Deadly Biker Feud Started at ... Starbucks

Hells Angels-Vagos war has spread to 3 states
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 28, 2011 6:08 AM CDT
Deadly Biker Feud Started at Starbucks
Members of the motorcycle gang Hells Angels.   (Getty Images)

"Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who's going to control pumpkin spice lattes," says the California beach-side town's deputy police chief. The deadliest feud in a decade between California-based biker gangs started earlier last year when hammer-wielding members of the Hells Angels and rival gang Vagos clashed outside a Starbucks in Santa Cruz, Reuters reports. The violence has now spread to Arizona and Nevada; several men have been killed; others are injured or missing.

At the start, "it was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown," the deputy police chief says. "The Vagos brazenly came in and tried to cement their presence. It was a pretty strong play on their part to establish themselves as the premiere club." Last month, the president of the Hells Angels' San Jose chapter was killed during a shootout in Nevada. At his funeral weeks later, one Hells Angel killed another. (More Hells Angels stories.)

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