Operation Black Biscuit

In hockey a black biscuit is slang for a puck. In law enforcement Black Biscuit is known as the most successful undercover operation ever pulled on an outlaw motorcycle club. Eleven men and one woman risked their lives and worked their way into the Arizona-based Hells Angels motorcycle club.

It was a joint operation -- agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and officers from the Glendale, Tempe and Phoenix police departments teamed up and spent more than a year in their undercover roles.

The agents posed as members of another outlaw motorcycle club, the SOLO ANGELS NOMADS based in Tijuana, Mexico.  After establishing their cover as Solo Angels, the team of undercover operatives became so trusted by the Hells Angels that two of the ATF agents and another operative were eventually inducted into the club as made members. 

It marked the first time in history, that law enforcement officers successfully penetrated the Hells Angels. In the past, law enforcement has relied on informants to gain inside intelligence on Hells Angels.

During their year undercover, the agents learned first-hand how the Hells Angels in Arizona live by the mantra, T-C-B, which stands for 'taking care of business'. The lead agent went by the codename, Scorpion. He describes the Hells Angels reputation for "rat-packing."

They'll fight in a group. They'll fight five on one. When one guy gets in as a Hells Angels member, if a fight starts, if you have a brother in a fight, you're expected to join that fight and to help him. You're not to stand by and let your brother take an ass-whipping.Or let your brother duke it out. You get in there, you get it done, you get it settled quick and you get out of the way.

Scorpion himself became a trusted member of the rat pack. He was in so tight that he even pulled bodyguard detail watching over the godfather, Sonny Barger -- a man who had always boasted that the cops could never get to his gang.

On July 3, 2003, the United States District Court in the District of Arizona issued a sealed indictment charging dozens of Hells Angels in the state with a wide range of crimes, including murder, trafficking in illegal firearms, possession of bombs and explosive devices and drug dealing. 

On the morning of July 8, 2003, more than 500 federal and local law enforcement officers armed with 42 search warrants, fanned out around the state of Arizona in coordinated raids on Hells Angels club houses and residences.  Some 55 Hells Angels were scooped up in the raids, or subsequently turned themselves in.  Operation Black Biscuit resulted in the gathering of 1,600 pieces of evidence, the siezure of 650 guns, more than 100 explosive items including grenades and napalm, 30,000 rounds of ammunition.  Fifty people were indicted as a result of the undercover sting.  Only two Hells Angels got away -- Paul Eischeid and Douglas Wistrom