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An ex-cop who infiltrated the deadly Pagan Motorcycle Gang has told how members "sold crystal meth and guns, gang-raped women and tortured rivals."<\/p>\n
Ken Croke spent two years undercover with the outlaw group.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old recalled how one leader removed his artificial leg to beat a business owner who refused to pay the gang's protection fee.<\/p>\n
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Croke also spent time behind bars to avoid blowing his cover after being arrested with a handgun, and even helped Pagans move the body of an apparent murder victim from one grave to another.<\/p>\n
The former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent now warns that the vicious gang is aggressively expanding its turf in crime-striken New York, with 2,000 members believed to be recruited nationwide.<\/p>\n
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Croke has documented his harrowing experiences in his book, Riding with Evil: Taking down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang, co-authored with Dave Wedge.<\/p>\n
His efforts a decade ago helped snare 20 Pagans who pleaded guilty to racketeering, drugs, firearms and conspiracy to commit murder, the New York Post reports.<\/p>\n
In the book, Croke wrote: "Pagan members sold crystal meth and guns, gang-raped women, brutalised rivals, and extorted businesses."<\/p>\n
He said he often slept on the floor of a "sewer-like" home "surrounded by the filth and the scent of stale beer, weed and cigarettes" among members who "smelled like s**t and snored like bears."<\/p>\n
He alleged one Pagan known as Hogman "laid out a plan to brutally rape" his female acquaintance while he drank beers and snorted cocaine in the motorcycle club's hideaway. The woman fled after being warned of the plot, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n
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Croke said the group operated like law enforcement and would use shakedown tactics when intimidating rival gang members or business owners who refused to stump up "protection money."<\/p>\n
"'They are extremely dangerous. They are organised crime. They use intimidation, threats of violence to get what they want," he said.<\/p>\n
Croke claimed the Pagans would hold mandatory weekly meetings referred to as "Church" and used encrypted phones and counter-surveillance efforts to avoid authorities and stay under the radar.<\/p>\n
"As a prospect, I was considered a servant, a slave, or even less. It's like college fraternity hazing, except that you can be beaten into a coma or killed at any moment," he wrote.<\/p>\n
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"We busted our tails and stood guard duty, but most of that weekend consisted of me being bossed around, belittled, and disrespected."<\/p>\n
Croke said the gang operate with a "pack mentality".<\/p>\n
"The minute you do anything to one of them, you do it to all of them," he said. <\/p>\n
The Pagans were founded by legendary biker, Lou Dobkin in Maryland around 1957.<\/p>\n
Croke recalled how when their archrival, Hells Angels, attempted to squeeze into the Pagans' territory in the Bronx in 2019, the group fired 14 gunshots into their newly acquired home base.<\/p>\n
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"The Hells Angels, in my opinion, they're like a business," he said. <\/p>\n
"They have copyrights and doctors and lawyers who are members not involved in criminal activity.<\/p>\n
"The Pagans are just violent individuals. They're bad dudes. They don't have two nickels to rub together but they don't care."<\/p>\n
He alleged that Hells Angels "sleep in five-star hotels" and "Pagans sleep in dirt fields."<\/p>\n
The gang has a diverse criminal operation. Pagans are \u201cengaged in criminal activities such as arson, assault, bombing, extortion and murder,\u201d states the DOJ in a 2021 report on outlaw motorcycle gangs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pagans intimidate, the have a history of white supremacy, they\u2019re misogynists, and they pump communities full of drugs and misery,\u201d said Wedge, the book\u2019s co-author. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re outlaws and some of them are downright sub-human.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Croke left the club, the Pagans placed a $50,000 price on his head. It is unclear if the group is still seeking his death today.<\/p>\n
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