Sonny Barger’s rap sheet is lengthy, but as the longtime face and arguably the single most prominent member of the Hells Angels, his true danger was in his visibility and influence. He first rose to prominence as the president and co-founder of the club’s Oakland, California, chapter when Hunter S. Thompson depicted their lifestyle in the 1966 book “Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.” After that, Barger acted as the organization’s leader and public face for decades.
Barger was a key person in the Hells Angels’ clashes with anti-war protesters in 1965, taking a pro-war side and even trying to contact President Lyndon B. Johnson to offer the organization’s services in the war effort. He also acted as a public spokesman in many Hells Angels-related scandals and incidents, gaining enough personal notoriety to work in Hollywood, write books, and even market a line of Barger-branded products.
Despite his comparatively public status, Barger’s hands weren’t clean when it came to criminal activities. He was arrested numerous times for various possession and violence-themed crimes, charged with a list of crimes that included murder and kidnapping, and did time for firearm and heroin possession and aggravated assault. He also had a hand in creating some of the most famous outlaw biker visuals, from the infamous one-percenter patch that signified a person’s status as an outlaw to the apostrophe-free spelling of Hells Angels. Barger died in 2022 at age 83.
