‘Dealt a serious blow;’ Federal agents arrest high-ranking members of dangerous motorcycle gang
ByWHIO Staff
ByWHIO Staff
MIAMI VALLEY — Fourteen members, including the Midwest Regional “boss,” of an “outlaw motorcycle gang” have been indicted on federal charges connected to an alleged racketeering conspiracy.
Local, state, and federal authorities came together on Friday morning to announce the indictments of the members of the Thug Riders Motorcycle Club (TRMC) who were arrested as part of coordinated raids across four states. Investigators claim the TRMC’s members and their associates engaged in criminal acts, including murder, arson, assault, extortion, and identity fraud.
New video from an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter shows federal and local law enforcement putting a man in handcuffs in Clark County Thursday morning. The coordinated raids happened at 6:00 a.m. across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Arizona.
Federal prosecutors said all 14 people arrested were members of the Dayton chapter of the TRMC, which was founded in 2019. Those arrested included men from Dayton, Fairborn, Miamisburg, Piqua, and Xenia.
Investigators also took about 100 guns as evidence during the raids. They’ll check to see if they’ve been used in crimes across the country.
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, the arrests followed a years-long investigation.
“We have dealt a serious blow to this violent organization,” US Attorney Kenneth Parker, of the Southern District of Ohio, said.
The group is accused of making money off of organized crime. They’ve allegedly committed extortion and at least eight violent crimes.
Members are accused of several crimes, including shooting and killing Joseph Nickelson in Harrison Twp. in September 2021 and engaging in a shootout at a Springfield motorcycle gang’s clubhouse in March 2024.
They also allegedly blew up someone’s vehicle in Huber Heights in 2021.
Now prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say they’ve hit this gang “at every level” from its leadership to enforcers in order to “dismantle a violent organization while making our community safer.”