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Originally Posted by masraum
I know you hear a lot about various biker gangs being REALLY bad/nasty and into all sorts of crime (drugs, murder, etc...), but I don't really know anything about them other than stuff that I've read here or seen on TV.
What's the deal, is it that they've got a ton of members, some/most of which are essentially not criminals, but then a small percentage are criminals (think of it as the finance division). Or if you see someone with a patch for banditos, HA, outlaws, etc..., does that make them a drug dealing killer?
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Back when I dipped a toe in these waters (late '70's to early '80's), these were very much just "clubs". The guys in them tended to be a bit rough around the edges, but all of them held jobs, most were family men, etc. Granted, you absolutely did not want to cross them, as they all loved a good old fashioned fist fight (and were thus pretty damn good at it, plus when you fought one you fought all).
Yeah, there were some guys selling pot, coke, meth, and that kind of a thing. They were by no means making a living at it though. Some of them stole motorcycles, mainly for the parts they needed for theirs. Low level schitthead kinda crimes. None of it organized by nor sanctioned by the clubs. It was all just an offshoot of what kinds of guys were attracted to the clubs. They would have been doing that crap club or no club.
It didn't take long before many in the clubs started to notice there was money to be made through these criminal enterprises. And, well, they had lots of willing, eager, experienced co-conspirators that they already called "brothers". I think it was just an unfortunate, but in hindsight completely expected and natural evolution - these clubs became full-on criminal enterprises. Lots of members now making their living that way. What used to be "riding territories" are now "criminal territories" and, as a result (due to the profit motive) are much more violently defended than when it was just who gets to ride where.
Much has been written by former members regarding this shift. I know a few guys who got out when it looked like the lives they had built with careers, family, homes, etc. were in jeopardy simply through association. One of the more compelling stories I heard from one of them was when a "brother" got popped for some really high level, big dollar drug dealing. He was going down for the count, needed a lawyer, and on and on. My friend was actually expected to take out a second mortgage to help pay his "brother's" legal fees. Yet this "brother" had never shared the largess from his drug dealing. Kind of a one-way street. Granted, it was a good thing he had not shared, or my friend would have gone down as an "accessory" or something.
So, yeah, my impression (granted, from a good deal of distance these days) is that most are organized criminal enterprises. The Mongols just lost a federal RICO case and their national president is in prison, along with a bunch of their officers. They almost lost the trademark to their patch as well, and did so initially, but won it back on appeal.
The Bandidos, Pagans (these scholars spell it "Pagan's"), Outlaws, and others have suffered similar losses. The HA had inadvertently devised the very best organizational structure there is to avoid all of this - every chapter is its own entirely autonomous entity. There are no national officers nor organizational structure. I'm sure this wasn't intentional, since they have been this way from day one, but it has served them well in these modern times.
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Originally Posted by tdw28210
I generally don't care about bikers. Don't ride anymore and encounter them rarely but I thought 1%-ers we're a very small subset of any given motorcycle "club". The true hardcases. Just because you're in a bike gang doesn't necessarily mean you are a 1%-er. yes/no?
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1%ers have their own clubs wherein every member is a "1%er". Either the entire club is or no one is.