The explosive devices that ripped apart vehicles outside the Hell’s Henchmen motorcycle gang’s clubhouses in Chicago and Rockford on Monday are believed to be the result of the gang’s new alliance with the notorious Hell’s Angels, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
“The Hell’s Henchmen are merging with the Hell’s Angels, and the dispute is taking place between the Hell’s Henchmen and their rival, the Outlaws,” said Dominic Iasparro, the deputy chief of operations for the Rockford Police Department.
The merger, law enforcement officials believe, was concluded last weekend during a meeting in Indiana.
Prior to the merger with the Hell’s Henchmen, the Hell’s Angels, a group with strong ties in the northeast and southwest regions of the country, had no active membership in Illinois, said Sgt. Daniel Gray of Rockford.
“The Outlaws are big here,” said Gray, whose department is working with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Chicago Police Department to investigate the bombings.
Authorities said the Outlaws have a large club in Janesville, Wis., which is about 25 miles north of Rockford, and a top official based in Chicago.
The first bombing occurred about noon outside the Rockford home of the Henchmen’s acting president, Mike Coyne, who lives in the 1000 block of 15th Street, Gray said.
According to Gray, Coyne was about to enter his Chevy Blazer when he noticed a strange device underneath the drive shaft. He called authorities, but they were not able to deactivate the explosive before it blew up, though they were able to prevent anyone from being injured, Gray said.
About six hours later, Chicago police were called to the Henchmen’s clubhouse at 1734 W. Grand Ave, where a car parked in front of the two-story brick building was ripped apart by a large explosive device, said Jerry Singer, ATF’s Chicago spokesman.
The explosion damaged more than a half-dozen buildings in the vicinity and shook houses throughout the neighborhood.
“In my 17 years as an ATF agent, this is the largest explosion on a vehicle I have seen,” Singer said. “The car was virtually disintegrated.”
Monday’s incidents, authorities said, were not the first attacks on the Henchmen.
Last month, Roger Fiebrantz, the current president of the Rockford branch, was critically injured when his car exploded, Rockford authorities said. And in June, the former president of the club, LaMont Mathias, was found shot to death in his motorcycle repair shop.
![After weeks of area college students protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as part of a nationwide movement, leaders of Chicago’s Jewish community responded Wednesday by demanding action against hate speech as a group of Northwestern students filed suit against their school for allowing protests there to become “increasingly hostile to Jews.” Meanwhile, seven members of Northwestern’s President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down to protest the university’s agreement with protesters. The agreement outlined a plan intended to allow demonstrations to continue while preventing the chaos and occasional violence that has engulfed other campuses across the country. […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CTC-L-cps-sit-in-response02_189144560.jpg?w=525 "After weeks of area college students protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as part of a nationwide movement, leaders of Chicago’s Jewish community responded Wednesday by demanding action against hate speech as a group of Northwestern students filed suit against their school for allowing protests there to become “increasingly hostile to Jews.” Meanwhile, seven members of Northwestern’s President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down to protest the university’s agreement with protesters. The agreement outlined a plan intended to allow demonstrations to continue while preventing the chaos and occasional violence that has engulfed other campuses across the country. […]")