The Outlaw Biker Legacy of Violence

Thomas Barker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138483897
• eBook ISBN: 9781351053631
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

Outlaw bikers represent a very small percentage of motorcycle riders who join motorcycle clubs, but they receive disproportionate attention due to their mystique, unconventional behavior, and violence. Although the outlaw biker phenomenon started in the United States, it has since spread throughout the world. The involvement of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) in organized crime at the local, regional, national, and transnational levels fosters violence that puts innocent persons at risk for death or injury and leads to the demonization of "bikers" and the overcriminalization of motorcycle enthusiasts and club members. The Outlaw Biker Legacy of Violence, written by internationally known expert Thomas Barker, addresses the legacy of violence in the outlaw biker culture and tackles the implications of the violence that progressed as outlaw biker clubs evolved into adult criminal gangs engaged in crimes for profit over long periods of time and across borders.

Beginning with a history of outlaw bikers and the construction of the "folk devil" of the biker, the book outlines the distinctions between conventional motorcycle clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and then traces the expansion of these groups across the globe. This book will be relevant to those interested in the examination or investigation of biker gangs in particular or organized criminal groups in general. It is essential reading for criminal justice students and others studying social groups, gangs, and organizations, or the sociology of deviance, and is also relevant for law enforcement professionals dealing with these organizations

1

THE LEGACY OF VIOLENCE

 

Introduction

Outlaw bikers represent a small percentage of bikers that join motorcycle clubs—conventional clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs (OMCs), and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs); but they receive the overwhelming media attention due to their mystique, unconventional behavior, and violence. Outlaw biker violence, especially that which occurs in public settings, puts innocent persons at risk for death or injury, leads to the demonization of “bikers” and the overcriminalization of “all bikers,” as evidenced by the police overreaction to the massacre at Waco on May 17, 2015. In effect, the police reaction created a “moral panic,” leading to the criminalization of innocent motorcycle riders. However, as with most moral panics, much of this criminalization and labeling is warranted.

Spontaneous impulsive and planned violence, especially that perpetrated by OMCs and OMGs, is a real and perceived danger ubiquitous in outlaw biker culture. Frequent alcohol and other drug use fuels this violence. Physical violence—individual, group, or club-sponsored—is an ever-present predictable pattern of outlaw biker behavior. This is true now and in the past, and likely will be in the future. There is a “legacy of violence” in the outlaw biker culture.

The Outlaw Biker’s Legacy of Violence

Pop Culture Response

Spontaneous impulsive and planned violence has been a part of outlaw biker history since the first outlaw clubs formed in the early 1950s. Hunter S. Thompson, in his iconic depiction of the 1960s Hells Angels, wrote, “They inhabit a world in which violence is as common as spilled beer” (quoted in Davis 2015b: 41). Thompson was almost beaten to death by multiple Angels who thought he was taking advantage of them. Outlaw biker legend says the iconic Hells Angels leader, Ralph “Sonny” Barger, saved him.

These deviant—i.e., outside of the social norm—motorcyclists and their individual, group, and club-sponsored violence is a part of contemporary pop culture with TV exposure such as the highly publicized Sons of Anarchy (SOA) series and Gangland documentaries. These pop culture media portrayed the individual, group, and planned violence of “supposed” outlaw bikers and their clubs, often using known violent criminal men as actors. Several “famous/infamous” Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) members with violent criminal histories have appeared on Sons of Anarchy. Iconic outlaw leader Sonny Barger, the founder of the Oakland Hells Angels chapter, a former HAMC international president, and best-selling author, has appeared in several SOA episodes. Barger, in spite of his celebrity, is an admitted drug dealer with multiple felony convictions and a history of domestic violence. David Labrava is a member of Oakland HAMC chapter, a published author, and a technical advisor to Sons of Anarchy. Labrava’s résumé includes multiple felony arrests. Chuck Zito, a frequent SOA actor, is a longtime HAMC member, a bodyguard to the stars, stuntman, bodyguard, boxing trainer, and author. Zito is also an ex-con with a history of impulsive and domestic violence. Rusty Coones has appeared in several SOA episodes. Not listed in his credits is that he is the founder and former president of the Hells Angels Orange County chapter and a two-time ex-con for drug offenses (www.onepercenterbikers.com). There is no listing of the backgrounds of these convicted criminals and violent men in the advertisements for the fictionalized versions of outlaw bikers.

The prolific publication of what some call “crook’s books” by outlaw bikers has grown exponentially in the last 10 to 15 years, making celebrities of violent men with unsavory pasts. The book, Terry the Tramp: The Life and Dangerous Times of a One Percenter (Ball, 2011), is the story of Terry Orendorff, known as “Terry the Tramp,” the longtime leader of the extremely violent Vagos MC. These “crook’s books” revel in the real and exaggerated violent nature of the outlaw biker world. Law enforcement officers such as ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Special Agents Jay Dobyns (Hells Angels MC) and Billy Queen (Mongols MC) have infiltrated biker clubs and become media celebrities as they recount and embellish the violence they encountered. One paid government informer, Charles Falco, infiltrated the Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws and wrote several books and appeared in the Gangland series.

Academic Response

The popular interest and media attention to Outlaw Motorcycle Gang violence exposed a critical need for scholarly examinations of this deviant and dangerous subculture that was largely ignored by the academic community. This is changing. A limited number of academicians who were former outlaw bikers have published retrospective reinterpretations of their past experiences living in the saloon society of the outlaw biker (e.g., William Dulaney, John Hall, and James Quinn). Limited research studies using secondary data appear in scholarly journals in North America, Australia, and Europe. Outlaw bikers appear as criminal gang topics at professional association conferences such as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the American Society of Criminology. The “legacy of violence” founding is a part of these scholarly examinations but has not received adequate attention; that is the purpose of this work.

This book documents and supports the growing conclusion that the individual and group violence that has always been present in the outlaw biker lifestyle has increased along with club-sponsored violence as outlaw biker clubs evolved into adult criminal gangs and engaged in crimes for profit over sustained periods of time and crossed borders in searching for crime markets. These adult criminal gangs—Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs)—are involved in violent organized crime at the local, regional, national, and transnational levels. Those OMGs engaged in national and transnational drug trafficking have a higher incidence of violence due to the nature of the crime market. Drug sales occur in open-air sites, large sums of money change hands, and sellers have known tendencies for violence (and they are armed) (UNCICP, 2000). The OMGs in the United States and abroad have set up unholy networks of career criminals as they engage in continuing criminal enterprises (CCEs). They use violence as a CCE tool.

The legacy of violence exists in the local, regional, national, and transnational outlaw biker culture. The following inquiry includes well-publicized displays of biker violence. These sensationalized public events shocked not only those in the countries in which they occurred but also citizens around the world. Historically, outlaw biker violence was tolerated and almost ignored, as they kept the violent acts out of public spaces and only killed and maimed each other; however, the incidents explored in this text were in public settings, and some resulted in collateral damage including injuries to and deaths of innocent citizens. The events and criminal actors examined have had a significant impact on the views of biker violence and the preventive actions taken by the state.

This Book’s Organization

The background for the Legacy of Violence discussion begins with outlaw biker history leading up to the 1969 Altamont Speedway incident and the creation of a new “folk devil”: namely, bikers. Then, we present distinctions between types of motorcycle clubs—conventional motorcycle clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Next, we trace the expansion of outlaw clubs and gangs throughout the world. Although the outlaw biker phenomenon started in the United States, it has morphed throughout the world. Finally, we present incidents of outlaw biker violence occurring in the United States and overseas as the tendrils of the U.S.-based biker gangs expand transnationally. The expanded worldwide presence of Outlaw Motorcycle Groups as adult criminal gangs ignited club-sponsored violence between competing indigenous and competing U.S.-based biker gangs. Violent outlaw biker events with multiple victims in North America, Australia, Europe, and the rest of the world are data sources for outlaw biker violence.

2

BIKERS AS FOLK DEVILS

 

Introduction

The number-one controversy surrounding motorcycle clubs is: Are they social clubs composed of motorcycle enthusiasts? Or are they adult criminal gangs—which would be defined as three or more adult persons who come together to commit crimes for profit on a continuing basis and who happen to ride motorcycles? The answer is yes to the first question—social clubs—if the focus is the Thirteen Rebels Motorcycle Club, an American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)-sanctioned motorcycle club composed of law-abiding male and female motorcycle enthusiasts riding all makes and models of motorcycles. The answer to the second question—adult criminal gangs—is yes if the focus is the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), a non-AMA-sanctioned motorcycle gang made up of male one-percent outlaw bikers engaged in crimes for profit on a continuing basis. The social clubs and the gang represent extremes on a continuum. However, some motorcycle clubs that do not fit neatly into the club or gang extreme categories can be placed along a heuristic Motorcycle Club Criminal Organization Continuum. This continuum is important because of the consequences of a biased label of all motorcycle clubs as gangs such as occurred following the police and biker shootout in Waco, Texas, on May 17, 2015. As we shall see, the disastrous impact of an overzealous assignment of the gang label to numerous innocent citizens who were guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time points to a premise of labeling theory—labels have consequences (Becker, 1963). The pejorative effects of the “biker” label did not start at Waco in 2015; it has a long history.

Media Biker Coverage and the Creation of a Folk Devil

“Moral panic” and “folk devil” are terms first defined by Stanley Cohen (1972) in his seminal work Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Cohen described the media’s exaggerated and sensationalized coverage of the Mods and Rockers (British rowdy juveniles identified by their dress). According to Cohen, a moral panic is created when false or exaggerated perceptions of some behavior or groups of persons, particularly minority groups or subcultures, led to the conclusion that the behavior of the group is particularly deviant and poses a threat to society. This is not to say that the behavior of the group or members of the group is not deviant or does not pose a threat, but only that this threat is oversensationalized, often leading to changes in the law and dealing with the group too harshly.

Sensationalized print and nonprint biker coverage began in the summer of 1946 when a dipsomaniac 13 Rebels Motorcycle Club member, Wino Willie Forkner, drove his motorcycle through the wooden fence of a 13 Rebels MC and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)-sponsored quarter-mile race (Hayes, 2005; Reynolds, 2000). Forkner was thrown out of the 13 Rebels club, and he and other disgruntled and excitement-seeking WWII veterans formed the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club (MC), the first organized Outlaw Motorcycle Club (OMC). The “outlaw” label did not have the connotations it has today; it meant the club was a non-AMA-sanctioned motorcycle club. The Boozefighters MC was one of the several outlaw, non-AMA motorcycle clubs formed by ex-servicemen “letting off steam” and seeking to recreate the companionship and brotherhood experienced during the war (Barker, 2015a; Dulaney, 2005). These early outlaw clubs and the antics of their often-intoxicated members during several exaggerated media events created a new label, bikers, that is still a part of popular culture.

The New Folk Devil: Bikers

Sensational and widely published “violent” outlaw biker incidents, such as the Hollister (California) Riot (1947) and the Riverside (California) Riot (1948) created a moral panic. The events aroused social concern over an issue that threatened society. The combination of violent events and sensational public concerns introduced a new “folk devil”: outlaw bikers (Barker, 2007, 2015a; McBee, 2015; Reynolds, 2000; Yates, 1999). Following the exaggerated and well-published media accounts, motorcycle club riders, aka bikers, became the number-one enemy of society, requiring more police action, new laws, longer sentences, and increased public hostility and condemnation—that is, they were “folk devils.” Exploitative biker movies followed the aroused public interest, adding to the threat posed by “bikers.” The first biker movie, The Wild One (1953), starring Marlon Brando, became a cult classic and spread the image of the outlaw biker’s cultural lifestyle and dress worldwide (Barker, 2007, 2015a; Harris, 1985; Veno, 2003). The Wild One was followed by bizarre but popular biker movies such as Wild Angels (1966), Hells Angels on Wheels (1967), Hell’s Angels ’69 (1969), and the enormously successful Easy Rider (1969). Many of these movies had actual Hells Angels MC members as actors. These movies built on the interest and lure of the wild biker lifestyle—drinking, brawling, and contempt for mainstream society and its “uptight” morality—and stimulated the growth of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs throughout the world (Barker, 2015a). British variants of American outlaw biker films were produced in the 1960s and 1970s, stimulating the interest in motorcycle clubs in the United Kingdom (Ward, 2010) as well. Motorcycle clubs or “gangs” became the symbol of hedonistic pleasure and social rebellion and spread globally. The outlaw club the Chosen Few MC of Northern Ireland, founded in the 1970s, followed the dress, rules, membership process, and organizational style known as the Hells Angels Model (Ballard, 1977).

The media attention to the troublesome minority of motorcycle riders in the early development of outlaw bikers created a magnified image of these motorcyclists in the minds of the public (Austin, Gagné, and Orend, 2010). The sensational media coverage of outlaw biker groups increased as they expanded, nationally and internationally, leading to often-draconian responses by state actors. Historically, the pattern of sensationalized media coverage, political rhetoric, and legislative response to real and perceived biker violence continues today (Morgan, Dagistanli, and Martin, 2010). As can be said of most moral panics, the image of dangerous and violent behavior has a basis in fact. In truth, some, though not all, outlaw bikers are dangerous and violent men, and some Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are indeed adult criminal gangs (Barker, 2015a).

Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs Evolve and Expand

Motorcycle clubs composed of family-oriented motorcycle riders developed early in the history of motorcycle riding, as soon as motorcycles became affordable recreational transportation. Many of the outlaw clubs examined in this book evolved from fringe members of conventional clubs, as members who were involved in criminal activity or looking for “action” left the family-oriented AMA clubs to join or form outlaw clubs. Some evolved from outlaw clubs into adult criminal gangs, referred to as “Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” (OMGs) (Barker, 2015a). The archetypal Outlaw Motorcycle Club, the Hells Angels MC (HAMC), founded in 1948 by WWII veterans, evolved into a criminal organization composed of non-veteran thugs and gangsters in the 1960s. The now-criminal gang moved into drug trafficking under the leadership of Ralph “Sonny” Barger and became designated an OMG by law enforcement authorities (Barker, 2015a). Sonny Barger’s autobiography refers to the 1970s as the “gangster era” of the HAMC (Barger, Zimmerman, and Zimmerman, 2000). Barger, in spite of his media celebrity, is a convicted felon, ex-con, and admitted drug dealer and cocaine addict. Other U.S.-based outlaw clubs, such as the Outlaws MC, the Pagans MC, the Sons of Silence MC, and the Florida Warlocks MC, followed the HAMC into the evolution of outlaw motorcycle criminal gangs (Barker, 2007). This American expansion is countered by OMCs from other countries moving across national borders. Some expanded into the United States; for example, the Abutres [Vultures] OMC, a one-percent motorcycle club founded in 1989 in São Paulo, Brazil, is the largest Outlaw Motorcycle Club in Brazil and has chapters in Argentina, Japan, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, and the United States (www.onepercenterbikers.com).

3

MOTORCYCLE CLUBS, OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE CLUBS (OMCs), AND OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS (OMGs)

Introduction

Defining motorcycle clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs is not an easy task. Most countries outside North America designate motorcycle clubs in three words—Motor Cycle Clubs (MCCs)—and Outlaw Motor Cycle Clubs in four words (OMCCs), and similarly for Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs (OMCGs). Those in the United States do not divide motorcycle into the two words “motor” and “cycle,” so use the following designations: Motorcycle Club (MC), Outlaw Motorcycle Club (OMC), and Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMG) or Outlaw Motorcycle Club/Gang (OMC/G).

The distinctions between motorcycle clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs is more than a scholarly debate because of the real social consequences of misclassifications by state actors or failure to take preventive action when such action is warranted (see Box 3.1). Law enforcement authorities as a matter of public policy, must correctly identify which motorcycle clubs are really “clubs” and which are adult criminal “gangs,” and act accordingly. This did not happen at Waco, Texas, in 2015, and we will see the disastrous social effects that caused. Legislators must correctly identify an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 The Legacy of Violence
• 2 Bikers as Folk Devils
• 3 Motorcycle Clubs, Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs (OMCs), and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs)
• 4 Spreading Biker Violence: Transnational Expansion of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs/Gangs
• 5 The Culture of Violence in the Outlaw Biker Community
• 6 “Bad Men” in the Outlaw Biker Community
• 7 Violent Public Events and Biker Wars: Events that Trigger Moral Panic
• 8 The Waco Debacle: Response to a Moral Panic
• Bibliography
• Index