Sep 15, 2008 5:25 pm US/Pacific
Thousands Mob Funeral Of SF Hells Angels Leader
DALY CITY (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
-
-
Hells Angels members arrive at the Daly City funeral.
CBS
There can be no quiet goodbye for a slain Hells Angel leader.
The funeral of Mark "Papa" Guardado, the 46-year-old president of the San Francisco chapter shot down after a barroom brawl, brought about 2,000 Hells Angels to Duggan's Serra Mortuary in Daly City, most driving the biggest, baddest, loudest Harleys ever.
They came from chapters all over the country, not to mention Stuttgart, Germany, Alberta, Canada and Melbourne, Australia.
An overflow crowd of hundreds of members sat or stood in the funeral home parking lot for two hours, creating a spectacle that attracted hundreds of gawkers, a full court press and police from three cities: San Francisco, Daly City and Colma.
They then led what police said may have been the largest motorcycle procession ever in the San Francisco Bay Area from Daly City to the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma.
The mass of bikers and other vehicles took an indirect route, cutting through San Francisco along Dolores Street and down to Colma for the burial.
The miles-long trek created a deafening uproar of engines and a spectacle that stopped traffic in its tracks on both sides of Interstate 280 as drivers gawked. Some bikers in the procession were involved in a minor collision on 280.
Few mourners were in the mood to talk, especially not to reporters.
"We don't get along with the press," said one member, guarding the parking lot. "And if you stick a camera in someone's face, you're asking for trouble."
Sgt. David Macriss of the Daly City police said Monday's event was "a little chaotic with just the sheer number of people," but there were no incidents aside from minor accidents between motorcycles.
Guardado was shot dead the night of Sept. 2 outside a bar in San Francisco's Mission District at 24th Street and Treat Avenue, about a mile from the Hells Angels chapter clubhouse, where he lived.
At the time of his death, he was facing assault charges stemming from what police called a brutal beating of a "random guy at a bar" in Petaluma in February.
San Francisco Police were looking for a suspect in Guardado's shooting, Christopher Ablett, 37, of Modesto, a member of the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club.
Officers, armed with a $5 million warrant for murder and possession by an ex-felon of a firearm, searched Ablett's home last Thursday and seized a motorcycle and other potential evidence.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments