Ralph Hubert Barger was born on 8 October 1938, in Modesto, California, USA. He is a biker and author ,best known for founding the Oakland chapter of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club. The popular club has been identified as an outlaw gang and criminal syndicate by the U.S Department of Justice, though their popularity has still made them a pop culture icon. Sonny has also appeared in several films which have helped raise his net worth.
How rich is Sonny Barger? As of early-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $500,000, mostly acquired through successful books, films and television shows. He may have also received significant amounts of money while being part of the Hell’s Angels. All members of the club own Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Sonny has been known to have owned around a dozen. He also owns a bike repair shop.
Sonny Barger Net Worth $500,000
During the 1950s up to the 1960s, Sonny was responsible for pulling disparate motorcycle clubs together to create the Hell’s Angels in 1957, a club bent on achieving worldwide expansion. Barger became a prominent figure in the gang and became the topic of various books like Hunter S. Thompson’s “Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs”. He was also mentioned in another 1960s book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Test” by Tom Wolfe. He was present at The Rolling Stones’ Altamont Free Concert and even made an appearance in the 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter”. In the 1980s, Barger was arrested and found guilty of conspiring to blow up a rival gang’s clubhouse, and spent four years in prison in Arizona, which derailed his biking career. By 1998, he had moved to the Cave Creek chapter of Hell’s Angels and has remained an active member since.
In recent years, Sonny has focused his efforts more on writing books and promoting motorcycle safety. He’s the author of five books, and these are “Hell’s Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angel Motorcycle Club”, “Dead in 5 Heartbeats”, “Freedom: Credos from the Road”, “6 Chambers, 1 Bullet”, and “Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling”.
Barger has also made a few television appearances, becoming a recurring cast member in the FX television series “Sons of Anarchy”. He is depicted as Lenny “The Pimp” Janowitz who’s a leader of an outlaw motorcycle club supposedly based on the Hell’s Angels. Aside from these, Sonny was spotted in a few 1960s films including “Hell’s Angels on Wheels” and “Hell’s Angels ‘69”.
For his personal life, Sonny has been married to Zorana since 2005. Sonny was diagnosed with throat cancer during the 1980s as a result of heavy smoking. His vocal cords were removed as a result and after a laryngectomy, he learned to speak using the muscles in his throat. He also mentioned in one of his books that he didn’t like Harley-Davidsons and was just riding them for the club. He preferred a Honda, a BMW, or any Japanese models that focused on building bigger bikes. Currently, Sonny resides in New River.
