Sam Amico
Sonny Barger, the Hells Angels founder and Sons of Anarchy actor, died Wednesday of cancer, per Deadline. He was 83.
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Barger actually announced that his death was looming in a Facebook post.
“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. I’ve lived a long and good life filled with adventure. And I’ve had the privilege to be part of an amazing club. Although I’ve had a public persona for decades, i’ve mostly enjoyed special time with my club brothers, my family, and close friends,” he wrote.
“Please know that I passed peacefully after a brief battle with cancer. But also know that in the end, I was surrounded by what really matters: My wife, Zorana, as well as my loved ones. Keep your head up high, stay loyal, remain free, and always value honor. – Sonny”
Barger became the face of Hells Angels after serving as a founder member of the organization’s Oakland chapter. He was also among the bikers who provided security at the at the infamous 1969 Rolling Stones Altamont concert, which became bloody and violent.
“Barger had written six books, including his autobiography Hell’s Angel — The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club, in which he put the blame for the disastrous Altamont concert squarely on the Stones. The Angels had been hired by the band to provide security, a decision the Stones would regret: The bikers beat audience members with billiard sticks, punched and knocked out Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin and attacked (in self-defense, they claimed) a pistol-wielding 18-year-old Stones fan named Meredith Hunter. One of the Angels stabbed and killed Hunter but was acquitted after claiming self-defense.”
There’s more.
“Barger also tangled with the law over the years,” Deadline wrote. “He was acquitted in the 1972 murder of a drug dealer but convicted in 1973 and 1988 on narcotics and weapons charges and serving about four years for each conviction.”
Along with all that, he still managed to appear in multiple movies and documentaries, including serving as a consulting producer on Sons of Anarchy, offering tips on biker culture.
He was was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1983 and prostate cancer in 2010, though it remains unclear what type of cancer caused his death.
R.I.P. Sonny…..fly high with the angels 😥 😥💜
A few seconds of googling and you’d have got this right. Barger was not the founder.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels_Motorcycle_Club
The article says he was the founder of the Oakland chapter, not the entire club He’seven credted in your source. .
Founder of the Oakland chapter! Said so in this story.
Oops
Not that wiki is a proper place to get correct info but…..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Barger
CAN YOU EVEN READ🤷♂️🤷♂️❌❌❌
Otto was “one of the founders.” One search on google would have told you that.
Otto was a character on SOA played by writer Kurt Sutter.
Sonny was founding father of the Oakland chapter of the club . The original founders were WW11 veterans.
If you had read it , it says founder of the Oakland chapter.
R.I.P Uncle Sonny. I will always remember and carry with me the values, loyalty and respect that you have taught me. You were a amazing man and had the biggest heart. Thank you for always being there for my mother, Portland Bambi, when she had no one else. We will miss you more than I can even begin to explain. We will never forget you! 😭 We love you!
L & R 🙁 sad day
R.I.p. sunny we will miss you.
Ohio, Lorain
Rest easy fly high Sonny u will be missed
R.I.P Sonny . My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends 🙏 ❤️
RIP, ride far and high
RIP Sonny. When will they ever admit that Meridieth Hunter had a gun at Altamont in 1969 and the Angel came with a knife, and won. I will forever be annoyed by the political correctness of this event.
He was most certainly familiar with my hometown. I was born in the seat of the H A Club in Fontana California. Ask Time Magazine if you don’t believe me, they put our bad reputation right on their cover as our only claim to fame. Now they have to include Sammy Hagar. It was the WWII mustering out pay that bought their hogs with. My parents were stoners and knew several partial of full members, Some of their front teeth were rotted out from Crosstop Bennies speed that went all over in the day. We once stopped by an Oakland Angel’s house for an afternoon of them partying. Their kids in my generation had a lot of speed and reds, heroin and all that radical stuff and lucky for me I got out of Fontana before delving into those drugs. It was for sure a radical home town that many have not survived and I flew over that cuckoos nest.
RIP Sonny. Godspeed
I no we Sonny at a church in Habersham county GA. HE VISITED US OFTEN I WAS THE PREACHER TO THE INMATES FOR 7 years
RIP
RIP
Our family will never forget you and what you showed us and how to stand for what we believe in. We will miss you always and pray for those that you left behind! You have been such a huge part of so many and we won’t ever forget you 🤍
Not an angel from hell an angel Going Through Hell
Glad to have known you, ride with all those that have gone before you including my husband
What a great Man, he’s definitely going to be missed, RIP, your now one of god’s angel’s
RIP
RIP SONNY GODSPEED, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE THE FACE OF THE OAKLAND HELLS ANGELS
Amen – In the wind…………….
Rest In Peace. You earned it. God bless. Prayers
RIP sonny the angels are missing a number 1 member
rest in peace sonny – you will be terribly missed
Rest in Paradise Sonny.