Jury decides to strip Mongols biker gang of trademark logo

LOS ANGELES — A California jury decided Friday that the Mongols motorcycle gang should be stripped of its trademarked logo in a first-of-its-kind verdict, federal prosecutors said.

The jury previously found Mongol Nation, the entity that owns the image of a Mongol warrior on a chopper, guilty of racketeering and conspiracy.

The verdict caps an unusual decade-long quest by prosecutors to dismantle the gang responsible for drug dealing and murder by seizing control of the trademark they said was core to the gang’s identity. The forfeiture order would allow any law enforcement officer to stop a gang member and “literally take the jacket right off his back.”

The Mongols were founded in a Los Angeles suburb in 1969. The group is estimated to have more than 1,000 riders worldwide.