OAKLAND — Sonny Barger, the founding member of the Hells Angels who rode the country by motorcycle, wrote bestselling books, fought the law and won on several occasions, and advocated against smoking after his throat cancer diagnosis, has died at 83.
The announcement of Barger’s death came on his official Facebook page with a post containing a farewell message written by Barger.
“If you are reading this message, you’ll know that I’m gone. I’ve asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing,” the post says. “I’ve lived a long and good life filled with adventure. And I’ve had the privilege to be part of an amazing club.”
Barger died of cancer, according to the post, which says he was with his wife, Zorana, and other loved ones at the time of his death.
Born Ralph Hubert Barger, the Modesto native moved to Oakland as a child, enlisted in the U.S. Army as a teen, and gravitated toward motorcycle clubs at a young age. In his autobiography, Barger wrote that the Hells Angels were a small San Francisco club that fizzled before he joined. He and other bikers picked up the name and started the Oakland Hells Angels, which is now known as the club’s most significant charter. He’d go on to become the club’s national president in the late 1950s and is credited with helping build the Hells Angels into an international organization.
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“As a street tough, I looked the part. I wore my Levi’s jeans with one-inch-wide cuffs at the bottom, smoked Camels … had the attitude, and rode a motorcycle,” Barger wrote in his autobiography, describing his formative years in Oakland before joining the Hells Angels. He wrote that he was influenced by the film “The Wild Ones” starring Marlon Brando, and gravitated toward the image of an outlaw on the open road.
Though Barger disputed what authorities have long maintained — that the Hells Angels are a criminal enterprise held together by violence and funded by illegal cash cows — he unapologetically defended the club in the face of its biggest controversies. That included the notorious fatal stabbing of a fan during a Rolling Stones performance at the Altamont Free Concert in 1969, by a Hells Angel working security who was later acquitted on self-defense grounds.
Barger was a frequent target of law enforcement throughout his life, and though he spent lengthy periods in prison, he was also known for beating serious charges that would have led to lifelong incarceration. In 1972, he and three others were acquitted of murdering a Texas drug dealer in Oakland and setting a residence on fire as part of the killing.
In 1980, after an eight-month trial, he beat racketeering charges in a split verdict that saw nine others convicted. Barger would later write that the case came to symbolize what he saw as the federal government’s oppression of the Hells Angels, writing he refused to take a plea deal because it would have required admitting the club was a gang.
In the early 1980s, Barger was diagnosed with throat cancer that required the removal of his vocal cords. After surviving that health scare, Barger began to publicly advocate against smoking, tailoring his message with the Hells Angels’ textbook anti-establishment attitude: “Want to be a rebel? Don’t smoke as the rest of the world.”
Barger moved to Arizona in the late 1990s for health reasons, but returned to Alameda County in 2016. In his final years, he largely kept a low profile, though his 81st birthday in 2019 — perhaps owing to the numbers 8 and 1 referring to the H and A in the alphabet — was a major event, hosted at the Oakland clubhouse.
His farewell message says he died peacefully and, despite his public persona, valued time with his family and friends the most.
“Keep your head up high, stay loyal, remain free, and always value honor,” Barger wrote.
