‘PIZZA OVEN’

Former Hells Angels Boss Allegedly Disposed of Bodies In Fresno Funeral Home

Federal prosecutors said that Merl Hefferman reportedly disposed of four gang members’ bodies by holding a funeral owner at gunpoint.

Former Hells Angels boss, Merl Hefferman, allegedly disposed of four group members’ bodies by cremating them at a Fresno funeral home that the gang called “the pizza oven.” Federal prosecutors laid the case out during Hefferman’s sentencing, who had pleaded guilty in December for disposing of Joel Silva’s body. Levi Phipps, the crematory manager, said during the trial that he was threatened at gunpoint by two men while they put a body into the incinerator. Hefferman then called Phipps and told him to remain quiet, a story prosecutors verified against phone records. Phipps also said the pattern continued with three more victims, allegedly including the bodies of Hells Angels members Art Carasis and Juan Guevara. The Hefferman case is also part of a larger racketeering case for the Sonoma and Fresno Hells Angels.