"I'm kind of concerned there's going to be a loss of life," Welebir says in the recording. man accused of torching Bad Water Bill's Bar-B-Q Barn in Strasburg in 2003 was heard on a recording played in U.S. District Court on Wednesday saying if motorcycle gang members found out he was talking to investigators, they'd murder him."I will help you as much as I can, but I don't want to stick my head out on a chopping block," William Wardell "Cozmo" Welebir says on the 2003 phone call.Welebir, 56, of Port Richey, Fla., faces a single count of arson. His trial started Wednesday morning.Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott called to the stand Domingo Perez, who now works part time for the Shenandoah County Sheriff's Office, but at the time of the Oct. 25, 2003, fire was an intelligence analyst with the Northwest Virginia Regional Drug Task Force.A man who identified himself as "Mr. Wagner" had called a state police tip line, and Perez was put in touch with him in November 2003. Public Defender Andrea Harris said Welebir was "Mr. Wagner."
A chatty Welebir starts the conversation by saying he had been in a veterans' motorcycle club called the Free Patriots that did charity runs, but eventually disbanded.While in that club, he met a couple of members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, including the Northern Virginia chapter's president, referred to as "Blacksmith."Welebir also met Pagans and members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club -- subject of a regional multi-jurisdictional takedown several months before -- while working at a Bunker Hill, W.Va., club, he tells Perez.Bad Water Bill's was a popular hangout for Warlocks members and other bikers, its owner, Mary Fisher, testified on Wednesday.On the recording, Welebir says he contacted the crime hotline because the man who'd been president of the Free Patriots had recently joined the Pagans and was exhibiting some disturbing behavior.That man owned the Redwood Motel in Stephens City, he says in the recording, and the motel was being used for drug activity, including making "bathtub crystal meth." Welebir says the man was being told what to do by the Pagans.Welebir says it became clear the new Pagan's assignment was to burn down Bad Water Bill's. He said it was because the Titans Motorcycle Club, which was sponsored by the Warlocks, was going to have a charity bike show there later on the day of the arson.In the recording, Welebir also refers to a man known as "Coop" who had started a motorcycle club in Leesburg called the Red Devils, which he says was a Hells Angels support club. He says the Pagans had been trying to get 'Coop' to join them instead, and "Blacksmith" was trying to let him know the Pagans weren't going to allow the Hells Angels to move into Virginia."At this Halloween party, there was talk of murdering this guy for no other reason than the fact he joined another club," Welebir says. "At this point, I had to say something."He says he was also angry because someone had vandalized his motorcycle. Welebir says the motorcycle gang-related crime was escalating."There's already been two drug-overdose deaths at the Redwood Motel last year," he says. "It's out of hand. Somebody needs to stop it."Complicating matters were connections area motorcycle gang members had with police officers and emergency dispatchers, Welebir says in the recording. He says he tipped off law enforcement to a party where large amounts of drugs would be present."They had the information before the party began that the police were investigating their party," Welebir says. "I can't have anything tied with [the investigation]. These people will kill me. I can't risk being a witness. They will stop at nothing. They're capable of doing anything on a whim."In the recording, Welebir says that bulletproof glass was being installed at "Blacksmith's" house in Front Royal because the Pagans feared retaliation from the Hells Angels."He said because we're going to get blamed for that fire over at Bad Water Bill's," Welebir says.Some motorcycle gang members tried to get him to join a club, but he wasn't interested, he says.
"I don't need to have a patch on my back to know who I am," Welebir says on the recording.
