If any of you follow me on facebook you will notice that I put links up to news articles. I think you have to like click 3 times and it ads the link to your page. I don't know why but all this stuff with the Chosen Few is really interesting.
That being said. I think it is important for everyone who watches the news or reads it to remember something. The News is only one persons perspective. It is also important to know that profit is a big part of the news now. What I'm saying in a round about way is when you hear news don't just go oh ok. Think does that make sense and think about what you heard. I'm not saying that you should go look it up your self. But just remember that when something happens (more internationally then locally ) that perspectives of what happened will change how the story is told.
I find this very true with the Chosen Few articles. I feel like there is some stuff that doesn't make sense. There must be stuff that the news isn't telling us. I'm not going so far as to say they are with holding stuff maybe they just don't have all the information.
My first question is why are they and the Kingsmen rivals. The news says they are and says something about something at like a race of some kind. But it doesn't say what the Beef is.
One of the stories mentions that "The Law" met with the Chosen few and tried to stop the violence. At the very least to make sure if they went after The Kingsmen that no one else got hurt. That same story said that the Chosen Few where unable to stop the feud.
But they still don't say what the violence is about.
The part that I really don't get is if there is a supposed beef or even so called war, then why didn't they arrest any kingsmen. Maybe there is no reason to because maybe the left the feud in the past. But none of the articles say anything about it. Maybe some other agency is building a case on them. Maybe the kingsmen ended things and told the police that they them selves aren't a gang. I admit I have no clue. But unless I missed something nothing in the paper gives any answers to this. These articles leave the reader guessing.
I can admit that I know nothing about Bike Clubs. I would assume that once they start breaking laws they get called gangs. Just because someone puts on leather and likes to ride a big motorcycle doesn't mean they are in a club. I did see one documentary about some cop who got into I think the hells angels and it was pretty interesting. I remember being somewhere in Toronto maybe the skydome and they had a sign about not being allowed to wear your colors there. So I guess at least at one time it was a problem in Toronto I assume.
It would be nice if the news gave us readers all the information. I wonder if I'm the only one who read the articles and found them interesting but had questions. Sometimes I wonder if the news is turning something into a bigger then then it is to sell Papers. Other times I think they might not have all the info.
The Latest article on The Chosen Few
The local headquarters of the Chosen Few Motorcycle Club at 94 Main St., Depew, was bugged by the FBI.
Bill Wippert/Buffalo News
Updated: 05/15/09 07:44 AM
Biker club raid puts focus on theft case
By Dan Herbeck
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
When police raided the home of the president of the Chosen Few motorcycle club last week, they found about $5,500 worth of equipment allegedly stolen from his employer, the state Thruway Authority.
A wide range of items - including floodlights, electrical wire, raincoats, light bulbs, emergency flashers, numerous pairs of leather gloves and more than 30 boxes of paper towels - were seized from the Alden home of Alex Koschtschuk.
Police are investigating to determine how he got them, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
"The Thruway Authority has been made aware of this investigation," Assistant U. S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce said during a detention hearing for Koschtschuk.
Bruce also revealed that a series of diagrams were found indicating that the Chosen Few might have been planning to attack the local clubhouses and some homes of the Kingsmen, their rival club.
The prosecutor said the diagrams of Kingsmen clubhouses and homes were found by state police in Koschtschuk's home.
And he told a judge that authorities suspect someone in local law enforcement - possibly a suburban police lieutenant - has been illegally giving the Chosen Few police mug shots of rival bikers.
Koschtschuk, 58, and another Thruway Authority worker- Alan "Deuce" Segool, identified by FBI agents as the Chosen Few vice president - were arrested May 7 with 18 other members of the biker club. They are accused of waging a violent war against the Kingsmen.
During Thursday's hearing, Bruce called Koschtschuk a "danger to the public." U. S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy ordered that Koschtschuk be jailed until his case comes to trial.
The ruling was a disappointment to Koschtschuk's wife, Tracy, and to his attorney, Herbert L. Greenman, who said the federal investigation turned up "a lot of talk" but little evidence that Koschtschuk ever actually harmed anyone.
Greenman described Koschtschuk as a solid family man and working man whose past record includes no convictions for crimes of violence.
"[Koschtschuk is] not a danger to any person or to the community," Greenman said.
Bruce disagreed, saying federal agents used hidden recording devices in the Chosen Few's clubhouse in Depew to get tapes of Koschtschuk ordering his club members to go after the Kingsmen with guns, fists, ax handles and bombs.
"[Koschtschuk] is the unquestioned leader of this organization," Bruce said.
Both Koschtschuk and Segool, 48, of West Falls, are employees of the Thruway Authority, according to state records obtained after a Freedom of Information request by The Buffalo News.
Koschtschuk is a general mechanic for the authority at an annual salary of $47,049. He was hired in August 1999 and is currently on leave without pay because of a work-related injury. He receives workers' compensation pay.
Records show that Segool is a Thruway maintenance worker who was hired by the state in July 2001. Because of his arrest, he is on unauthorized leave without pay.
Before working with the Thruway Authority, Segool worked for six years as a police officer with the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, said his attorney, Angelo Musitano.
Segool has never been convicted of a crime of violence, Musitano said, but McCarthy said he did not feel that he could risk releasing Segool on bail.
"I think he's one of the key players [in the Chosen Few]," the judge said, "and I can't be certain that he would not instruct others to use violence."
dherbeck@buffnews.com
A few other stories about them
Not sure if I mentioned it but one of the articles they mentioned some one who knew some members (there is a term I heard called a friend of the club, not sure what it means, so that is why I didn't say it that way) who claims they aren't violent at all and that this was being blown up to more then it was.
Not that I Know any of the inner workings the brotherhood part I Kinda get. I think most people who have been in team sports get that same feeling. Saying that feeling of being one of "The Guys" and "Hanging Out With the Guys". Doesn't really describe it well.
yeh, i dont know much about the inner workings of these 'gangs'- but the going ons sure give them a bad name. Rival gangs, violence, theft, property damage, etc.. yikes. I glanced at an article recently about those trying to hold to/increase the brotherhood aspect, and not the gang elements. The stuff my 'club involved' friends (as I mentioned somewhere) tell me go entirely over my head. My views tend to be judgmental, yet I try to support their enthusiasm, try to understand what they love about it. Feeling involved is one thing (and I dig that), but being part of a bigger picture that involves all those negatives is another. Hopefully it is becoming more of the exception and not the norm.