There can be no quiet goodbye for a slain Hells Angel leader.
The funeral of Mark "Papa" Guardado, the 46-year-old president of the San Francisco chapter who was shot after a barroom brawl, brought about 2,000 Hells Angels to Duggan's Serra Mortuary in Daly City, most driving the biggest, baddest, loudest Harleys ever.
They came from chapters all over the country, not to mention Stuttgart, Germany, Alberta, Canada and Melbourne, Australia.
An overflow crowd of hundreds of members sat or stood in the funeral home parking lot for two hours, creating a spectacle that attracted hundreds of gawkers and police from three cities — San Francisco, Daly City and Colma.
They then led what police say may have been the largest motorcycle procession ever in the San Francisco Bay area from Daly City to the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, creating a deafening uproar of engines and a spectacle that stopped traffic in its tracks on both sides of Interstate 280.
'Asking for trouble'
Few mourners were in the mood to talk, especially not to reporters.
"We don't get along with the press," said one member, guarding the parking lot. "And if you stick a camera in someone's face, you're asking for trouble."
Sgt. David Macriss of the Daly City police said there were no incidents aside from minor accidents between motorcycles.
Guardado was shot dead Sept. 2 outside a bar in San Francisco's Mission District around 10:30 p.m., about a mile from the Hells Angels chapter clubhouse, where he lived.
At the time of his death, he was facing assault charges stemming from a beating outside a bar in Petaluma in February.
San Francisco Police are looking for a suspect in Guardado's shooting, Christopher Ablett, 37, of Modesto, a member of the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club.