SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge has denied a request for a new trial by the notorious Mongols Motorcycle Club, despite claims by the outlaw organization that its former president was a secret government informant who worked against the group during its ongoing legal battle with the government.
Several years after a jury deemed the Mongols a criminal organization, the club’s attorneys have in recent months alleged that former Mongols President David Santillan was a government “rat” who was working with now-retired ATF Agent John Ciccone in the midst of a 2018 trial at a Santa Ana courthouse.
Santillan and Ciccone have denied the club’s allegations, and representatives for law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the Mongols have testified that there is no record of the former club president serving as a confidential informant. U.S. District Judge David Carter last week ruled against the Mongols request for a new trial, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
