SAN FRANCISCO — In 2010, then-Antioch resident Joseph Hardisty joined the Hells Angels Richmond chapter after traveling to the Bay Area in search of brotherhood and purpose. Looking back, he said the group consumed his life.
Hardisty is perhaps the most important witnesses out of more than a dozen people called to testify by the federal government in April and May, in the trial of three Hells Angels members — Jonathan “Jon Jon” Nelson, Brian Wendt, and Russell “Rusty” Ott — who are all accused of being part of a conspiracy to murder a man named Joel Silva, a sergeant-at-arms of the outlaw biker club who seemingly dropped off the face of the earth in May 2014.
The alleged murder plot came to a head during Lanconia Bike Week 2014, a major event for motorcycle enthusiasts in New Hampshire, where Hardisty said he and a contingency of other Hells Angels members from California, including Silva, travelled for the eight-day celebration. Silva, who went by the nickname “Doughboy,” was a frequent meth user, and Hardisty partied with him during the trip, he testified.
Four years earlier, Hardisty said he took a shot at a rival biker club member on a Southern California freeway during a Hells Angels run. The brazen act of protection prompted members of the group to pull over at the next stop and tell Hardisty he was a full fledged member. In fact, it was Silva who told him he no longer had to cover the Hells Angels emblem on his leather vest anymore, a symbolic gesture of acceptance that solidified their friendship.
During cross-examination, defense attorneys mocked Hardisty’s contention that he became a trusted member of the club in such a short period of time, and got him to admit to being a “heavy meth user” during the time in question. Jai Gohel, an attorney representing Nelson, also recounted Hardisty commenting that he felt bad about testifying.