He says Gary “Jabbers” Rudnick, former second in command of the Vagos in Los Angeles, already is out of prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal that Houston plans to attack during the retrial. David Houston says the assassination plot was concocted by a co-defendant who actually started the fight. The retrial doesn’t begin until next August, but his lawyer already filed motions arguing the killing was not an organized hit, as jurors decided in 2013. Gonzalez was convicted of the slaying and sentenced to life in prison but won an appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court in December and was granted a new trial. He had feared they were Hells Angels coming to kill him. FBI agents joined an extensive manhunt for the killer.Įrnesto Gonzalez, a Vagos leader, was caught a week later, telling police who found him cowering in his car in San Francisco that he was relieved to be caught. The day after a Hells Angels boss died in the melee, a member of the Vagos gang was shot in retaliation, leading the mayor of Sparks to declare a state of emergency. RENO - Casino patrons dived for cover under blackjack tables as two rival gangs fired dozens of shots at each other during a deadly brawl on the floor of a northern Nevada casino five years ago this weekend. (David B.Parker /The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, File) Vagos motorcycle gang member Ernesto Gonzalez is led from district court under heavy security in Reno in 2011 after pleading guilty in the shooting death of Hells Angels member Jeffrey 'Jethrow' Pettigrew.

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