The Warlocks are considered by law enforcement to be among the many second-tier, after the "
Big Four", outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Warlocks are involved in narcotics distribution, prostitution, kidnapping, burglary, the sale of stolen property, violent crime and murder. The club became heavily involved in
methamphetamine trafficking in the early 1980s before also expanding its drug activities into
cocaine distribution. and have associated in criminal activities with the
Philadelphia crime family. Rival gangs include the
Breed and the
Florida Warlocks.
New Jersey The Warlocks in New Jersey have had criminal associations with the
Philadelphia crime family involving "strong-arm tactics" for
labor unions. The club was linked to the Mafia connected Roofers Union Local 30 in
Atlantic City. In June 2010, a confrontation took place between members of the Warlocks and the
Pagans when Warlock bikers wearing their club "
colors" entered a bar in
Gloucester City where Pagan bikers were among the patrons.
Pennsylvania The Warlocks and the
Pagans are the two primary motorcycle gangs in Pennsylvania. On February 4, 2009, Daniel "Dirty Dick" McElheney, born about , was arrested under his alias Richard McElheney, after his home was raided by police. Police seized six rifles, ten handguns and various illegal drugs. In October 2008, Pennsylvania State Attorney General
Tom Corbett alleged that the Warlocks motorcycle club is involved with a
methamphetamine manufacturing operation based in
Berks County. The sting was dubbed "Operation Underground". Corbett said the operation manufactured and distributed $9 million worth of
methamphetamine throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and possibly (supplied) to members of the Warlocks motorcycle club, which has allegedly been linked to organized crime and drug trafficking. "The Warlocks have been the subject of other investigations, and we will continue to investigate the Warlock–Spadafora meth connection," Corbett said. He added that the investigation was continuing and he expected more arrests. There were no Warlocks arrested or charged at the time of this press release. In December 2017, Warlocks biker Michael DiMauro killed prospective club member David Rossillo Jr. at the
Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia by shooting him four times, tying a rope around his neck and then dragging him to a crypt. After opening the lid, DiMauro then disposed Rossillo's body into a 19th-century crypt at the cemetery. In February 2020, another prospective Warlock, Keith Palumbo, was also shot and killed by Warlocks member, Michael DeLuca, in a house on Woodland Avenue in Philadelphia, which served as the Warlocks' headquarters. Three others — Billy Gibson, Buck Evans and Donna Morelli, a member of Mount Moriah Cemetery's board of directors — all pled guilty for their roles in the disposal of Palumbo’s body. The bodies of both men were discovered in the cemetery crypt, April 2020, while police were investigating Palumbo in a missing persons report. DeLuca pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in January 2023 and was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. In August 2023, DiMauro was convicted of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and related charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The motives behind the murders of Rossillo and Palumbo were never established. ==References==