All language subtitles for Secrets of the Hells Angels S01E03 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: Police believe
the Hells Angels murdered
the children and their mother,

but they have no proof,
and there have been no arrests.

The woman and two twin girls
had been shot

in the back of the head.

It looked very much
like a professional hit.

I've never spoken
about this before.

About my sister or the twins,

or what happened
in that house.

MIKE GRAHAM: We discovered that
the woman was Margo Compton.

The twin girls were
Margo's daughters,

Sylvia, and Sandra.

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

Some of the Hells Angels
are predators.

They're looking for whoever
they can take advantage of,

especially women.

The Angels were supposed
to have some ethics,

certain lines that
they don't cross,

that they didn't
murder children.

You didn't kill little girls,
you didn't kill kids.

Margo Compton's case,

that was way
outside the limits.

GRAHAM: Margo was testifying

against a member
of the Hells Angels.

Anybody that testifies against
the Hells Angels

are gonna become targets.

(ENGINE STARTS)

BROADCASTER:
Over and over they say
they are not criminals,

they are rebels,
propelling against a society

for which
they have no respect.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

We never gave a (BLEEP) about
what anybody else thought.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

We're mostly a bunch of
happy go lucky guys

trying to make it
in this world, you know?

KERRI KRYSKO: They're misfits,
they're outlaws,

and they defy
the laws of attraction.

I don't know, I idolize 'em.

I adore 'em.
They're my whole life.

(TIRES SCREECHING)

Angels forever.
Forever Angels.

Speaks for itself.

(ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)

The Hells Angels are not
a criminal organization.

Why don't you people go home?

GEORGE CHRISTIE:
It's an organization
with criminals in it.

(ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)

The Hells Angels run
a massive propaganda scheme.

And the unknowing gulped down
that Hells Angels Kool-Aid.

Everybody just cool out.

Hells Angels, everybody.

JAY DOBYNS: That is all designed
to hide murder,

rape, drug trafficking,

gun running, extortion,
assault, arson.

I'm not trying
to glorify my life,

but I'm certainly
not gonna apologize for it.

I'm doing extreme stuff.

-For what?
-I'm telling it the way
it really happened.

I never thought
I'd be talking openly
about this stuff.

-INTERVIEWER:
Ready for this?
-I'm ready.

(MUSIC ENDS)

(SNIFFLES)

Sorry, it's been...

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

..forty-six years,
it's difficult.

I have a difficult time

with what men do
to women and children.

Some men.

(FANFARE PLAYING)

GRAHAM: At that
particular time,

Washington County
was a small county.

I hadn't had
a lot of experience.

I'd done a lot of standard

criminal investigations,
burglaries, thefts,

armed robberies.

I had been involved in a few
murder investigations,

but never
the primary detective.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(FANFARE CONTINUES)

GRAHAM: On a Sunday,
August 7th, 1977,

I received a call out...

regarding a homicide.

I had no idea
what the situation was,

and it was in a small town,
a small community
called Laurelwood.

When I went into the house
and first observed the man

and the woman
in the living area,

I determined
that they had bullet wounds

behind their left ear.

There was blood
all over the telephone.

The young man had been
still alive for a while

and had attempted
to use the telephone.

We moved into the bedroom,

and I discovered

two twin girls
lying side by side.

Both had been shot
in the back of the head,

behind the left ear.

They were clutching
teddy bears, both of them.

They were about
five and a half
or six years of age.

GRAHAM: We discovered that
the woman was Margo Compton.

The twin girls were
Margo's daughters,

Sylvia and Sandra.

And the young man
was Gary Sesler.

It became quickly obvious
that it was an execution,

probably by
a professional hitman,

because there was little
or no evidence left behind.

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING)

What did I feel?
(LAUGHS NERVOUSLY)

Well...

When I looked at the...
At the little girls, um...

My own children
were about that age.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

I had no idea
how long it would take me,

but I made up my mind

to catch the men who did it,
and to bring them to justice.

(SLOW COUNTRY ROCK
MUSIC PLAYING)

My relationship with Margo
was very close.
We were best friends.

She was really
fun to be around.

She was good in school.
She made great grades.

She was very artistic.

Where we lived
was a small town,

and we could see the bay
from our back window.

So we'd walk down to the bay.

We would go visit friends.

We could walk
anywhere in town,

we didn't need a ride.

MARGO: We'll try it again,
one more time.

Testing, one, two, three.

One, two, three, four.

All right.

Now I'm gonna start.

And this...

This is really hard.

(MARGO CHUCKLES)

MARGO'S SISTER:
At 15, she started dating
this guy called Doug Compton.

She moved in with him,

and at 16 they got married
and they seemed happy.

MARGO'S SISTER:
She got pregnant,

and it was during
the pregnancy

that he started becoming
violent with her.

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

MARGO'S SISTER:
Doug was not very fatherly,

and at that time,

there was an influx
of Hells Angels in our town.

They were there to recruit.

And he started hanging around
more and more with them

and less and less with the kids,
or being there on the weekends

or going on family outings.

Doug was a wannabe.
And there's a difference

between a wannabe
and a prospect.

He never made it
to be a prospect,
but he was a hanger-on.

CHRISTIE:
There's a specific protocol
for becoming a Hells Angel.

The first stage
is the hang-around.

The hang-around
comes around the club
for a minimum

of a 12-month period.

During that 12-month period,
you're evaluated,

and someone may
want to sponsor you,

and then there'll be a vote.

The second stage
is the prospect,

and you've got
another 12 months

you have to prove yourself in.

KERRIE DROBAN: Prospecting
is very similar to hazing,

where you're pledging
a fraternity, for example,

you know, and you're going
through certain loyalty tests.

They put you through the ringer.

And the third and final stage
is the member.

So if you want to give up
24 months of your life,

potentially wind up in jail

or in a grave,
it's a great lifestyle.

MARGO'S SISTER:
When the Hells Angels
came to our town,

there was a lot of drugs
that weren't there before.

And Doug changed dramatically
because he was using drugs.

MAN: Never eating,
never sleeping, always on the...

MARGO'S SISTER: He started
using intravenously,

which caused him
to be even more paranoid.

He drank more
and he would hurt her.

He would beat her.

He would try to kill her.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Margo knew that the situation
was getting out of control

and she knew
he was gonna kill her.

But she needed help
to get away from Doug,

because she had tried
so many times before

and he'd found her.

MARGO'S SISTER:
One of the leaders of
the Hells Angels in our town,

was a guy called
Buck Garrett.

Margo felt that
he was the best person

to talk to about helping her.

He was the only person
that Doug had any respect for,

or cared about
what he thought about him.

So that's what she did.

COOK: Margo didn't
realize it at the time,

but approaching Buck Garrett

was the worst decision
she ever made.

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING)

CHRISTIE: I rode with
the Hells Angels for 40 years,

I officially became
a member in 1976.

And in the mid-70s,

the Hells Angels had
absolute control

of the outlaw
motorcycle culture.

Most of the club members
were blue collar type guys,

not many of the guys
had steady jobs.

We realized
from taking narcotics,

that narcotics

could also make us
a lot of money.

HOWARD KOHN: Especially meth.

Amphetamines become
their main business.

COOK: Methamphetamine
can make things

that a normal person
wouldn't do,

it can make it seem normal.

There are cases where people
have done horrific things

that under a normal
state of being,

they would never
even consider doing.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Doug Compton
was doing meth.

And Margo told me
that she found syringes

in the girls' toy box,
in their bedroom.

And that was enough.
She was done.

So she spoke
to Buck Garrett about it.

She felt he was the only one

that could help her
get away from Doug.

(COUNTRY ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)

Buck did provide a house
and the food and the utilities

and everything
that they needed.

And had Doug come around,

Buck would have protected
them against him.

And he also said
he could help her get a job.

MARGO'S SISTER:
But he was a pimp.

He forced her
into prostitution.

She didn't want
to be a prostitute.

She wasn't a prostitute.

She was stuck
in this situation.

Like a lot of women
in those circumstances

when they go
to the Hells Angels,

she got taken advantage of.

(BLOWS RASPBERRY)

Come on take a peek.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Because Margo
didn't want to have sex

with every person
that walked in there,

it made people angry.

It made the customers angry,
and it made Buck very angry.

She was beaten and raped.

She was bloodied
and bruised at this place,

so it became
the same torture

that she had with her husband.

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

DROBAN: Women have a role
in the Hells Angels.

They are predominantly property,

but there is a hierarchy.

To be somebody's old lady,

it means that
they are committed

to that particular member,

and usually that's protection.

She's not passed around.

She's no longer abused
or gang raped by other members.

There is also women
that are considered sheep,

and the sheep are the ones
that are passed around,

and abused and oftentimes

these women
are becoming prostitutes

for the Hells Angels.
So the goal of women

is to become property
of a member.

(MOTORCYCLES REVVING)

CHRISTIE: The Hells Angels
felt that they were
superior to women.

I mean, I'd be lying.
I'm not gonna lie here.

Women knew what their place
was coming around the club.

But yet,
they came around the club.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Margo said to Buck,
"It's time for me to go.

I gotta go."

And he said,
"you owe me $5000.

For rent. It's for food.

It's for clothes
for the girls, for school."

GRAHAM: And Buck Garrett said

she was now property
of the Hells Angels,

and that if she came up

with that amount of money,
then he would let her go.

She didn't have
that kind of money.

So Buck said he was
gonna keep her kids

until she came up
with the money.

COOK: Buck Garrett was
a member of the Vallejo chapter
of the Hells Angels.

A well respected Hells Angel,
he wielded a lot of power.

He had connections
to Sonny Barger.

He was also
a despicable human being.

KOHN: He thought of himself
as an old-style Mafia guy.

He had a ruthless side to him,

a very ambitious side to him
and a very dangerous side.

Everybody knew
about his drug business.

Everybody knew
about his prostitution

and everything else
that he was involved in.

At that time,
Margo knew a man
by the name of Don Seslar,

and he offered to help.

So, Don and Margo

went to the local
sheriff's office.

The police believed
what she was saying.

They understood.
They knew that
this stuff was happening.

But before they went
to get the kids,

they discussed what was
gonna happen afterwards.

And they said
if she were to help them,

that would be a wonderful thing.

And so she agreed to testify
against the Hells Angels,

and specifically
against Buck Garrett.

And so the police did
help her get her kids back.

And they were back
that afternoon.

They were back
with her very quickly.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Margo started testifying,

and there was gossip
around town

that there was a contract
on her life now.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Margo had to do
what she was doing,

and she felt
it was the right thing to do.

But we all knew that
you just don't snitch
on Hells Angels.

If you do,
you're not gonna live.

(MOTORCYCLE WHIRRING)

CHRISTIE:
Anybody that testifies

against the Hells Angels
become targets.

They've taken it
upon themselves

to make that decision,
cross that line.

and the consequences
are clear.

So Margo was,
in beyond grave danger,

testifying against
somebody like Garrett.

GRAHAM: Margo and Don Seslar
got the twins,

and they fled
to Laurelwood, Oregon,

There's no chapter
of Hells Angels
in the state of Oregon,

so he probably assumed
that it was fairly safe.

SLEEPER: Laurelwood was almost
100% a religious community.

My fiancee Gary was working
in the Coast Guard.

I was 18 and he was 19.

GRAHAM: Gary was the son
of Don Seslar,

the boyfriend
to Margo Compton.

And he was living
with his father and Margo.

I had no clue the seriousness
of what was going on.

And then one night,
she told me that

she was testifying at a trial

that some people
had threatened her,

and that Buck Garrett
had told her

he could get a pretty penny
for turning the girls out.

And he had
no problem with that.

She had been flying down
to San Francisco

to testify against
Buck Garrett.

GRAHAM: On the last occasion,

she felt that
she had been followed home,

called up
Detective Tony Novello

and thanked him
for the escort.

And, in fact,

he did not send an escort.

BROADCASTER: Police believe
the Hells Angels

murdered the children
and their mother,

but they have no proof,

and there have been
no arrests.

MARGO'S SISTER:
The Washington County
Sheriff's Department

wanted to speak
to my mother,

and she...
She just started screaming

and she dropped the phone
and she was on the floor.

We drove up to Oregon,

and we were taken
to Margo's little house.

I was definitely in shock.

I didn't want my sister
to be dead.

In the kid's bedroom.
I see the teddy bears.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)

They said we could
have anything we wanted

out of the house,
so I took the teddy bears.

(SNIFFLES)

GRAHAM:
We searched the house,

we came up with Margo's diary
and some audio tapes.

When we analyzed them later,
we learned that Buck Garrett
was our main suspect,

but he had an ironclad alibi.

At the time of the homicide,

he had purposely gone out
in front of his house,

and raced up
and down the street,

so the police would be called,

so that he would
get a citation.

So he had proof of an alibi.

I was out of my element.

I was over my head.

We don't even have
Hells Angels in Oregon.

So I flew to San Francisco,
Vallejo, California,

and teamed up
with a couple of detectives

from Solano County
Sheriff's Office.

By the name of Dick Grundy
and Bill Zerby.

KOHN: They were narcotics guys

who had put the Angels
in their crosshairs.

And when Margo Compton
was killed,

they were dedicated

to take down the Angels
one by one.

GRAHAM: Detective Zerby
started putting more pressure

on the Angels in general.

And one day,

he was on his way to court,

and he went to get in his car,

apparently they were
watching him from a hill
through binoculars.

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

Apparently they blew him up.

Bill knew the Hells Angels
were after him.

And he lost his hearing,

and he lost his job
because of it.

You can't be a policeman
if you can't hear.

I felt vulnerable.

I also knew that
if I ever solved the crime,

that my family
would be in danger.

I was frustrated because

local law enforcement
can't seem to handle
the Angels,

who seem to be just
totally out of control

and crossing all kinds
of red lines.

And I had determined
to solve this case,

and I knew
I lacked experience.

I knew that I didn't

possibly have the talent
necessary to do this.

But I knew that
I had one thing,

and that was determination.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

GRAHAM: Margo testified
before the grand jury.

Then she testified
in a preliminary hearing,

And after she was murdered,
it made no difference.

They used her recorded testimony
and convicted Buck Barrett
of pandering,

and sent him
to the penitentiary.

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING)

GRAHAM: But of course,
I still had to solve

the Margo Compton homicide.

(MUSIC TEMPO INCREASES)

I knew that Buck Garrett
had an alibi.

So I had no idea
who the hitman might be.

But we were probably dealing
with someone

that Buck Garrett had hired.

The Angels were supposed
to have some ethics.

Certain lines that
they don't cross,

that they didn't
murder children, for example.

They didn't murder cops.

When they start
crossing those lines,

they become very dangerous.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

GRAHAM: When he got out,

Buck Garrett started
to cook meth and make
a lot of money.

He had started to climb up
through the organization.

KOHN: Killing Margo Compton

took away a really
important threat,

not just because she could
testify first-hand about
being raped and pimped,

but the Vallejo chapter
was where the Angels

made their money,
off of the meth trade.

And how much
did she know about that?

And would she testify
about that?

So, after Margo was killed,

Buck Garrett went on
to huge success

in the next several years.

A ranch outside
San Francisco, horses.

And inside San Francisco,
he was notorious.

He was a kingpin.

GRAHAM: I worked
on the Compton homicide
as best I could

because it was starting
to become a cold case,

and there just wasn't
much more evidence coming in.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

So... This, um...
This case...

Because it involved
the two little girls

that were about the same age
as my own little daughter,

it cost me sleepless nights

because I kept turning over...

what else could I do
to figure out
who did this murder?

(MOTORCYCLE REVVING)

GRAHAM: I obsessed enough on it,
thought about it enough

that it was partially
responsible for the divorce
of my first wife.

There was a time period
when I was getting promoted.

But for the most part,
I passed up promotions.

Because if I'd been promoted,

I would have been
taken off the case.

As time went by,
I developed some witnesses,

but many of them
seemed to die mysteriously.

Doug Compton,
the father of the twins,
for example,

died of "pneumonia,"
allegedly.

But the truth of the matter is,

he developed
a case of pneumonia

after he was hit in the head
with a hatchet.

So I knew that the possibilities
of ever solving this case

were slim to none.

But to murder children...

it was a big mistake.

It was probably one
of the biggest mistakes

that Buck Garrett
could have made

because that's what I knew

would give me an in.

I knew that real men,
even if they're bad guys,

didn't put up with that.

If he was responsible

or contributed
to Margo Compton

and her family's murder,
he crossed the red line.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

One day I got a call
from Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Office.

And they told me
that they had

a prison gang member

that had information on my case.

He said, "Well,
is there anything
you can tell me about it?"

And I said, "Well, I can
tell you things about it

"that is not public knowledge.
Would that help you?"

(MOTORCYCLES APPROACHING)

GRAHAM: I had been working
on the Margo Compton homicide

for a good 12 or 13 years,

and word filtered up

from law enforcement
in California...

from a confidential
informant...

who was a leader
in the Aryan Brotherhood gang,

a prison gang,
his name was Michael Thompson.

MICHAEL THOMPSON:
When we met,
he was very direct.

He's not offering deals.
He said, "Look,

"I don't really care about you,
but I have a passion.

"And my passion
is to come to terms

"with the execution
of these two little girls,

"and Margo Compton."

And I said,
"Well, we share that."

Outside of prison,

methamphetamine was controlled
by the Hells Angels.

Inside of prison,

that became the domain
of the Aryan Brotherhood.

Because the Hells Angels
are a street-based
motorcycle club,

and the Aryan Brotherhood
is a prison-based gang,

And so the Aryan Brotherhood
controlled the prison.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

Buck Garrett
was a major supplier in prison.

My information
on Margo Compton

came primarily
from Buck Garrett,

in my discussions with him,

GRAHAM: He gives us information

that matches the case
pretty closely.

But I also know that
there's a lot of information

out there in the news media.

So I had withheld a little bit
of evidence from the public,

that one of the twins
clutched in her fist

a toy out of
a Cracker Jack box.

And Michael knew it.

That's when I knew

that Michael
was telling me the truth.

THOMPSON:
I was at San Quentin

with this guy
Bug-Eye Bob McClure.

And Buck Garrett
had told me

that Bug-Eye Bob McClure
was the shooter.

This was a huge break
in the case.

(MOTORCYCLE REVVING)

GRAHAM: I had a name now,

and I was able to associate
that name with Buck Garrett.

Mike Thompson
didn't particularly
care for Buck Garrett.

He didn't particularly care
for Bug-Eye Bob McClure,

the men who were capable of
and did murder children.

And so he decided to cooperate
with law enforcement,

went into protective custody

and decided
to testify in court.

BONNIE SLEEPER:
There was a knock
at the door

and I opened the door,

and Mike didn't really get
much out of his mouth

and I slammed the door.

I said, "Go away,
I don't want to hear it.

"I don't want any part of it.

"Leave me alone.

"It's done enough
to destroy my life.

"Leave me alone."

"Please just hear my side
of the story.

"Just hear me out."

So I opened the door
and I let Mike in, and we...

We talked for a while,

and somehow he convinced me
to testify at trial.

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING)

MARGO'S SISTER:
Before the trial's happened,

Mike handed Bonnie and I
a little black stone.

And so we're kind of
just looking at these

and going, "Okay, so what's up?"
And he says,

"The three of us,
we're gonna carry these
throughout the whole thing."

He said,
"Put them in your pockets

"and just keep them
there every day."

And we're like,
"Okay, that's weird.
But whatever."

GRAHAM: I got the idea
that if I could give

these two women
something physical

that they could
hang on to during the trial,

that it might help them
in some way.

(EERIE MUSIC PLAYING)

THOMPSON: I was going to
provide the testimony.

But I was called into
the office of the captain,

and the associate warden
was there.

and they were associates
of the Hells Angels.

DROBAN: The Hells Angels
have been able

to infiltrate
government institutions

like prisons,
like law enforcement,

and it's not that
difficult for them.

They've bribed people.

They threaten people.

They will go
to whatever lengths it takes

to safeguard
their own enterprise.

They had my wife
on the speakerphone.

And just as I walked
into the office,

I could hear two motorcycles
pull into my wife's place.

So it was put to me

that if I was going to go up
and testify against
Bug-Eye Bob McClure,

that they were
going to kill my wife.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

The risk
and dangers associated

with testifying in open court

against members
of the Hells Angels

are very, very high.

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

I was at Corcoran State Prison
at the time,

and the associate warden
and the captain put to me

that if I was going to
go up and testify,

they were
going to kill my wife.

And I said,
"Hold on just a second."

And I called Sonny Barger.

I met Sonny in Long Beach.

So, you know,
I had that association

prior to coming to prison.

I told him just exactly
what was happening.

And he said, "Mike,
I know nothing about this.

"I didn't condone that,

"that was a renegade move
by Buck, that's all on him.

"And I'm certainly
not condoning this."

And he said,
"I'll stop this right now."

And he did.

So I went up
to Oregon to testify.

ROBERT HAMILTON:
When we decided
to go to trial,

we prioritized the trial
of Bug-Eye Bob McClure,

because he was
the actual shooter.

And we didn't know
if we had enough
to convict or not.

And we were beginning
to be concerned

about maintaining
the evidence we had.

These witnesses were convicts

in protective custody,
they could get killed.

THOMPSON:
They flew me up there.

They took over
an entire commercial flight.

Initially, I thought
it was a little overdone.

Machine guns
hanging off officers...

Come to find out

that their concerns
were legitimate.

(SIRENS BLARING)

THOMPSON:
They had a series of cars
that they convoyed me in,

and they would switch
up the cars.

But they discovered that
the Hells Angels had learned

which car
I was going to be in,

and had planted a bomb on it.

They were looking
for a way to safely
get me into the courtroom.

So they were gonna have to
hollow out a vending machine

and put me inside of it
and take me in that way.

And that's what they did.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

SLEEPER: During the trials,
at one point,

Buck Garrett stood up
and said,

"Tell her to shut up."

Well, his attorney
just stood there

and watched me.
(LAUGHS)

So, was there remorse?

Nah.

Bug-Eye Bob was a blank,
non-emotional, non-feeling...

Obviously Buck Garrett had
emotions and feelings,

but they were not necessarily
emotions and feelings

that were connected to people
other than himself.

(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING)

MARGO'S SISTER:
And then I found out
how it happened.

I knew that
they were shot,

but I didn't know that...

the girls were shot
in front of her

to make sure
that she suffered...

even more.
(SNIFFLES)

We watched the jury,

Bonnie and I watched them
as they came back

with a guilty verdict.

And the judge said,

"This is the most
egregious crime
I've ever heard."

I learned so much
about evil in this world

that I never knew existed.

I made it clear to Buck
that if it was true,

I was very disappointed.

And Sonny felt the same way.

We didn't agree with it.
We didn't sanction it,

and I'm not gonna
talk about it anymore.

In every homicide,

I liken it to throwing
a rock in a pond.

It ripples out
and it touches people,

but it really impacts people
who love the victims.

We threw those stones so hard,

as hard as we could

into that ocean.

It was another day
to celebrate.

SLEEPER:
We each took our turn.

It was his way
of telling us kids...

you need to let it go.

It needs to be done with.

It needs to be over.

-(WOMAN LAUGHS) Yeah.
-All right. Now watch.

-I wanna make sure
it gets out.
-Oh, no.

MARGO'S SISTER:
Mike is very thoughtful,

and he's not just
another guy.

He's really special to me.

I really feel
like he's a hero.

I decided to do this interview

because I needed
to get my sister's story

and the reason why she did
what she did out there.

I told her, I promised her
I would do it.