The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 40

Monday, November 1, 1982 Akron Beacon Journal D5 Pol. Adv. Police search spectators in area HelPs Angels trial re-elect Donald Yy 'WL Caronite and owner Rocco Russo, a lawyer, denied stories that the Angels controlled a West Akron bar. cFadden Judge of Summit County Common Pleas Court Outlaws have been killed in the seven-year-old war. IN DECEMBER 1979, Caronite himself was believed to be the target of an Outlaws' assassination team armed with a silenced pistol and a sawed-off shotgun.

Two Outlaws were arrested by Akron police in a car near the Angels' Ira Avenue clubhouse. The peace meeting, to be held in an eastern state, was to be a setup a chance for the Angels to assassinate the Outlaws' leadership, according to investigators, who admit the story has never been confirmed. Caronite, investigators said, gave his word to the Outlaws that they would be safe at the meeting. When he learned of the assassination plans, Caronite reportedly warned the Outlaws and they avoided the meeting. The warning reportedly angered the Angels' hierarchy.

Investigators say Caronite did not go to the Angels' national meetings last year or this year, and no longer holds national office signs that give credence to the theory that he has fallen from power. But that theory already may be outdated, and Caronite may be rising to power again. When he was arrested on the stolen property charge May 27 outside a Cleveland bar, police said he was in the company of other powerful Angels as well as members of black and white organized-crime factions. "That was a business meeting of some agent said. "His being there shows he has some clout." Endorsed by Akron Beacon Journal Akron Bar Association Now Judge of Common Pleas Court Since Feb.

1 2, 1 979. 10 Years as Akron Municipal Court Judge Life Resident of Summit County Graduate of University of Akron and its School of Law World War II U.S. Navy combat veteran Practicing Lawyer 15 Years Past President Summit County Legal Aid Society County Director of Elections 1965-68 Memberships: The Ohio Judicial Conference The American Judicature Society American Judges Association Ohio State Bar Association American Bar Association Akron Bar Association Eight times honored by the Ohio Supreme Court for Excellent or Outstanding Judicial Service. Paid for by the committee to re-elect Judge McFadden Dovid A. looney, Treasurer, 441 Wolf Ledges, Suite 400, Akron, OH 4431 1 Political AdvtrttMfmnt Continued from page Dl David Beal, Fred A.

Friend and Larry K. Shuman as well as Angel Kenny Vesey of the Cleveland chapter. The identity of the other man, a California member, was not known. Barger was not expected to be a witness at Caronite's trial. A Beacon Journal photographer tried to take Barger's picture in the hallway outside the third-floor courtroom.

Barger told him: "I'm going to smash that About five minutes later, Barger told the photographer: "You'll have your turn." "I resent the media taking 85 pictures of me when one would suffice," Barger said later. He said he was visting the Akron trial because he was in Ohio for the murder trial of another Hell's Angel in Toledo. That trial ended last week with a jury verdict of innocent. Barger said he did not believe that jurors were intimidated by the presence of Hell's Angels in their jackets with insignias at members' trials. "The only ones that are intimidated are the ones the feds tell to be," he said.

Asked to comment on the FBI's characterization of the Angels as Public Enemy No. 1, Barger said, "I'm not going to lend any credence to it by saying anything." ALL PERSONS entering the courtroom today were searched. Prospective jurors for Caronite's trial were to be questioned individually. Normally, a panel of 36 prospective jurors is questioned at the same time to determine who should be selected for the jury. Federal agents have said the Hell's Angels has become an organization that rivals the Mafia in power.

But investigators think that Ca-ronite is more worried about Clarence "Butch" Crouch, a 15-year Hell's Angels insider who is cooperating with investigators in a national probe of the gang. Crouch has a number of Angels worried, investigators speculate. A former Cleveland Angel, Crouch is expected to be the key witness in the trials of six other Cleveland members who allegedly killed members of rival gangs. Investigators say they also are looking into other crimes Crouch has told them about. But a Toledo jury did not believe Crouch last week when he made his debut as a government witness.

Crouch testified that Cleveland Angel Jack Gentry gunned down Ralph Tanner, a member of the rival Outlaws motorcycle gang, in November 1980 in Toledo. The jury Friday found Gentry innocent of murder after defense lawyers questioned Crouch's credibility as a "bought-and-paid-for" government witness. INVESTIGATORS provided this sketch of Caronite's life as a member of the motorcycle gang. "He appears to be a decent family man," one investigator said. "He tries to protect his children from his involvement in the Angels." Caronite was characterized by investigators as charismatic and gregarious.

"Don't underestimate him," one agent said. "He is shrewd and capable of turning on the charm when he wants to, but we regard him as being extremely dangerous. Other gangs take anybody, but the Angels are selective." In a June interview, Caronite said police harass the Angels and give the media inaccurate information. "The majority of the stuff is bull Caronite said. "I can't believe these stories that get started.

"You can talk to the police or anyone else and they will tell you that I'm a man of my word, a man of honor," he said. CARONITE was part of a March 6, 1971, brawl between Angels and members of the Breed, a rival gang, at a Cleve- land motorcycle show. Five men were killed in the fight. Police said it was the worst gang clash ever. Caronite and 13 other Angels were indicted on charges of murder.

Caronite pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter. He served a two-month sentence in the Cuyahoga County Workhouse. He was sponsored for membership in the Angels by Eugene Pa-davick, 39, a former president of the Angels' Cleveland chapter. Caronite rose rapidly through the ranks to the presidency of the Angels' East Coast territories, the rank he held in February 1979 when he started an Angels chapter in Akron. As a gang officer, he associated with Barger, described as the most powerful Hell's Angel in the world.

AKRON CHAPTER members bought a two-story brick building a former plumbing company at 71 Ira Avenue and quickly fortified it, bricking up the first-floor windows and installing a heavy steel door. In an intelligence report, the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms said the Angels planned to make the building "one of the best fortified clubhouses in the U. Local authorities said Caronite told them his chapter members would stay out of trouble in Summit County.

The promise didn't last long. In 1980, Akron Angel Joel Parsons of Green Township and another man were charged with robbing a Coventry Township gas station. Summit County sheriff's detectives said arresting the pair also cleared up five other gas station holdups. With Parsons in prison, only Caronite and three others David M. Beal, 29; Fred A.

Friend, 34, and Larry K. Shuman, 31 remain as full-fledged members of the Akron chapter. On March 22, Akron police charged all four with operating an after-hours bar in the Ira Avenue clubhouse. On May 24, Shuman was charged with receiving stolen property after police found an allegedly stolen 12-gauge shotgun in his apartment on the second floor of the clubhouse during the raid on the after-hours bar. Three days later, Caronite and his girlfriend, Debbie Cannavino, 27, were charged in the auto theft case.

IN ANOTHER raid, police said they confiscated a pistol in Caronite's apartment in the Angels' clubhouse. As a felon, he is not allowed to possess a firearm. The Akron chapter's troubles did not end there. In June, Caronite was linked to a newly opened bar, Rocky's, at 1690 W. Market St.

A woman taking job applications in the bar identified Caronite as the bar's manager. Caronite denied being manager or having an interest in the bar. Bar owner Rocco J. Russo, a lawyer who is defending Caronite in today's trial, also denied that the Angels had any interest in the bar. Some investigators contend that since 1979, Caronite has fallen from favor with the Angels' West Coast leadership.

"His handling of the Akron chapter has been poor," one investigator said. Others speculate that Caronite's own personal sense of honor may have contributed to a fall from leadership. In the late '70s, Caronite reportedly was told by Barger and other Angel leaders to set up a "peace meeting" with members of the Outlaws, a rival gang with chapters in Youngstown, Toledo and Cincinnati. Nationally, the war between the two groups has been bloody. More than two dozen Angels and SUPPORT YOUR FIREFIGHTERS PARAMEDICS uu OVER 8,000 AKRON VOTERS SIGNED A PETITION TO PUT ISSUE 9 ON THE BALLOT.

C- fe. plllilSl NUmmiiii ft ISSUE 9 WILL NOT CUT PARAMEDIC FIRE SERVICES plt illllJ ifSK Hi wmmmmmwmiii at I Endorsed by: The Akron Labor Council Akron Police Patrolmen's Assoc. Edwin Parms, Atty. Edward Maher, Atty. West Side neighbors, Marco Summerville I Halloween's all treat for Akron area kids PROTECT THOSE WHO PROTECT YOU! ISSUE 9 not only fills a present need, but looks to the safety of all Akron citizens for years to come.

It is a realistic solution to the problem of attracting and keeping highly qualified personnel to serve you. penter. "The local police and sheriff's cars were on the scene and there were plenty of adults supervising each neighborhood. In Akron, police received only one food-tampering report. A Louisiana Street mother said she found a straight pin in a candy bar someone gave her daughter during her Saturday night begging rounds of their Kenmore neighborhood.

THE AKRON police detective bureau is investigating. In Cleveland, where police and Mayor George Voinovich urged parents to keep their children at home, the turnout was less than 20 percent of normal throughout the city. Continued from page Dl iff's deputy joined Police Chief Harold Flory and two police officers in maintaining a close watch on activities. Tina Marie Harmon, 12, was the area's first kidnap-murder victim there on Oct. 29, 1981.

Her body was found in a remote area of Stark County five days later. In Marshallville, Police Chief James Meredith and his officers were joined by a sheriff's patrol car in watching for any suspicious persons. "We officially called off beggar's night, but neighborhood families got together and had something for the kids," said Marshallville Mayor Robert Car ISSUE 9 Is not a tax issuel Your property or income tax will not increase when Issue 9 is passed. Paid for by the Committee for Issue 9, James Zushin, Chairman, 301 Watson, Akron OH 44350.