Man arrested in federal racketeering case against biker gang
A Pittsburgh man has been charged with shooting rivals and sexually assaulting a man with a pole in connection with a federal racketeering case out of Indiana against the Sin City Deciples, an outlaw Black biker gang based in Gary, Ind., with chapters around the country.
Richard White, 54, a reputed gang member whose handle is “Ignorant Bastard,” is referred to by other bikers as an enforcer for handling disputes and doling out violence against rival African American biker gangs, according to the indictment.
At the club’s annual cabaret in Gary this June, leaders said that if their members needed help against rivals in their cities, “call IB” and he’ll send an enforcer. “IB” is shorthand for White’s nickname. White stood up at that meeting and said, “I will come myself,” according to the indictment.
The charges against him and 14 other Deciples recount a litany of crimes, mostly in Indiana, including murder for hire, extortion, robberies, beatings, possession of illegal guns and drug dealing.
Federal agents were seen Wednesday raiding a bar in Homewood, believed to be the Deciples’ hangout in Pittsburgh, in connection with the case, which spans numerous states and cities.
Part of the case involves shootings in Pittsburgh and a murder in Penn Hills connected to feuds with rival gangs.
According to the indictment, White shot a member of the Royal Flush Motorcycle Club in the leg in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2019. He also shot a member of the Outcast Motorcycle Club multiple times in Pittsburgh on Aug. 9, 2019, the indictment says.
Four days after the Aug. 9 shooting, a Deciples member known as “Chickenhawk” — Curtiss Meeks, 48 — was murdered in Penn Hills. Police found Meeks lying in the street next to a vehicle on Blackadore Avenue.
Allegheny County police said at the time that Meeks was a member of a biker club but said they didn’t have any evidence that he was targeted by other bikers. But the indictment indicates Meeks definitely was targeted, and after the killingDeciples leader Kenneth McGhee, 72, of Merrillville, Ind., ordered his cohorts to carry out retaliatory murders against the Naptown Riders and Outcast clubs.
The national vice president, Marvie Gardner, told Deciples on the Marco Polo app that “it’s on” and “these [expletive], they took our little brother, Chickenhawk, in Pittsburgh.” He then posted a picture of a green traffic light, which in Deciple parlance means “kill on sight.”
White’s alleged role in the Deciples hierarchy is also mentioned in other parts of the indictment.
In 2018, a member of the Sin City Angels, a female biker gang associated with the Deciples, accused a Deciple of raping her. McGhee ordered the man to be beaten. According to the indictment, White participated in the attack on the man with other members, which included sexually assaulting the man with a pole.
White had an initial appearance hearing in federal court in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and was ordered detained in U.S. custody pending a detention hearing Thursday.
The Deciples investigation was led by the Chicago division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the FBI, IRS and numerous police departments in Indiana.