July 5, 2009
Hells Angels slam NYPD over clubhouse raid
A day after their Manhattan clubhouse was stormed by machine-gun carrying police, the Hells Angels denied any involvement in the beating of a woman who was found on the sidewalk outside their front door late Sunday night.
"We had absolutely nothing to do with this," said the group's Brendan Manning on Tuesday. "The level of police response is a disgusting waste of taxpayer dollars."
After the Angels refused to let cops inside their clubhouse at 77 E. 3rd St., police cordoned off the entire block, set up sniper positions and called in an armored personnel carrier called a "Bearcat."
Police entered after getting a search warrant. Although one Hells Angel was taken into custody, he was not charged, and no one was being held Tuesday night.
Early reports suggested the victim, Roberta Shalaby, 52, of Brooklyn, who remains in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital, had gotten into an argument with some of the bikers at the nearby Edge Bar and then followed them back to the clubhouse down the block.
The manager of the bar denied that Tuesday. Only a few customers, none of them Hells Angels, were drinking at the bar when Shalaby entered around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, he said.
"She came in and introduced herself to everyone as Barbarella, then she started yelling her poetry," said the manager, Mike Rich.
The Angels' lawyer, Ron Kuby, called the massive police response "part of an ongoing campaign by police against the Hells Angels." He said a number of items, including surveillance tape footage from Sunday night, had been confiscated during the clubhouse search. He also said police had unbolted and taken away the front door. The NYPD had not responded to requests for comment Tuesday evening.
Shalaby's daughter, Michelle Caruso, 24, said her mother suffers from bipolar disorder and "has been on medication as long as I can remember."
Caruso said her mother suffered a concussion, and is confident it was the Hells Angels who beat her up.
"We are bad boys, there is no doubt about that," said Hells Angel Bart Dawling. "But we don't beat people up. If you respect us, we respect you."
Newsday's Matthew Nestel contributed to this story.
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