In 2008, nearly 80 Mongols members were charged in a sweeping racketeering case that included an array of alleged murders, assaults and drug deals. The charges were the culmination of Operation Black Rain, an investigation that centered on paid informants and undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who infiltrated the club’s ranks. Prosecutors devised the strategy of stripping the Mongols of its trademarks in this earlier case. At a news conference announcing the charges, then-U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien laid out the strategy, saying that taking control of the trademarked insignia would give the government the authority to force Mongols members to remove their image from their riding jackets. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-mongols-trademark-verdict-20190111-story.html https://www.ocregister.com/2022/07/01/mongols-motorcycle-club-says-its-ex-president-was-a-government-rat/