LOS ANGELES (CN) - Dozens of leaders of the Mongols biker gang were arrested Tuesday, in a wide-ranging federal indictment that includes charges of hate crimes against African Americans, use and distribution of firearms, murder in connection with racketeering, and violence against ordinary citizens. Prosecutors also seized the gang's trademarked patch, which they allegedly use to intimidate rivals and law enforcement. "For the first time ever, we have seized the intellectual property of a gang," prosecutor Tom O'Brian said.
Prosecutors describe the Mongols as a criminal enterprise founded 30 years ago in Montebello. The Mongols have spread across Southern California through alliances with Latino street gangs, and have reached even further, creating chapters across North America and in Europe, prosecutors said.
The gang's "mother chapter" is in West Covina. Its recently banished leader, Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, was among those arrested.
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