Even right after the Hollister debacle, more rough-and-tumble groups like the Boozefighters Motorcycle Clubs were relishing the rebuke. First, a note on terminology: originally, "outlaw motorcycle clubs" was simply used to refer to clubs unrecognized by the AMA. Dulaney, for example, draws a distinction between mere "outlaw" clubs and the true "one-percenter" clubs.
But these days, "one-percenter" and "outlaw" are often used as synonyms. Outlaw clubs tend to engage in the same kind of business enterprises as other criminal syndicates: drugs, weapons, prostitution, theft, etc.
But it's worth keeping in mind that while law enforcement thinks about outlaw clubs as criminal operations, members themselves see them first and foremost as fraternal societies.
They do toy runs and host motorcycle races and things like that, and that's very much part of their lives and something they're proud of," Quinn says. They're not. There are elements of that sort of organization, they have elements of a gang in terms of loyalty and emotionality, and they have elements of corporate organization. In his paper, Quinn explained that outlaw clubs began transforming into organized crime operations in the late s and early '70s due to mutual distrust more than anything else.
Bike gangs, he writes, "generally define territory in terms of entire cities, metropolitan areas, or states. One paper that tried to measure criminal activity among motorcycle gangs using news reports found the most common type of crime mentioned were "ongoing instrumental acts" — that is, crimes related to the ongoing criminal business operations of the clubs, like drug dealing or trafficking, weapons trafficking, money laundering, etc.
Next most common were "planned aggressive acts," most notably including violent attacks on rival clubs and other enemies. After that, there are "spontaneous expressive acts" such as bar fights and brawls, and the least common type was "short-term instrumental acts," wherein a theft or other scheme is committed by an individual member rather than as part of a club-wide operation.
Barker and Human conclude that the Big Four clubs more on them below "often operate as gangs oriented toward criminal profit rather than motorcycle clubs. In addition, the Mongols — a Latino gang centered in Los Angeles — have attained prominence in recent years.
Barker has also written of a "Big Five" containing the traditional Big Four as well as the Sons of Silence, a smaller group strong in the Midwest. In addition to these six groups, the Justice Department also names the Black Pistons club a "support club" for the Outlaws, from which the latter recruits members and the Vagos on the West Coast. Quinn says the Hells Angels and Bandidos are, at the moment, the dominant clubs worldwide, while "the Mongols are a huge force in the United States, and they're starting to go international.
The geographic distribution of the groups has changed considerably since the s. On the right, Big Al Aceves — the founder of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, who has since become a minister and runs a ranch for men who are homeless or have substance abuse issues — at a charity event. Motorcycle clubs tend to only admit men.
The Bandidos are somewhat less exclusionary, though still mostly white. Skip Hollandsworth at Texas Monthly noted that "although the club was made up mostly of white males, [Bandidos founder Donald] Chambers welcomed Hispanics, and for a couple of years, there was one black man who rode with the club. His nickname was Spook.
In many cases, outlaw motorcycle gangs have connections to street gangs, prison gangs, and other criminal operations outside the biker world. Researcher Danielle Shields notes that the Mongols have collaborated with the Mexican Mafia on drug operations , though Mongols recruitment operations targeting street gang members caused a temporary rift. There is also a long history of white nationalism in biking, both in explicitly white supremacist or neo-Nazi bike clubs and among members of more mainstream clubs.
In , for example, the Outlaws hosted a St. Hells Angels members have, on at least some occasions, collaborated with the Aryan Brotherhood. It's not uncommon for biker gang members to have tattoos of the dual lightning bolt logo of the Nazi SS, but the Anti-Defamation League notes this is as often for shock value as for anything else. At least five different gangs were present at Twin Peaks Restaurant when the Waco shootout began, but the instigating factor was a dispute between the Bandidos — the MC that's controlled Texas for years — and the Cossacks, a local gang attempting to make inroads in the state.
The Cossacks have recently been discussing a possible alliance with the Hells Angels, the Bandidos' avowed enemies, and began wearing a Texas patch on their leather jackets, a move that Steve Cook, executive director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, told Libby Nelson was "basically a slap in the face to the Bandidos.
Cook told the Post's Miller that it appears the fight was expected by participants: "You can tell by the number of weapons involved that these guys came looking for a fight. They were prepared. Quinn described the Waco shootout as "unprecedented. The Great Nordic Biker War of the mids pitted the Angels and the Bandidos against each other, and resulted in a dozen murders and almost 80 shootings.
The Quebec Biker war, beginning in the late '90s and continuing well into the s, pitted Rock Machine — a local club that would ally with Bandidos — against the Hells Angels, and took about lives. As Miller notes, in an ex-cop accused of killing eight Bandidos members alleged that the head of Bandidos worldwide, Jeff Pike, ordered the slayings.
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all.
Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
A beginner's guide to biker gangs. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Javier Zarracina At the same time, motorcycle gangs tend to be disproportionately problematic for cops: in the same survey, 14 percent of law enforcement officials identified motorcycle gangs first among the most problematic gangs in their jurisdictions. Where did outlaw motorcycle gangs come from?
A history of the poppy: Why we wear them as a symbol of remembrance and other facts. The kingmaker Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor dynasty.
Unlucky A witches' brew of facts about the European 'witch craze'. A discovery of witches: British witch trials in the 17th century. History of Bonfire Night. Samhain and the pagan roots of Halloween. The History of Halloween. How Thatcher broke the miners' strike but at what cost? You might be interested in. Splendid isolation: great minds who triumphed in lockdown Popular Culture.
0コメント