On Wednesday, Christopher Ablett, a 39-year-old member of the Mongols motorcycle club, was convicted of murdering Mark "Papa" Guardado, the late head of the San Francisco Hells Angels chapter, at a bar in the Mission in 2008. The two gangs are reportedly rivals.
A jury convicted Ablett of four charges: murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a deadly weapon, using a gun in a violent crime and using a gun in murder.
Guardado was killed in a September 2008 fight outside of a bar in the Mission. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ablett traveled to San Francisco to visit a friend, and stopped by the bar wearing his Mongols gear. Reportedly, he was carrying a foot-long military knife and a revolver with him at the time.
Guardado heard about Ablett's presence and visited to bar to investigate. A fight broke out, and Guardado was shot twice and stabbed four times. Ablett turned himself over to police in Oklahoma one month later.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Ablett argued that he acted in self-defense during the trial, but the jury rejected his claim. Prosecutors alleged that Ablett killed Guardado to better his ranking with the Mongols.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club reacted to the news on the group's blog:
If the federal case agasint Mongol Christopher Bryan "Stoney" Ablett proves anything, it proves that American federal "justice" is a crooked shell game played in a back alley at midnight.
Guardado was the president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, and was an advisor for the television show "Sons of Anarchy," a popular series about outlaw motorcycle gangs. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral.
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Ablett will be sentenced on May 15 and faces a minimum sentence of life in prison.