Hell's Angels Plotted To Kill Mick Jagger

LONDON — Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels, a new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary has claimed.

A program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday says the rock star was the target of the plot following a purported dispute with the motorcycle gang over concert security.

Jagger had vowed not to use Hells Angel members as bouncers following the death in December 1969 of an 18-year-old fan at a notorious free performance at Altamont Speedway in Northern California.

In return, gang members hatched a plan to kill Jagger at his holiday home in Long Island, New York, the BBC claimed.

"The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger's treatment of them that they decided to kill him," Tom Mangold, the presenter of the program, was quoted as telling Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

He said the plan was disclosed during an interview with Mark Young, a former FBI officer, for the BBC's "The FBI at 100" documentary.

Mangold said the men tried to reach Jagger by sea. "The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard," he was quoted as saying. They all survived but made no other attempt on his life, Mangold said.

It was not clear whether Jagger was ever informed of the alleged plot against him.

LD Communications, Jagger's publicists in Britain, did not immediately return calls requesting comment.

The Hells Angels have always denied any connection with the Altamont Speedway killing.

Comments

[HonestGirl]

11:07 PM on 03/03/2008

....................Dramamine.................

[TheAirport]

06:44 PM on 03/03/2008

Awesome.

[YA]

04:47 PM on 03/03/2008

Ha ha ha. The Angels tried to play Navy Seals and the op did not go 'swimmingly'...

The Angels had a very effective drug distribution system in the 80s. The CIA used them for intelligence gathering and even some of their domestic operations (the CIA is not supposed to operate inside the country so historically they have used proxies, like the mafia in the 60's), and in return they let them run their drug traffic, sometimes even 'aiding and abetting' them according to DEA whistleblowers. That tit for tat made them a prominent distributor, since they had the kind of protection their competition could not get. This was documented at the time, and very embarrassing to the CIA. I don't know what they're up to these days. Probably taking swimming lessons.

[lungfish]

06:50 PM on 03/03/2008

Aparently that collusion didn't help Sonny Barger and co... Probably became irrelevent compared to the burgeoning crack cocaine sales that were being done for Ollie North and Ron Reagan - I noticed that when Eugene Hasenfus (sp?) was shot down in Nicaragua his flight log showed many flights to the Contras with guns and allegedly many flights back with cocaine. However, nobody seemed to ask the hard questions about how much cocaine was flown into the US with that operation alone and how much of that made it to the inner city streets.... I think the San Jose Mercury news took on an expose regarding the CIA and drug running... of course, nobody is ever accountabile in the end for any crime in government unless its politically expedient.

[philinburb]

04:44 PM on 03/03/2008

You mean he is still alive? Keef too?

[LoRiseAntlers]

03:29 PM on 03/03/2008

Just goes to show that everybody has something to contribute.

[Montanamotor]

02:21 PM on 03/03/2008

He hoped to die before he got old, anyway...

[jimsey]

07:57 PM on 03/03/2008

Actually that was The Who.

[transendentilist]

01:51 PM on 03/03/2008

This is news????? It's been known for decades that the Hell's Angels wanted Jagger whacked. Man, slow news day?

[ignorantwillyharper]

01:47 PM on 03/03/2008

That's a crying shame they missed.

[ShockandAutism]

01:01 PM on 03/03/2008

So lemme get this, a bunch of loser bikers try to chase down a guy and kill him but fall overboard in a boat as they attempt to storm his house ala Normandy?

Isn’t this from Every Which Way but Loose?

“I’ma gonna git you Philo Beddoe Jagger!”

[transendentilist]

01:54 PM on 03/03/2008

That's funny. The Angels are no joke. They'll kill someone at the drop of a hat. They call it, "takin care of business." They could never get to Jagger anyhow. He's too rich and well guarded.

[Democrab]

12:15 PM on 03/03/2008

Those plotters have all died of old age anyway so Mick can probably breathe a sigh of relief now.

[shaggles]

11:28 AM on 03/03/2008

I smell a sitcom: "Let's Kill Mick Jagger"

[Teleken]

11:05 AM on 03/03/2008

MajorKong-

It was the suggestion of the Grateful Dead to use the Angels for security. They had been around the Angels since their beginning in 1965 but the idea to use them at Altamont surely haunted them forever.
Mick also blamed them for the killing since they "brought" the Angels for security.

[transendentilist]

01:58 PM on 03/03/2008

The Dead denounced the Angels, and told them they didn't want any more dealings with them. In all fairness, the Angels had never done something like that, out in the open.
Jagger said he never again perform Sympathy For The Devil again, since it was the song playing when the murder took place. Another point to consider, was the guy had a gun, and was pointing it toward the stage.

[YellowPanties]

02:12 PM on 03/03/2008

Exactly right.

If anyone watches the Stones concert film "Gimme Shelter" they will actually see the 18 yr old who got stabbed as he waves A PISTOL around in a crowd and swings it at the stage a couple times from about 25 feet. People ran out of the way and one Hells Angels guy jumped the kid and stabbed him downward through the shoulder and into his chest.

The whole thing would have quite a different poignancy if the gun had fired a few times and several innocent concert-goers and maybe a Stone or two had been shot to death.

Moral of the story: do not bring guns to concerts.

LONG LIVE THE ROLLING STONES!

[bmeisner]

02:09 AM on 03/04/2008

It was the Stones tour manager - Sam Cutler - who suggested using the Hell's Angels for security at Altamont. The Stones had used a few "wannabe" U.K. Hell's Angels at their Hyde park concert in the summer of 69, and Cutler felt they were representative of the U.S. Hell's Angels. Sam Cutler asked Rock Skully to "extend" an invitation to the Hell's Angels to guard the equipment at Altamont and that somehow expanded into them providing security and sitting on stage. Stanley Goldstein clears this up in the audio commentary on the Gimme Shelter DVD.

[WilliePilgrim]

10:54 AM on 03/03/2008

Flash! Dewey wins election!

[MajorKong]

10:13 AM on 03/03/2008

Who's bright idea was it to hire the Hell's Angels for security in the first place?

[Durango]

10:03 AM on 03/03/2008

"Hells Angels have always denied any connection with the Altamont Speedway killing.'

Huh? Is BBC in need of an editor?
How could the Hells Angles deny any connection? It is right there on film for anyone to see. And they went to trial for it. Where the film of them attacking and stabbing the man was shown.

Declared not guilty of murder which is what happened back then when you killed black people.
But how can they "deny any connection?"

[JohnFromCensornati]

11:10 AM on 03/03/2008

What do you mean "how can they"?
They open their mouths and say it.
It's called lying.
The press doesn't bother with poiting out lies.
King George W said Iraq was involved with 9/11, too.

[transendentilist]

02:00 PM on 03/03/2008

The man did have a gun. He was waiving it around, and that's why he got stabbed. I am not saying that makes it right, but it does supply a little motive for the killing.