Article author:
Associated Press
Livermore, CA (AP) — Sonny Barger, the leather representative of the infamous Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, has died. He was 83 years old.
Burger's death was announced on his Facebook page late Wednesday.
"Reading this message tells me I'm gone. I asked him to post this note shortly after he died," the post said. "I have had a long and good life full of adventure, and I have the privilege of being part of a great club."
The post says, "A short fight against cancer." After that, I passed peacefully. "
Burger's former lawyer, Fritz Clap, told The Associated Press that Burger had liver cancer and died at his home in Livermore, California, Wednesday night. .. Berger said he created a post posted on a Facebook page managed by Berger's wife, Zorana.
Ralph "Sonny" Barger was a founding member of the Hells Angels branch in Oakland, California in 1957 and was a biker at the most notorious moment, the Rolling Stones Concert at Altamont Speedway in 1969. However, security staff fatally stabbed a concert attendee who pointed a gun at one of the members.
Hells Angels was usually portrayed by the media as the dark edge of counterculture in the 1960s, embracing crime and violence as well as freedom, drugs and rock music.
However, Berger, an unofficial spokesman for Hells Angels, downplayed the reputation of their outlaws.
"They say we are organized crime, but even if we take all Hell's Angels to the surface of the earth and remove them, the crime rate in the world is one tenth. It won't go down by a percentage, "he said in a 2000 interview with Heads magazine. "We're a little depressed in the bucket. More police officers are committing crimes than Hells Angels."
Burger's own arrest record shows allegations from drunk driving to attempted murder. Was included. According to news reports, he was sentenced to 13 years in various prisons.
He argued that one of his most satisfying experiences was the acquittal of 1980 for swaying and the conviction of conspiracy to violate the swaying law. ..
However, in 1988, a jury was guilty of a plot in which Burger violated federal firearms and explosives law in a plan to kill a member of his rival gang. Was found guilty. He was sentenced to six years in prison at the Phoenix Federal Correctional Facility and released in 1992.
Burger took advantage of his infamy. He wrote three books about his life and philosophy, including his best-selling autobiography, Hell's Angel. The title of one chapter in his book was "Nothing more clearly states your position than a face punch." He also wrote two novels.
Sonny Barger Productions operates a website and sells clothing.
A 16-year-old high school dropout, Berger grew up in Auckland and joined the Army in 1955 with a forged birth certificate. After the forgery was discovered, he was expelled in a prestigious discharge.
He started Hells Angels with a friend and soon learned that there were other Hells Angels clubs in California. Burger helped unify the club.
He was the protagonist of Hunter Thompson in 1966 and published "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Horrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang."
"He's smart, cunning, and has a kind of wildlife cunning. He was clearly the most capable person around," Thompson wrote.
In the killing of Altamont, Berger claimed that Hells Angels acted in self-defense. Club members charged with the case were acquitted. The puncture wound was captured by the camera crew filming the documentary "Gimme Shelter".
Burger underwent a laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer in the early 1980s. This was due to the long cigarette habit of 3 packs a day. He then breathed through a plastic valve on his neck and covered his vents to speak.
"Do you live your life like Sonny Barger? I don't recommend it," he wrote at the beginning of his 2005 book, Freedom: Credos from the Road.
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Biographical material edited by former AP reporter Gary Kane.