Sonny Barger, famous Hells Angel and bestselling author, dead at 83 of cancer

OAKLAND — Sonny Barger, the famous founding member of the Hells Angels who rode the country by motorcycle, wrote bestselling books, fought the law and won on several occasions, and advocated against smoking after his throat cancer diagnosis, has died at 83.

The announcement of Barger’s death came on his official Facebook page with a post of a prewritten farewell message.

If you are reading this message, you’ll know that I’m gone. I’ve asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing,” the post says. I’ve lived a long and good life filled with adventure. And I’ve had the privilege to be part of an amazing club.”

Barger died of cancer, according to the post, which says he was surrounded by his wife, Zorana, and other loved ones.

Born Ralph Hubert Barger, the Modesto native moved to Oakland as a child, enlisted in the U.S. Army as a teen, and gravitated toward motorcycle clubs at a young age. In his autobiography, Barger wrote that the Hells Angels were established by the time he joined the club’s Oakland charter. But he helped build the outlaw biker club into an international organization.

Though Barger disputed what authorities have long maintained — that the Hells Angels are a criminal enterprise held together by violence and funded by illegal cash cows — he unapologetically defended the club in the face of its biggest controversies, including the notorious fatal stabbing of a fan at the Altamont Free Concert in 1969, during a Rolling Stones performance. The stabber, Hells Angel Alan Passaro, who’d been hired as security, was later acquitted on self-defense grounds.

Barger was a frequent target of law enforcement throughout his life, and though he spent lengthy period in prison, he was also known for beating serious charges that would have led to lifelong incarceration. In 1972, he and three others were acquitted of murdering a Texas drug dealer in Oakland and setting a residence on fire as part of the killing.

In 1980, after an eight-month trial, he beat racketeering charges in a split verdict that saw nine others convicted. Barger would later write that the case came to symbolize what he saw as the federal government’s oppression of the Hells Angels.

In the early 1980s, Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer and required the removal of his vocal chords. After surviving that health scare, Barger began to publicly advocate against smoking, tailoring his message with the Hells Angels’ textbook anti-establishment attitude: “Want to be a rebel? Don’t smoke as the rest of the world.”

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