Leader of motorcycle gang faces trial

TAMPA, Fla. — For the fourth time since 1995, federal prosecutors here are taking on the Outlaws, an international motorcycle club officials say more resembles a multinational corporation, albeit one in the business of drug dealing and loan sharking.

Jury selection begins today in the case against the club's international president, James Lee "Frank" Wheeler, who is accused of helping orchestrate crimes committed by Outlaws members.

Wheeler, 60, faces life in prison if convicted on the racketeering charges, which include two murders in Indiana and New York.

The trial will be watched by gang investigators around the country and in Canada, where fights between the Outlaws and other motorcycle gangs have claimed scores of lives.

Wheeler is also accused of helping hide former Outlaws leader Harry "Taco" Bowman for more than a year as federal authorities searched for him.

Bowman was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 in the last Outlaws trial to take place in Tampa, which has become the epicenter of Outlaws prosecution because of sweeping cases brought against the gang in the mid-1990s.

The Outlaws are one of the nation's four largest motorcycle gangs, along with the Hell's Angels, the Pagans and the Bandidos. They have chapters in 17 states, Europe, Canada and Australia.

Wheeler isn't going to trial quietly.

On the Chicago-based club's Web site, supporters can buy "Free Frank" T-shirts for $20 with the proceeds going to his legal defense fund. Wheeler's wife, Stephanie, who declined to comment on the case, posts poetic messages to her husband.

Wheeler responds with his own missives, as do supporters worldwide, including at least one U.S. soldier serving in Kuwait who thanks him and other Outlaws for their support of the troops fighting in Iraq.

"Riders of the highways," Wheeler wrote in one poem. "Brothers till the end. Our way of life, the world doesn't comprehend."

Wheeler was indicted last September along with the Outlaws national vice president, Dennis Pelligrini. Wheeler was also one of 38 people named in a separate federal racketeering indictment still pending.