What Every Cop Needs To Know About Outlaw Bikers
Outlaw motorcycle clubs are an underworld on wheels
, and they proudly lay claim the 1%er title, and go out of their way to live outside of societies' rules, and many have no trouble breaking the law.
While most police officers are aware of the big clubs like the Hells Angels, Outlaws MC, the Pagans, and the Bandidos there are many more clubs out there fighting for their territory and share of criminal proceeds from everything to guns and drugs to motorcycle theft and prostitution. They can't be dismissed as simply hell raisers and anyone who doesn't respect what they are capable of do so at their own peril. They're armed, organized, and they're very dangerous.
Biker clubs are involved in a number of criminal actives including, but not limited to motorcycle theft, prostitution, narcotics trafficking, and gun running. They often take part of their profits and reinvest them in legitimate businesses like bars, bike shops, and even investment firms. Local businesses will often pay protection to the club, and the club will even contract work out to smaller biker clubs. They often have ties to white supremacist groups and organized crime, and they have been known to use explosive to eliminate rivals.
They will fight openly with members of other clubs, and have been know to fight and even kill police officers. Any officer confronting a biker should always assume they're armed and dangerous.
American biker clubs operate in every state and some clubs have even established chapters in foreign countries, but despite there being so many groups they all have a similar structure. Larger groups have a national President who leads from the club's headquarters or "Mother Chapter." This individual wields immense power, and can override club votes, and few will have access to him beyond bodyguards and a trusted inner circle.
While they Pagans have this office they don't have an established headquarters, so it is much harder to track down their leader. Some clubs have a national vice president who handles a region assigned to him, and he handles any problems that local chapters can't workout on their own.
Another important national office is that of the secretary-treasure who keeps the books, collects dues, and drafts by-laws and keeps the minutes for meetings which bikers refer to as "church". Every club has a constitution where the founding members laid out how they believe the club should be run, and it covers everything from who can be a member to what type bikes they can ride.
The national enforcer fulfills many roles and can be found acting as the president's bodyguard as well as handing out punishments. He is the one who comes for a former member's colors and has been known to remove club tattoos with blow torches, knives, and power sanders. This individual is usually the toughest and baddest among a very rough crowd. Some clubs even have a special chapter just to support their enforcer and have no problems killing members.
An individual chapter is almost identical to the national organization's structure. The offices operate similarly to the national ones though the enforcer role is often filled by the sergeant of arms on the chapter level, and there is a road captain to organize "runs" or club trips.
Club members pay dues and are expected to follow all the orders of the leadership, and once you join a club everything you own is now club property. The clubs are very selective of whom they let join their organization, and purposely keep their numbers down so they can have better control of their personnel. For giving up almost everything a member will find themselves part of a fanatical brotherhood where loyalty is everything, and disloyalty is punishable by death.
You can only become a member after a probationary period where you're your at the mercy of any full member, and you have to do whatever is asked of you during that period. Individual clubs vary on the length of the probation, and some former members have said they were full members in a matter of weeks, but membership only happens after an extensive background check. Undercover officers and former members describe this as a hellish period where they did everything from menial jobs to attacking people who offended members.
Women are never full members and are either property of the club (pretty much a slave) or property of an individual member. Women will do all kinds of jobs for the club ranging for cooking and taking care of the bikes to earning money and gathering intelligence. While they might not have the same status as men many have the same fanatical devotion to the club, and shouldn't be dismissed. If you are useful to the club you might become an associate or honorary member, but you won't have a vote, but you do get to party with the club.
If you have bikers in your area you could be dealing with a series problem, and though not every club is solely a criminal enterprise they can still be a problem. Also keep in mind smaller clubs are only allowed to exist because the more powerful club in the area let's them, and as stated earlier they have been known to do jobs for the larger clubs. These groups are loyal, dangerous, and pose a very real threat. Police departments, who didn't take them seriously paid for it later, so remain vigilant, and don't let them get the upper hand.
by: Matthew McKernan
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