Chuck Zito Hells Angels
Chuck Zito is an actor on the tv show Sons of Anarchy, stuntman, former bodyguard and a former Hells Angels MC New York Nomads chapter President.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Early Life / Personal Life
Charles Carmine Zito Jnr. was born on 1 March, 1953 in New York. His father Charles Zito Snr. was a professional boxer, reportedly with a card of 228 fights with 12 losses.
He left school at the age of seventeen, married, and started working manual labor. At the same time he was fighting as an amateur boxer in the New York Golden Gloves tournament, with a total of 4 fights.
To make money he worked as a refrigeration mechanic.
He used his experience in the boxing world to start work as a bodyguard. In 1980 he went on to found his own bodyguard company, which he named Charlie’s Angels Bodyguard Services. It was this company that allowed him to build connections into the Hollywood industry that would later help him transition into roles behind the screen. His clients while running the bodyguard company included the likes of Liza Minelli, Charlie Sheen, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke.
On February 6, 1998 he was at the Scores strip club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with Mickey Rourke and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Mickey Rourke left the table and Jean-Claude Van Damme got into a verbal argument with Zito, which resulted in at least one punch being thrown by Zito. Jean-Claude Van Damme dropped to the ground and the fight was over as quickly as it had started.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Club Involvement
His first motorcycle was a 1969 Harley Davidson Sportster.
Before joining the Hells Angels Chuck Zito set up the New Rochelle Motorcycle Club. The New Rochelle Motorcycle Club was then patched over by the Ching-A-Ling Nomads MC.
In around 1980 he left the Ching-A-Ling Nomads and joined the Hells Angels. He has stated that he originally found a love for the Hells Angels as a child when he grew up watching some of the cult classic biker movies, including Hells Angels ’69 and Hells Angels on Wheels. Before joining the Angels he had already spent several years around many of the New York chapter, including the President, Sandy Alexander. He hung around the club and helped to paint their motorcycles.
In 1984 he became one of the founders of the Hells Angels New York Nomads chapter.
He left the Hells Angels in 2005.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Prison
From 1985 through to 1990 he was sent to prison on charges of drug conspiracy. The case stated that he made a phone call to someone who was selling a very large quantity of methamphetamine.
At the time of his arrest he was on tour as a bodyguard for Bon Jovi in Japan. He was locked in a Japanese prison and extradited four months later, spending time in 19 different prisons over the 5 year sentence.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Stuntman and Acting Career
It was Chuck’s work as a bodyguard to the stars that helped to break him into the acting world, as he had built up a network of celebrity clients.
In 1979 he appeared in a scene with his Harley Davidson, this was his first taste in film.
He found work as a stuntman, with credits in many Hollywood hit movies including:
- The Last Boy Scout (1991) – starring Bruce Willis
- True Lies (1994) – starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Mallrats (1995) – starring Ben Affleck and Shannen Doherty
- The Rock (1996) – starring Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery
- Eraser (1996) – starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Throughout his career as a stuntman he was also able to find minor acting roles, mainly playing tough guy security guards or the biker role. The first role was in the movie Dead Ringer (1991), where Meat Loaf starred as the leader of a motorcycle club.
One of the more famous earlier roles was in the movie Carlito’s Way (1993) where he played a bouncer, which is course is best known for starring Al Pacino, but also starred Sean Penn, who had known Chuck Zito from his bodyguard days.
In late 1997 he had a big break when he was cast in the popular prison television series Oz, where he played the role of Chuckie Pancamo, a tough guy Italian enforcer.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Sons of Anarchy
His interactions with the tv show Sons of Anarchy started well before he played a small role in front of the camera.
He claims that in 1998 he developed the idea for a television show about an outlaw motorcycle club and believed that the FX Network, the creators of Sons of Anarchy, had stolen his idea after he pitched it to them in 2004.
In 2010 he filed a lawsuit against the FX Network for $5 million for damages, however the case was ruled against him in late 2011.
In a strange twist, he then went on to appear in the show Sons of Anarchy, in season 5 where he played the character Frankie Diamonds.
Also appearing on Sons of Anarchy are Hells Angels members David Labrava, Rusty Coones and Sonny Barger.
Chuck Zito Hells Angels – Media
Book – Street Justice by Chuck Zito.
In 2002 he released his biography, Street Justice which tracks his life from the time of growing up in New York, through his years as a bodyguard and Hells Angels and finally into his career in front of the screens. Find out more on Amazon (link opens in a new tab).
DVD – Sons of Anarchy The complete boxed set.
This is the complete box set and contains 30 discs. Find out more on Amazon (link opens in a new tab).
Read More:
- List of One Percenters Motorcycle Clubs
- Outlaw Motorcycle Club Books
- Hells Angels MC
- Famous Hells Angels Members
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