BANDIDOS

The 'Bandidos Motorcycle Club' is a one percenter motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. The club was formed in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. Its slogan is ''We are the people our parents warned us about''. It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 195 chapters, located in 14 countries. Peter Lewis, Feds take another run at heading off biker gang, ''Seattle Times'', July 25, 2005. Accessed online 11 Dec 2006. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigative Service, Canada, have designated the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as an ''Outlaw Motorcycle Gang''.

Contents

History

Organization

Recent Incidents

USA

Canada

Australia

References

Other references

External links

History

The club was formed in 1966 in Houston by Donald Eugene Chambers. Many people think after seeing a TV commercial with the Frito Bandito raising hell to sell potato chips, Chambers named his club the Bandidos. This is not true, as the cartoon came out in 1968 (although he did adopt a fat, machete- and pistol-wielding Mexican Bandido as the center patch for the club's colors). After Chambers' presidency ended due to his conviction for a double murder in El Paso, Texas, Ronnie Hodge was elevated to president. Under the watch of Hodge, the Bandidos expanded internationally.

Organization

The Bandidos, also called the Bandido Nation, is the fastest-growing outlaw motorcycle club in the world with over 90 chapters in the United States, 90 chapters in Europe, and another 15 in Australia and Southeast Asia. In the United States, the club is concentrated in Texas, but extends into Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and several other states. The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in Canada patched over to Bandidos in 2000, and there is a chapter in Toronto, Ontario^[1]. The Bandidos are also found in Australia; aside from the non-locale-specific Nomads chapter, the chapters are located in Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane City, Cairns, Sydney Downtown, Geelong, Gold Coast, Hunter Valley, Ipswich City, Mid North Coast, Mid State, Northside, Noosa, North Victoria, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, and Toowoomba, and were acquired with much bloodletting. In recent years the club has also expanded heavily into Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, France and the Channel Isles of Great Britain. Additionally, it is looking into setting up shop in Russia and Eastern Europe and also in the tiny island of Singapore, as well as Malaysia and Thailand [1]. The Bandidos are organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice presidents and a national president.

Recent Incidents

USA

On July 29th, 2007, during the Hells Angels 2007 USA run, six members of the Hells Angels confronted six members of the Bandidos in the parking lot of a Eureka Springs, Arkansas antique shop. Two of the Bandidos escaped the parking lot to retrieve weapons, leaving the other four members to face the six Hells Angels. The remaining four Bandidos were stabbed with knives and beaten with baseball bats in the ensuing melee, leaving them critically injured. The men were all flown to area hospitals. Police arrested six members of the Hells Angels a short time later. Police speculate that the fight may have started over territorial issues, since Arkansas is controlled by the Bandidos. ^[2][3]
In October, 2006, George Wegers, Bandido's international president, plead guilty and received a 2-year sentence for conspiracy to engage in racketeering. Also, in November, 2006, Glenn Merritt of the Bellingham, Washington chapter was sentenced to four years in prison on Federal racketeering charges. A total of 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges including conspiracy to commit murder, witness tampering, violent crime in aid of racketeering, and various drug and weapons violations. Eighteen of those plead guilty. ^[4]
A member of the Bandidos in San Antonio, Texas, Richard Merla, was convicted of the murder of former boxing world champion Robert Quiroga, who died in 2004. In a thinly-veiled attempt at public relations, the Bandidos expelled Merla, fearing community outrage over the murder of its famous son.
There is speculation that the Bandidos were involved in the March, 2006 murder of Anthony Benesh, who was attempting to start a Hells Angels chapter in Austin, Texas. The Bandidos vehemently deny any involvement in the murder of Benesh, and law enforcement authorities continue to investigate the murder and have developed leads in the case.[2].

Canada

On April 8, 2006, four vehicles containing the bodies of eight men, all of whom had been shot, were discovered in a farmer's field outside of the hamlet of Shedden, Ontario, Canada. Six of the men killed in what became known as the Shedden Massacre were believed to have been full members of the Bandidos, including the alleged president of the organization in Canada. Three of the suspects in the case are also believed to have been full members, and one a prospective member.
A Bandidos member was arrested by York Regional Police on December 3, 2006 in connection with the shooting death and wounding of two other Hells Angels members at an adult entertainment club in Vaughan, Ontario near Toronto.

Australia

The Bandidos are known in Australia for their involvement in the Milperra Bikie Massacre. More recently, five Bandidos are accused of starting a blaze which destroyed the Rebels clubhouse at Albion, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia on March 27. All five will face Brisbane Magistrates Court again on June 4, 2007.
On 27th January 2007, up to 100 Bandidos members bashed a lone commuter on Windsor Road in the Hills District. He was knocked unconscious; however, he refused to have the matter investigated by police. ^[5]
In 2007, Ken Tanti, a member of Bandidos Sydney's North Side chapter, died when his motorcycle struck the rear of a parishioner's car at high speed outside Our Lady Queen of Peace church in Sydney's west in May 2007. Members of the NSW Police, including the Public Order and Riots Squad, provided tight security and police escorts for the funeral due to violence between rival clubs which had escalated in the past two months, with a series of tit-for-tat shootings and fire-bombings of clubhouses in Sydney and Newcastle. The escort accompanied the funeral from Castle Hill to a church in Greystanes to the cemetery at Minchinbury.^[6]
The NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney was quoted as stating that ''"the Nomads, Bandidos, Comancheros and Rebels are behind the attacks"''. Police say they are part of a turf war for the Sydney nightclub drug scene. Moroney said he would recommend legislation banning gang colours, to help break up organised crime gangs^[7].

References

1. http://www.bandidosmc.ca/
2. 40/29 TV.com 6 Bikers Arrested After Fight Leaves 4 Rivals Severely Injured, ''40/29 TV.com'', July 30, 2007. Accessed online September 7, 2007
3. Police: 4 Bandidos stabbed in altercation with Hells Angels, ''Boston.com Local News (AP), July 31, 2007. Accessed online September 7, 2007
4. 4 years in prison for gang member, ''Seattle Times'', November 19, 2006. Accessed online 19 Aug 2007.
5. Hills Shire Times, 22/05/07 pg. 3
6. ''Bandidos — and police — turn out in force for funeral'', Mt Druitt — St Marys Standard, 16 May 2007.
7. Hundreds farewell Bandidos bikie ''(via smh.com.au) 14 May 2007''

Other references

★ July 2006 Seattle Weekly newspaper article

★ May 2006 Austin Chronicle newspaper article

External links

★ Bandidos MC

★ Out In Bad Standings; Inside The Bandidos Motorcycle Club by Edward Winterhalder, Blockhead City Press 2005 USA