COLUMBIA, SC — The former mobster and the Hells Angel club president discussed a gun deal on the phone.

Joseph Dillulio, the former mobster who ran a Rock Hill jewelry store, talked about buying a gun from a Hells Angel nicknamed Yard Owl.

“I did a little thing with Yard Owl, and I wanted to make sure he took care of you, number one,” Dillulio said in a recorded phone conversation played Monday in U.S. District Court.

Mark Baker, the president of the Hells Angels Rock Hell City Nomad Chapter, replied, “Yeah, he did.”

Baker is one of five Hells Angels on trial for federal drug, gun, money laundering and racketeering charges. The recording of the discussion about kickbacks was part of the case to prove the racketeering charges.

The morning’s testimony began with high security at the Matthew J. Perry Federal Courthouse as a former member of the Hells Angels Charleston chapter testified, breaking one of the most important Hells Angels rules – no snitching..

Fred Jimmy Condrey, who is in federal prison for dealing methamphetamine, explained the Hells Angels organizational structure and the rules of membership. He also described the Hells Angels relationship to other motorcycle gangs and how the Hells Angels control the methamphetamine trade in South Carolina.

Dillulio, 54, worked as a paid confidential informant under the code name Midas, and his Rock Hill jewelry store served as a front for the FBI to monitor transactions with the Hells Angels.

Dillulio, who was born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., said he had been involved in the jewelry business since he started working for a cousin when he was 12. He eventually opened his own stores in New York, borrowing money from the mafia to do so.

Dillulio moved to York County in the 1990s after he finished serving a federal prison sentence on bank fraud charges. In South Carolina, he worked in family pizzerias and owned jewelry stores.

Dillulio explained how he bought guns, methamphetamine, cocaine and prescription pills from the Hells Angels, and he described the shady dealings that happen between criminals.

In one recording, Dillulio suggests that he and a Hells Angel member rob a local diamond dealer. Dillulio said he was baiting the Hells Angels because he thought the biker wanted to rob him.

“I looked at him as the enemy,” Dillulio said. “I want to keep enemies closer. This wasn’t the first time I’ve dealt with people like that.”

In cross examination, defense attorneys attacked Dillulio’s credibility, and their questioning got under Dillulio’s skin.

“Mr. Midas, if a lawyer in this courtroom described you as a man with a checkered past, would you agree with that?” asked John Delgado, Baker’s attorney.

Dillulio replied, “You can call me my proper name or I’m not going to answer your questions.”

Delgado also asked Dillulio whether he ever paid the $316,000 in restitution for his bank fraud.

“I’m not the one on trial about debt,” Dillulio responded.

Delgado said, “But your credibility is on trial.”

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie finally intervened.

“I suggest we’re going to be here for the rest of our lives unless you start answering yes or no,” Currie said.

Reach Phillips at (803) 771-8307.