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Sep 20, 2019  The trial stems from a 2011 shootout that killed a rival Hells Angels leader in a northern Nevada casino. Prosecutors say Gary 'Jabbers' Rudnick lied after spending more than three days telling jurors that Vagos Motorcycle Club members had plotted to kill a rival biker in Sparks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday. Guests at the hotel-casino are standing outside, on the roof of the parking garage to the east of the property, waiting to be let back in. The Hells Angels house is located on Sullivan Drive in Sparks. A fight between the Hells Angels and the Vagos Saturday morning at John Ascuaga's Nugget left one person dead and two injured. One of the plaintiffs, Michael Bower, claimed in the lawsuit he was caught in the crossfire between the Hell's Angels and Mongols, with the bikers armed with guns, knives and other weapons. LAS VEGAS (AP) - A jury in Las Vegas heard two vastly different views in a federal racketeering trial that opened Monday for eight Vagos biker gang members stemming from a 2011 shootout that killed. It was not immediately clear whether his death was related to the casino shootings, the police said. The police said the fight erupted when a member of the Mongol motorcycle gang walked into a. SAN FRANCISCO – A man accused of killing the leader of the San Jose Hells Angels in a shootout at a Nevada casino has been arrested on a college campus Thursday after a University of California, San Francisco police sergeant spotted him in a parked car just a block from campus police headquarters, UCSF Police Chief Pam Roskowski said Friday.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A biker gang leader was convicted Wednesday of murdering a Hells Angels during a 2011 shootout at a Nevada casino that prosecutors said was part of an orchestrated assassination plot to take out a high-ranking official of the rival group.

The Washoe District Court jury deliberated for only five hours before returning guilty verdicts on all seven felony counts, including first- and second-degree murder, for Ernesto Gonzalez, ex-president of the Vagos motorcycle gang's chapter in Nicaragua.

The panel rejected claims he was acting in self-defense when he fatally shot Hells Angels San Jose boss Jeffrey 'Jethro' Pettigrew during the September 2011 melee on a busy Sparks casino floor that sent gamblers diving for cover behind slot machines and blackjack tables.

The defendant's lawyer, David Houston, said he was 'exceptionally surprised' the jury acted so quickly and vowed an appeal.

'I can't see it. I'm flabbergasted. I cannot understand this verdict,' Houston told reporters on the courthouse steps in Reno.

Jurors were to return to court Thursday to begin hearing more evidence in the penalty phase of the trial that will determine whether Gonzalez gets the maximum of life in prison without parole. Gonzalez, 55, was also convicted of conspiring to commit murder, challenging to fight resulting in death, illegally carrying a concealed weapon and discharging a firearm inside a structure.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Karl Hall declined immediate comment after the verdicts were read.

Pinning all his hopes on an acquittal, Gonzalez told the judge earlier Wednesday that he wanted to take off the table the possibility of a lesser manslaughter conviction.

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'It's either going to be one way or another, rather than meeting in the middle,' Houston told Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer. He said they were 'specifically not asking for a manslaughter charge.'

Steinhiemer described it as a 'strategic decision' and asked Gonzalez if he agreed.

'Definitely, I do, yes,' Gonzalez told the judge.

Prosecutors maintain Gonzalez shot Pettigrew, 51, five times in the back in a 'hit' approved by international leaders of the Vagos during their national convention at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino just east of Reno. He's seen on dark casino surveillance video coming around the corner of a fish-tank bar and shooting Pettigrew five times in the back as Pettigrew and another Hells Angel kicked a Vagos on the ground between slot machines.

Witnesses from both gangs — including one long-time Vagos-turned-federal informant who testified under a pseudonym — said Pettigrew was an 'icon' who was considered the 'Godfather' of the Hells Angels in San Jose and the fifth-ranking member nationally.

Gonzalez he shot Pettigrew as a last resort because Pettigrew and another were kicking another Vagos on the floor and he feared they would kill him.

Hall told the jury Gonzalez couldn't argue self-defense because he was part of the gang that instigated the fight that led to Pettigrew's death.

'They started the fight and he finished the fight,' Hall said.

Houston is a prominent defense lawyer in Reno whose past clients have included Hulk Hogan, Girls Gone Wild video empire founder Joe Francis and Liberace's ex-lover, Scott Thorson. He told reporters after the verdicts were read he had felt comfortable the jury's quick work meant they'd found him innocent.

'I'm still somewhat flummoxed that we could have resulted in a guilty verdict without so much as reviewing what I thought was a great deal of evidence' including hours of surveillance videotape from more than a dozen different camera angels, he said. 'There simply wasn't the time.'

Prosecutors apparently were successful in using a 'very broad brush' to argue 'the Vagos did this, the Vagos did that,' Houston said. 'I think it might have been lost in the translation that this was a case of the state vs. Ernesto Gonzalez. It had nothing to do with the Vagos.'

LAUGHLIN, Nevada (CNN) --Rival motorcycle gangs clashed in a southern Nevada casino early Saturday, leaving three men dead, at least 13 other people wounded and -- for a few hours -- an entire town on lockdown, according to law enforcement and emergency officials in Nevada and nearby Arizona.

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Police, who characterized the melee at Harrah's Laughlin Casino as the worst shooting incident in the history of Nevada casinos, were questioning more than 200 people, 'trying to separate the witnesses from the victims,' said Lt. Vincent Cannito of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which provides law enforcement in Clark County, where Laughlin is located.

One person has been arrested, Cannito said. 'With regards to the other people who have been detained, their status hasn't been determined yet,' he added.

In addition to the 'large number of people in custody, we have numerous weapons,' he said -- 'knives, guns and tools.' Citing the 'sensitivity of the investigation,' Cannito would not specify how many people are in custody or what charges they are facing.

The incident happened just after 2 a.m. Saturday (5 a.m. EDT). Cannito said a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang wandered into a group of their rivals, the Hells Angels, and a fight broke out which escalated into gunfire.

After the incident, Nevada officials sealed off Laughlin while they searched for anyone connected with the brawl, said Larry Tunforss, a fire department spokesman in Bullhead City, Arizona, across the Colorado River from Laughlin.

The restrictions were lifted a few hours later.

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Tunforss said 10 wounded men were taken to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City and another was airlifted to Las Vegas.

Tunforss said the Arizona facility received seven gunshot victims, one man with skull trauma, a stabbing victim and a man with chest pains.

Four of the 10 men taken to Bullhead City were later flown to Las Vegas, 84 miles away.

None of the dead were casino employees, he said.

By 5 p.m. (8 p.m. EDT), the hotel towers, three restaurants, and one of the casinos had reopened, said Laura de la Cruz, director of marketing for the hotel.

The 1,700-room hotel was 100 percent booked, she said. Asked whether any guests had sought refunds in the wake of the violence, she said, 'We're currently working on that process right now.'

Laughlin, about 80 miles southeast of Las Vegas, has a year-round population of about 8,000. This weekend is the 20th annual 'River Run,' an event which annually draws 50,000 to 80,000 motorcycle enthusiasts.

Cannito said the event usually goes off 'without a hitch,' but 'outlaw' gang members provoked violence this year.

'It's the 1 percent fringe society members that don't want to be part of society,' he said.

Because of the motorcycle event, police already had a heavy presence in the town and responded within two minutes of the shootings, Cannito said.

He said officers were prepared to put a stop to the motorcycle event, if more violence appears likely. 'If there is a legitimate need to close this event down completely, that will be done.'

Saturday evening, Cannito announced that police had shut down a bridge leading into Laughlin from Bullhead City as well as a road from the Davis Dam.

'Those are the ones we've verified as possible threats,' Cannito said. 'Those are the ones that we've closed down.'

In amateur video taken of the melee, a police officer is seen wrestling with a suspect when his gun appears to go off. 'It appears to be an accidental discharge,' Cannito said.

There was also another shooting in which an officer was involved, Cannito said. 'That was not an accidental discharge. That officer was confronted with gunfire, he was engaged in a gunfight and he reacted appropriately.'

Cannito would not elaborate.

About an hour later and 92 miles west of the casino town, police in California say a biker was found shot dead alongside Interstate 40 near Ludlow.

It was not immediately clear whether the death is related to the casino shooting, said Chris Patterson, a spokesman for the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

Cannito said the incidents appear to be linked, though he would not elaborate.

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The motorcyclist appears to have been shot while riding westbound on Interstate 40, away from Laughlin, said Patterson. 'We believe it's a 29-year-old white male from the San Diego area. He's a motorcycle club member.'

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. was founded in the 1930s and operates 21 casinos in 17 markets under the Harrah's, Rio, and Showboat names. The Mexican resort-themed Harrah's Laughlin Casino and Hotel opened in 1988.

Laughlin Nevada Hells Angels Fight

--CNN Correspondent Thelma Guitierrez contributed to this report.