Hells Angels: Into the Abyss

Steven R. Hewitt is an assistant professor of history at the University
of Saskatchewan.

A primary source for this insider’s account of the activities and
inner working of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang is Anthony Tait, an
ex-member who served as an informant for the FBI in the 1980s. In
addition to Tait’s recollections, the author draws upon FBI
transcripts of secret Hells Angels’ meetings.

In lieu of analysis we are confronted with page after page of primary
material, including the FBI transcripts and often tedious court papers.
Answers to such questions as Tait’s motivation for becoming an
informant are left unanswered. Throughout, Lavigne seems intent on
letting the facts speak for themselves; unfortunately, what they have to
say is not always clear.