Act III Episode - The FBTF Meets
The Federal Barbarian Task Force - FBTF met in the Plate
Room of the Flanders Hotel on the Ocean City boardwalk, and included
representatives from Ocean City, Somers Point, the FBI Biker Gang Unit, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), New Jersey State
Police gang unit and the New Jersey National Guard.
The meeting was chaired by the FBI Biker Gang Unit representative,
who reported that since the race riots in Watts the previous week, when many
people were killed and the Army’s national guard called in to restore order,
raised the level of concern on the potential for this to evolve into a similar
incident.
The Watts riots began when a white police officer
pulled over and arrested a black man for drunk driving in a particularly bad
part of town, and the violator’s mother appeared on the scene as her son was
being handcuffed and placed in the back of the police cruiser. The policeman
made a mistake by turning his back on the mother and the crowd as he put the
young man in the back of his patrol car, and before the week was out dozens of
people were killed, rioters were shooting fireman with rifles and the mayor
refused to negotiate with hooligans or black ministers so the Army was called
in to put out the fires.
Since Ocean City patrolman William Warren was black,
and the Hells Angel who he ticketed for speeding had threatened to return on a
Labor Day run with the rest of the gang and ransack Ocean City, this potential
incident was being placed in the same federal category as Watts, Harlem and the
South Side of Chicago, so federal emergency public safety funds were being made
available, and both Ocean City and Somers Point were being furnished new Paddy
Wagons, mobile communication command centers, riot gear and special trainers to
give special instruction to the Riot Squads of both towns.
The FBI guy also announced that the Attorney General
and President were taking special interest in this issue, and were being
briefed on this situation, and may want to add his input before the meeting was
over.
Ocean City Public Safety Commissioner D. Allen
Stretch then said that this situation was under control, but new information was
being developed daily and the chief of the OCPD Criminal Intelligence division,
which was monitoring the hippies and suspected drug dealings at Shriver’s
Pavilion, had some things to report.
The Chief said that since the seeding ticket
Patrolman Warren issued in mid-May to one Ralph Hubert Barger – born October 8,
1938, of Oakland, California, has gone unpaid a warrant has been issued for his
arrest. The problem, the chief noted, is that Ralph Hubert “Sonny” Barger was
then and was in May incarcerated in a state prison for a minor offense, so a
second warrant had been issued for UNSUB – unknown subject who had used Barger’s
drivers license while he is in prison.
All eyes in the room shifted to Officer Warren, who
was blushing read, and slipped down in his seat as the chief continued his
report.
“Since Officer Warren was responsible for the
ticket, and apparently didn’t compare the photo on the license with the person
he issued the ticket to, he will be responsible for visiting Mr. Barger in jail
and attempt to determine the identity of the person who impersonated him in
Ocean City in the course of committing a crime and arresting him.”
Another federal officer sitting behind Warren tapped
him on the shoulder and said he would assist him.
The officer from the ATF was given the floor, and he
said that a new, young police officer from Somers Point, William Bader, the son
of Lt. Bader, who was sitting nearby, was in training and would shortly be sent
to Ohio to join the other undercover ATF agent who had infiltrated a one
percenter biker club and first reported on the threat from the Hells Angels who
had been ticketed and kicked out of Ocean City, to return on a Labor Day run
with the rest of the gang and run rampage over the town, as they had done other
places. His mission was to wait in Ohio for the Hells Angels to come through
and try to join them as they headed for Ocean City, giving the FBTF an inside
perspective of what they were up against.
The representative from New Jersey Governor Hughes’
office then reported that the New Jersey State Police were fully engaged in
this effort, and will have many of their officers stationed nearby, their gang
unit will be on the Ocean City boardwalk and the 300 man State Police academy
cadets will be bused in and have a visible presence on the streets and
boardwalk. In addition, the NJ National Guard has been put on alert status and
will have 200 men ready for action throughout the weekend and 2,000 men on
reserve at Fort Dix ready to be deployed with a two hours notice.
The FBI guy was then called to a phone that was set
up on a desk, and after listening intently for a few moments announced that “the
President of the United States has something to say to us,” and flicking a
switch on the phone speakers crackled and a shallow sounding voice came on
line.
“Ah appreciate all the hard work you boys have been
doing to stem the tide of this serious threat to our communities, but we must
take this seriously, and nip it in the bud so it doesn’t get out of control
like the situation in Californ- i – a did last week. Now I’m depending on you
guys to get to the bottom of this, and I have approved the governor’s request
for assistance from the US Army and New Jersey National Guard, if it is
necessary. And if the Army can’t do it, then I’m going to draft them angels and
send them to Nam to kick those Congs in the arse, ‘cause they must be bad
mother fuckers.”
Then the line went dead as the President apparently
hung up, and the FBI guy, shuffling around and a little embarrassed by LBJ’s
remarks, said sheepishly that, “The president has been very upset by the
situation in Watts and all of the publicity over the motorcycle gangs, and he’s
focused on doing whatever it takes to make this problem go away.”
Ocean City Mayor Waldman spoke up for the first
time, saying that he appreciates all the work the various agencies and
departments were putting into this effort to protect his city, and thanked Mr.
Kirkman, who wasn’t present, for use of the Plate Room for this meeting, and
that a new operations base was being set up on the second floor of Shriver’s
Candy Store on the Boardwalk at Ninth Street, where the observation post that
kept track of the hippies and drug deals at Shriver’s Pavilion would be used as
a Command Post for the Federal Barbarian Task Force until the day after Labor
Day.
It was then agreed to meet there on the Thursday
before the beginning of Labor Day weekend and all operations would be run from
there at that time.
The FBI guy then took a glass of wine from a tray
held by Mr. Kirkman’s private waitress and valet in her black French maid uniform
and he once again emphasized the need for complete secrecy and that there would
be no press releases, leaks to the media or any discussion of their operations
with anyone outside of the FBTF.
The Flanders hotel waitress would, later that night, tell
her lifeguard boyfriend that “the Barbarians are coming,” and before the next
day was out, it was common knowledge on the beach and boardwalk that the Hells
Angels and some Barbarian Bikers were coming to Ocean City an ransack the town
on a Labor Day run, and the news flashed through the grapevine and was making
the rounds at the Point by evening.
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