agingrebel.com
A year ago today, a prison guard and
member of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club named Derrick Joseph “Kong”
Duran, provoked a fight with members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club
working at a booth at the Colorado Motorcycle Expo in Denver, Colorado.
When he realized he couldn’t physically
defeat a Mongol named Jared “Hercules” Chadwick, Duran pulled a gun and
shot the Mongol in the abdomen. Duran then escaped up a set of stairs.
At the top of the stairs, he paused to murder another Mongol named
Victor “Nubs” Mendoza.
The Iron Order, which counts numerous
peace officers as members, encourages those members to aggressively seek
confrontations with members of other motorcycle clubs, to use deadly
force to win the fights its members start and coaches members to present
themselves as victims to police.
The Iron Order’s organizational style is
at odds with that of the clubs they confront. Most motorcycle clubs
discourage members from cooperating with police and from testifying in
court except for the defense. The Iron Order cynically exploits its
defacto status as a police death squad. In the words of current Iron
Order vice-president, Army Lieutenant Colonel Mike “Cgar” Crouse, “I
know our club has the advantage. One percenters won’t call the cops. So
what the fuck, destroy any fucker that confronts you. It’s a free
ticket….”
The tragedy last year in Denver played
out exactly the way Crouse told his club brothers it would. Iron Order
members portrayed themselves as victims of the Mongols. Mongols,
including Chadwick, declined to cooperate with police. Duran was never
charged with any crime. Shortly after he was cleared, he sold his home
in Longmont, Colorado and disappeared. His disappearance was so
professionally accomplished that one informed source volunteered that
Duran – although he was never charged with a crime or appeared at trial –
seemed to have been enrolled in the United States Marshals Witness
Security Program.
Duran was last seen in suburban Minneapolis.