National news headlines and former President Donald Trump have recently claimed Aurora, Colorado, a city near Denver, is being ‘overrun’ by a migrant gang from Venezuela that traveled into the country illegally.
On Sept. 1, several people on social media shared a video claiming to show the Hells Angels motorcycle club headed to Aurora to combat the Venezuelan gang.
“When the hells angels biker gang meets the Venezuelans. Look out Colorado they are on the way!” one X post says. The post is accompanied by a video showing a large group of motorcyclists traveling down a highway. A now-deleted X post from Sept. 1 with the same text had more than a million views.
Another Sept. 1 X post with the video says, written in Dutch and translated into English: “Hells Angels on their way to Aurora Colorado to help the citizens because law enforcement or their own government refused to help them, against Venezuelan gang violence. Unreal!”
Google Trends data shows people have been asking if the Hells Angels are going to Aurora, Colorado.
THE QUESTION
Does this viral video show Hells Angels members traveling to Aurora, Colorado?
THE SOURCES
- City of Aurora, Colorado, spokesperson
- Original TikTok video posted on July 7, 2024
- Insanos MC Instagram post from July 7, 2024
- Various Instagram videos showing the Insanos MC in Brazil in July 2024
- Aurora Police Department statement from Aug. 28
- InVid and RevEye, video and photo forensics tools
THE ANSWER
No, this viral video doesn’t show Hells Angels members traveling to Aurora, Colorado. It shows a caravan of riders participating in an Insanos Motorcycle Club event in Brazil back in July.
WHAT WE FOUND
The video posted online doesn’t show Hells Angels motorcycle club members traveling to Aurora, Colorado. The video shows a different motorcycle club in Brazil and predates news reports about the Venezuelan gang activity in Aurora, Colorado.
The Hells Angels is a motorcycle club that originated in Fontana, California, in 1948 and has thousands of members worldwide. The Hells Angels are classified by the FBI as an outlaw motorcycle gang that “use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises,” but there is no evidence that the Hells Angels are traveling to Aurora.
In an email to VERIFY, a spokesperson with the city of Aurora said the “Aurora Police Department’s Intelligence Unit has been looking into social media posts from this weekend and do not believe the posts [about the Hells Angels] to be credible.”
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club's Rocky Mountain Charter also denied the claims in an Instagram post.
"The HAMC strongly denies the foundation and validity of these absolutely ridiculous and false claims. The HAMC does not involve itself in political issues outside of motorcycling and takes no stance on the issue of immigration or the presidential election," the Hells Angels' statement reads in part.
"Social media rumors like this only serve to perpetuate a false and irresponsible narrative about the HAMC for the sole purpose of driving traffic and clicks. These rumors also have the potential of causing real harm to real people," the group added.
Using InVid, a video forensics tool, VERIFY analyzed the viral video and conducted a reverse image search. That led us to this TikTok video posted on July 7, 2024, that shows a caravan of riders from an Insanos Motorcycle Club (MC) event in Brazil. Insanos MC is the largest motorcycle club in Brazil, according to the club’s website.
The original TikTok video also includes the hashtag #bondepelavida; ‘bonde pela vida’ translated into English from Portuguese means “Tram For Life.”
The phrase “Tram for Life” was used in this July 7 Instagram post from the official account of the Insanos MC. The Insanos MC event included a “tram,” or caravan, of more than 10,000 motorcyclists who toured Brazilian cities, according to a person speaking in the video.
While VERIFY was not able to confirm the exact location where the video was taken, there are three police vehicles escorting the riders at the start of the video. All three vehicles have the words “POLICIA” and the logo for the São Paulo State Highway Police marked on them.
There are a number of other videos from the same week in July showing the Insanos MC caravan.
Another indication that the viral video does not show members of Hells Angels is the bikes people are riding. Hells Angels riders only travel on Harley Davidson motorcycles and the bikes seen in the viral video vary in brand.
VERIFY partner station KUSA began reporting about the Venezuelan gang activity in the Denver area in early August, a month after the video of the Brazilian bikers was posted to TikTok.
According to KUSA, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the Venezuelan gang situation is being exaggerated.
Coffman told KUSA that residents in some apartment buildings in the city are being intimidated by a Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, but that Aurora Police are handling the situation and making arrests. The Aurora Police Department issued a statement on Aug. 28, saying the gang's activity is "isolated."
VERIFY reached out to the Aurora Police Department about the Hells Angels claims and did not hear back at the time of publication.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »