COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated that Dan Bifield, a/k/a Diamond Dan, of the Hells Angels’ Rock Hell City Nomad Chapter in South Carolina, pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO Act-18 U.S.C. §1962). He faces up to 20 years in prison as a result of his RICO plea and will be sentenced in March 2013 by United States District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie.

Facts detailed for the court showed that Bifield agreed with co-conspirators to participate in an criminal enterprise. The enterprise’s participants, who were associated through the Rock Hell City Nomad Chapter, engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity across the state from Rock Hill to Lexington, South Carolina. Among other offenses, the group engaged in narcotics trafficking and money laundering. As part of this enterprise, Bifield received kickbacks in return for illegal activity conducted by other members of the criminal enterprise.

This guilty plea arises from a superseding indictment charging 20 members and associates of the Hells Angels with racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, robbery, arson, and firearms trafficking. The indictment resulted from a two-year interagency investigation by the South Carolina Hells Angels Task Force (SCHATF), which includes agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Lexington County Sheriff’s Department; Lexington Police Department; Rock Hill Police Department; York County Sheriff’s Office; and the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jay N. Richardson and James H. May.