AP News, February 24th, 2007
Four Hells Angels motorcycle club members were sentenced to prison terms Friday for their roles in a deadly brawl with rival biker gang members at a southern Nevada casino in 2002.
A federal judge sentenced Rodney Cox and James Hannigan to two years in federal prison and dismissed charges against 36 other members of the Hells Angels, essentially bringing the case to a close.
Earlier, a Nevada state judge sentenced Dale Leedom and Raymond Foakes to 12 to 30 months in state prison, agreeing to let the terms run concurrently with federal prison sentences they received last week in a related plea deal.
The four were the last to be sentenced of six Hells Angels members who pleaded guilty or no contest to reduced state and federal charges in October stemming from the bloody brawl, which left two Hells Angels and a Mongols member dead and at least a dozen people hurt.
Leather-clad bikers fought with guns, knives, chairs and hammers amid blinking lights and rows of slot machines in the brawl, videotaped by security cameras at Harrah's Laughlin hotel-casino.
Most of the six biker gang members were expected to receive no more than 2 1/2 years in prison, though one received a 51-month federal sentence.
Charges were filed against 44 defendants; one defendant has died and another, Jorrg Maykopf, remains a fugitive.
Cox, 44, of Phoenix, was seen on the video clobbering a Mongols member in the head with a wrench. Hannigan, 39, of Mountain View, Calif., stabbed two people and slashed a third, a prosecutor said. Both pleaded guilty to committing battery in the aid of racketeering.
Leedom, 45, of Two Rivers, Alaska, pleaded guilty in state court to a felony battery charge. Foakes, 43, of Petaluma, Calif., pleaded guilty to a challenge to fight charge, a felony.
