The two Mongols Motorcycle Club members who confronted a member of the Vagos, a rival motorcycle gang, at an Ontario bar on March 4 and then killed him when that encounter escalated into personal insults and violence, have both been arrested, one charged with assault and gang activity and the other with murder.
Julian Pulido, 35, of Upland, was taken into custody some eight to nine hours after the death of a member of the Vagos, whom federal law enforcement officers identified by the initials V.S. Pulido was charged by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office in San Bernardino County Superior Court on March 6 with murder, felony discharging a firearm and causing great bodily injury, possessing a gun while being a felon and engaging in a serious felony while on parole in connection with V.S.’s death.
Clifford Michael Lavoy, 51, of Montclair, who authorities say was involved in the incident that led to the death of V.S. but did not participate in his shooting, was arrested shortly after the killing, but subsequently released. On Tuesday, federal law enforcement officers once again took him into custody. He is charged with the assault on V.S. that preceded his death, as well as gang-related activity.
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on March 4, V.S., wearing a black sweatshirt and gold chain that identified him as a member of the Vagos, came into the Firewater Bar & Grill at 1528 West Holt Avenue in Ontario.
Lavoy, who is also known among Mongols as “Buckshot,” and Pulido, whose Mongols monicker is “Juls,” had been inside the Firewater Bar & Grill for roughly two-and-a-half hours prior to V.S.’s arrival, having been there with Lavoy’s accompanying female since 10 p.m. or earlier on the evening of March 3.
Sometime shortly after V.S.’s arrival, he became involved in a stare-down with Pulido and Lavoy, at which point Lavoy expressed to V.S. that he had disrespected not only himself and Pulido, but the Firewater establishment, which is a known hangout for Mongols. The five foot-11-inch, 225-pound Pulido wore a black sweater and hat with Mongols’ insignia, according to prosecutors. Lavoy told V.S. that it was incumbent upon him, as a member of a rival gang who had come into Mongols territory, to show respect by greeting the Mongols who were present. Pulido, likewise, complained that V.S., as a Vago who was not on his own turf, should have been more deferential to him and Lavoy. Pulido contrasted V.S.’s behavior with his own by noting that he, Pulido, had given V.S. his propers by honoring V.S. as one of his elders.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club, also known as the Mongol Brotherhood or Mongol Nation, originally formed in Montebello in 1969. It was in a bitter rivalry with the Hells Angels, which is decades older and was founded in Fontana. Ultimately, after a number of murders and acts of violence that passed between the two organizations, a truce was declared and the Hells Angels, the largest outlaw motorcycle gang in the United States and the world, headquartered itself in Northern California, relinquishing Southern California to the Mongols. At present, with over 2,000 members, the Mongols are the fifth-largest outlaw biker club in the world, after the Hells Angels, the Bandidos, the Outlaws and the Pagans.
The Mongols, like the Hells Angels do not admit African American members. The Mongols originally formed as a Hispanic club, but now admits Native American and White males as members. It remains a primarily Hispanic gang.
The Vagos Motorcycle Club boasts a significant Hispanic membership.
Reportedly, V.S. told Lavoy and Pulido that their obsession with being respected was unbecoming and that Pulido should quit crying about it like a “little bitch.”
Over the last two decades, it has become fashionable among Latinos to contemptuously refer to men using the term bitch as a means of establishing psychological and physical dominance. While one man making such a characterization of another man was previously unthinkable, the ploy involves delivering the insult in such a way that the recipient either makes a show of violence that can be responded to in like kind or accepts having been so characterized, thereby signifying the dominance of the individual who made the utterance. In this instance, it is now apparent, V.S. miscalculated, because Pulido did not back down, at which point V.S. sought to ameliorate both Pulido and Lavoy by apologizing and buying them a round of drinks.
Finishing the drink V.S. had purchased for him, Pulido then demanded from the bartender another set of drinks for him and Lavoy, saying V.S. would pay for them. When the bartender refused to serve the two Mongols any more drinks, Lavoy went to the restroom, indicating no one should leave while he was gone.
Upon returning to where Pulido and V.S. were standing, in an apparently pre-arranged signal, Lavoy told Pulido to “go,” whereupon Pulido punched V.S. in the face, according to federal prosecutors. Lavoy and Pulido continued to assail V.S., including striking him on the side of the head with a bottle and Lavoy placing him in a chokehold, which he maintained while V.S.’s head turned progressive colors of pink, then red, then purple. When Lavoy loosened his grip, V.S. ripped himself free and took flight toward the exit of the Firewater Bar & Grill. Pulido chased him and pulled a black gun out from beneath his Mongols vest. He fired at least four shots at the victim. V.S. made it out of the Firewater Bar & Grill as far as the sidewalk. Pulido, Lavoy and the woman he was with bolted from the scene.
V.S., who had extensively bled out, was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:45 a.m.
A report of V.S.’s shooting was phoned in to local authorities along with identifications of Pulido as the shooter and Lavoy as having assaulted the victim before the shooting.
When officers with the Ontario Police Department attempted to take Pulido into custody later that day prior to 10 a.m., he fled in a Dodge Charger and led more than two-dozen officers from multiple jurisdictions on a nine-hour pursuit across five California counties in California. He was arrested at 7:42 p.m. by Ontario police officers after he drove his vehicle into a ditch paralleling Highway 46 near Lost Hills in Kern County. Pulido was still wearing the Mongols-associated gear he had worn when he had the run in with V.S. that led to his death.
V.S.’s autopsy revealed he had been shot multiple times in the back, and that four bullets were lodged in his body. His neck had a penetrating bruise, which was reflective of having been choked by Lavoy. He had sustained a cut on his left ear and an open wound behind his left ear surrounded by bruising, consistent with being struck with pointed force by a blunt object. He had an abrasion on the left side of his chin along with contusions to his lips and an abrasion on the left side of his nose, according to the autopsy report. When police arrested Pulido, he was wearing a metal ring with a Mongols insignia that had V.S. dried blood on it.
Lavoy’s arrest on April 15 was made on a federal criminal complaint that charges him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering. Pulido is charged via the same federal complaint with murder in aid of racketeering.
Lavoy made his initial appearance in United States District Court in Riverside on April 15. A federal magistrate judge ordered him jailed without bond and scheduled a May 6 arraignment in Riverside federal court.
Pulido currently is in the custody of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. He is expected to make his initial appearance in Riverside federal court in the coming weeks
Assistant United States Attorneys Declan T. Conroy and Daniel H. Weiner of the Transnational Organized Crime Section are prosecuting this case as part of Operation Take Back America, which, among other goals, is seeking the elimination of transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.