A federal judge Friday slapped the Mongols motorcycle club with a sizable fine and probation as punishment in a racketeering case, but rebuffed another attempt by prosecutors to strip the notoriously violent group of trademarks it holds on its logo.
At a sentencing hearing in Santa Ana, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter fined the Mongols $500,000 and put the club on probation for five years, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said. Prosecutors had asked Carter to fine the club $1 million, the maximum amount allowed under the law.
A jury in December convicted the Mongols organization of racketeering and conspiracy charges, finding that it shared responsibility for murder, attempted murder and drug crimes committed by individual members.
The government put the organization as a whole on trial in an unusual attempt to take control of trademarks the club owns that gives it legal control over its insignia — a Genghis Khan-inspired figure in sunglasses riding a motorcycle beneath the group’s name. The image, which only members are permitted to display on riding jackets, is a crucial part of the group’s identity and prosecutors believed losing control of it would go a long way toward dismantling the Mongols.
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The jury in the case sided with prosecutors, finding the trademarked image was tied closely enough to the racketeering conspiracy the club carried out that it should be forfeited to the government.
But Carter intervened, refusing to approve the forfeiture. In a March order, the judge said denying Mongol members the ability to display the logo would overstep the right to free expression embedded in the 1st Amendment, as well as the 8th Amendment’s ban on excessive penalties.
In the lead-up to Friday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors tried again, suggesting a compromise of sorts. In a written filing, they asked Carter to order the Mongols to forfeit its trademarks so it would no longer be able to prevent others from using the image. Such an order, the prosecutors argued, would not prevent Mongol members from displaying the image as well and, so, would not cross any constitutional lines.
Carter was not persuaded and denied the request.
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Thom Mrozak, the spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment on whether the government planned to appeal.
Source: LA Times
Insane Throttle Biker News 
THESE BASTARDS CATEGORIZE THE CLUB AS A WHOLE, A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION AND SLAP IT WITH A RICO…
LET US BACK THE FUCK UP A MINUTE. HOW CAN THIS DOUBLE STANDARD BE PERMITTED? HOW CAN IT BE LEGAL?
WHAT ABOUT “LAW ENFORCEMENT” AS A WHOLE? CONSIDER FOR A MINUTE ALL OF THE ILLEGALITIES PERPETUATED BY THE VERY INDIVIDUALS THAT REPRESENT LE, THE BADGE OR THE LEGAL SYSTEM ITSELF. DOES ANYONE RECALL “THE BADGE” OR “THE UNIFORM” EVER COMING UNDER SCRUTINY OR BROUGHT UP ON CHARGES FOR THE ILLEGAL ACTS COMMITTED BY THE FEW?
GUARANTEED TAKING A COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGES OF THE MC COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE, TO THE NUMBER OF LE AS A WHOLE; YOU’D ASCERTAIN THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT IS A BIGGER THREAT AS A “CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION” YET HAS NEVER COME UNDER FIRE AS SUCH.
PLAUSIBLE! HAVE THE ATTORNEY’S EVER CONSIDERED THAT ARGUMENT? IT SEEMS LIKE A LOGICAL QUESTION…
THE QUESTION STILL REMAINS THE SAME: HOW CAN YOU ARREST, CHARGE,TRI, CONVICT AND SENTENCE THE MANY FOR THE ACTIONS OF THE FEW?
WHERE ARE THE MARGINS AND WHEN DOES THIS BULLSHIT END?
LOYALTY HONOR AND RESPECT TO ALL OF MY BROTHERS!
DEUCE⚁
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The Democrats just might be guilty of much much more, and they can keep their patch the ASS; how fitting!!!😠
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I’ve got no love for the Mongols since my love, loyalty and respect will always remain with 81, but the Hell’s Angels already won this shit and the Mongols clearly haven’t got their shit together enough to trademark that stuff. Also, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that no law enforcement agency can continue this automatic forfeiture garbage when no one has even been proven guilty of shit. that’s right. they bust you…. they can’t take and keep your car, house, money …. nothing. for once those old fuckers did something right.
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Apologies, you did trademark your stuff, But how can they put an entire Club on probation? I don’t know f there are enough PO’s in that office. Also, if they’re so guilty of all this stuff, why a fine? Sounds really odd to me from a legal standpoint. Somebody give a whole bunch of other people up to save the club? Something smells funny here.
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