Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) founder Sonny Barger is suing US TV company HBO, claiming that the pay cable network cut him out of a biker drama he helped to develop, Barger’s attorney said.

Hells Angels veteran filled a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the pay cable network HBO, production company White Mountain Co. and Michael Tolkin, the project’s executive producer. Some of the objections listed in the lawsuit are: “that some characters introduced by Tolkin too close resembled or depicted living persons (in particular a character named `Chief,' which for decades has been a well-known nickname or alias for Sonny Barger), that some actual place names used in the script were too identifiably associated with Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels (such as the primary location being Carefree, AZ, which is the town adjacent to where Sonny Barger presently resides, and that the principal character has moved from Northern California, which is exactly what Sonny Barger did),” according to the Associated Press.

Barger is suing for copyright and trademark infringement and he claims that HBO’s pilot drama “1%” focuses on a chapter of the fictional Death Rangers motorcycle club in Arizona, a book written by Barger. He wants the court to declare the drama’s script as a project based on his work and the result of a joint effort between Sonny Barger Productions and Tolkin. 

"Basically, Michael Tolkin stole our show and sold it to HBO," White Mountain Co, Barger’s attorney Fritz Clapp said in a telephone interview.

The Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation and some of their members nicknamed themselves “one-percenters” after the American Motorcyclist Association claimed that one percent of the motorcyclist were troublemakers and this reputation influenced the other members as well, giving them a bad name. The world-wide motorcycle club’s members are required to own a Harley Davidson motorcycle, as a fist condition to be accepted.