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Date: 04-03-2024
Case Style:
Case Number: 3:17-cr-00130
Judge: Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr
Court: The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Davidson County
Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Nashville
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
Eighteen Members and Associates of Clarksville Mongols Motorcycle Gang Sentenced
James Hines, 47, one of eighteen members and associates of the Clarksville chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club who were federally prosecuted for RICO conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison. All of the defendants’ crimes stemmed from their involvement with the Clarksville Mongols. Hines was the last remaining defendant to be sentenced.
“Today’s sentence concludes a multi-year, coordinated effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement, our office, and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division to address some of the worst organized criminal activity we have seen in Middle Tennessee,” said Henry C. Leventis, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. “As a result of that outstanding work, our communities are safer and multiple violent criminals are being held to account for their actions. I am grateful for the efforts of everyone involved in this remarkable investigation and prosecution.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Clarksville Mongols were a violent motorcycle gang affiliated with the Mongols Motorcycle Club, an international organization that identifies as an "outlaw" motorcycle gang, meaning its members define themselves as within the "1%" of motorcycle clubs who do not adhere to the law or the rights of others. Sayings like, "Respect Few, Fear None" and "Live Mongol Die Mongol" represent their cut-throat attitude and they identify themselves with vests, patches, tattoos, and insignia identifying their connection to the Mongols.
In early 2015, some of the defendants sought to transition from another motorcycle club and establish the Clarksville Mongols because, at the time, the Mongols did not occupy or claim any territory in Tennessee. As a show of loyalty and to gain favor with the Mongols, those individuals committed a drive-by shooting and burned down the Sin City Motorcycle Club's clubhouses in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee. These initial violent acts were designed to curry favor with the Mongols and paved the way for the Clarksville Mongols to obtain a firm foothold in Tennessee.
One of the earliest and most violent acts committed by the Clarksville Mongols occurred on May 22, 2015, with the kidnapping and murder of Victim 1, a young mother. The Clarksville Mongols believed Victim 1 had stolen narcotics, money, and firearms, had knowledge about the theft of such items, and had been speaking negatively to others about the Clarksville Mongols. On the day of her murder, the Clarksville Mongols kidnapped Victim 1 at gunpoint then drove her to an area behind a secluded cemetery where they shot her numerous times and killed her. Victim 1’s body was recovered almost 15 months after she was murdered.
These acts marked the beginning of the Clarksville Mongols -- an enterprise that engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity from 2015 through 2018. During that time, in order to enrich the Mongols and to maintain control of the Mongols' new territory in Tennessee, the Clarksville Mongols engaged in a pattern of violent criminal activity, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assaults, narcotics trafficking, robbery, extortion, money laundering, witness tampering, and various firearms offenses. In an effort to establish themselves as the area’s dominant motorcycle club, members and associates of the Clarksville Mongols also participated in large-scale drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities with the help of Mongols members from California who supplied the Clarksville Mongols with more than 50 pounds of almost 100% pure methamphetamine worth approximately $1 million for distribution in and around Tennessee and Kentucky.
The Clarksville Mongols' violent conduct culminated in the kidnapping and murder of Victim 2, a former Clarksville Mongol. During the early morning hours of November 19, 2017, they kidnapped Victim 2 and took him to another member's house where they held Victim 2 hostage, used zip ties to restrain him, and viciously beat, tortured, and interrogated him for hours, causing him to suffer 3 fractured vertebrae in his neck, five fractured ribs, blunt force trauma to his head, and a broken eye socket. One member told another that they beat Victim 2 so bad that his flesh was falling off his face. They ultimately murdered Victim 2 by driving a 10-inch tent stake through his head. They buried Victim 2's body in a secluded field behind an abandoned residence. Victim 2's body was recovered almost a year later.
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