Ex-biker gang leader’s brother slain in burned Gary home

GARY, Ind. (AP) – A 68-year-old man found with his throat slashed inside a burning house in Gary over the weekend was the brother of a former Outlaws Motorcycle Club leader who’s facing federal racketeering charges, authorities said.

Firefighters spotted Gerald Yager’s body after responding to a fire at his home about 4 a.m. Saturday, Lake County Sheriff John Buncich told The (Munster) Times. 

Buncich said Yager’s throat was cut and his hands were handcuffed in front of him.

“All indications show it was arson,” Buncich said. “Gas cans were found in the residence.”

The sheriff said Yager was an Outlaws member, but wasn’t as involved as his brother.

Federal prosecutors in Milwaukee have charged 59-year-old Randy Yager with participating in murders, bombings and arson aimed at rival clubs in the 1990s. The former Gary resident was arrested in Mexico last October – 17 years after he was first indicted.

Buncich said investigators were looking into a statement from a relative of Gerald Yager’s that the slain man had received notes containing death threats he believed were from his brother.

A federal judge ordered during a May 22 hearing that Randy Yager remain in custody and he was silent on entering a plea to the racketeering charges, according to court records. A message seeking comment was left Monday by The Associated Press for Randy Yager’s defense attorney, Stephen Hurley of Madison, Wisconsin.

Yager was president of the Outlaws’ Chicago region when he and 16 other members of the Detroit-based gang were indicted by a Wisconsin federal grand jury in 1997. Yager was the only remaining fugitive in the indictment. He landed on the U.S. Marshals’ list of most wanted fugitives in 2004.