An episode of violence linked to a biker gang roaming in the beautiful area in southern Majorca has left locals and tourists shaken and terrified.
In mid-March, two members of the Hells Angels gang were arrested after a businessman in the s’Arenal area of Palma was left with serious injuries after allegedly being attacked on the premises of the restaurant he runs and asked to pay £8,554 (€10,000).
The suspects, a 38-year-old Afghan and a 42-year-old Spaniard, were accused of extortion and assault and battery. Both were later released by court order.
The man reportedly told the police he had been reproached by the leader of the Hells Angels in Majorca for having a tattoo related to the biker group and for having spoken ill of the group.
The suspects, on the other hand, claimed to have decided to carry out the attack after the victim had threatened people in the name of their club.
They described themselves as a new generation of Hells Angels who have stayed away from criminal activities and don’t want the name of the club to be tainted.
The National Police said to believe the aggression was a personal vendetta against the victim and ruled out there is an extortion campaign being carried out against entrepreneurs in the area.
Still, the episode of violence upset some people in the area, including Klaus Joseph, a German tourist who regularly spends his holiday on the Balearic island.
While conceding he hasn’t had “any problems with” the bikers, he told local news outlet Ultima Hora: “It is unforgivable to live with these people. It cannot be tolerated that an area like Playa de Palma and s’Arenal becomes a crime-ridden neighbourhood and resembles the Bronx”.
Mr Joseph went on to claim he knows “about some friends who have had a bad time”.
Another person who spoke to the news outlet, the owner of a restaurant in Playa de Palma, said he personally never had issues with the gang, but added: “We are tired of them keeping our colleagues in the sector in a state of constant anxiety”.
Another entrepreneur depicted the anguish some of his colleagues are experiencing, saying of the bikers: “When they pass through here, we try to go unnoticed, but the climate of tension is palpable.”
He also claimed the bikers “come to a bar, eat and drink, and don’t pay” and “threaten” business people if they challenge them.
The biker gang is already known by Spanish authorities.
At the beginning of 2023, the Spanish National Court convicted 32 members of the Majorcan branch of the biker gang of various crimes – including money laundering and criminal organisation.
The National Court ruled that the gang, which finds its origin in a group founded in the US in 1948, formed an organisation “with a hierarchical criminal structure, with pretensions of permanence, and in which each of the members adopts a specific role, in the manner of a criminal enterprise dedicated to obtaining profits to be paid into a common fund”.
The judges held that many of the defendants based in Mallorca were linked to the Hells Angels but did not commit crimes under the umbrella of the association.
