Motorcycle club VP ordered held on federal charges

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Recordings of a motorcycle club leader ordering assaults on ex members convinced a federal judge to hold the man without bail until he can be tried on murder conspiracy, racketeering and other charges.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Stanley said no conditions could keep the public and potential witnesses safe from Floyd B. “Jesse” Moore, the Pagans Motorcycle Club’s national vice president.

“Mr. Moore is committed to exactly what he believes to be what is due to him from members and former members,” she said.

Moore and 54 other national leaders, members and associates of the Pagans were charged in a federal indictment unsealed a week ago. The 44-count document portrays Moore and national Pagans president David Keith “Bart” Barbeito of Myersville, Md., as leaders of a sprawling organization engaged in kidnapping, robbery, extortion, conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes in an effort to be the pre-eminent biker gang in the eastern United States.

Also named were members and associates in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Florida.

Moore and eight others pleaded not guilty Tuesday and Stanley scheduled trial for Dec. 15. All but three of the defendants were ordered held.

Federal prosecutor Steven Loew played the recordings from 2004 and 2005 to bolster his contention that Moore might retaliate against witnesses if freed. The first recording was largely inaudible, though a voice Loew said was Moore’s could be heard urging an unidentified Pagan to harm a member of a rival gang.

Loew said Moore ordered the Pagan member to retrieve a ring from a former colleague by removing his finger if necessary.

On the second recording, which was made in Pittsburgh, Moore tells a Pagan to beat up a former member, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors would not say who made the recordings.

Stanley rejected arguments by Moore’s lawyer, Ralph Buss, that his client, a 64-year-old retired union electrician, is a kind, helpful neighbor who occasionally lends a hand at an auto dealership.

Instead, she noted Moore’s multiple felony convictions, including explosives charges in 1969, and the recordings.