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Sons of Anarchy
"In case you’re still thinking about slitting my throat, I wouldn’t. I have contingencies."
―Piney, to Clay[src]
The subject of the article is involved with Sons of Anarchy The subject of the article is involved with Sons of Anarchy Season 1 The subject of the article is involved with Sons of Anarchy Season 2 The subject of the article is involved with Sons of Anarchy Season 3 The subject of the article is involved with Sons of Anarchy Season 4

Piermont 'Piney' Winston was the father of Harry 'Opie' Winston and co-founder of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club on the FX original series Sons of Anarchy. Played by American actor William Lucking, Piney makes his debut in the series' premiere episode, "Pilot", in season one. Playing a recurring role throughout the same and subsequent seasons. He met his demise in the season four episode, "Family Recipe", and was last seen as a corpse on the episode "Call of Duty", in the same season.

Appearance and Style[]

Piney is a grizzled older man, he is very tall, standing at 6'4" and is also heavyset, making him an imposing figure. Piney has blue eyes. He has thin grey and blonde hair which is messily slicked back and a ginger and blonde beard.

Piney can also often be seen carrying around and wearing his oxygen mask to help with him with breathing due to his mesothelioma.

Piney wears a faded blue denim kutte, signifying Piney's age and tenure with the Sons, originally denim kuttes were the norm for motorcycle clubs.

Biography[]

Piney Winston

He served in the Vietnam War with John Teller. When they returned home they felt ostracized by the same society they had just risked their lives for. Confused and unappreciated, they formed SOA in search of their own version of freedom.

Piney was born on June 17, 1941, and was the club's oldest living member and senior club adviser. As the series began, Piney had slowed down, and - due to emphysema – carried an oxygen tank. He sat in for Church meetings, but rarely went on runs. In his denim cut, Piney was the last vestige of old school SOA. His son, Opie was also a member. According to Gemma, Piney and John Teller were very close friends - the pair had been best friends since they were in school and relied on each other for support. When JT died Piney stayed on as VP, but only until Jax was old enough and able to take a seat at the table; he would only step down from being VP if Jax took his position. He remained a member after abdicating the Vice Presidency so he could have a vote and keep Clay under control once Clay was voted in as the new president. Piney was never sure of Clay and always doubted him and his motives for doing things. Piney's criminal record shows that he was suspected in money laundering, extortion, and murder but was never charged. He went on trial once for prostitution but was released due to lack of evidence. He was also connected with the transportation of stolen goods.

Season 1[]

"Pilot"[]

At the table, the club go over the situation with the Nordics, a white supremacist gang and their plan to retrieve their guns from the Mayans Motorcycle Club. They are joined at the table by Harry "Opie" Winston, Piney's son who has recently gotten out of prison, and Happy Lowman, a member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Tacoma charter. Piney, co-founder of the club speaks up and congratulates Vice President Jackson "Jax" Teller on the birth of his son, and they are all here for him if they need him.

Outside, President Clarence "Clay" Morrow, Piney, Secretary, Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson and Jax discuss the destroyed warehouse land. Jax suggests that they sell off the land and funnel the money in to something else, a more legit business venture. Clay doesn't shut down the idea but seems very perplexed by Jax's suggestion.

"Seeds"[]

Opie meets Piney and asks him to borrow some money. Piney tells his son he can't lend him any but Clay is doing a protection run tonight for Chief Wayne Unser which will score him some easy cash, Opie is doubtful but Piney tells him to start facing his issues.

"Giving Back"[]

At the table, Clay and Jax propose a deal bought to them by Otto "Big Otto" Delaney, an imprisoned member of SAMCRO and a man he has been protecting inside, Charles "Chuckie" Marstein, a former associated of the Lin Triad who hustled them for $400,000. Chuckie wants protection in exchange for SAMCRO getting cut in on the deal. Jax explains that they will split the money with Chuckie, 25% to the club, 25% for Otto which will go to Luann Delaney, his wife. Everyone is in agreement of the deal, despite Bobby explaining it will be dangerous as Henry Lin, the leader of the Lin Triad is ruthless.

Clay brings one more item to the table, April Hobart, a SAMCRO associate has asked for her ex-husband Kyle Hobart to attend Gemma's Taste of Charming fundraiser being held tomorrow. Kyle was excommunicated from SAMCRO after letting Opie get arrested nearly 10 years ago. There is some disagreement but Opie is surprisingly happy to allow Kyle to come, stating that Kyle has nothing left in his life after being kicked out of the club and his family leaving him. There is some disagreement but the vote eventually passes.

Clay drags Chuckie back in to the clubhouse and tells him that they are going to get the Chinese money right now, he can't stand having Chuckie around any longer. Clay then tells Piney that there was a car watching them outside the garage and the pair realise it is the Chinese trying to get at Chuckie.

Back at the clubhouse, the club lure Kyle in to the garage at the prospect of showing him Bobby's vintage motorcycle. As the club circle him, Kyle quickly realises that there is no such things to speak of. Jax demands Kyle remove his shirt, he refuses and Bobby and Alexander "Tig" Trager wrestle it off him, revealing his large SAMCRO back tattoo. Kyle begs for forgiveness, saying it is the only part of the club he still has left. Clay coldly asks Kyle if he would prefer fire or a knife to remove the ink. Kyle accepts his fate and says fire. The club string him up on a car lift as Tig lights a blowtorch, Jax gives Kyle a drink of some whiskey before Jax douses his back in it.

"AK-51"[]

Jax and Piney sell guns to Russel and Nate Meineke, a father and son who head a local militia. Nate is an old friend of Piney from his Vietnam days.

At the table, with the club whole again. Juice has returned from Nevada and Chibs has returned from up North. Chibs brings news about their Irish contacts and explains they need to pay them on time or they will buy from the Russians instead. The Sons will also continue to sell guns to the Niners at a discounted price. Jax and Piney also made a sale of some weapons to a local militia earlier in the day.

Half-Sack suddenly bursts in to Church and tells Clay he is needed outside. The club head outside and find Agent June Stahl of the ATF and Hale. Stahl asks who the owner of the garage is and Clay admits it is him, he is immediately arrested. Clay asks what the charge is and Stahl says he isn't being charged yet, she is just looking for some information about Nate Meineke. Clay states he doesn't know who that is and Stahl informs him that he is responsible for holding up a prison transport and killing three people. The last call on his phone is from TM. Piney and Jax look at each other in disbelief.

With Clay out of the picture for the time being, Jax takes charge of the club. He orders Opie to take Piney up to the cabin to protect him from the feds in case they come looking for him in connection with the gun sales.

The club scramble to keep things in check. Piney tells them that Nate has reached out and told Piney his location. Jax tells Piney that he has to setup a meet so that they can take care of the militants, they lead the feds right to the Son's front door. Bobby also announces that the feds have a warrant to search the clubhouse. Piney is sent back to the cabin with Opie whilst Jax attempts to handle the situation.

At the cabin, the feds have come and gone without finding anything as the club were able to get the One-Niners guns off the property. Piney tells Jax that Nate has agreed to buy the rest of the AK's. Jax knows this is their chance to wipe out the militia for good and stop any heat coming back on the club.

Clay heads up to the cabin with the rest of the club, he is happy to hear that Jax managed to get the guns out of the warehouse and the ATF have uncovered nothing in their search except for the Irish oil barrels which the club receive their guns in, which the club believe could pose a threat if the ATF investigate hard enough. Clay says it won't be a problem once the gun warehouse is rebuilt and they don't need to store anything in the clubhouse anymore. Jax attempts to tell Clay that they are handling the militia but Clay insists Jax will handle it find and heads to bed.

The following day, Piney, Opie and Jax meet with the militia again. The deal goes down and Nate and his crew take the guns and drive off. Opie and Jax watch on as Piney embraces Nate for a final time, telling him to take care of himself. As they watch the militia disappear in to the forest, Opie detonates the explosives hidden inside the gun bags, killing all of them.

"Hell Followed"[]

At the clubhouse, Gemma is concerned as they haven't been able to locate Jax last night and today, Gemma wants to try and find him but Clay tells her to stay put. Piney and Opie agree to ride to St. Thomas to see if he may be there. Chibs then enters to inform Clay that he and Juice are still patching up Cameron Hayes, the Sons' new IRA connection after he and the club were attacked by Mayans the previous night, but Chibs is concerned he may have sepsis.

At the table, Clay addresses SAMCRO and the other charters who have come down. He states that what happened the previous night can never happen again, no more bodies can drop in Charming. Tig speaks up and says that SAMCRO did not attempt to kill the Nords, it was Marcus Alvarez, Presidente of the Mayans Oakland charter who tried to kill Clay and Darby. However, if they retaliate, war is certain. Clay admits that he sat down with Alvarez, causing shock to ripple across the table. Clay says that he made a deal with Alvarez, the Sons will sell guns to the Mayans and all beefs will be ended, in Charming and out of state, no Sons will have issues with Mayans anymore. Juice enquires about the Sons deal with the Niners and selling guns to them, but Jax insists they have no real loyalty to the Niners and they also buy guns from other sources. Bobby admits he has concern that a deal with the Mayans could trigger something else with the Niners. Tig says that the Mayans still tried to kill him but Clay says that debt will be settled too, by another charter, he asks if Happy will do the deed and he of course agrees. The club vote on the deal and the majority are on board.

As the peace celebration rages on, another matter is bought to the rest of the club by Juice and Chibs. Cameron has stated that Brenan Hefner, the corrupt port comissioner needs to die before Monday, or the most recent gun shipment will be taken. Cameron has offered the inital payment back and a free month of guns if SAMCRO handle it. The club briefly debate it but realise the pros outweigh the cons and the hit must be done. Opie is quick to step up, insisting that he can get it done. Clay agrees, Jax, Opie and Bobby are to carry out the hit.

"Better Half"[]

At the table, the club, joined by Unser who has been kicked out of his office to make way for the ATF discuss the recent return of Stahl. So far she has had Luann arrested on drug charges and Cherry on theft and arson. Unser says that Stahl is trying to use the RICO act to bring down the club, which will affect all of them, hence why he is sitting at the table. Jax says that Tara will never turn on the club and they have nothing to worry about regarding her. Bobby says that they can't get through to Otto, they have him on federal watch and he isn't allowed any phone calls. Jax theorises that Stahl is pressing Otto for history and using Luann as leverage. The club begin to grow concerned, knowing that Otto would do anything for Luann and Cherry also knows a lot of information about Indian Hills. The club devise a plan to use Unser and get Jax and Opie in to the police station to pass a message to Luann to warn Otto about Stahl using the RICO act, as the pair will most likely be allowed to see each other as some sort of leverage deal. They will also work on finding out where Cherry is. Clay, running out of ideas quickly agrees to Jax's plan, as does everyone else.

Looking to cause a distration to get the remaining cops out of the station, Piney, Bobby and Tig head to a bar in Charming. Piney and Tig both head to seperate tables and begin to cause commotion between the patrons, one of them approaches Tig after Piney says that Tig said something about his daughter and Tig quickly punches the man across the face. All hell breaks loose as chaos erupts in the bar, the trio return to the bar to continue drinking.

"Capybara"[]

Clay receives a call from the SAMCRO lawyer, he announces that Luann is clear of any charges, but Otto isn't. In a final meeting with Stahl, he attacked her, smashing her face in to a table and breaking her nose, proving he is loyal to the club. The celebration is very short lived as suddenly Juice sees an army of armed police at the front door of the clubhouse, within seconds Stahl has strutted in as the club are forced to the floor. Bobby is grabbed and told he is under arrest for the murder of Hefner.

At the table, the club is very concerned about Bobby being arrested, Jax insists he is sure there was no witness and nobody could've seen them carrying out the murder. The club notice the mysterious absence of Opie and minds begin to race as Tig states that only two other people saw the murder, one is in jail and the other is in the wind. This causes Jax to jump to his feet as he and Tig almost begin to fight at Tig's accusation. Piney also steps up, saying Opie isn't here is because he doesn't know what is going on. Jax heads out to find him.

Jax meets up with Opie as the pair are going to travel to the clubhouse to clear Opie's name. They arrive at the clubhouse and everyone is happy to see Opie, they head in to Church. Opie speaks, telling the table that Stahl tried to set him up as a rat, he doesn't know who the witness is but it isn't him. Donna was also targeted but she turned down Stahl's deal, wanting to stay loyal to Opie. Tig then enters as Opie finishes his piece, he asks if he is good with the club and Clay confirms he is, banging the gavel as everyone stands to leave except for Tig and Clay.

"The Sleep of Babies"[]

At the table, Clay expresses concern about the club's current lack of cash. If they need to fund Bobby's legal defense, they are in trouble. He suggests selling the club's personal gun surplus to the Mayans and there is a level of disagreement. Clay says that if they sell the Mayans the guns, it will appear as a goodwill gesture and they will get a good payout. Jax protests but Clay admits he is out of ideas. They formulate a plan and will do the deal in two separate locations, Tig and Opie drop off the guns in one location and Jax and Clay pick up the cash in another. Piney wants in also but Clay refuses, causing Piney to angrily storm out of Church.

With news of a shooting, SAMCRO race downtown, they find Donna dead. Opie arrives at the traffic lights where he sees the bloodied corpse of Donna, he drops to his knees and sobs as he holds her. Chibs and Jax drag him away.

Piney is later seen being comforted by Mary.

"The Revelator"[]

At the table tensions run high for obvious reasons. Clay tells the table that he is responsible, organising the deal with the Mayans that led to Donna's demise, others speak up and say they all agreed on the deal. Piney says they track down Laroy and kill him and becomes enraged at Clay, saying if it happened to him there would be instant retaliation, Piney leaves and Jax goes after him. Jax chases Piney to his bike and says they should bury Donna first and then think about the next steps, Piney sarcastically agrees and speeds off.

Piney arrives in Oakland and prepares to head in to a Niners bar. Half-Sack follows Piney and quickly realises that he has been caught following him, Half-Sack attempts to reason with Piney but he is not interested and Half-Sack follows him in to the bar. They enter the bar and things quickly turn ugly when Piney beats one of the Niners and pulls a gun on another, demanding to know where Laroy is.

Jax and Chibs race to the Niner bar and finds Laroy outside, they head inside and find Piney with a gun to the head of one of Laroy's men. Piney tells Jax to go, telling him that it doesn't involve him, one of them killed Donna and he is going to make it right. Laroy chimes in, asking what Piney is talking about. Jax pleads with Laroy, asking him that if Piney puts the gun down do they all walk out of the bar alive, Laroy agrees and Jax approaches Piney, signalling to Half-Sack to assist, Half-Sack elbows Piney, causing him to drop the gun and Jax to snatch it away. Jax, Piney and Laroy sit down and talk. Jax explains to Laroy what happened to Donna but Laroy tells them it was nothing to do with the Niners. Yes, the Niners and SAMCRO need to work out their issues but if their beef took him to the streets of Charming to start killing women, would they all really still be alive? Laroy suggests they be on their way quickly.

At the cabin, Piney opens some letters from John "JT" Teller, founder of the Sons of Anarchy, Piney's best friend and Jax's father. Piney knows the letters hold the truth about what JT really thought about the club and Clay, and could be unravelling if Jax ended up with them.

The following day, the club ride with Donna's funeral procession to the graveyard. Many associates, friends and family are also present. Jax arrives late, looking worse for wear, Tara stands and places his kutte on him, before kissing him passionately. Jax briefly pays his respects to Donna before taking off.

Piney finds Jax in the graveyard, he hands him another copy of the manuscript JT wrote and some letters from him. He tells Jax "Time for a change", before departing.


Season 2[]

Throughout season 2, Piney and Jax continue to search for answers about Donna's death, both still positive that Clay was somehow involved. Losing faith in Clay and becoming disenchanted with the club, Piney barely makes a presence in any of the recent SAMCRO activities. However, he proved that he still has a bit of pride left in him, when he rallied his fellow club mates together and bravely helped rescue Tig from a group of bounty hunters.

He was extremely upset when he found out that Jax planned to go nomad. He voted yes on Jax's request and immediately left to return to his cabin.

Piney's suspicions became true when Tig eventually admitted to killing Donna. He calmly said goodbye to his ex-wife and retreated to his cabin where he stored away his colors and got his old Army uniform and M1911 pistol. He went to the clubhouse and tried to shoot Clay, but missed. Opie insisted that Piney only attempted to kill Clay out of a fear that Opie would do it himself and Piney didn't want his son to ruin himself. Knowing that SAMCRO is all that Piney has, Clay forgave him by telling him to never return to the clubhouse again without his colors on.

Season 3[]

In season 3, Piney is shown to be more active in the club. He is shown working at Teller-Morrow and runs Teller-Morrow while his fellow members are out looking for Abel and Gemma is on the run from the law. When SOA members Bobby and Happy need to get medicine for family members Piney leads them to Honey, a friend of his who is in the pharmaceutical drug trade. They arrive while she is being robbed and shoot it out with the robbers. Because they were out gunned they end up captured, but rescued by the rest of the SOA thanks to a call for backup by Happy. When the club needs money for their trip to find Abel they decide to sell the pharmaceutical drugs that they were supplied to them by Piney's friend. While the club is in Belfast he has his hands full along with the rest of SAMCRO with Jacob Hale using Hector Salazar (former President of the Calaverez MC) to push out one their most loyal supporters for a land development deal. When they get information from Darby, Piney and Tig go to share it with Unser and wants him to investigate it, but Unser who has been distant with the club disregards the information. So Piney and the remaining SAMCRO members who aren't in Belfast look for Salazar, but doesn't find him at his house. But Salazar calls the club to tell them that he has kidnapped Tara and he wants the club to kill Alvarez and take $250,000 from his home safe. They club gets Alvarez to play along, but they can't get the money. June Stahl decides to help get Tara back by providing the Ransom. The drop compromised when some kids decide to steal the money. The next day the rest of SAMCRO comes home and they look for Tara. In the Season 3 Finale the club has a celebration and the rest of the day the club is working trying to put things to rest which includes killing Jimmy O'Phelan. SAMCRO take Jimmy from the Russians, but Jimmy is captured by the ATF at the garage where the find out that Jax made deal. SAMCRO are arrested as well to face their gun charges. Piney, Opie, and Chibs are the only ones not subject to these charges and are assigned to ambush and kill June Stahl and Jimmy with the help of Kozik, Tacoma member who has been helping SAMCRO, and Unser. They successfully get the job done and drive away.

Season 4[]

When everyone is greeting the return of SAMCRO from prison, Piney tells Tara that they have to keep history in the past, suggesting that Tara asked Piney about John while Jax was in prison. He changes his mind when the club decides to mule cocaine for the cartel. He approaches Tara about her concerns to get leverage over Clay to kill the deal they have with the cartel. Eventually she told Piney of the letters from JT; given to her by Maureen Ashby, which hinted that Clay had killed JT.

Following this, Piney voices his disgust of Clay's decisions following the agreement to run drugs for the cartel and creates a rift in the club leading to a change of presidency vote in which he partakes arguably to vote against Clay. The Lobos Sonora cartel however attacks them during the meeting, and after fending them off, he retreats to the cabin. Jax goes to visit him, and the two talk about JT, with Jax showing clear disgust regarding his father, while Piney tries to convince Jax that he should know his father better. Clay goes to visit Piney at night at the cabin, lying to Gemma where he was, and decided to talk with Piney, who was with a shotgun and forced Clay to give his weapons up. Clay tries to persuade Piney about the letters as he can't kill the deal with the cartel so easily, but Piney refuses. Clay asks why he would patch him if he hated him so much, and Piney confesses he used to trust Clay before he became as greedy as he's today. Clay then asks why should he believe he won't deliver the letters if he does as Piney demands, and he replies that it is a risk he has to take. Clay seemingly agrees and warns him that if there is retaliation from the Galindo Cartel, that it will be his fault. Upon leaving Piney tries to make sure that he indeed left, however Clay bursts open the door, knocking Piney to the floor, unarming and hitting him. Clay desperately asks where are the letters as he searches the room, and Piney tells him that they are not here. He tries to recover his shotgun but Clay acts faster. Upon that revelation, Clay deduces Tara has the letters. Piney, fully aware that Clay will harm her, denies this, but to no avail. Realizing he cannot escape death nor convince him that Tara does not have the letters, he instead asks Clay to leave her out, however Clay responds that it is "too late" and uses Piney's shotgun to kill him by shooting him on the chest. Clay then marks the letters LS with his blood on a photo of the First 9 to make it look like the Lobos Sonora did it. Piney is the third member of SOA's First 9 to be executed by Clay.

Motortrike[]

Pineys trike

Piney's Trike

Piney rode a Harley Davidson Electra Tri-Glide, which he customized to hold his oxygen tank between the rear wheels. In a few episodes he is shown with a Road King Tri-Glide instead of his normal Electra Tri-Glide. This is either an inconsistency problem within the show, or Piney owns two trikes as the "bat wing" fairing on an Electra Glide is not easily removed.

Murders committed[]

  • Unnamed - Unknown (suspected in murder, never convicted)
  • Sonny - Shot with shotgun (Issue 25)
  • Unnamed ONH member - Shot with shotgun (Issue 25)

Trivia[]

  • Piney is the second main character to die in the series.
  • Although Eric Miles was the first full patch SAMCRO member to be killed during the series, Piney is the first of the eight patched SAMCRO members introduced in the pilot to be killed.
  • Piney originally sponsored Clay Morrow to be patched into the club.
  • Piney is the third member of the First 9 to be killed by Clay (With JT and Keith McGee being first and second, respectively).
  • Along with his son Opie, and later Gemma, and Unser, Piney is one of only four main characters to appear as a corpse in an episode after they are killed off. However, Piney appears as a corpse in multiple episodes after being killed off, whereas Opie, Gemma and Unser only appear in the next episode after their deaths. Clay, Tara, Bobby and Juice would also be seen as corpses, but only within the episodes they died. Half-Sack may have followed this trend as well, since it's unknown if he had died by the time the Jax and the others found him, although judging by Chibs' reaction and the ambulance not being called, it can be assumed he was dead. Jax's body was not seen after his death, just his blood.
  • Piney has appeared in 41 episodes of the series.
  • Piney's actor, William Lucking, passed away at the age of 80 on 18th October 2021.

Gallery[]

Trading Cards[]

Appearances[]

Appearances-Logo-SOA Season 1 appearances
"Pilot" "Seeds" "Fun Town" "Patch Over" "Giving Back"
"AK-51" "Old Bones" "The Pull" "Hell Followed" "Better Half"
"Capybara" "The Sleep of Babies" "The Revelator"
Appearances-Logo-SOA Season 2 appearances
"Albification" "Small Tears" * "Fix" * "Eureka" "Smite"
"Falx Cerebri" * "Gilead" * "Potlatch" * "Fa Guan" * "Balm"
"Service" "The Culling" "Na Trioblóidí"
Appearances-Logo-SOA Season 3 appearances
"SO" "Oiled" * "Caregiver" "Home" "Turning and Turning"
"The Push" "Widening Gyre" "Lochán Mór" * "Turas" "Fírinne"
"Bainne" "June Wedding" * "NS"
Appearances-Logo-SOA Season 4 appearances
"Out" "Booster" "Dorylus" "Una Venta" "Brick"
"With An X" "Fruit For The Crows" "Family Recipe" "Kiss" "Hands" *
"Call of Duty" "Burnt and Purged Away" * "To Be, Act 1" * "To Be, Act 2" *
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