Sons of Anarchy, the television show beloved by fans and critics and created by Kurt Sutter, was loosely based on the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Numerous plot twists and events in the show are based on actual events that the Hells Angels have come across during the history of the club. Several real Hells Angels even appeared on the show like David Labvrava, Chuck Zito, Rusty Coones, and even Sonny Barger.
The creator wanted the show to be as accurate as possible and even hired Labvrava as a technical advisor to keep things as close to a real motorcycle club as they could. He also played an important part on the show as the character “Happy” and appeared in all seven seasons.
Hells Angels and Racism
Officially, the motorcycle club is not a racially segregated organization, but you may believe otherwise if you take a look at its members. Sonny Barger was interviewed in 2,000 and said on this subject: “The club, as a whole, is not racist, but there are probably enough racist members that no black guy is going to get in it.”
The common wisdom on the subject has always been that if you’re white you join the Hells Angels and if you’re black you join the Dragons, an all-black motorcycle club founded in Oakland in 1959. But leader of the Dragons, Tobie Levingston, has stated that he has had a long-lasting friendship with Sonny and that the two clubs get along.
The Lennoxville Massacre
There have been times when even different charters of the Hells Angels couldn’t get along. Five members from the Hells Angels North Laval charter were murdered by members of the Montreal, Quebec, and Nova Scotia charters in 1985. The North Laval charter was considered too wild and rowdy. They were bringing police attention to the club and stealing money from other charters.
The victims were invited to the Lennoxville clubhouse where they were beaten, shot, and had their remains thrown into the St. Lawrence River. Five club members who took part in the incident were sentenced to life in prison, but they were all released by 2013. The event became known as the Lennoxville Massacre.
The President of the Hells Angels
Sonny Barger is the ultimate Hells Angel. He is universally recognized as the face and authority of the motorcycle club. Even though each charter has their own leadership and is run mostly autonomously, they all look up to Sonny Barger. Sonny is the original founding member and president of the Oakland Charter.
These days, Sonny is 78 years old but still riding and he has the longest membership in club history and has successfully stayed out of jail for most of his life. He did do a four-year stint inside for trying to blow up a rival gang’s clubhouse in 1988 but has mostly managed to avoid trouble. He has used his reputation wisely, appearing in movies and television shows and even writing books about his life and the club.
Protecting the Brand
It has been a long time since the Hells Angels have been just a bunch of guys who love riding motorcycles. They became a corporation and with that status have become quite savvy at dealing with legal issues. The Hells Angels sued Disney in 2007 for using their logo without permission in the movie Wild Hogs
Additionally, in 2010, they sued designer Alexander McQueen for misusing their trademarked winged death head symbol and also Saks Fifth and Zappos.com for selling a ring bearing the symbol. They even sued Toys “R” Us in 2012 for selling yo-yos which supposedly had the “Death Head” logo printed on them. These are just a few examples of the legal actions the club has taken when someone tries to mess with their branding.