OLD ORCHARD BEACH – The state medical examiner will do an autopsy today on the body of a reputed leader in the Outlaws motorcycle gang who died in a shootout with federal agents Tuesday morning.
Thomas “Tomcat” Mayne, 58, was killed after a special response team with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives surrounded the house at 5 Sandy Circle to serve an arrest warrant.
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Mayne was one of 27 members of the American Outlaw Association, also known as the Outlaws, who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., on charges including racketeering, attempted murder, kidnapping and drug dealing. The ATF made arrests in 10 states Tuesday.
The sweep picked up Jack “Milwaukee Jack” Rosga, 53, of Milwaukee, Wisc., the president of the Outlaws, who allegedly ordered members to retaliate against the Hells Angels in Maine for an assault on two Outlaws.
Prosecutors say Mayne and Michael “Madman” Pedini staked out the Hells Angels’ clubhouse in Canaan last year and shot a member there repeatedly, although the victim did not die.
The ATF had arrest warrants for three Mainers: Mayne; Thomas “Taz” Benvie, 41, of Sanford, president of the Maine chapter of the Outlaws; and Joseph Allman of Hollis, former president and enforcer in the Maine chapter. Allman was arrested in Mississippi, where he has been working.
Another member of the Outlaws was charged Tuesday morning with resisting a search warrant during the encounter at Sandy Circle.
Kenneth Chretien, part-owner of the house, defied agents’ commands, even after being hit with nonlethal baton rounds and receiving a five-second burst of electricity from a Taser, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
Only when Chretien was threatened with another Taser shock did he submit to being handcuffed, the court papers say.
The affidavit contains some description of what happened Tuesday morning, but contains no details about how Mayne was killed.
John Kaufman, a member of one of five ATF teams that handle high-risk search warrants and arrests, wrote that uniformed agents gathered at the house before 6 a.m.
As they prepared to enter, they were shot at through a window from inside, the affidavit says. None of the agents was injured.
Agents returned fire. Kaufman wrote that it was unclear who fired at the agents or whether they were able to fire again.
Negotiators used bullhorns to order people out of the house. After 15 to 20 minutes, two women and Chretien left the building. Chretien was talking on a cell phone and refused orders to drop it, the affidavit says.
Chretien shouted obscenities at the agents, then rushed Kaufman, the affidavit says. Kaufman responded by firing three non-lethal baton rounds — cylinders intended to incapacitate. He wrote that they had no noticeable effect on Chretien.
Benvie and Chretien made initial appearances Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland. Benvie is scheduled for a detention hearing Thursday. He faces as much as 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and conspiracy to commit violence in the aid of racketeering.
ATF agents searched Mayne’s house, Benvie’s house and the Outlaws clubhouse at 490 Hollis Road in Dayton.
The assignment of a special response team for Mayne’s arrest shows the concern that officials had about the potential for violence, Glen “Andy” Anderson, special agent in charge of the ATF field office in Boston, said at a press conference about a mile from the shooting scene.
Jeffrey Barrett, who has lived at 4 Sandy Circle for the past 22 years, said he and his wife were getting ready for work Tuesday morning when they heard the raid begin next door. They heard gunshots and people yelling that the house was surrounded.
“We kind of crouched and stayed low,” Barrett said. Police then escorted the Barretts from their house and let them take one of their cars and leave.
“It was unsettling,” Barrett said.
He said Mayne lived next door for about 10 years but they seldom spoke, even though the houses are relatively close.
“We had nothing in common,” he said. “They had loud motorcycles.”
Jim Boutet, who owns Jim’s Auto Salvage at 3 Ross Road, next to Mayne’s home, said he knew Mayne and sold him a couple of Chevrolet Blazers over the years, but didn’t socialize with him.
Boutet said Mayne was known as a biker.
The federal indictment, unsealed Tuesday, describes Mayne as a former enforcer in the Outlaws’ red region, which covers most of New England. Most recently he was regional treasurer.
Records show that Mayne was convicted in 2007 of carrying a concealed weapon, unlawful possession of a scheduled drug and possession of marijuana. He spent four days in jail and was fined $750.
The federal crackdown on the Outlaws stems largely from their turf war with the Hells Angels. That conflict erupted in Portland in 2002 and 2005, when groups affiliated with the national motorcycle gangs descended in large numbers on the Old Port and clashed occasionally with each other and police.
The federal indictment says that in September, Hells Angels assaulted two Outlaws at a gas station in New Haven, Conn. The patches worn by gang members to show their loyalty were taken from the Outlaws by the Hells Angels, a sign of disrespect.
In October, the national Outlaws president asked Pedini, who had held the rank of enforcer in the northern Maine Outlaws chapter, to personally take revenge on the Hells Angels, according to the court papers.
Allman, former president and enforcer of the Maine Outlaws, said at the time that members of the group were “taking care of business” in Maine, the indictment says.
On the evening of Oct. 8, a Madison man was found shot in his pickup truck at the entrance to the Hells Angels clubhouse on Route 23 in Canaan.
The indictment says Pedini and Mayne staked out the clubhouse, then confronted and shot the rival gang member. He was hospitalized for gunshot wounds. The two received new patches indicating they had committed a violent act on behalf of the gang, prosecutors say.
In November, Pedini was arrested by Waterville police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and charged with four counts of trafficking in cocaine.
Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Dana Kelly, whose officers helped secure the perimeter near Mayne’s house during Tuesday’s raid, said he doesn’t think the presence of an Outlaw gang leader suggests the town is unsafe.
“I don’t think Old Orchard Beach is a place where people should be concerned about these things more than anywhere else,” he said.
Tuesday’s shooting delayed the search of Mayne’s house by ATF agents because investigators with the Maine Attorney General’s Office spent several hours collecting evidence for their investigation into the use of force.
The AG’s Office investigates all use of deadly force by police to determine whether it was necessary to protect officers or others.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: dhench@pressherald.com
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