Thirty western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio residents face charges stemming from an ongoing investigation of Pagans Motorcycle Club members and associates, federal prosecutors said.
According to three indictments announced Wednesday, the defendants violated federal drug and firearms laws.
Authorities said the defendants trafficked firearms and distributed “significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.”
“For decades, the Pagans have used violence to control cocaine, heroin and meth trafficking throughout western Pennsylvania: that stops now,” said U.S. Attorney Scott Brady. "With the arrests of thirty members and associates of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club, including higher-ranking members, we have disrupted their criminal organization and made western Pennsylvania safer,” Brady said.
The investigation began in August 2018 and included court-authorized wiretaps on the cellphones of key members of the club's Pittsburgh chapter.
According to prosecutors, club members “routinely hold ‘church,’ a term used to describe their weekly meetings.” There also appeared to be large gatherings or parties with nonmembers at the club's McKees Rocks Clubhouse.
Search warrants were executed there on Tuesday.
