production of the drug in the U.S. Barger addressed such allegations by saying: "I'm sure there are some individual Angels who've sold methamphetamines. Just like I'm sure some cops have sold methamphetamines. I'm sure some of our members own guns, whether legal or not. And I'm sure the government makes a living off of us." In the late 1970s, Barger and other senior Hells Angels ordered James "Buddy" Caronite, the president of the club's East Coast faction, to organize a peace conference with Outlaws leaders. The supposed peace meeting, scheduled to be held in an eastern state, was in fact an opportunity for the Hells Angels to assassinate their rivals' leadership, according to investigators. Having gave his word to the Outlaws that they would be safe at the meeting, Caronite – who characterised himself as a "man of honor" – reportedly warned the Outlaws, who avoided the meeting, when he learned of the assassination plot. The warning angered the Angels hierarchy, and Caronite was demoted from his position as a national officer.


title: Sonny Barger

text: In October 1982, Barger was part of a large group of Hells Angels from across the country who attended the murder trial of Jack "Jack-O-Lantern" Gentry, a member of the club's Cleveland chapter accused of shooting Outlaws member Ralph "Real Time" Tanner behind the Outlaws' Toledo clubhouse on November 30, 1980. Cleveland Hells Angel-turned-government witness Clarence Crouch testified for the prosecution that Gentry had murdered Tanner as part of an initiation process into the Hells Angels. The trial took place in Lucas County circuit court in Toledo, a city considered Outlaws territory. Barger and his Oakland contingent rented a house on Toledo's Sylvania Street, and the Angels showed a significant presence in the city throughout the court case. Wearing their "colors", the bikers rode their motorcycles past the residence of assistant county prosecutor James Bates, visited the neighbors of jurors after obtaining a list of prospective jurors in the case, and circled the courthouse in black vans with "Hells Angels" painted on the side. A female juror was excused from duty after her son was threatened by a group of Hells Angels at a downtown Toledo bar that he would have "lots of problems" if his mother did not "vote the right way". Barger sent invitations to the jurors to attend a party he threw at a local Sheraton Hotel when Gentry was acquitted after a four-day trial. He denied that jurors were intimidated by the Hells Angels' presence at the trial, saying: "The only ones that are intimidated are the ones the feds tell to be".


title: Sonny Barger

text: In 1983, Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer and temporarily handed control of the club over to his second-in-command, Michael O'Farrell, while he received and recovered from treatment.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Anthony "Taterhead" Tait, the sergeant-at-arms of the Hells Angels chapter in Anchorage, Alaska, volunteered to become a paid informant for the FBI in 1984, commencing a three-year nationwide Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation known as Operation CACUS. Traveling the country at government expense, Tait made documented purchases of firearms, explosives, and drugs from various Hells Angels chapters. He also covertly recorded club meetings by wearing a wire. During one such meeting, Barger admiringly told Tait that he represented the "Hells Angel of the '90s" – clean-cut, articulate, and capable of carrying out club business. On August 12, 1986, John Cleave Webb, a member of the Anchorage Hells Angels, was shot and killed by Outlaws outside a biker bar in Jefferson County, Kentucky, prompting Barger to say that it was "time to start killing Outlaws again".


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger sent a stolen copy of a government document prepared by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), which contained the identities and personal data of Outlaws members and associates, via express mail to Webb's sister in Louisville, Kentucky, who then turned it over to Hells Angels members. He also displayed another copy of the EPIC manual and explained how to use it to fellow Hells Angels at an Oakland chapter meeting. When another chapter member suggested calling the Outlaws to inquire whether Webb's killing was an isolated incident, Barger replied: "Call them collect." He lent the EPIC manual to Tait for photocopying after Anchorage chapter president Edwin Hubert, who also expressed retaliatory sentiment after Webb's killing, instructed Tait to acquire a copy of the manual in September 1986. When Tait informed Barger in a phone conversation that the FBI was investigating the package he had mailed to Webb's sister, Barger proposed the alibi that the package contained sympathy cards. Barger also circulated a photograph of the two Outlaws who killed Webb, firstly at an Oakland chapter meeting on November 30, 1986, and again at a summit of West Coast chapter officers on January 3, 1987. He and Tait discussed retaliation against the Outlaws on several occasions, and Tait encouraged Barger to travel to Alaska to provide guidance to the Anchorage Hells Angels chapter on retributive action. After Cleveland chapter president Kenny Yates was shot and wounded by Outlaws in Joliet, Illinois on September 18, 1987, Tait told Barger that he had been to Chicago and Milwaukee to carry out reconnaissance on Outlaws clubhouses there and that he would require an alibi if he was to carry out an attack, to which Barger responded: "That would be no problem." On October 18, 1987, Tait informed Barger of a fictitious plot to bomb the Outlaws' Chicago headquarters, which he purported would likely kill five or six people, and Barger replied: "That'll be really nice after that Joliet thing." Barger then made plans to provide an alibi for Tait. Between October 20 and 23, 1987, Michael O'Farrell periodically stayed in a Hyatt hotel room booked by Tait and drove Tait's rental car. Tait called Barger on November 9, 1987, and reported that he had accomplished his mission.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Operation CACUS concluded on November 10, 1987, when 38 Hells Angels members and associates in Alaska, California, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina were arrested on various narcotics, weapons, explosives, and conspiracy charges. Barger was among thirteen people taken into custody in the Bay Area, where over 400 FBI, ATF, and California State Police personnel carried out 26 raids on homes and other properties, seizing more than 100 weapons, approximately $1 million in cash and drugs, and three methamphetamine laboratories. Two EPIC manuals and a homemade explosive device were discovered in Barger's home by federal agents. A Hyatt hotel room key and a handwritten note — deemed to have been written by Barger after evaluation by a handwriting expert — listing Anthony Tait's hotel room number and rental car license plate number were also found at Michael O'Farrell's residence. While most of the Hells Angels arrested in northern California were charged with drug offenses, Barger and O'Farrell were accused of conspiring to violate federal firearms and explosives laws. U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese stated that Barger's arrest had averted five murders. Barger was formally indicted on December 15, 1987, along with twenty others.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger and nine other Hells Angels from California and Alaska were extradited to Kentucky to stand trial for conspiring to transport firearms and explosives across state lines. The ten defendants went on trial at Louisville federal court beginning in July 1988, accused of plotting to bomb the clubhouse of the Outlaws' Louisville chapter, located in the city's Portland neighborhood, in retaliation for the killing of John Cleave Webb. Barger was represented by defense attorney Stephen Miller, and Barger's wife worked on the defense team as a paralegal. Around a hundred Hells Angels wearing full "colors" attended the trial, as did the country singer Johnny Paycheck, a friend of Barger. The U.S. Marshals Service provided security, and the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the case were deputized by the Marshals, allowing them to carry guns inside the courthouse. The prosecutors asserted that the Hells Angels were a highly organized criminal organization ruled by a "code of silence" involved in drug trafficking, shootings and bombings. Anthony Tait, the government's key witness in the case, was housed in a safehouse in the Louisville suburb of Prospect during the trial, where he was guarded by an FBI SWAT team. The defense team endeavored to expose the government's "outrageous" investigative conduct and discredit Tait, whom the government acknowledged was paid $300,000 in salary and expenses for the information he provided. Tait's estranged wife, Brenda Lee Fowler, gave evidence for the defense, calling her husband a "liar, a scum and a cheater" and alleging that he dealt drugs. Leonard "Cool Ray" Mullen, the Outlaws member convicted of killing Webb, testified that he shot Webb over a personal feud and that there was no war between the Outlaws and the Angels. He also attested that the FBI had asked him to fake his own death in order to further their investigation against the Hells Angels, to which he refused. The defendants shook hands with Webb and thanked him for his testimony. Under a special arrangement approved by U.S. District Judge Edward H. Johnstone, defense attorneys subpoenaed each of the codefendants as witnesses, entitling them to "per diem" witness fees. The total cost of the case was estimated at $1 million. Barger reportedly celebrated his 50th birthday in the midst of the trial by partying and smoking marijuana at the home of Thomas Clay, Michael O'Farrell's lawyer, in Goshen, Kentucky. Following a three-month-trial, the longest ever in the history of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Barger and O'Farrell were convicted on October 28, 1988, on the felony charge of conspiracy to transport and receive explosives in interstate commerce with intent to kill and damage buildings. Barger and three other defendants were also convicted on the misdemeanor charge of knowingly converting a copy of a government document, while five others were acquitted of all charges. He stated following his conviction: "I think we won very handily in there. It was just too bad that Irish [O’Farrell] and I were convicted, but we will probably win an appeal. I think it was a devastating blow to the government, and I couldn’t be happier with the verdict except if I had been found innocent myself."


title: Sonny Barger

text: On March 10, 1989, Barger was sentenced to 57 months' imprisonment at the Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix in Arizona. He took up running for exercise in prison, saying: "I'm slow but I can go on forever". While imprisoned, Barger received dozens of requests for interviews every month but continuously turned them down as he was collaborating with a screenwriter at the time to have his life story turned into a film and was unwilling to compromise the commercial viability of the project. At Christmas 1989, he sent one of the prosecutors in the case, assistant U.S. attorney Cleve Gambill, a card from prison, showing him posing on a towel as if he were on the beach, with the message: "Nice weather. Wish you were here." Barger appealed his convictions, contending that the government's investigative conduct had deprived him of his Fifth Amendment right to due process, that he had been incited to commit crimes by Anthony Tait and the government, and that the district court erred when it sentenced him pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act guidelines. He said of the government's case against him: "There never was a crime thought up by the Hells Angels. It was thought up by the FBI. It was paid for by the FBI. And I went to jail for it. That's the way it goes." On January 23, 1991, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Barger's convictions, stating that granting him amnesty "would greatly intrude into the law enforcement functions of the executive branches of federal and state governments". The Appeals Court agreed with the government's position that its conduct was necessary due to the Hells Angels' violent history, and rejected Barger's argument that the government had committed entrapment because it deemed the conspiracy to have been originated by the Hells Angels themselves. Furthermore, the Appeals Court ruled that the district court did not act in error to sentence Barger under the federal guidelines.


title: Sonny Barger

text: Barger was released from prison in Arizona on November 6, 1992, after serving three-and-a-half years of a four-year sentence. On the day of his release, Barger took a flight to Oakland International Airport and attended a homecoming party at the Mountain House, a bar at Altamont Pass in Livermore, at which Johnny Paycheck performed. To celebrate the end of his parole, he held another private party in Livermore on November 6, 1994, which was attended by approximately 700 guests, including the politicians Gary Condit and Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Colorado state senator Nighthorse Campbell had allegedly tried to use his influence to have Barger released from prison earlier.


title: Sonny Barger

text: The conflict between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws saw a resurgence following Barger's release from prison as a result of his longstanding rivalry with Outlaws president Harry Bowman. Philip Reich of the Detroit Police Department motorcycle gang unit described the feud as "an ongoing thing over who had the better club", saying: "It was like the Hatfields and McCoys. They hated each other." In an attempt to quell the increasing tensions between the clubs, Bowman twice hosted peace talks with Ventura Hells Angels chapter president George Christie in Florida, firstly in December 1992 and again in May 1993. According to Christie, he and Bowman were working towards a peace treaty when the Outlaws leader withdrew from the negotiations. Christie believed Bowman was persuaded to abandon a truce with the Hells Angels by one of his lieutenants, Kevin "Spike" O'Neill, who thought agreeing to a ceasefire would make the Outlaws appear weak. Bowman allegedly placed a $100,000 bounty on Barger's life when he made a speech to hundreds of his followers on December 31, 1993 announcing an escalation of hostilities against the Hells Angels. The Angels' November 1994 "patch over" of the Hell's Henchmen biker gang in the Outlaws' home base of Chicago resulted in a number of shootings and bombings. In another New Year's Eve speech on December 31, 1994, Bowman declared that the Outlaws would in turn attack the Hells Angels in California. A team of Outlaws members were sent to California in early 1995 to carry out surveillance ahead of the assassination of either Barger or Christie. Although the Outlaws failed to kill either man, a number of Hells Angels-owned businesses in southern California were firebombed. The Hells Angels—Outlaws war ultimately ended with a truce in 1996. The Angels capitulated in their attempt to establish a chapter within the Chicago city limits, founding a clubhouse in the suburb of Harvey instead.