Officials: Meth ring tied to biker gang smashed

Announcing criminal charges against 40 people, authorities today declared they had smashed a major methamphetamine ring operating in the Philadelphia area and dealt a major blow to the Outlaws motorcycle gang.

The 11-month investigation, code-named Operation Ice Breaker, grew of out an earlier probe, Operation Mexican Ice, which targeted the meth pipeline between Mexico and the Philadelphia region, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said at a news conference in Philadelphia.

The three men arrested in that first wave, announced in June, were mid- or lower-level participants, Corbett said at the time.

This phase, which included hundreds of wiretaps, led to the arrest of leaders, including William Lees, 55, of Philadelphia, who distributed crystal meth shipped from Mexico through Atlanta to the biker gang, whose activities were often directed by president Thomas "The Boss" Zaroff Jr. and Charles "The Panhead" Rees, Corbett said.

"We have not only taken down the main methamphetamine dealers in the region but we also have arrested the leaders and key members of the Philadelphia chapter of the Outlaws motorcycle gang," Corbett said.

He called the Outlaws the nation's fourth largest motorcycle gang that uses violence to further illegal activities.

Between September and March, Lees, who was not himself part of the Outlaws, moved about 28 pounds with a street value of about $2.5 million, according to the statewide grand jury that recommended the prosecutions.

The organization operated in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania and in Camden and Burlington Counties across the river, Corbett said.

Seventeen people had been arrested as of this morning, including Lees and three of his alleged suppliers, Jose Torres, Rebecca Guirate and Andrew Bernard Jr., all from Philadelphia.

More are expected to surrender shortly, an official said. The office's narcotics bureau spearheaded the investigation

Of the 40 who were charged, 15 were members of the Outlaws, who would hold weekly meetings known as "church" to discuss illegal activities such as dealing narcotics, gambling, prostitution and extortion, Corbett said.

In one wiretapped conversation, Zaroff spoke of plans to rob and assault members of the rival Pagans following a confrontations at an April tattoo convention in Philadelphia, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.