An undercover agent who went undercover in the notorious Hells Angels biker gang has shed light on the organisation’s strict sex rules.
Jay Dobyns, now 61, was working for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) in the US when he was tasked with spending the best part of two years infiltrating the biker gang as part of a covert operation to uncover the gang’s criminal enterprise.
Between 2001 to 2003 he changed his name and went undercover as Jay ‘Jaybird’ Davis, posing as an experienced gun runner and debt collector – joining a chapter of the organisation based in Arizona. After successfully being welcomed into the gang, he quickly discovered the rigid rules that all members had to follow when it comes to sex with women – or risk some violent consequences.
Revealing the rules in a video interview with Insider, he explained: “With regards to women, there’s a hierarchy that takes place within the gang.
“There’s old ladies who are the wives or girlfriends of members and they’re off limits. You better not get caught trying to mess around with a member’s wife or girlfriend, because there’s a violent price to pay.”
But Dobyns did reveal that the bikers can sleep around with other women and that it wasn’t an issue when members slept with the same one.
He added: “But there’s also women who, they move from member to member to member”.
The Hells Angels motorcycle club was founded in Fontana, California, in 1948, but they’re now one of the most notorious motorcycle clubs in the world, with more than 100 chapters located in over 29 countries.
The organisation became known for its association with dangerous criminal activities, and Dobyns’ infiltration of the Hells Angles was part of Operation Black Biscuit – an investigation launched into the gang after a deadly fight between them and their arch-rivals, the Mongols Motorcycle club.
The investigation saw him organise staged drug transactions and even fake the killing of a rival gang member using “blood and guts from the butcher shop” to create a realistic-looking and very gory murder scene.
Dobyns revealed that during his time within the inner circle of the Hells Angels, he was told of more strict rules when it came to interacting with other members, and these also came with violent consequences if they weren’t followed.
He said: “I was told when you meet a Hells Angel and you got your sunglasses on, you better lift your sunglasses up and look that person in the eye. That member wants to see your eyes.
“I was told if I had riding gloves on, you better take your riding glove off when you shake hands with a Hells Angel.
“Never touch a Hells Angel’s patch, never slap them on the back. I made those mistakes and I was reprimanded for it, I was smacked for it on occasion.”
The retired agent also admitted that people booted out of the gang on “bad” terms get everything they own related to the Hells Angels taken from them, including being forced to remove any tattoos.
He said: “If you’re out bad they will come and take back their cut, their vest. They will take back your motorcycle, that’s their property in their eyes, and they’ll take back that tattoo.”
Despite the reputation of the Hells Angels as a nefarious gang, Dobyns claimed that many members “aren’t involved in a lot of crime”.
He said that some chapters of the gang “run a fairly clean business”, adding that it was a myth that every member was a drug addict, stating “some were fitness freaks. They ate well, they got their rest, they didn’t drink, they didn’t smoke”
But the undercover investigation did find that the Hells Angels were involved with murder, the manufacturing and distribution of meth, the distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, the purchase and sale of firearms and other criminal activities, according to the US Department of Justice.
Operation Black Biscuit resulted in 55 members of the Hells Angels and its associates being indicted, including 16 high-ranking members of the gang who were indicted on charges including murder, murder for hire, racketeering and drug trafficking.
Half of the defendants had their charges reduced after agreeing to plea bargains while five of them had their charges dismissed. In the wake of the arrests, the members discovered Dobyns’ true identity as an agent and he claims that he and his family began receiving death threats.
“The threats against me and my family start stacking up, the Hells Angels had murder contracts on me,” Dobyns said. The alleged threats became all too real when in 2008 his family home was burned to the ground. His wife and children, who were asleep inside the home, miraculously survived the horrifying incident and escaped unharmed.
Dobyns said that he “betrayed” his family by prioritising the undercover investigation over their safety but continues to speak out about the operation since his retirement.
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