128 Facts About Sonny Barger

Sonny Barger emerged as the Hells Angels' most prominent member during the counterculture era and was reputed by law enforcement and media to be the club's international president, an allegation he repeatedly denied.

Sonny Barger authored five books, and appeared on television and in film.

Sonny Barger served a total of 13 years in prison, following a conviction for heroin trafficking in 1974, and a 1988 conviction for conspiracy to bomb the clubhouse of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws.

Sonny Barger was acquitted of murder in 1972, and of racketeering in 1980.

Sonny Barger's father had German and Dutch ancestry, and his mother was of Italian descent.

Sonny Barger's mother left the family when Barger was four months old, leaving him and his older sister Shirley to be raised by their Pentecostal grandmother and alcoholic father, a day laborer on the Oakland docks.

Sonny Barger grew up in Oakland in the post-war era, during which time the city's shipbuilding and automobile industries went into decline, leading to a significant rise in unemployment.

Sonny Barger dropped out of school in the tenth grade.

Sonny Barger was given an honorable discharge fourteen months later when it was discovered that he had forged his birth certificate in order to be able to join.

Sonny Barger had liked the discipline, masculine camaraderie, and learning how to disassemble weapons.

In 1956, Sonny Barger joined his first motorcycle club, the Oakland Panthers, which he founded with a group of fellow military veterans.

Sonny Barger was appointed president of the Oakland chapter in 1958 following a series of meetings with Hells Angels from Southern California.

When Otto Friedli, the founder of the original San Bernardino Hells Angels chapter, was imprisoned in 1958, Sonny Barger was proclaimed de facto national president.

Later that year, Sonny Barger suffered a fractured skull during a fight with Oakland police.

Some of Sonny Barger's rules included "no using dope during a meeting" and "no drug burns".

In 1961, Sonny Barger opened the first Hells Angels chapter abroad in New Zealand.

The Oakland chapter, with Sonny Barger serving as its president, assumed an informal position of authority within the Hells Angels that began following a confrontation with local police and the California Highway Patrol in the aftermath of an outlaw motorcycle meeting in Porterville in September 1963.

Sonny Barger justified the male-only rule on the grounds that female Hells Angels were less able to defend themselves against rival bikers seeking to steal their patches.

Sonny Barger was employed as a machine operator from 1960 to 1965, when he was dismissed due to extended absences.

Sonny Barger was arrested again on the same charge the following year, and for assault with a deadly weapon in 1965 and 1966.

Sonny Barger was convicted of assault with the intent to murder.

On October 16,1965, Sonny Barger led a group of Hells Angels in an attack on anti-war demonstrators marching from Berkeley to the Army Terminal in Oakland to protest against munitions shipments.

On November 19,1965, five Hells Angels led by Sonny Barger held a press conference at their bail bondsman's office, announcing that the club would not attend the protest the following day as "Any physical encounter would only produce sympathy for this mob of traitors", according to Sonny Barger.

Sonny Barger acted as a technical advisor on a series of outlaw biker films beginning with Roger Corman's The Wild Angels.

Onscreen, Sonny Barger was identified but did not speak in Hells Angels on Wheels and was one of several members of the Angels who had speaking parts playing themselves in Hell's Angels '69 ; he appeared in several additional films.

In 1967, Sonny Barger opened a Hells Angel chapter in Lowell, Massachusetts, which was the first Hells Angel chapter on the East Coast.

Sonny Barger later admitted that besides selling PCP, his chapter "used to move most of the LSD" in the San Francisco area.

Sonny Barger recruited Kenny Maxwell, a former chemist for the Royal Dutch Shell oil company, who taught the Hells Angels how to make methamphetamine.

In 1967, Sonny Barger enlisted Clarence "Butch" Crouch, a biker from Shreveport, Louisiana, and utilized him to form a Hells Angels chapter in Cleveland.

In December 1967, Sonny Barger visited Ohio to oversee the merger of two Cleveland biker gangs to form a local Hells Angels chapter.

Sonny Barger ordered Crouch to eliminate other biker gangs in order to conquer the methamphetamine market in the Cleveland area.

Hilliard testified that Sonny Barger had offered "to deliver the bagged body of a leftist for every Angel released from jail", an offer Hilliard refused as it "was absolutely out of the question".

Sonny Barger was described as being "totally crazed on cocaine" for a time.

Sonny Barger was allegedly the main distributor of cocaine and heroin in the East Bay area.

Sonny Barger was among 33 members of the Oakland chapter arrested on drug charges after police raided a bar and a duplex apartment in the city on August 30,1968.

On July 30,1969, Sonny Barger opened up the first Hells Angel chapter in Europe with a chapter being founded in London, followed by another in Zurich in 1970.

Sonny Barger was one of the Hells Angels present at the Rolling Stones' Altamont Free Concert on December 6,1969, at which the bikers were reportedly given $500 of beer to provide security.

Sonny Barger claimed to have been sitting on stage drinking beer when the violence was taking place.

Sonny Barger asserted that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Angels' motorcycles.

Sonny Barger claimed that he stuck a gun into Keith Richards' side, to force the Rolling Stones to keep on playing through the riot despite the band's misgivings.

Sonny Barger appears in the documentary film about the Altamont Free Concert, Gimme Shelter.

Sonny Barger subsequently called a press conference to deny Crouch's testimony.

Sonny Barger has been unemployed for years and yet is seen with large amounts of money.

Sonny Barger temporarily resigned as president of the Oakland chapter in June 1970 to fight the charges, but returned to the position within months after his successor, John "Johnny Angel" Palomar, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for shooting a bartender.

Sonny Barger was sentenced to ninety days in jail after walking out of a court session.

Sonny Barger was provided with an alibi from his girlfriend, Sharon Gruhlke, who claimed she was in bed with him at the time of the murder.

Sonny Barger admitted being a drug dealer under questioning from the prosecutor in the case, District Attorney Don Whyte.

Sonny Barger's future wife Sharon was a co-defendant; her case ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Cross was imprisoned, for possession of amphetamines in 1975, and Sonny Barger allegedly continued to lead the Hells Angels from his cell at Folsom State Prison.

Sonny Barger befriended Mike "Acha" Ison, a leader in the Mexican Mafia, at Folsom.

Sonny Barger was paroled on November 3,1977, after serving four-and-a-half years of his sentence.

On October 28,1978, Sonny Barger opened the first Hells Angels chapter in the Netherlands with Willem van Boxtel serving as the president of the Amsterdam chapter.

Sonny Barger was held on a $1 million bail and spent 14 months in San Francisco County Jail before and during the trial.

Sonny Barger himself admitted during the trial that he had used and sold narcotics in the 1960s, but asserted that his actions did not involve the Hells Angels.

Sonny Barger oversaw the club's expansion across the United States by establishing chapters in new territories, often by "patching over" existing biker gangs, in pursuit of controlling the drug trade nationwide.

Sonny Barger allegedly ordered Hells Angels across the country to kill any Outlaw they encounter on sight.

In October 1982, Sonny Barger was part of a large group of Hells Angels from across the country who attended the murder trial of Jack "Jack-O-Lantern" Gentry, a member of the club's Cleveland chapter accused of shooting Outlaws member Ralph "Real Time" Tanner behind the Outlaws' Toledo, Ohio clubhouse on November 30,1980.

When Gentry was acquitted after a four-day trial, Sonny Barger sent invitations to the jurors to attend a party he threw for Gentry at a local Sheraton Hotel.

Sonny Barger denied that jurors were intimidated by the Hells Angels' presence at the trial, saying: "The only ones that are intimidated are the ones the feds tell to be".

In 1983, Sonny Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer and temporarily handed control of the club over to his second-in-command, Michael "Irish" O'Farrell, while he received and recovered from treatment.

Sonny Barger covertly recorded club meetings by wearing a wire.

Sonny Barger promoted Tait to sergeant-at-arms of all Hells Angels chapters on the West Coast, allowing the informant to reach a senior position in the club's hierarchy.

In July 1986, Sonny Barger, who was angry that the Vallejo chapter were still friends with Dalton, invited them to the Oakland clubhouse where he had them all beaten.

The Hells Angels began plotting to avenge Webb's killing by attacking members of the Outlaws chapter in Louisville, and Sonny Barger appointed Anthony Tait to lead the campaign.

Sonny Barger sent a stolen copy of a government document prepared by the El Paso Intelligence Center, which contained the identities and personal data of Outlaws members and associates, via express mail to Webb's sister in Louisville, Debbie Mansfield, who then turned it over to Hells Angels members from Anchorage.

Sonny Barger displayed another copy of the EPIC manual and explained how to use it to fellow Hells Angels at an Oakland chapter meeting on August 17,1986.

Sonny Barger circulated a photograph of the two Outlaws who killed Webb, firstly at an Oakland chapter meeting on November 30,1986, and again at a summit of West Coast chapter officers on January 3,1987.

When Tait mentioned: "There might be innocent people there", Sonny Barger answered: "That's what they get for hanging around with guys like that".

Sonny Barger then made plans to provide an alibi for Tait.

Sonny Barger was among thirteen people taken into custody in the Bay Area, where over 400 FBI, ATF, and California State Police personnel carried out 26 raids on homes and other properties, seizing more than 100 weapons, approximately $1 million in cash and drugs, and three methamphetamine laboratories.

US Attorney General Edwin Meese stated that Sonny Barger's arrest had averted five murders.

Sonny Barger was formally indicted on December 15,1987, along with twenty others.

Sonny Barger was represented by defense attorney Stephen Miller, and Sonny Barger's wife worked on the defense team as a paralegal.

Sonny Barger attested that the FBI had asked him to fake his own death in order to further their investigation against the Hells Angels, to which he refused.

Sonny Barger reportedly celebrated his 50th birthday in the midst of the trial by partying and smoking marijuana at the home of Thomas Clay, Michael O'Farrell's lawyer, in Goshen, Kentucky.

Sonny Barger took up running for exercise in prison, saying: "I'm slow but I can go on forever".

Sonny Barger appealed his convictions, contending that the government's investigative conduct had deprived him of his Fifth Amendment right to due process, that he had been incited to commit crimes by Anthony Tait and the government, and that the district court erred when it sentenced him pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act guidelines.

On January 23,1991, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Sonny Barger's convictions, stating that granting him amnesty "would greatly intrude into the law enforcement functions of the executive branches of federal and state governments".

Sonny Barger was released from prison on November 6,1992, after serving three-and-a-half years of a four-year sentence.

Colorado state senator Nighthorse Campbell had allegedly tried to use his influence to have Sonny Barger released from prison earlier.

In early 1994, Sonny Barger summoned Thomas Moller, the president of the Hells Angels Malmo chapter, to remind him that the "Pact of Paris" was a non-aggression pact.

Sonny Barger was keen to establish Hells Angel chapters in Arizona and courted the Dirty Dozen for five years prior to the "patch-over".

Sonny Barger cut the period of time serving as "prospects" for the Hells Angels by half.

Sonny Barger transferred over from the Oakland chapter to the newly formed Cave Creek charter in October 1998.

Sonny Barger's move to Arizona will allow Hells Angels Ventura chapter president George "Gus" Christie to take over the political reins of the gang, but Barger will help legitimize the gang in the business world from the dry desert state.

Sonny Barger founded a motorcycle repair company in Arizona named the Big Red Machine, a reference to a popular nickname for the Hells Angels.

Sonny Barger was later a member of the Yavapai County chapter.

Sher and Marsden wrote that by 2002, Sonny Barger was a "figurehead, relinquishing day-to-day decisions to many of his underlings".

Sonny Barger attended the last negotiating session with the Outlaws between January 23 and 25,1999 in Indianapolis, where in a joint press conference with Anastas it was warned that any Outlaw or Hells Angel who violated the peace agreement "would be dealt with".

Sonny Barger was allowed entry under the grounds he was no longer a threat to public order.

Sonny Barger drew large crowds for his British book signing tour.

The Times of London wrote that Sonny Barger was "affable, big-hearted, warm".

Sonny Barger was present at the Hellraiser Ball, a tattoo and motorcycle trade exposition in Plainview, New York, sponsored by the Long Island chapter of the Hells Angels which was ambushed by dozens of members of the rival Pagans motorcycle gang on February 23,2002, resulting in one biker being killed and at least ten injured.

About the Laughlin River Run riot, which put the Hells Angels and the Mongols on the front page of The New York Times, Sonny Barger stated: "Publicity has always been good for the Angels".

On July 14,2002, Sonny Barger called the police to say that he had beaten his wife, Beth Noel Sonny Barger, so badly that she is "paralyzed and cannot move".

Sonny Barger stated he and his wife were fighting over a "slut" as Beth called his mistress.

Sonny Barger then changed his story when the police arrived and said that his wife was merely going for a gun hidden in their car when he kicked her.

Beth Noel Sonny Barger stated that Sonny Barger had attacked her while she was sitting in a patio chair and denied going for a gun.

Beth stated "Sonny Barger had beaten her before, but she never reported it".

On March 6,2003, Beth Noel Sonny Barger called the police to accuse Sonny Barger of beating her up along with her 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, by a previous marriage.

One of the sheriff's deputies in his notes of the incident wrote: "Sonny Barger admitted to me that he did physically grab his wife by the arms and possibly by the throat".

Sonny Barger's reputation precedes him, so when people talk to him they know who they're talking to.

Dobyns stated that Sonny Barger was unpopular as the feeling within the Hells Angels were: "All he's concerned with is promoting himself, his books, his movies, his products".

Sonny Barger received $150,000 from the Twentieth Century Fox studio which purchased the film rights for his autobiography.

On March 22,2003, Daniel "Hoover" Seybert, the president of the Hells Angels Cave Creek chapter to which Sonny Barger belonged to, was murdered.

When Sonny Barger learned of Operation Black Biscuit, as the ATF operation against the Arizona Hells Angels had been code-named, after the arrests of July 8,2003, he accused the police of killing Seybert as he maintained that Seybert was hostile towards Dobyns.

On November 30,2010, Sonny Barger made a guest appearance as Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz on the season 3 finale of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, about a fictional outlaw motorcycle club, allegedly based on the Hells Angels.

Sonny Barger returned on November 29,2011, in the season 4 finale, part one.

Sonny Barger left Arizona in October 2016, returning to the Oakland chapter.

Sonny Barger remained a popular figure both in the United States and abroad.

In May 2017, when Sonny Barger visited Paris to promote a French translation of his autobiography, he attracted huge crowds of fans to the Paris clubhouse of the Hells Angels for the book-signing.

On May 3,2018, Sonny Barger testified in the racketeering trial of former Bandidos national president Jeffrey Fay Pike and former vice president Xavier John Portillo after being called as a defense witness by lawyers for Pike.

Unable to travel to the trial in San Antonio for medical reasons, Sonny Barger testified via video link from the federal courthouse in San Francisco, denying that the Hells Angels and the Bandidos were enemies.

Sonny Barger's testimony challenged earlier assertions by government witnesses who testified that Anthony Benesh, a motorcyclist who was shot dead in Austin on March 18,2006, after attempting to establish a Hells Angels chapter in the city, was killed by Bandidos members because he had ignored the club's warnings to not set up a HAMC chapter in Texas.

Sonny Barger married Gruhlke while he was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison in 1973.

In 1982, Sonny Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer after years of heavy smoking.

Sonny Barger reportedly smoked three packs of Camel cigarettes per day for thirty years.

Consequently, due to his vocal cords being removed, Sonny Barger learned to vocalize using the muscles in his esophagus.

Sonny Barger subsequently wore a full-face motorcycle helmet to protect the hole in his throat when riding.

In 1998, Sonny Barger moved to Arizona for health reasons, with his third wife Beth Noel and stepdaughter Sarrah.

Sonny Barger joined the Hells Angels' Cave Creek chapter, and operated a motorcycle repair shop.

On March 7,2003, Sonny Barger was arrested by Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies after a reported domestic dispute with his wife and stepdaughter at their home in New River, Arizona.

Sonny Barger was sentenced to an eight-day jail term for aggravated assault.

Sonny Barger married his fourth wife, Zorana, on June 25,2005, and remained married to her until his death in 2022.

Sonny Barger's prostate was removed and he was declared free of cancer.

On June 29,2022, Sonny Barger died of liver cancer aged 83 at his home in Livermore, California.

Sonny Barger's death was announced in a Facebook post reading:.

Sonny Barger was laid to rest at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon.