Guilty Verdict In Mongols MC Civil RICO Trademark Logo Trial (2018)
- 5 years ago
On December 13, 2018, a jury found the Mongols motorcycle club guilty in a federal racketeering case, a verdict that moves the U.S. government a step closer to its goal of seizing the gang’s trademarked insignia.
The jury reached its decision Thursday after deliberating for six days over evidence heard in a month long trial in a Santa Ana courtroom. In finding the Mongol Nation, a group of the gang’s leaders, guilty of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, jurors found the club itself shares responsibility for several violent crimes and drug-dealing crimes committed by members. With the victory, prosecutors will turn their attention to their plans to strip the gang of the trademarks it owns for its coveted insignia — a Genghis Khan-like figure riding a motorcycle beneath the Mongol name. The image, which members are allowed to wear emblazoned on their riding jackets, patches and elsewhere, is a crucial part of the gang’s identity in the insular culture of motorcycle clubs. At a hearing scheduled for January 8, 2019, jurors will be asked to decide whether the insignia is linked closely enough to the racketeering charges that the trademarks should be forfeited as part of the sentence against the group.
The jury reached its decision Thursday after deliberating for six days over evidence heard in a month long trial in a Santa Ana courtroom. In finding the Mongol Nation, a group of the gang’s leaders, guilty of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, jurors found the club itself shares responsibility for several violent crimes and drug-dealing crimes committed by members. With the victory, prosecutors will turn their attention to their plans to strip the gang of the trademarks it owns for its coveted insignia — a Genghis Khan-like figure riding a motorcycle beneath the Mongol name. The image, which members are allowed to wear emblazoned on their riding jackets, patches and elsewhere, is a crucial part of the gang’s identity in the insular culture of motorcycle clubs. At a hearing scheduled for January 8, 2019, jurors will be asked to decide whether the insignia is linked closely enough to the racketeering charges that the trademarks should be forfeited as part of the sentence against the group.