GREENSBURG, Pa.,None — A Westmoreland County man believed to be the leader of the Pagans Motorcycle Club is expected to be released from jail on Monday.
Dennis Katona, 45, is currently jailed on drug charges. His attorney said Katona posted the $500,000 bond on Friday and is expected to be released, according to Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE.
Katona was charged after police said they found "multi-ounce" quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine worth $20,000 in Katona's Ember Lane home in Hempfield Township.
After a court hearing earlier this year, Katona spoke to Channel 11 News and said that he suffers from leukemia and other health problems.
"I'd like to make a statement. My rights have not been read to me, and it's been over a week now," said Katona. "They attacked the house. They broke every window in the house and threw percussion grenades in it. It was just me and my wife there, fearing for our lives and they would not let me make a phone call to my lawyer or have medical attention or anything like that."
If Katona is released, police said he'll be placed on house arrest.
Authorities 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.
Previous Stories: July 7, 2011: Reputed Pagans Leader Gets Trial After Drug Raid
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