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Motorcycle Book Store > Motorcycle books beginning with H
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Hell's Angels: Into the Abyss |
Author: Yves Lavigne
Published: 1997-02-01 |
List price: $7.99
Our price: $7.99
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As of: December 02nd, 2008 09:20:26 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Some parts interesting
This book was OK. There were a lot of parts that i just scanned when Lavigne was talking about the interworkings of the Federal and State Law Enforcement because i simpley dont care. Tait is a top notch scumbag as well. He didnt do any of it for the greater good, just to make a name, and his desire to go into law enforcement. If he wasnt an informant, he would have been no different than any of them, maybe worse. The one thing i did like was the taped church meetings. For the first time we know what they were talking about at Local, Coastal, USA, and World Meetings. The author was definately biased, and to claim he is the top Hells Angels advisor is rediculous. Also he says they started from the Boozefighers MC when they actually stared from the Pissed of Bastards MC. Isnt as good as other books out there. Read Williams Queens book 'Under and Alone'.
Hell Boys
By the 1970's The Hell's Angels were misunderstood by most law enforcement officers. Seen mostly as a fun loving but rowdy and unpredictable bike gang, they were often put on the back burner by the police and FBI. Enter one Tony Tait, an Alaskan biker with a police fixation who found himself drafted into the "Angels".
Tait was appalled by the illegal happenings within the Angels and couldn't believe how police either ignore such actives or just plain didn't know about them. Tait soon came up with a twisted idea, what if he became an informer? As an insider he could work his way up the social ladder and gain access to things it would take the government decades to get their hands on. Tait would in effect become a paid double agent for the FBI. Easier said then done, but after some false starts Tait would go on to do just that, exposing the gangs meth labs and gun running which eventually lead the U.S. government to a string of successful arrests with in the biker organization. It's an interesting story, partly because it sounds like a Hollywood screenplay, partly because (no matter what you think of Tony Tait) you know that Tait will forever be cursed and hidden within witness protection for the rest of his life. It sounds like at the very least this would make a great book, sadly however that is not the case.
Yves Lavigne refers to himself as a expert in the area of biker gangs and Hell's Angles, and I don't doubt it. He's gone through pages of audio transcripts that Tait helped secretly record of illegal transactions with-in the gang. I know this because Lavigne re-prints many of these transcripts within the pages of the book. Incriminating? Yes. Interesting? Not so much. The writing is clear but seldom captivating and the book probably ends up being at least 50 to 100 pages too long. Or at least that how it feels.
Lavigne's take on the Angels is apparent from the get go, he feels that they are criminals, often crowdedly (hiding behind the very system they seem to be rebelling against). He details some hideous murders between the Angels and other rival gangs that often prove to be far more interesting than Tait's scenario. More details such as this might have added more seasoning to this book and help booster Lavigne's opinion. Another problem is that Tait never speaks for himself; it's always through interviews with Lavigne. As a result we never get a true sense of Tait's situation. Did he ever get close to anybody in the gang? Was he conflicted? It seems he should have been. We do learn about a girlfriend/common law wife who sheds a little light on Tait's character but it's never enough. And that's the true irony of the book with all the transcripts and all the names and dates and other info the book has to offer...it just never seems to be enough.
 Hubby's Library
Always try to find something to keep him busy, problem is he keeps telling me about the stories he reads! Not part of the plan but he enjoys it.
MsStretch
 nt good
i bought this book a few years ago and began reading it as soon as i got home. i got eally bored with it, really fast. i stopped reading it about half-way through, and have not picked it back up since.
this guy became an informant long before he could have done anything for the HA that you would find interesting to read about.
dont buy.
Ridiculously emotional and biased diatribe
This, uhh, author has some serious emotional issues. This is an example of how this, umm, author might relate the experience of walking into a convenience store and briefly making eye contact with a scruffy-looking person exiting the store.
"His cold, brown eyes bore into mine, daring me to answer his challenge... I knew my life was in danger, as I watched him swagger through the door, reeking of beer, sweat, and the stench of the violence I knew he was capable of." While the scruffy guy exiting the store is wondering, "Why is this guy staring at me?"
OK- I am a woman, and I've worked with felons, some of whom were OMG (outlaw motorcycle gang) members, and some of them flirted with me and/or threatened me frequently. However, I cannot imagine ever reaching the emotional state that apparently affects this, uh, author and his "writing". Unless he wrote this book in 48 hours, immediately after being released from being held hostage by Hells Angels who hogtied and tortured him over a period of 612 days, there is no excuse for this emotionally wrought, hand-wringing diatribe. Anyone, with any passing knowledge of this subject material will find this endless editorial absurd. Yes, some bikers in OMGs can be very dangerous, break laws, threaten and murder people, ad infinitum. But- anyone who writes a book about this material, attempting to present information about OMG culture, law enforcement investigations, and other pertinant data needs to retain some semblence of objectivity. This author's emotional and biased writing style makes the reader struggle through endless sermons to get to the data. And data that is presented in such an extrordinarily emotionally biased manner, is of questionable value to any intelligent reader.
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