Sport
The Hells Angels: A New Threat to Aurora?
Hells Angels are not heading to Aurora, Colorado, to confront Venezuelan gang
In videos online, dozens of black-clad motorcyclists zoom across roads. Social media users say the bikers are bound for a community in trouble.
“Hells Angels head to Colorado to wipeout the Venezuelan gangs,” read a Sept. 2 Instagram video. Another Sept. 2 Instagram post’s caption read, “Rumors are circulating that the Hells Angels & Mongols are heading to Colorado TO DEAL WITH THE ILLEGAL VENEZUELAN GANGS.”
On Threads, a video posted Sept. 2 showed four lines of bikers taking up two lanes, claiming it showed Hells Angels and two other motorcycle clubs — the Outlaws and the Mongols — headed “to confront the Venezuelan Gangs for taking over the apartment complex to protect the citizens of Aurora Colorado.”
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But the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club rebutted these rumors. We couldn’t reach contacts for the Outlaws or Mongols.
In a statement posted Sept. 4 on Instagram, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club cited “a social media rumor” that the group was headed to Aurora, Colorado, to “violently confront Venezuelan immigrants.”
The videos used to make the claims were also misrepresented. The Mongols Motorcycle Club uploaded the first montage of clips of bikers from two videos in 2010.
The video showing four lines of bikers also appears unconnected from the Colorado situation. PolitiFact found that it was originally posted July 7 on TikTok. Hashtags in the video included “#insanosmc” and “#bondepelavida,” which are references to the Brazilian motorcycle club Insanos MC and a motorcycle event called Bonde Pela Vida, held July 5-7 in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
Video of armed men purportedly breaking into an Aurora apartment complex surfaced Aug. 28, but the mayor later said gang members do not control the complex. The Aurora Police Department said Aug. 28 that it was collecting evidence to show Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang implicated in the apartment complex incident, is linked to crimes in the area, but drew no conclusions.
“Based on our initial investigative work, we believe reports of TdA influence in Aurora are isolated,” it said in an Aug. 28 statement. The department confirmed Sept. 4 that it arrested two documented Tren de Aragua members in July.
PolitiFact contacted the department but didn’t hear back.
We rate the claim that Hells Angels motorcycle riders are heading to Aurora, Colorado to confront a Venezuelan gang False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
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