Angels of Death is all about the hell's angels outlaw biker gang. These guys act like they're just a bunch of wasted hippies on bikes (which they sort of are) but the real story is that they are an international criminal syndicate similar to the aryan brotherhood, mafia, triads, etc. They're pretty damn successful too, they're all over the world and their leaders are relatively wealthy. Not Private Equity firm managing partner wealthy, or even I-banker in the City wealthy, but more like IT VP at a Bank wealthy. :) Drug and arms smuggling is probably their biggest gig, though in countries outside the US they're into prostitution and extortion, etc. as well. They tend to fight with other biker gangs a lot, occasionally killing a few of their own over various hierarchical issues as well. The book also goes into great detail about how the US ATF infiltrated them and put a bunch of their members in jail. Sort of a heavy metal Johnny Brasco story, I suppose.
This is one of those books that I read purely because I'm interested in the subject. This tends to bite me from a reading "pleasure" perspective though, these "crime as anthropology" authors tend to be pretty lousy writers. Though not as determinedly stupid as some of the Mafia writers can be, Sher and Marsden are still pretty clunky with the prose, and even fail some basic grammar/spelling tests.
Of course, now I want a Harley.
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