James Hines, RICO Conspiracy, Tennessee 2024

Nashville, TN - James Hines, 47, one of eighteen members and associates of the Clarksville chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, has been sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison for RICO conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes.

The sentencing, which took place on [no date given], marks the conclusion of a multi-year, coordinated effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney's office, and the Justice Department's Criminal Division to address organized criminal activity in Middle Tennessee.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Clarksville Mongols were a violent motorcycle gang affiliated with the Mongols Motorcycle Club, an international organization that identifies as an 'outlaw' motorcycle gang. The gang's members define themselves as being within the '1%' of motorcycle clubs who do not adhere to the law or the rights of others.

In early 2015, some of the defendants sought to transition from another motorcycle club and establish the Clarksville Mongols. As a show of loyalty and to gain favor with the Mongols, they committed a drive-by shooting and burned down the Sin City Motorcycle Club's clubhouses in Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee.

One of the earliest and most violent acts committed by the Clarksville Mongols occurred on May 22, 2015, with the kidnapping and murder of Victim 1, a young mother. The Clarksville Mongols believed Victim 1 had stolen narcotics, money, and firearms, had knowledge about the theft of such items, and had been speaking negatively to others about the Clarksville Mongols.

The Clarksville Mongols' violent conduct culminated in the kidnapping and murder of Victim 1 and other violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assaults, narcotics trafficking, robbery, extortion, money laundering, witness tampering, and various firearms offenses. In an effort to establish themselves as the area's dominant motorcycle club, members and associates of the Clarksville Mongols also participated in large-scale drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities with the help of Mongols members from California who supplied the Clarksville Mongols with more than 50 pounds of almost 100% pure methamphetamine worth approximately $1 million for distribution in and around Tennessee and Kentucky.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/eighteen-members-and-associates-clarksville-mongols-motorcycle-gang-sentenced