Hells Angel fugitive Steve Ruiz has been on the lam for 3 months and 13 days. A burly-looking biker, from the one primary photo that’s available, Ruiz went down like a lamb at a Days Inn (46101 Warm Springs Blvd.) in Fremont, California. Steve was arrested by the San Jose police at 7:30 PM Saturday evening. Details in the news regarding his arrest are sparse. Why did Ruiz go out so peacefully? Why return to the San Jose area, unless you want to be arrested?
Most of all, we want to know what measures Ruiz took to evade and avoid capture for 3 and 1/2 months? Where was he all this time? Who helped him in hiding out from the long arm of law enforcement? He had to have help, didn’t he? Were there confederates from the Hells Angels’ motorcycle gang contributing to his concealment? Why was Steve still hanging around Northern California anyhow?
There are more unknowns than hard facts available in this intriguing fugitive Angel saga. When did Ruiz split with his girlfriend Christal Ferguson? It’s a good thing Christal got out, but when did she leave his side? And returning to the bad row between Steve Ruiz and Steve Tausan, at San Jose’s Oak Hill Cemetery back on October 15th, what was the nature of the squabble? Did Ruiz fear for his life, and that explains why he pulls out his pistol and shoots legendary Angel, Steve Tausan?
How did Ruiz manage to escape that day in October, when lots of cops and lots of other Angels were everywhere? Did Steve have sympathizers? Was there some type of internal breach brewing within the local San Jose chapter of Hells Angels? Ruiz must have had help, since he managed to squeeze pass tons of security and a massive crowd of 4,000 people, all paying their respects at a public funeral for slain Angel, Jeffrey Pettigrew.
Was Steve Ruiz in charge of Jethro Pettigrew’s security at a Nevada casino last September, when Pettigrew was slain in a brawl with a rival gang? If this is true, it would explain why Steve Tausan confronted him at what should have been a most venerating and solemnest public funeral, paying respects, as it did, to a fallen leader of the legendary motorcycle organization.
Vital information regarding the internal machinations and business of the Hells Angels has always been carefully coveted by this secret group. You might be able to guess why this is so. Hunter Thompson got around this secrecy by actually joining the group back in 1965. Hunter paid for it, however, when he got brutally rumbled. He got good and beat-up under circumstances that escape me for now.
Another added factor, contributing to the mystery and fathomless empty well of news on all three legs of our story (Steve Ruiz’s doings, Steve Tausan’s demise, if not his whole life, and finally Jethro Pettigrew’s undoing), is there’s not any news reporters still standing to take on the challenge of penetrating this secret society, that’s been around since 1948. Reporters are not paid enough to take a chance on such a story, and there’s not too many of them around anymore anyway, especially on the local level.
No one wants to touch it! Who suffers? The public does, since they can’t know (and probably never will) what happened. Does law enforcement know much about where Ruiz was these past 3 and 1/2 months, why he did it, or how he escaped from the funeral? I doubt it. In terms of the news, we’re moving back into the Dark Ages. With Hunter S. Thompson’s suicide, Gonzo Journalism also dies a piteous death.
