Hells Angels at War: The Alarming Story Behind the Headlines

by Yves Lavigne

In his bestselling Hells Angels: Taking Care of Business, Yves Lavigne blew the lid off an organization that few knew anything about beyond the romanticized image of tough guys, their Harleys and their women. His equally successful sequel, Hells Angels: Into the Abyss, got up close and personal with the Angels, on an exclusive ride with an FBI informant inside the gang. Now, in this third book in his trilogy, Lavigne exposes the slick, technology-savvy new breed of Hells Angels and how they're becoming a very real threat to society in Canada, the US and throughout the world. Even more importantly, he reveals just how powerless law enforcement agencies are to stop what is equivalent to a multi-million dollar corporation that just happens to have the number-one market share in the illegal drugs industry.

In 1998, Hells Angels turned 50, doubling in size in the last decade. Yet, most politicians, police officers and the public still haven't responded to the fact that the gang has evolved into a major organized crime force, capable of manipulating both the legal system and the media with deadly professional ease. With his usual meticulous research and insider's knowledge, Lavigne reports on the latest from the Angels' front lines: the purchase of hotels, real estate and businesses for the express use of laundering money; the growing global network of chapters; and the ineffectual response of law enforcement agencies to the escalating violence, gang rivalry and crime. Featuring new and dramatic photographs, maps of club locations and Hells Angels documents, "Hells Angels at War" is both a revealing expos and a not-to-be ignored wake-up call to eliminate this evolving and even deadlier evil, now.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction

624 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yves Lavigne wrote a great first book about the Hells Angels in the 1980s called "Hells Angels: Taking Care of Business" a pretty good book about an FBI infiltration of the Hells Angeles in the mid-1990s called "Hells Angels: Into the Abyss" and then this one in 1999, where he takes arguably his most important angle on his subject yet--the deadly Canadian Biker Wars that killed hundreds as the Angels and their rivals competed for drug territory in the mid 1990s--and boffs it. This book is padded with about 250 pages of government documentation serving no purpose other than to demonstrate the author did his homework (a well-researched narrative does that too) surrounding a narrative that reads like a police blotter. "And then the next thing after that happened" is not a way to tell a story. Its a way to show you've got enough facts to THEN tell a story.

I'll leave out that Lavigne likes to pause in the middle of reciting to lecture to deliver sermon at the wisdom level of a high school freshman. His tone is arrogant and mansplainy and someone of his experience should know better. But he doesn't. The Hells Angels is a dark fact of the world wide underground that hard to make boring. Lavigne manages to do that because I think deep down he believes he is more interesting than what he's writing about.

[Jeff R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage! While I highly recommend Lavigne's book Three Can Keep A Secret it appears it has gone to his head and Lavigne has no grasp on the realities of outlaw motorcycle clubs beyond what he can read in police reports and public records, and he simply does not understand that none of the largest 1% clubs operate trans-nationally and are in fact independent entities that operate totally different depending on the country and region they are from. Don't waste your money on any of his books other than Three Can Keep a Secret which is now significantly out-dated when compared to the culture.

[Caralyn Rubli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very boring. Most photos have no description

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hells Angels have been around a long time. The general consensus is that they’re a nasty bunch, and author Yves Lavigne takes great pains to demonstrate why through many pages describing bomb attacks, arrests, and trials. Although this is his third book about the Hells Angels, it’s the first one I’ve read. The focus here is on the Angels’ battle with other gangs for domination and with the police.

Lavigne’s work is extremely detailed. Many names and dates are provided and by page 40, I’m thinking yeah, I get the picture: war, blood, death, arrests, media spins, police incompetence, and so on, yet the info continues for many more pages. His points about the Angels’ ruthlessness and how the police botched opportunities to shut the Angels down before they became so strong is mentioned numerous times throughout the book. Newspaper articles and interviews are reprinted when short excerpts would have sufficed.

When Lavigne included 50 pages of excerpts from minutes of Hells Angels meetings near the end of this 458 page book (broken up by a few photos), I groaned at first, but the minutes proved to be hilarious in places. Where else would you find board meetings granting permission for members to send greeting cards to other charters? Although nothing is ever mentioned about criminal activity in the minutes, there is a great deal mentioned about club rules. Clearly, the Hells Angels are better organized (although mired in their own bureaucracy) and smarter than society or the police acknowledge. If you’re interested in the gang culture then you’ll find the book insightful.

[Sean Rosebrugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely don't finish books. This was one of them. So dry and boring. Bikers blow stuff up and kill people. That's the entire book. Somehow Lavigne took all the excitement out of what (with a little deeper research and less one-sidedness) could have been an interesting true story. And with the street values of the drugs and guns that he prints in this book you can tell he got 100% of his information from the police. $100,000 for a pound of Cocaine? Not even by the gram Yves.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long. Wore me out far too early in the book. And at 600 pages that's not a good thing. Covers the 1990s basically. Various "wars" between clubs, with the cops, etc.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very one-sided.