TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 14 -- Seven members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang were in jail Thursday as law enforcement officers continued a roundup they hope will end what they say is 30 years of murders, bombings and extortion. The bikers were charged with a list of offenses that one federal official in New Orleans likened to the script of the movie, 'Pulp Fiction.' Eight men were charged in a superseding indictment Wednesday and seven were arrested. The eighth was expected to be arrested Thursday while law enforcement officers looked for two other men charged in an earlier indictment. The new indictment issued in Tampa was the result of a six-year investigation dubbed 'Operation Silverspoke.' It lists eight murders, five robberies, 24 counts of extortion, three bombings, 17 acts of drug trafficking, witness intimidation and transportation of explosives during a 15-year period. Eddie J. Jordan, U.S. Attorney in New Orleans said it 'reads like a script from the movie 'Pulp Fiction.' I can't recall in my tenure a list of such brutal acts.' Although the indictments only cover the last 15 years, officials in Florida said the gang has terrorized the state since the mid 1960s. 'These arrests signal the demise of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club in the state of Florida,' said Pamela Brown of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Florida. 'These guys are the heavy guys. They are the leaders.' With the indictments and the arrests, officials estimate there are only about 20 members are left to carry on the gang's tradition of brutality.
Gang members said there were once as many as 300 members waging warfare against authorities and other gangs. Among those arrested was Clarence 'Smitty' Smith, 52, of Lighthouse Point Fla., who is charged with murdering five people and trying to kill two more. Smith spent 11 years on Louisiana's death row for the car-bomb killing of a witness in a drug case. He was later retried and acquitted. He also was acquitted in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the slayings of four other people. The indictment charged him with those four killings and with pushing a woman off a bridge in Tampa. Since his convictions were in state court and the indictments are federal, it does not constitute double jeopardy. Also indicted were James 'Pinball' Agnew, 45, of Hollywood, Fla.; Houston Clyde Murphy, 36, of Fort Lauderdale; Wayne 'Joe Black' Hicks, 42, of Rockland Key in the Florida Keys; Bobby Joe 'Breeze' Mann, 38, of Fort Lauderdale; Glen 'Flyball' Clark, 41, of Orlando; Christopher Maiale, 36, of St. Petersburg; and Michael Giddens of Valdosta, Ga. Giddens was expected to surrender to federal authorities in Georgia. Still being sought were Mark 'Jazzo' Ross and Charles 'Chip' Wilson, who have been fugitives since 1994, when they were named in the earlier indictment. The Outlaws originated in Chicago and now have headquarters in Detroit.
