An autopsy Wednesday showed that the reputed motorcycle gang leader who was killed Tuesday during a raid by federal agents in Old Orchard Beach died from multiple gunshot wounds, said the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Thomas Mayne, 58, a member of the Outlaws, had been indicted on charges of racketeering and attempted murder in the shooting of a Hells Angels member in Canaan last year.

When agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives surrounded Mayne’s bungalow in Old Orchard Beach at 6 a.m. Tuesday, someone inside started shooting, authorities said.

Mayne was killed when agents returned fire. None of the three other people in the house was injured.

Afterward, investigators recovered a shotgun and a handgun inside, an ATF spokesman said. One of the agents discovered later that a bullet had damaged the ceramic plate covering his Kevlar vest, and could have caused serious injury had the agent not had body armor.

Mayne’s accomplice in last year’s shooting, according to the 50-page indictment, was Michael “Madman” Pedini, a fellow member of the Outlaws, who is in the Somerset County Jail on unrelated drug charges.

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Another Maine member of the Outlaws who was arrested during Tuesday’s multistate roundup, Thomas “Taz” Benvie of Sanford, is scheduled to be in U.S. District Court in Portland today for a detention hearing.

Joseph Allman of Hollis, a former president and enforcer of the Maine Outlaws chapter, was arrested in Mississippi.

The four were among 27 members of the Outlaws who were named in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. The indictment, filed in Virginia, alleges several acts of violence and intimidation as the Outlaws sought to take over territory in that state.

The Maine members figure prominently in the indictment, beyond the alleged shooting by Mayne and Pedini. Allman tried to kill a rival in New Hampshire in 2005, authorities say.

He and others drove a vehicle into a member of the Diablos, which is affiliated with the Hells Angels, who was riding a motorcycle in Ossipee.

The bike crashed and the man was knocked unconscious and seriously injured. Allman took his Diablos vest, a trophy that confers status on club members. Allman bragged about the attack later to an undercover agent who had infiltrated the Outlaws, according to the indictment.

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The charges against the 27 Outlaws members, including the club president in Milwaukee, are the result of a two-year undercover investigation.

Police say motorcycle club members are extremely loyal and rarely provide information about fellow members, so infiltrating the organizations can be the only way to build a case.

“It basically takes someone with nerves of steel,” said ATF spokesman Michael Campbell. “You have to be willing to go into a dangerous situation like that and hope you’re able to keep your story straight, that you’re able to convince people you’re a bad guy.”

The indictment indicates that members can be compelled to commit violent acts on behalf of club leaders or risk losing their standing in the group. Pedini had been ordered to attack Hells Angels by the Outlaws president, the court papers say.

Police say Gary Watson, 63, of Madison was shot repeatedly in his pickup truck at the entrance to the Hells Angels clubhouse in Canaan.

In response to Tuesday’s fatal shooting of Mayne, the ATF will conduct what it calls an “after action” review to determine what can be learned from the incident and whether any policy or training should be changed.

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The use of deadly force will be analyzed by an ATF review team, and the Maine Attorney General’s Office will investigate whether the shooting was legally justified.

Tuesday’s shooting was extremely unusual, Campbell said.

In the year ending Sept. 30, 2009, special response teams were called out for 350 high-risk searches or arrests. There was gunfire in just one, he said.

“Our goal is to make sure we do the entry so both officers and the suspects come out of that place alive,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, some people make a choice. They make a choice to shoot police officers. We try to do everything we can to avoid that. Sometimes we’re given no choice.”

Besides what prosecutors say is an effort by the Outlaws to take territory from rivals, some of the violence stems from a cycle of retaliation, the indictment says.

In September in New Haven, Conn., two Outlaws members were hospitalized after an attack by members of the Hells Angels and their club patches were taken.

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Outlaws President Jack Rosga asked Pedini to personally take revenge, leading to the shooting outside the Hells Angels clubhouse in Canaan in October, the indictment says.

 

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

 


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