Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers' Empire of Crime

By William Marsden, Julian Sher, William Marsden

Book Overview

The award-winning authors of The Road to Hell: How the Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada bring us a definitive, up-to-the-minute account of the Hells Angels and the international biker network.

Marsden and Sher explain how the expansion of America's foremost motorcycle gang has allowed this once ragtag group of rebels, outcasts and felons to become one of the world's most sophisticated criminal organizations. While the media has continued to toast the Hells Angels California leader, Sonny Barger, as an American legend, the facts tell another story - they are America's major crime export. With an estimated 2,500 full-patch members in 25 countries, the Hells Angels have inspired a global subculture of biker gangs that are among the most feared and violent underworld players.

Angels of Death takes readers to Arizona, inside the biggest American police undercover operation to infiltrate the bikers; to British Columbia where wealthy bikers dominate the organized crime pyramid; to Australia where the "bikies" shoot it out with police; to Cura ao where terrorist organizations funnel drugs to Dutch bikers; and to the streets of Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki where a murderous biker war saw rocket attacks and bombs turn Scandinavia into a war zone.

For the first time, police officers who have infiltrated biker gangs tell their secrets - revealing the challenges, fears and horrors they've discovered going undercover. Sher and Marsden take the reader behind the latest headlines to tell the story of how the Hells Angels became so powerful, and how the police - with only a few successes - have tried to stop them.

Excerpt from Angels of Death

Three murderous evenings, three different continents, three faces of the Angels of death: the killing of innocents, the killing of fellow bikers, and the killing of cops.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of lives ruined, brains fried, bodies withered by the methamphetamines, cocaine and other drugs pushed by the bikers.

And yet while the body count kept mounting, Sonny Barger, the Californian patriarch and international leader of the Hells Angels, was being feted by the international media as he promoted his latest bestselling book. Even the usually thoughtful British press fell for the rebel Yankee. The Times called him, "affable, big-hearted, warm."

The Independent labelled him an "American legend."

And in many ways he is.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0676977316
• ISBN13: 9780676977318
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Vintage Books Canada
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

great book

the product was described excellent and the pricing was awesome thanks for a great transaction. The reading is great can't put the book down if you like these kind of book you'll enjoy this read.

the biker underworld

Avery interesting insight into the goings on of the hell angels. It made me change my mind about the image of them as has been portrayed in the movies.

Angels of Death

I bought this book for my boyfriend and he said he could not put it down - when I awoke the next day he was still in the living room reading!

Whole Lotta Violence

If you can't stomach blood and guts then don't read Angels of Death. The Hells Angels take no prisoners - men, women or children. THe fact that these guys fight each other with rockets is incredible. I agree with reviewer 'Alves', this story about Agent Dobyns only skims the surface. Can't wait until his full adventure is written.

Above reviews written by hangers-on

This book is meticulously researched by one of the leading experts on biker gang crime. Contrary to the reviews above, probably written by a couple of hangers-on hoping to score brownie points with the full-patchers, Sher tells it like it is. The exclusivity of the Hells Angels and the fact that all of the crimes are actually perpetrated by the hangers-on and associates, so that none of the full-patchers ever see jail time is what constitutes the threat. An excellent read for anyone who has ever wondered about the Angels.