The NYPD announced this week that they have arrest two members of the Hells Angels MC and an associate in the murder of rival Pagans MC Bronx President Francisco Rosado back in May.
Rosado was targeted by two masked gunmen dressed in black who carried out the assassination on a Saturday afternoon on Holland Avenue near Mace Avenue in the Bronx.
The NYPD charged reputed Hells Angels members Frank “Loose Cannon” Tatulli, 58, and 29 yr old Sayanon Thongthwath, along with associate Anthony DeStefano, 27. They face murder, manslaughter and weapons charges. Investigators did not say which two men fired weapons in the daring gangland style hit.
Rosado was reportedly shot in the chest and head and pronounced at the scene.
Investigators point out that the hit on Rosado came after a shooting in January at the Hells Angels new club house in Throggs Neck. The Angels had just moved into their new headquarters when the Pagans allegedly fired shots into the building. No one has been charged in that shooting.
The suspects in the Rosado murder, police sources say, fled the scene in a blue Jeep Cherokee with stolen tags. Surveillance video of the two gunmen exiting the Jeep with guns drawn has been recovered. Rosado was shot in a parking lot just across the street.
Police say it appears the Rosado murder had been in the planning stages for months. They tracked the gunmen cell phones along their escape route for some 25 minutes. They also recovered surveillance video from buses and nearby businesses of the gunman near the scene and after their escape. Investigators say the gunmen were lying in wait for Rosado for several hours before the murder.
The Pagans have been expanding their ranks in New Jersey and on Long Island in the past 18 months.
The Pagans have long been tied to crimes such as alleged drug dealing, prostitution and weapons trafficking. They have also been linked historically to organized crime figures in both New York City and Philadelphia.
The Pagans MC does have a chapter in Philadelphia. The Hells Angels also set up shop with a clubhouse in Southwest Philly in the late 90s, but were driven out of the city after the murder of the Hells Angels MC Philly Chapter vice president Tommie Woods in 2005 in a brazen late night hit on I-76.
That murder has never been solved.
