HEMPFIELD, Pa.,None — A man known as a national leader of the Pagans motorcycle gang is facing charges after a SWAT team raided his Westmoreland County home and allegedly found illegal drugs.
Dennis Katona, 45, of Hempfield Township, is charged with possession with intent to deliver illegal drugs, among other charges. He's being held on $750,000 bond.
State police said troopers found "multi-ounce" quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine in Katona's Ember Lane home.
"We were very fortunate we were able to gain entry into the house and no one was injured. We were able to take the person into custody who we believe to be the manufacturer and distributor of narcotics," said Trooper Stephen Limani.
Katona was arraigned by video from the Westmoreland County Prison and was ordered held in jail after he was unable to immediately post $750,000 bail. The district judge's staff said he appeared without counsel, and online court records do not list an attorney for him.
Authorities have identified Katona as the national president of the Pagans. The group's former leader was sentenced to federal prison for racketeering in December.
Nine years ago, federal prosecutors in New York identified Katona as the group's national sergeant-at-arms when he pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy for helping lead a Pagans attack on a biker convention in Plainview, N.Y.
In that case, Katona acknowledged that Pagans from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and elsewhere went to the Long Island biker convention in February 2002 to retrieve Pagan property "by force." One man was killed and 10 others injured in the melee. One of 73 Pagans convicted in the case, Katona pleaded guilty in June 2002.
In 2009, 55 Pagan members and associates were indicted by a federal grand jury in Charleston, W.Va., on kidnapping, racketeering and other charges, including a 2005 plot in which a prison guard was enlisted in an aborted plot to kill an inmate suspected of cooperating with authorities. The indictment resulted in guilty pleas and prison sentences for the group's former national president, David Keith Barbeito, 50, of Myersville, Md., and its vice president, Floyd "Jesse" Moore, 65, of St. Albans, W.Va.
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