 Not only did he have a relationship with the government, but he had a ball in the FBI In this world, you look out for number one With any people take that ball to the grave these guys are on the street. So they're involved in hustling Welcome back to the original gangsters podcast. I'm Jimmy Buccellato with my co-host Scott Bernstein And our producer senor a Roberto Boschane Uh, we're super excited to have George Christie as our guest today George is the true embodiment of a rebel with a cause George served in the United States Navy, but by the 1970s He was a full patched member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle chapter Motorcycle club in Ventura, California He became a charismatic leader of the club and and probably the only I think not probably he was the only Oh gee, I can think of to actually carry the olympic torch during the 1984 olympics He's led a fascinating life. George is a friend to some counterculture icons that we will talk about George himself is iconic I just to let the audience understand that you know at at george's peak um, he was Without question one of the top let's say two three Biker gang powers in the whole world. I mean there weren't many people in that Space that held as much sway had as much respect Uh, and were as much of a pioneer as as as george christian Yeah, he's he's a big deal where he rubbed elbows with some well-known underworld figures So we'll also also ask him about that And because he was so high-profile and charismatic that meant he also drew the attention of local state and federal law enforcement So we'll ask him about some of his legendary battles with the state And then finally we'll talk to george about his interesting life today his books his tv projects his social activism One man show interesting. So thank you for joining us george. We're happy to have you on the og podcast Well, it's a pleasure to be here. I appreciate the stellar, uh, introduction You deserve it a luminary like yourself is always welcome here in the original gangsters podcast We guys were talking about me, right? Yes That's right. I think we're right. We have the right guy a true og luminary So to start off george could you need to talk to us tell us tell our listeners What was it like in the 1970s to to be one of uh, you know the earliest members of uh, this really important chapter Hell's angels motorcycle club Well, you know, it's it's interesting. I I hung out uh with a fellow named danie brooker in high school. We were buddies and His father owned a movie car rental business and he rented the cars to the movies and Ultimately, he wound up owning movie land cars of the stars was just Maybe a mile from knots berry farm And uh, peter fonda's uh bike was in it You know all these famous cars from these different movies all the untouchable cars the bonnie and clad car The one that got shot up in but after school we would go out to somans just outside of camarillo and We'd hang out at the ranch and at the ranch was a fellow named dick woods Who was way ahead of his time? And he was the maintenance guy for the movie land cars of the stars And he also started the question mark Motorcycle club that was became a one percenter club endorsed by the hell's angels and the saint slaves And that's where I got my introduction now. I I didn't go in the navy. I went in the marines. Oh, I apologize. That's okay. No, that's fine And like when I came back I got some trouble in the marines Having problem with the taking orders from people I didn't respect Imagine that So I got offered a job At the department of defense. They you know, I was scoring real high on Everything I was doing real good. I just was having trouble taking orders from some of the people so I went to work for the department of defense and I started Hanging out with the question marks more and more They drug me down to san fernando valley. We rode down there I started hanging out with the saint slaves and then All to me this the saint slaves put me up to kern river. That was a big run in the 60s in the early 70s and The hell's angels showed up there from los angeles And there was one guy in particular. Oh, man, john It was kind of a legend back then he was old back then. I don't know Uh And he was your typical looking old school biker, you know, big gray beard Big guy six four hands looked like baseball gloves And he just basically took me under his wing, you know, he Invited me to come to the clubhouse in glendale. That was los angeles and I went down there and You know, within a few months Uh, I became a member and he mentored me and he actually turned the hell's angels los angeles Charter over to me Uh, right in the midst of that, uh, battle with the mongols, you know, we were in The whole dynamics of the outlaw bike world changed, uh That one summer in uh, 1977 was that oh it's 70s because this is way after altamont Yes, now we're any of those any of those guys that you knew involved in that Oh, yeah, uh, paul hibbet His name was animal animal hung out at the ranch, uh With the rest of the question marks Uh, and he got in trouble in probably 1966 at school Had a problem with the teacher he threatened one of the teachers and the cop showed up He drove out the window and he actually Ran off and joined the hell's angels uh wound up in the bay area and uh He was the guy at altamont that was running around with the fox head hat on i don't know if you recall that guy And he's the guy that knocked out, um, marty ballon from jibberson That's a famous Episode from uh from from from the altamont Didn't he use like a pool cue or something? No, he actually you know animal was a pretty rugged character and Him and marty were friends And marty was really upset because the hell's angels were One of the guys was he was working over some of the people with a pool cue because we were trying to push the people back From the stage they were pushing the bikes over They were leaning on them and the bikes were falling over It was just complete chaos so marty Said he wasn't going to perform so The one of the i don't know if it was sunny or one of the other leaders said go talk to marty get him to you know start up again And you know animal went up and said hey marty come on man You know it's just a misunderstanding and marty ballon started cursing at him And animal said hey look we're friends, but we're not that good of friends Yeah, he seemed like kind of a hothead marty ballon. Yeah. Yeah, and he actually you know he told uh animal uh to get fucked and animal said hey you need to take that back and uh And marty ballon said fuck you fuck you and other just about to get the third fuck you out animal knocked him out and then You know gray slicks gets on the microphone and said well you can thank the hell's angels And some of that was caught on tape all of it. Yeah And then the murder was caught on the stabbing of that uh the concertgoer Yeah, alan tozaro stabbed uh meredith hunter meredith hunter was pointing a gun at the stage right And i'll tell you that tape uh hadn't existed alan probably would have got found guilty, but they played the raw footage in the uh trial and uh Ultimately alan was found not guilty like a justifiable homicide And uh, but that started a problem between the hell's angels and the rolling stones that lasted a decade They were supposed to pay for all legal fees And jagger did not want to pay the legal fees. They were fifty thousand dollars, which probably was pocket change to those guys even back then And he was just being stubborn. He said i'm not going to pay you guys and uh, he actually sent A professional security guide down to third street in new york You know the famous held angels clubhouse in new york And uh, basically said you guys need to back off The stones aren't paying you and he lifted his shirt like an idiot and the butt of a gun was showing And of course the guys on third street, uh took the gun away from him hitting him over the head with it And uh, you know sent him off the street And then About a month or two. I'm not quite sure the dynamics of the time Everybody got fed up and they sent a team out in a raft to blow Jagger's yacht up. It was in the new york harbor And uh, one of the guys in the boat, uh butch crowdy His name is clarence crowdy Became an informant and he told the police that and the police told the stones that And we had a check for fifty thousand dollars, uh, within a few days That's gangster. Yeah, that's a great story. Thank you And just that's great In george, just to give uh the audience Some some understanding of some of the names you were throwing out there One of the names you threw out there was sonny and he's referencing just for the the audience that that doesn't know the history of the Hell's angels Ralph sonny barger was the uh original godfather the founder Of the hell's angels motorcycle club and a lot of people kind of Trace the roots to kind of modern day motor Slight a lot of people trace the roots to modern day motorcycle culture Uh to kind of barger's vision Well, he's certainly an icon. I mean, you know, he uh Taught me a lot of things, uh, you know him and i're at odds now But you know, there was a period where you know, I would go to the bay area I stayed his house when he came to southern california. He stayed at my house He's he's an icon. You can't take that away from him Uh In the mid eighties we started the politically Establishing uh different goals for the club And uh, it's it's an interesting story. What happened was I don't know if you're aware of this, uh, sonny lost his, uh vocal cords in the About with cancer and they took out his larynx. He couldn't talk. Uh, they stuck in uh like a voice box or something And He decided he wanted to turn the leadership of the club over Uh And in the bay area he picked irish old feral And in southern california, he picked me and he you know Sonny was kind of kind of split the leadership, uh for whatever reason And a few years went by and you know, I started getting uh And doing a lot of the media and the press stuff and irish was doing it up north and uh Sonny realized he wasn't gonna die And he kind of wanted his power back Some of the spotlight on guessing too Yeah, absolutely, you know, and uh He had a big ego. I mean we all had big egos and uh, you know, it's it's different than a criminal like Organization like the mob that you know, they don't want any publicity and whatnot We can't help Gondering publicity because we're out there with our patches on every day Visible we're easy targets. And I think that's why a lot of law enforcement like the atf and other, uh, federal uh agencies started focusing on us because we were very very easy to investigate All you had to do is get in your car and start taking pictures You know we're riding all over town with our patches on and whatnot but so Once you relinquish your power as a leader It's very difficult sometimes to get it back because what happens is you're centered a mixed message to the general membership And that is you know, I've got a new guy here. I want you to listen to him So when you try to retake that power it becomes a real struggle and I know in the Bay area I rich wound up getting murdered in the late 80s early 90s And you know, it was a real suspicious type deal, but you know, nobody was ever prosecuted So, you know sonny and I Were great friends at one time and then you know, we became uh at odds politically with each other You know, like I said different visions but uh initially, uh Everybody was kind of following him as you said he was a real icon and he was a real uh Pioneer in the whole outlaw bike Culture just to give a little context real quick. Uh, michael irish o' farrell was murdered in the summer of 1989 Okay, I couldn't remember when it was. Yeah, uh It was a very suspicious circumstances and Uh, let's let's talk about that time during the 80s when when maybe things were more uh Friendly between the factions and one of the my favorite stories Um from your life is is the 1984 olympics story And so if you could give us some background on how the the motorcycle club was you were you were involved in some Social activism giving back to the community and your adversaries in the state and the district attorney they didn't like that and then um Then you get involved in the olympics and it's even more, um, you know, uh controversial. Yeah even more so Can you can you walk us through that? Yeah, you know, it's interesting in 1984 the olympics were uh coming to los angeles Some of the events were going to take place At lake casitas the water events the water events specifically And the atf came to town was a squad out of akron ohio and they came to town and they had security, uh For the lake and surrounding areas One what they didn't understand was we had a unique relationship in ventura I had made a point to integrate ourselves In the community like you said with doing social things and giving to charities and whatnot And I had made a lot of friends, uh With the businessmen and when the atf came to town they went on this Character assassination campaign and they were showing the business leaders in town and private businesses Uh pictures of murdered bodies talking about we need to watch these guys real close They're probably going to try to supply weapons to terrorists I started getting phone calls from the local merchants saying hey these guys are down here talking crazy And I thought uh we had to get out in front of this and you know, what I did was Along with a member from san fernando valley named tiny of we decided that we would get involved in the olympic torch relay and uh For $3,000 you could make a donation and you could participate And uh, that's what we did we donated the money Of and then waited uh for the olympic torch relay committee to accept our donation So we could actually carry the torch for one kilometer Now what I did was I filled out the paperwork and it's I listed it as our business or a corporation H a m c us hells angels motorcycle club united states So the acronym was hamcus And they didn't know who in the hell hamcus was So I thought that I Learned how to use the media. I've been watching uh How the police were using it against us and I was trying to turn the tide and turn the table a little bit I had a friend that was a reporter in the la times and I went to her and uh She went to the olympic torch relay committee and said are you going to accept uh hamcus as a participant? But and they said well, of course, why wouldn't we and she goes well because it's the hells angels And then it turned into a big controversy and ultimately they decided they had to uh, Let us uh carry the torch and it just turned into this huge Uh media coup for the hells angels, you know, we became uh, not only uh Participants You know, but sponsors of the olympics and that footage I mean when you're when you're running with the torch, I mean everyone's cheering you guys on tell us about how did Law enforcement react to that. I mean what I mean that must have really burned their um, well Yeah, they were not happy about that. In fact, I had The layers on to the ventura hells angels was a police officer named sergeant handy who him and I Were you know, we were we became friends over, you know, 20 years you become friends with a guy even You know, he can be on a different team And you know, he never said anything to me or asked me any compromising questions I never asked him any so we developed this mutual respect And he came to me and said george these guys are mad. You've got to lay off the media attention And uh, I sent a message back, you know through him. I said well, you guys wanted to play hardball so We're playing hardball and I wasn't about to let up because It was all coming in our favor, you know, it was all positive Stuff for us positive input from the community and you know on a Not just the national level it became an international level level because the olympics are an international event Now, I don't know if you guys know what happened about four to six weeks after the torch relay Somebody threw a hand grenade in the clubhouse Oh, right. I suspected it possibly came from law enforcement. Well, I'll tell you what I did was I got a phone call that there was an explosion at the uh Clubhouse I got down there immediately. I mean the place was still full of smoke. That's how fast I got down there and They had the place all rough route roped off and the bomb squad was going through other Trying to look at all the vehicles around there and then the front door of the clubhouse I saw something that attracted my attention And it was the spoon Of this hand grenade they had thrown in there So I asked one of the local cops. I said, can you give me the lot number off that spoon? You know having a military background. I knew We could do some investigation and follow out You know backtracing find out where it came from And I did a hire to xfbi agent investigator And uh, he traced it and the hand grenade Was missing from an armory in akron ohio The same place the atf unit That was guarding the olympics Was based out of let's sketchy Yeah, it's very sketchy. So, you know, do I know for a fact It was the atf No, and I don't think there was an official order that came down from anybody I think there was some rogue guys that uh thought, you know, this guy thinks he's a smart ass I'm going to teach him a little lesson here And you know, they heard a couple of hell's angels real bad, especially david ortega. He was in the hospital several days And uh, you know, immediately the cop said he was building a bomb. That's uh, You know what the explosion was the cover store Yeah, that was a cover store. George around around that same time there was a uh, the murder of a The son of a pretty powerful gangland figure in la by the name of eddie nash If anyone's seen the movie wonderland or or is familiar with the john holmes Saga eddie nash was kind of the mob boss. He was pal. I believe he was palestinian Yeah, and he owned the starwood Yeah, he owned a bunch of stuff. His son ended up dead. I believe in 1984 Um, I think there was alleged ties to some beef with the hell's angels. Is there anything any light you could shed on that? Well, you know I don't know Didn't know eddie nash. I know that there was inferences that you know, we somehow had an issue with him uh You know in 1986 I was set up by a member of the mexican mafia that That prison gang that pretty much ran the california penal system la m a Yeah, la m a and uh, I was good friends with mike isan Who was one of the top uh echelon guys? And After mike got arrested This guy showed up at the clubhouse and his name was mike molher And he was one of the Founding guys as well. So you had joe morgan Topo you had uh, mike isan mike molher Uh, did I mention joe morgan? Yeah, joe peck peck like joe morgan for people that for people don't know He's a fascinating figure in the history of american Underworld joe morgan was a Croatian that grew up in an all hispanic neighborhood in la and eventually Rows through the ranks of the mexican mafia to become one of the the biggest shot callers In that gang I would say I would say he is the shot caller or was a shot caller. He died in prison. He died up in pelican bay uh from cancer And he had a Croatian guy that became the godfather of the mexican mafia, which is just interesting on its uh on its face just riveting Yeah, he he used to call uh, they would call down from pelican bay I would talk to mike isan and I would talk to joe morgan They were in the cells next to each other and these guys never got out of their cells They actually Created a shower unit that would come down the hallway And they'd unrack the door and they'd step into the shower and never never get out of their cells And uh, it was some real rough time for them. They you know mike Go ahead. I'm interested, you know, kind of on a quick aside when we're talking about the mexican mafia and the Hell's angels dealings with them the mexican mafia kind of Not kind of but they they really Invented the concept of if you control the inside you can control the outside Um, was that something that you were aware of when it was happening. Did you see it kind of? evolving Absolutely, they they taxed every street gang in southern california And if you and joe morgan came up with the idea along with, you know, the other guys that Eventually all these street gang members are going to wind up In the california penal system so If they're selling drugs on the street We want a taste of it And if they don't pay us as soon as one of their a guy from whatever street it may be 22nd street or whatever gets rolled up and shows up In the california state prison At these people haven't been paying their tax. They would immediately kill them in uh they They just ruled with an iron hand and that's how they ruled everything that they uh, You know, they had a beef with the mongols because the mongols started drawing Members from the uh street gangs and the mexican mafia You know had an issue up about it and uh, you know, they wound up going at it for a while And uh, ultimately, uh, you know, the mexican mafia prevailed, you know, they Agreed to the tax that they had created So many years ago Can you can you walk us back through the so so your the your murder trial and how that connected back to the These mexican mafia guys if you could finish your your thought. Yeah, I'm sorry. This guy. It's quite all right Mike Mulhern Came to me and he said you and I have some mutual friends. I didn't know him personally and I said, oh really who do we uh Who do we have as friends and he goes mike isan and well, mike Like I said was one of the top tier guys I said, oh, yeah, mike isan and I are good friends and he said look george. I've come to you I we got a problem and I said what's the problem and he said uh There's a guy out in prison in arizona that owes The mexican mafia ten thousand dollars. He's in federal prison And we've come to you guys. We figured you'd pay the bill So we don't disrupt our uh relationship And you know, I told him I said i'm not paying them ten thousand dollars for this guy And I knew who the guy was and he had a history of Masquerading as a hell's angel. So it made sense Well unbeknownst to me This guy had been working and unbeknownst to the mexican mafia. This guy had been working with the feds for almost a decade And uh, he was recording everything we were saying And uh, you know, he basically got me on tapes You know, he said look if you don't pay the ten thousand dollars, we're gonna kill him You got a problem with that and I said no and uh I got uh murder for hire a conspiracy beef over that I was looking at life on one count 20 on the other And they tried to present it to the jury that this guy was dead and uh You know, he actually was in the witness protection program Mike mollard was in the witness protection program and the target guy was in the witness protection program as well They actually staged a murder at the prison And uh closed the yard down wheeled him out of there on a gurney and put him in an ambulance and drove him out I mean everybody thought he was dead because they were trying to get me in some more incriminating conversations and They came back to me and said well, you know, we killed the guy, you know, I said well None of my business that's your business and uh They didn't have that recording The tape recorder didn't work that day Yeah It's interesting. So at this point George, I mean the feds consider him and and local The cops consider him a public enemy and and George and I have talked about something that I think is an interesting position he has which is Look, if I if you catch me doing something then I'll do my time and take my medicine, but but don't manufacture Evidence against me such a thin line sometimes people don't realize the thin line between the good guys and the bad guys Right if you could comment on that George Well, you know it's interesting As you said during our conversation a few days ago, you know Been in prison three times All for things I had nothing to do with the things I did do You know, they never even came close And you know, I guess uh, maybe at the end of the day it balances out I don't know if that's really fair and like I told you in my last case in 2011 The case went on for three years and in 2013 You know, we were fighting it out picking the jury My daughter was one of my criminal lawyers. My oldest daughter's also my criminal lawyer and Finally the judge had had enough judge who and he looked at the u.s. Attorney And he said look this case isn't what you want it to be you want this to build Your career, but it's not there because you got this guy looking at three life sentences And you've got no evidence and I I was feeling Pretty powerful at the time. I thought gee he's gonna dismiss from the bench a direct dismissal And uh, and then he looked at me and he said I knew mr. Christie. God only knows what you've gotten away with the last 40 years And he made us go down to judge walters Uh courtroom and hammer out some sort of deal and you know, I wound up Getting three years. I had two years Time served and I went to texas for a year, but there's a perfect example of Not having anything to do with this particular crime You know, even in the police and the fbi reports the fbi 302 They said did mr. Christie tell you to fire bomb the tattoo shops and uh No, he didn't but I knew what mr. Christie was thinking It's right in the 302. I mean, it's just amazing that he can read minds They can read minds when they knew what I was thinking. Well, I'll tell you the philosophy from the federal government is that the Ends justify the means Now, I mean that that's up for debate whether or not that that holds water But I know from talking to a lot of these guys when they'll kind of wink wink and admit that they Uh stretch the law sometimes and and and kind of step over those boundaries. That's that's their their normal retort Let me interject something here, you know, it was You know, what you hear people talking about, you know The cops and the feds and sometimes they make uh disparaging remarks, you know, they're stupid and they're this and they're that You know, these guys are professionals They do this every day and some of these guys are very very good at it and I'll tell you here's a perfect perfect example I wound up getting fed up with the club and in 2011 I walked into the meeting and I basically uh told everybody How I was feeling about things and the direction we were going as an organization and I said I've had enough I gave you 40 years. I don't want to do this anymore and I took my patch off and put it on the table You know didn't go over well, but I you know, I walked out of there Within two weeks the feds invited me, you know, three weeks. I don't know what it was And said there's a murder contract on you by the club Uh, you got nobody to go to but us george and you know, they figured they can flip me and uh There's no way I wanted to live the rest of my life in seclusion or hiding, you know, I had been uh Living free and speaking my mind for years and You know, I told him I said look, I'll take my chances in the courtroom And uh, you know, my daughter and I and another lawyer named Mike Mayock, uh, you know, we put her defense together But you know you talk about Opportunist there was an opportunity for these guys to make a move. You know, they made a calculated, uh Call that, you know, maybe this guy'll flip And you know, they were offering everything, you know They said look you've got 50 years worth of uh information. You can take the whole house down. You know, what do you want? You know, I said I want to go to trial. That's what I want but uh It's uh When you become a target You pretty much stay a target, uh Uh So they get what they want, you know They said they'd catch up with me when I beat them in 1986 87 when I walked out of the courtroom They said, oh, we'll see you down the road, george. That's their exact words and it took them 30 years to do it But they kept their word, uh, and they did it and you know, they passed that vendetta on To the younger agents, uh as they came on board and the older guys retired You know, I outlasted. I think seven presidents You know, my political tenure in the hell's angels was, you know Through seven presidents starting with uh, think forward, you know george can you It was I was just going to say speaking along these lines of manufacturing evidence are really interesting Situation happened where george did happen to know and be friendly with some some heavy weights in the italian mafia and because of that The state started to connect dots that weren't there Right, so if you could talk to us about how they how they extrapolated from your friendship with some with some y guys and then and then um Created this notion that see this is the evidence We have of this nexus between the motorcycle clubs and the italians and they're all in it together And if you can talk to us about that, yeah well, you know, it's It's interesting how they make these quantum leaps now when I went down To terminal island the federal Prison, you know, now they have the methyl polyten detention center in downtown l.a. But back in the 80s when you got into it You went to terminal island it was There were like five levels in there because it was a Like receiving Center so you never knew who was going to show up there It was a medical center as well. So i'm down there and you know, I get introduced to these guys from uh, new york, you know Rosario Gambino he's doing 41 years For the pizza connection michael Franchese he's down there. He just stole The allegedly 10 million dollars in gas tax money from new york and then you've got the sam sarantino The la boss down there him and carlis marcello got involved Trying to bribe a judge uh, so you know, you had all these Underworld heavyweights there and then you know, plus you had a lot of soldiers and whatnot in there Uh, I can't remember the guy's name, but he was the first guy to ever get blackball He was putting a black book in vegas Uh, he was doing time there uh for throwing acid in somebody's face that wouldn't pay him You know who that is johnny you remember who that was johnny deal Oh, I don't know. I don't remember either. Okay. Well anyhow, sorry. Yeah, go ahead george. Anyways, nevertheless, so, you know, I created this relationship with these guys from new york and You know i'm fighting my case and south, you know Rosario, I called himself and I became very good friends. We worked in the kitchen together And he he made a mean pasta So when I got out He had given me all these numbers in new york to these social clubs when you go to new york, you know Tell them you're my buddy and this and that and you know, it was kind of a Just a coincidence that I met these guys In the interim As i'm getting ready to defend myself this 1986 case I wind up using a lawyer named alan kaplan. He's a Really good rico attorney. He did the pizza connection. He did the stardust skimming case and From the movie casino was made for him And when I come home They start putting everything together my house gets raided And this will tell you how long ago this was as I mentioned to you when we initially talked this They take my rolodex and in my rolodex are all these Mob guys numbers that rosario gave me for me to stay in contact with or by show up in any particular town They'll show me a good time So they call the newspapers up and they say, you know, we raided george's house We didn't find anything but we found something very interesting in his rolodex Are these numbers call these known mob figures made guys social clubs? So the newspapers call me And uh They said so how do you explain all these numbers in your rolodex? And my answer to them was well, you know mickey roark's number And sean penn's number was also in my rolodex, but that doesn't make me an actor The cops were so mad because they they put that in the newspapers But shortly after that can I ask you about that though really quick like what was your I know mickey roark and a lot of these guys like to hang out with tough angels guys I know, you know chuck zito was close with a lot of these guys mickey roark and whatnot. I mean um Did you was that a respectful or mutual respect thing or Well, you know mickey and I became very good friends and mickey actually came to my trial He would come and sit in the front row and He was Uh, you know really excited this one mickey was at the top of this game You know, they were really excited to see into the trial and uh, you know We were using everything we could because the tapes were so dammy against me But I I think that you know a lot of these guys, uh, you know, they like to come around They like the excitement of that lifestyle, you know, they emulate a lot of these guys All this friend and I think to hang out with uh You know mickey hung out with the hell's angels. Uh, he hung out with uh, a lot of guys out of new york I know he went to gaudi's trials You know, so he kind of liked that lifestyle But getting back to this right Because alan kaplan Initially was my lawyer on this case We had to take alan off the case because he we'd given him a motorcycle as a gift and he got correct and hurt himself Through a bat. He had his foot amputated So barry taro took over for him as my defense attorney and because He had done these skimming cases and helped teamsters they thought somehow along with these Numbers they made a quantum leap all these numbers in my rillagex That I had a connection to organize crime And my father and mother my dad's name was george gusts christy senior. I'm george gusts christy jr My father and mother used to go to vegas all the time every six weeks and gamble And these guys started investigating me, uh, so heavy That there was actually reports from the ventura county district attorney that I was going to vegas george christy was going to vegas and he was staying at one of the old mob hotels and people just skimped by the every four six weeks And this was actually uh in one of the reports and they these guys believed this And I became friends with uh Someone of the uh of the five families out of new york. I became very good friends with him all by coincidence Uh He wanted a good order for his brother And he asked me if I would meet him and I met him and him and I hit it off and we became very good friends We visited each other and I go to new york and hang out with him and he'd come to ventura and hang out And the they had video of us hanging out together pictures of us and uh Which they felt solidified This rumor that I was picking up skim money out of these hotels out of vegas. I mean it was just Just a ludicrous Quantum leap. I mean there was nothing based In foundation of evidence. It was just just concepts these guys had they went so far as the ventura district attorney's office sent to district attorney investigators to robert blakie To you guys remember who robert yeah jfk, right big um, well also the uh, hold on Yeah Hello Yeah, how long did I get pulled out? Let me like a second. I think it was I think it was all right there Okay, uh, you remember who robert blakie. Yeah, right um the Very instrumental in uh, didn't he work for rfk and investigated the jfk assassination? Absolutely, right. They actually sent two of them ventura district attorney investigators to robert blakie To get his opinion if there was a possibility. I was somehow tied in to these uh crime figures and I was getting skim money at this What did blake what did blakie? How did he what was his uh, the audience, you know, he said well, you know Where's your evidence? right, right I actually called him after my uh, 2001 2002 case And he was really aghast to talk to unfortunately I guess he's Approach by so many law enforcement personnel. He didn't even remember Unless unless he was just being elusive to me, you know, he said, you know, I george. I really Don't remember them coming here But uh, you know, I explained the situation to him and he said well, what did I say and I I told him what he said he laughed And I believe he was instrumental in crafting the riko Statute absolutely as well. Yeah, he he helped draft that law which uh, you know, they used that on us in 1979 up in San Francisco, uh, judge conty And you know who the prosecutor was on that? 1979 racketeering case in San Francisco was right. Uh, no remind me Robert Mueller. Oh, yes, right. Of course a coming full circle Yeah, yeah, Robert Mueller, you know, right, right You know, they didn't get the uh, uh, they got a hung jury And uh, they just didn't want to spend any more money. They'd spent so much money and the the jury Just didn't buy There was a big deal in the criminal justice system because That was, you know, the feds were hot to prove that the the hell's angels motorcycle club Was the equivalent of the Italian mafia just on motorcycles and when that case failed that was, um, they had to go back to the drawing board and and rethink the way they were approaching um going after the the um motorcycle clubs You're absolutely correct. I mean they You know, they referred to us as the number two Criminal organization in the united states, uh, you know, second to the mafia And uh, they called us, uh, you know, the mafia on two wheels is how they described this and uh, it just it just didn't fly in the courtroom And you're absolutely correct. They went back To the drawing board and they came back with operation rough rider in 1984 And they they came after individual members and uh, you know, my Position on that whole thing was I went back to some of the trials in new york In the federal building there and what they basically did was they took low level drug dealers and gave them an opportunity For money and larger amounts of drugs they were supplying the money and they were supplying the drugs You know, so what they would did is they took low level drug dealers and were basically Selling drugs to you know party with and uh, maybe to supplement, you know, their income somewhat I mean not a lot of dough And they turned them into uh, you know higher level drug dealers with government money Wow, I didn't know about that those cases. Yeah operation rough rider. That's interesting Yeah, they uh, uh, actually Gave a uh, there was a member that they tried to get on the The racketeering trial in 79 named big Albert Perryman And uh, big Al Was just like a larger in life figure And during that racketeering case with Mueller, he had been writing his girlfriend And telling her you got to wait for me, honey Uh, I'm going to be home in a couple years. I got millions of dollars hidden I got diamonds. I got rubies And he's writing home And the prison guys are intercepting open in the mail up, you know, copying it And then turning it over to the feds And it was interesting when we pulled the jury after the you know, the jury hung We pulled the jury and there was only one person They believed during the whole trial. They didn't believe any of the feds. They didn't believe any of the Our witnesses they didn't believe any of the u.s. Attorneys and they didn't believe any of the hell's angel defense attorneys The only person they believed was Albert Perryman. Albert gets up on the stand And uh He's a real jivey kind of a guy, you know, always wears a stingy brim hat and had it walked with a cane Always looking stylish And uh, so he gets up on the stand takes a stand and the u.s. Attorney Shows him the letters he goes he goes Isn't it true you said you had this and isn't it true you said that And he looked at the jury and he goes, of course I did he goes. I was in prison He goes, how in the hell was she gonna wait for me if I didn't lie to her That's great. That's great And the jury that jury said that was the only guy they believed, you know Wow, I think it's the exact words were obviously you've never been to prison Wow Yeah, I just was I just googled some images of him and there's a there's a Photo here of him dressed like basically al Capone with the pinstripes and the Oh, yeah You know, it's it's funny. I do lectures sometimes and I'll show a picture of albert and I'll go, you know, here's a famous health angel. You know, he was uh, uh knifed And uh, he was shot And he did her all to himself. He shot himself. Oh, man once And uh, he went to put his knife back in the scabbard another time and it went right through his stomach Oh, man, he was he was quite a character I mean this guy would get on the dance floor and he'd have four or five of the most beautiful women dancing around him Oh, man he was uh He was your all-time health angel great. Is he going to be a um, well, maybe this is a good segue to talk about what you're up to now I mean, uh, george's uh prolific media personality here author Also has some tv projects in the works some tv projects that have already been accomplished And I know you have something in the works right now I'm not sure how much you want to talk about it But I'm wondering if maybe big al is going to be a character In in in your latest project, but I'm not sure how much you want to talk about that. Yeah Well, you know, I'm in the middle of uh, getting ready to go to pinewood studio in london And uh, they're building a soundstage there and uh, they're building a uh Street in the movie studio in spain will be going back and forth between the two Locations the replicating ventura of california and ohi california uh in these studios And uh, I wrote a book called mark and it's a fictionalized account Of the early days uh in the outlaw bike world And it's a fictionalized account of my life And instead of calling the club the hell's angels. I call them the question marks And after I uh did the outlaw chronicles on the history channel several high power people in the Industry saw it and saw how it became the surprise hit for the uh History channel it's great great documentary great documentary series by the way it's showed like five times around the world I mean, it's just always gets great. Uh, it's compelling. We were pulling in two million Viewers every time it showed. Yeah, so these guys saw that and uh They got ahold of my books And they asked me if I would be willing to take mark and update it to more of a afghanistan iraq uh time frame because it kind of starts out during the vietnam era in the original version And I said yeah, and uh, you know, like I said, I signed a deal. It's going to probably be a tv series of I'm not sure when it's going to uh debut it's probably end of this year or first the next year But I'm looking forward to leaving for uh, london and then spain Uh, I'm going to write the pilot with some other writers and I'm actually going to play old man john Uh In the series. Oh, that's awesome. I didn't I didn't mention that and so yeah, and he's the ideal be he'll he'll have some connection to the Chicago wise guys One of the storylines Is going to have uh The business of the marked uh motorcycle club in ventura county is going to be gambling And uh, if you look at some of the old, uh Clips, I should send them to you. I got some clips from the mid 80s and They're rating all the clubhouses in southern california because they say we're running a illegal gambling operation Uh And uh, you know, they never proved it, but you know, they made accusations. You know what pull tabs are Uh, no They're they're kind of like uh, you you can purchase them like at a party if you're having a party you can purchase these pull tabs and You pull the tabs off and then it's like a A slot machine. There's a lot of a lot of bars nowadays. Yeah, okay Yeah, I got and then you look and see what you got and you know, they pay off You know a few hundred dollars, right? Uh, so They found a bunch of those pull tabs, uh, health angel clubhouses in ventura area And they you know, they said we also had uh, you know, we were running numbers Illegal gambling and and whatnot. They never proved anything, but we're going to take that and use it in the series, uh Oh, man, john's going to be friends with uh, tonia cardo type character. Oh, wow. I'll go, you know, tonia cardo retired in palm springs Oh, yeah, I didn't realize that in california. Well Yeah, so he retired in california and like in the series. Oh, man, john will be going out to uh Uh, this tonia cardo character and you know When then when the younger guy jack crest Gets in the club, uh Oh, man, john's going to teach him, uh, how to do all this stuff Uh, so it's going to be all be part of the series. Have you have you cast have they cast that that character? Yeah, that's going to be the character based on you someone. Am I understanding? Well, yeah They were talking about some people and I I can't say okay The streaming company is huge. They got 40 million subscribers so you can figure out Okay, who it is They just don't they want to control They want to control all the pr. Sure. I understand that yeah, so that I'm I've signed a mda I can't I can't tell you who it is, but it's and you know what once this thing breaks, uh, and you guys if you see it Uh, maybe we'll do this again. Yeah, no fantastic. You just read my mind. Yeah, we have to give you back I'd love to talk about uh, how the whole thing came down because there's some real high power people in the entertainment business that, uh Really love the outlaw chronicles and one of their concerns was We know this guy christie can deliver on the screen, but can we control this sort of a bit? They're about to find out, right? Yeah, exactly So how and and so how where can our audience find out more about you you you have a website or something? You'd like to share with us. George christie.com Or you can go to instagram george christie jr uh But if you go to george christie.com, it'll take you right to my instagram stuff and the new there's a big story I got the cover of a magazine this week. Uh, just came out today And there's a uh Story, I think I sent that story to yeah. Yes. I read it. Yeah. Yeah, that's that story that story is on my website It has a lot of information about the new show the forthcoming show Yeah, and you know, I've I've got uh, you know my book exile on front street and my book marked And I'm halfway through the second volume of mark. It's called marked up And uh, I'm going to stick to the uh, to the original book format And what's going to happen is uh, you know jack crest has established himself in the outlaw bike world he's kind of taken over uh as leader of this fictitious club and uh Now, uh The fun's gonna start for him and I'll wind up in a you know underground war and Oh Kind of follows my whole lifestyle. Yeah, so that's fantastic. So make sure uh, please visit his website buy his books check out his tv shows I believe you can purchase an autographed Book as well from your site. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, you there's autograph books And I can't keep up with these guys all the stuff they're doing and I think it's gonna get You know, it's gonna get wilder As the show gets closer, you know, well, we're gonna uh, we have to wrap up here, uh, george Um, we we greatly appreciate your time. Um Fascinating story. We look forward to all your different projects And uh, thanks for visiting the og podcast I have had a blast you guys. I really appreciate it. I hope we can do it again