New ‘Snitch’ Allegations Rock Federal Biker Case
DETROIT – When the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted 91 alleged members and associates of Detroit’s Highwaymen Motorcycle Club on allegations of racketeering, drug trafficking, theft and murder for hire, a central thread in the case was gang leader Aref (Steve) Nagi’s attempts to root out suspected snitches.
Nagi’s preoccupation with informants inside the storied and homegrown motorcycle gang — whose violent history is credited with keeping the Hells Angels out of Detroit — was evident in his rambling, late-night phone conversations, which were secretly recorded by the FBI and introduced as evidence at the 2010 trial in federal court in Detroit.
And when the FBI raided the Highwaymen’s Michigan Avenue clubhouse in southwest Detroit in 2007, they discovered a photograph of one of their two confidential informants —with the word “rat” scrawled in black marker across his face.
The case sent more than 30 Highwaymen to prison —- many, including Nagi, for lengthy sentences.