was declared when a jury failed to reach a verdict on counts against eighteen defendants. Of the remaining twelve, nine were convicted and three — including Sonny and Sharon Barger — were acquitted. War against the Outlaws By 1978, the Hells Angels had chapters in Nebraska, Massachusetts, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Angels declared war on the Outlaws during a summit of various chapter presidents in Rochester, New York, in November 1978. The feud between the two clubs began in 1974 when Outlaws bikers in South Florida murdered three members of the Hells Angels' Lowell, Massachusetts, chapter as retribution for an Outlaw being beaten by Hells Angels at a party in New York City. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Hells Angels and the Outlaws were engaged in a conflict over control of the methamphetamine trade in the United States and Canada. Authorities accused the Angels of dominating the production of the drug in the U.S. Barger addressed such allegations by saying: "I'm sure there are some individual Angels who've sold methamphetamines. Just like I'm sure some cops have sold methamphetamines. I'm sure some of our members own guns, whether legal or not. And I'm sure the government makes a living off of us." In the late 1970s, Barger and other senior Hells Angels ordered James "Buddy" Caronite, the president of the club's East Coast faction, to organize a peace conference with Outlaws leaders. The supposed peace meeting, scheduled to be held in an eastern state, was in fact an opportunity for the Hells Angels to assassinate their rivals' leadership, according to investigators. Having given his word to the Outlaws that they would be safe at the meeting, Caronite – who characterised himself as a "man of honor" – reportedly warned away the Outlaws when he learned of the assassination plot. The warning angered the Angels hierarchy, and Caronite was demoted from his position as a national officer. In October 1982, Barger was part of a large group of Hells Angels from across the country who attended the murder trial of Jack "Jack-O-Lantern" Gentry, a member of the club's Cleveland chapter accused of shooting Outlaws member Ralph "Real Time" Tanner behind the Outlaws' Toledo clubhouse on November 30, 1980. Cleveland Hells Angel-turned-government witness Clarence Crouch testified for the prosecution that Gentry had murdered Tanner as part of an initiation process into the