OFF THE WIRE
Senior military officers continue to call the Iron Order Motorcycle Club an outlaw motorcycle gang or OMG.
The Iron Order is a fast growing and aggressive motorcycle club that has branded itself as a “law abiding motorcycle club.” According to the ATF, “The Iron Order is one of the fastest growing motorcycle clubs in the United States. Members wear a traditional three-piece patch with a State bottom rocker. The fact that they wear the State bottom rocker has infuriated the HAMC, Outlaws, Iron Horsemen, Pagans and Bandidos. More importantly, many of their members are police and corrections officers, active-duty military and/or government employees and contractors.”
Cop Club
Recently John C. Whitfield, one of the founders of the Iron Order was quoted as saying the club “was started by a former secret-service agent in 2004…. More than half of our guys are military or law enforcement.” Whitfield also identified an Iron Order member who is an ATF Agent in Oklahoma as a source of information for the club.
Many police officers in the United States seem to regard the Iron Order as a force for good in a Manichaean struggle with evil motorcycle clubs. The distinction between who is naughty and who is nice is convenient for the sorts of police who want to perfect America through the use of extra legal violence.
The idea that the Iron Order is somehow more law abiding than other motorcycle clubs has blatantly contaminated the stymied investigation of the murder of Zachariah “Nas T” Tipton outside Nippers Beach Grille in Jacksonville Beach, Florida in late June. Tipton was a member of the Black Pistons Motorcycle Club. He was shot in the head and killed by a member of the Iron Order. The confessed killer was released by Jacksonville Beach police without being charged. His name and most details of the murder, including the medical examiner’s report, remain official secrets.
Camp Pendleton
Military commanders however, continue to see the Iron Order less ambiguously than policemen do. For example a document recently distributed to service members at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton threatened sailors and Marines who join the Iron Order with “administrative or disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate punitive action.” The document was issued under the authority of DOD Instruction 1325.06, titled “Handling Dissident and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces.”
The document defines Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs “as organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprise. The following motorcycle clubs are recognized by the DOJ and/or California state and local Law Enforcement Agencies as OMGs: The Bandidos, Black Pistons, Hells Angels, Mongols, Outlaws, Sons of Silence, Pagans, Vagos, Green Nation, Green Machine, Military Misfits, Filthy Bastards, Iron Order, Grunts MC, Brotherhood, Vietnam Vets, Devils Disciples, Legacy Vets, Peckerwoods, and Diablos. This list is inclusive of identified OMGs in the southern California area but may not include all others outside that region.”
The document specifically forbids active participation in any of those clubs and states that “Active participation includes, but is not limited to, fundraising; demonstrating or rallying; recruiting, training, organizing, or leading members; distributing material (including posting on-line); knowingly wearing gang colors or clothing; having tattoos or body markings associated with such gangs or organizations; or otherwise engaging in activities in furtherance of the objective of such gangs or organizations that are detrimental to good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment or are incompatible with military service.”