Journalist Who Followed 'Hells Angels' For A Year Learned Alarming Secret

No one in their right mind would want to spend over a year with a violent gang, but then again, there was always something a little bit off about Hunter S. Thompson. Prior to his classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the up-and-coming writer risked life and limb to profile the infamous Hells Angels. Thompson knew there were a thousand reasons not to do it, but the truth about their unhinged culture was too good of a story to pass up.

Looking for answers

While others viewed the Hells Angles as a group of thugs, Thompson told his editor that there was a certain mystique beneath their rough surface. After World War II shattered the ideals of the previous era, Thompson believed the bikers were either looking for an opportunity or "vengeance for not getting an opportunity." He was also intrigued by the terrible accusations against them.

The Lynch Report

Thomas C. Lynch, the attorney general of California, had recently documented the Hells Angels' criminal activity in the damning Lynch Report. He claimed that in 1964, the gang committed "1,116 homicides, 12,448 aggravated assaults, 6,257 sex offenses, and 24,532 burglaries." Thompson, however, didn't believe that all the numbers added up. He called it "colorful, interesting, heavily biased and consistently alarming."

Clear inconsistencies

For one thing, by his best estimates there were only a couple hundred Hells Angels operating in California. Could such a small group really be responsible for thousands of heinous acts? Thompson intended to find out. He ran the pitch by his editor at The Nation, Carey McWilliams, but there was one major roadblock with his biker story.

The outsider

The Hells Angels hated journalists. Or any outsiders really. Thompson didn't exactly blend in with that crowd — he didn't have the long hair, tattoos, or rough-and-tumble manners — so going undercover wasn't an option. Instead, in 1965, he approached the gang and introduced himself as a member of the press. As Thompson met their wary gazes, he hoped not to get socked in the face.

Making inroads

But the outlaws cautiously accepted Thompson into their midst. He lived among them for the next two weeks and documented his experiences in an article titled, "The Motorcycle Gangs: Losers and Outsiders," for The Nation. Following that first printing, it was clear that the journalist's Hells Angels experiment was growing into something bigger.

The real picture

Right off the bat, Thompson realized that California was scapegoating the gang. He wrote, "The net result of the general howl and publicity has been to obscure and avoid the real issues by invoking a savage conspiracy of bogeymen and conning the public into thinking all will be 'business as usual' once this fearsome snake is scotched." Granted, these bikers were far from innocent.

Rough reputation

In their quest to live free on America's highways, the Hells Angels often stepped on the toes of respectable society. They heartily partook in drugs, alcohol, and sexual pleasure. Though they didn't often resort to murder, the outlaws were known to disturb the peace, vandalize, intimidate innocents, and launch into brawls at the slightest hint of provocation. Thompson really wanted to figure out what made them tick.

On the road again

With two weeks of observation, Thompson had only scratched the surface. The success of his piece in The Nation inspired him to plan a full-length book, a first for him, about the Hells Angels. He left his trendy San Francisco home — he happened to live across the street from the Grateful Dead — and hit the road to live with a much rougher crowd.

Hitting the gas

The rebel writer was no stranger to blowing past the speed limit on his own motorcycle or drinking until he could barely stand up, but he found that the Angels were in another league entirely. He did his best to hold his own against one of the gang's leaders and most notorious members.

Sonny Barger

At first, Sonny Barger showed a begrudging respect for Thompson, whose knack for chasing down authentic stories set him apart from other reporters. "God only knows what he's writin', but he's good people," Sonny said at the time. Thompson too was surprised when he learned what the average Hells Angel was truly like.

High on life...and other things

For starters, these wanderers were rarely sober. Besides a steady diet of marijuana and alcohol, Thompson found the Angels were pill fiends. They constantly tossed back capsules of all colors, balancing out uppers with downers as they pushed their motors to maximum speed. To add another element of danger, many carried weapons at all times.

Money problems

The bikers looked big and scary, sure, but Thompson was struck by how down-on-their-luck many seemed. Steady employment was rare in the gang, as few had the skills or demeanor to land a real career even if they wanted to. Instead, they scraped by thanks to the financial support of their wives or girlfriends, or by doing odd jobs here and there. Some jobs were odder than others.

Loan shark muscle

The Angels were misfits, men without a shot at a real future. So it was no surprise that they were willing to use their muscle for borderline legal operations. One popular side gig was collecting payments for moneylenders — or loan sharks, to put it less nicely. A biker nicknamed Tiny shared the tricks of the trade with Thompson.

Pay up...or else

Surprisingly, violence rarely entered the equation. Tiny explained a gruff phone call to pay up within 24 hours usually settled the matter. This was the collector's Plan B: "Once in a while I get a wise-ass trying to give me the runaround... then I pick up a couple of guys, lay a few bucks on 'em for the help, and we go out to see the punk. That always does it. I never had to stomp anybody yet."

The biker paradox

Thompson discovered there was a central paradox at the heart of the Hells Angels. "They just try to live peaceful lives and be left alone, but on the other hand they go out and put themselves into situations deliberately and constantly that are either going to humiliate somebody else or cause them to avoid humiliation by fighting," he wrote.

The Bass Lake incident

One reason why they found themselves so often in conflict was because they scared the bejesus out of every town they visited. Locals feared for their lives whenever they saw the Hells Angels patch. That tension skyrocketed when the group set up camp at California's Bass Lake for the Fourth of July. They promised law enforcement there would be no trouble, but then the bikers ran out of beer...

An armed militia

That wouldn't do, so a few Angels collected money and went into town for a beer run. But when they reached the local shopping center, they encountered a hundred-man armed militia. Believing the bikers were coming in to trash their town, the locals prepared to fight them off by whatever means necessary. That put Thompson in an impossible situation.

Avoiding war

"I wasn't sure who to be afraid of, whether the Angels were going to hit me with chain whips from behind or the locals from in front, or where to turn my back, or anything," he remembered. Luckily, the Angels' leadership came in to defuse the situation. Sonny Barger barked at the sheriff about how "close he was to havin' a war on his hands." When the bikers did fight, it was a frightening event.

Common as spilled beer

He described, "The Angels inhabit a world in which violence is as common as spilled beer, and they live with it as easily as ski bums live with the risk of broken legs. This casual acceptance of bloodletting is a key to the terror they inspire in the squares." The outbreak of that bloodshed was often unpredictable.

A hard lesson

Thompson learned that lesson the hard way. Even though he was largely accepted by the Angels, he certainly wasn't one of them. When he crossed a line, they made him pay for it. That bloody incident unfolded when the journalist spotted one drunken member, named Junkie George, striking his wife and dog. Thompson stepped in to intervene.

Violent bylaws

That was a major no-no. The furious biker turned his attention to the meddling reporter, and soon enough Thompson was rolled up in a ball with an entire group of Angels kicking him to pieces. It was an explicit bylaw in their code: "When an Angel punches a non-Angel, all other Angels will participate."

In the nick of time

Tiny eventually pulled a bloodied Thompson out of the fray, which was good timing, because the wife-beating Junkie George had been aiming a 20-pound rock at the writer's head just moments earlier. That marked his last day with the gang. Barger and the other leaders sent Thompson packing — though they never thought to take away his notes.

Beaten and homeless

Thompson returned to San Francisco in sorry shape. Besides his frail condition, his landlord had evicted him after being absent for so many months. Other writers might have given up, but Thompson believed he had a bestseller on his hands. He got to work compiling his year with the Hells Angels, and plenty of people took notice.

The big debut

Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs hit the shelves in 1967 and became an overnight sensation. As he ran through the wild lifestyle of the bikers, he reflected, "I was no longer sure whether I was doing research on the Hell's Angels or being slowly absorbed by them." He published scenes that readers never could have imagined.

Down and dirty

For instance, Thompson pointed out how poor hygiene was a proud tenet of the Angel way of life. Members rarely bathed and once they received their "originals" — the official vest and jeans that made up the club uniform — the bikers wore them until they literally fell apart. Then there was the matter of member initiation...

Angel initiation

Thompson claimed new Angels were brought in through a baptism of sorts. That sounds nice at first, except that these rituals didn't involve water. Instead, he said the initiation involved a pail of human waste. Thompson wrote that bikers solemnly stood "naked while the bucket of slop is poured over them and the others stomp it in."

Public outrage

If that image sounds hard to believe, that's because Thompson either made it up or embellished it — a technique he'd often lean on in his later writings. His penchant for exaggeration certainly boosted sales, but it also upset many people. That included the subjects of his book.

Barger strikes back

Sonny Barger felt particularly betrayed, since he'd vouched for Thompson early on. He denounced the "weenie" journalist as "all show and no go" and shared his own version of many of the events in the controversial book. He insisted that the baptism description was pure fiction, for one thing.

Not so tough

Barger also suggested that Thompson wasn't as tough or cool as he made himself out to be. Supposedly, the journalist cowered in his car when the bikers faced an army of townspeople at Bass Lake, and then he invented some details about getting beaten up to give his book an exciting ending.

A walking disaster

That backlash had the potential to sink Thompson's career, especially since he was a wreck during his promotional tour. The hard-partying writer appeared at signings and speaking events barely able to remember his own name. In large part, he was drinking because his publishing deal gave him mere crumbs from the fortune that his book was making.

Mixed fortunes

Thompson did right the ship — relatively speaking — and established himself as a literary rockstar with his blurring of journalism and fiction. Meanwhile, the Hells Angels became even more infamous in the following years. Their reputation took a major hit after bikers murdered a teenager during a 1969 Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway, and the organization has tried to keep a lower profile ever since.

Plenty of secrets

As of late, the truth about the club only comes out in bits and pieces. The Angels are highly secretive about their day-to-day activities, such as their riding schedules. A cardinal rule of the group is to simply not talk to the media.

Burning rubber

If you wanna join, you have to be prepared to ride your motorcycle a lot. Even bike enthusiasts may be slightly intimidated by the astounding 12,000 miles a year that members often cover. That adds up to around 33 miles a day!

Apostrophe be gone

Grammar nuts may have noticed that the apostrophe which should go before the S in Hells is noticeably absent. “Yes, we know there is an apostrophe missing, but it is you who miss it. We don’t,” says the website. They clearly don't care and don't want to hear it!

No copycats allowed

Their strict no-impersonation policy means that you should never wear clothing or merchandise with the Hells Angels logo that isn't expressly made by them; this won’t make you look cooler in their eyes, more like a poser. Also, never dare to wear any official merch until you've been accepted!

You know if you know

Don't ask how to join because, according to their site, "If you need to ask you probably won’t understand the answer." Nonetheless, some sneaky sleuths have figured out at least part of the process: it involves simply hanging out with current members to see if the vibe is right.

Just show up

Whether you’re in the process of joining Hells Angels or even if you've already been initiated, attending key events is a must—failing to appear shows that your dedication to the sacred brotherhood is severely lacking, and could be a reason for elimination.

Appearance matters

The dress code is pretty specific. Members have to wear a vest with the Hells logo on the back. Certain factions also forbid members from wearing any color besides black, and some even outlaw shorts!

Stay in your lane

Each faction of Hells Angels marks their territory, and other factions have to respect that by not encroaching on their turf. Other groups are welcome to pass through, but hanging out there is a definite no-no.

Mind your own business

The Hells Angels isn’t the only biking gang around, so sometimes they have to get into territorial disputes with others, including the Bandidos and the Outlaws. These rivalries can turn pretty tense pretty quick, so it's best if they just stay out of each others' way!

Brand name only

For the most part, you will be required not just to own a motorcycle, but to specifically own a Harley-Davidson. Other brands are acceptable in a minority of cases, but only if they’re American-made, of course.

Don't mess with the vest

The vest members receive upon initiation is incredibly important to them, even verging on being sacred. They obviously take excellent care of the garments, with some even stopping paramedics from cutting through it, even to attend to severe injuries.

Order to the chaos

While Angels riding in huge groups on the highway may seem like a jumbled mess, there’s actually a pretty precise organizational system going on there. The captain and chapter president go up front, with newbies in the back and potential new members trailing behind them.

The golden rule

Angels always follow the golden rule of treating others how you’d want to be treated; apparently, this rule works pretty well usually, as both journalists and neighbors of the Hells Angels often report them as being nothing but kind.

Get hazed

Hazing is a given within the group, just like joining a frat or sorority. While some of the hazing is relatively tame, it can also get violent. Strangely, prospective members aren’t allowed to fight back or defend themselves; if they do, that’s where their bid ends.

A code of secrecy

Don't talk about members of the Hells Angels with anyone outside of the group! This policy helps them to maintain their serious need for privacy and discretion. That's right, don't even mention your fellow brothers to the uninitiated.

Put your money where your mouth is

Hells Angels are very proud of their brand and image, so members are encouraged to defend it at all costs. Bikers are known to enter legal battles with groups that misrepresent them in media, even suing Disney for their portrayal of the Angels in the film Wild Hogs.

No double allegiances

Members aren’t allowed to join other biking groups, and they prefer it if you don’t actually join any membership-based organization, unless you know with absolute certainty they have no outstanding issues with the Angels. Watch out!

Always give back

In many chapters, charity work is a requirement for those hoping to be a member of the Hells Angels. There are a large variety of ways to give back, but it often involves helping out those in need in the community.

Popularity contest

The process is no joke, either. It can take years to become a member, and once decision day comes it all comes down to a vote among existing members — either they like you or they don’t!