Government prosecutors Friday announced their intention to seize control of a new trademarked insignia associated with the Montebello-based Mongols Nation Motorcycle Club, according to documents filed in federal court.
A hearing in the forfeiture case is set for Thursday in Los Angeles federal court.
Prosecutors have been trying since 2008 to have a judge order forfeiture of the organization’s “patches” under RICO — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Practices Act —because the insignia allegedly has been linked to a variety of illegal activity, documents show.
In response, a Mongols attorney argues in court papers that the club has First Amendment rights, and the government’s sole aim is to “crush the Mongols Nation Motorcycle Club by seizing the intellectual rights” to the logos, thereby quashing the organization’s “rights to freedom of expression and association.”
About 80 members of the gang arrested after a RICO indictment seven years ago — including former Mongols national president Ruben “Doc” Cavazos — have been convicted and sentenced, said a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman.
In a 44-page racketeering and conspiracy indictment issued two years ago, prosecutors said the 600-member Mongols organization has a “history of large-scale violence and riots, as a means to threaten and intimidate the victims and witnesses to their crimes.”
The government also seeks any proceeds derived from the gang’s crimes.
The best-known Mongols Nation logo shows a pony-tailed man riding a chopper.
Friday’s filing indicates that since the 2008 indictment, the organization has twice attempted to register similar logos as trademarks, one of which “appears to be active,” the document states.
If the court grants the order, any law enforcement officer that sees a Mongol wearing a patch will be authorized to stop that member and take the jacket, prosecutors said.
In a previous hearing, a federal judge rejected the government’s attempt to gain control of the insignias after finding the logos belonged not to Cavazos but the Mongols organization as a whole.
Prosecutors then filed a case against the Mongols Nation organization.
Mongols Nation registered its insignia in 2005 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, documents show.
At the time, undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had infiltrated the gang, leading to the RICO complaint three years later.
According to its website, the Mongols — named for the empire led by Genghis Khan — was established in 1969 in Montebello, and has chapters throughout the Southland and elsewhere.
— City News Service