FBI's undercover motorcycle shop nets dozens of arrests

OFF THE WIRE
Federal agents and local police swept up members of what they called a criminal motorcycle gang Tuesday morning, arresting 27 people in North Texas on drug and firearm charges.

The Texas arrests were part of multi-state sweep of the Bandido Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and its affiliates, which the Department of Justice billed as the culmination of a years-long investigation that netted nearly 40 arrests in Texas, San Francisco and Colorado this week.

The FBI claims it infiltrated the North Texas Bandido network in 2009, sending an undercover agent to finance a motorcycle repair shop, turn one member of the group into an informant and gather evidence against others.

Making machine guns for survivalists, purchasing smoke grenades and taking a three-year-old girl along to buy meth in a parking lot are among the activities described in criminal complaints.

Most of the North Texas charges were for conspiracy to distribute meth, cocaine or heroin. The arrested have nicknames like "Mexican Joe," "Leatherneck Sniper" and "Sarge." They are as young as 23, as old as 61, and live in Fort Worth, Arlington and other cities.

Nearly half of those arrested face up to life in prison if convicted.

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/09/fbis-undercover-motorcycle-sho.html