A Virginia businessman, one of 55 members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club charged with a variety of crimes, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He has pleaded guilty to extortion before a U.S. District Judge in Charleston, and faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Pagans Motorcycle Club case involves murder conspiracy, kidnapping and other charges against members in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Delaware.
The businessman, John N. Maggio, 47, admitted in his plea agreement to conspiring last year with the Pagan’s indicted national vice president to extort nearly $30,000 from two business associates.
According to Maggio the extortion plot began when he asked the vice president for help collecting some unpaid debt. The vice president, Floyd “Diamond Jesse” Moore, has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges that include racketeering, murder conspiracy and threatening witnesses.
In the plea agreement Maggio was recorded telling an associate of Moore’s where to find the people who owed him money and what they looked like. He also stated that he did not care whether or not they were injured or how badly.
A total of six defendants in the sweeping federal case involving members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club have pleaded guilty to charges. Additional guilty pleas may follow.