OFF THE WIRE
COMMENT BY Thomas
Large
MCs are all in the Federal cross hairs. And have been since the 70s.
Nothing nothing different. If your patched. You will be harassed.
Pulled over and most likely photographed. Nothing new. .
The Ottawa Police Department listed the two biker groups that brawled on Sunday night as motorcycle clubs.
That is what the Outlaws and Hells Angels call themselves. But on
social media Monday, some suggested referring to the groups as gangs,
not clubs.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice listed eight of the biggest
motorcycle clubs as “outlaw motorcycle gangs.” They included the Hells
Angels and the Outlaws.
According to the department, the gangs are organizations “whose
members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal
enterprises.” The gangs are involved in violent crime, weapon
trafficking and drug trafficking, the report said.
The department said there are more than 300 active outlaw motorcycle gangs in the country.
“The Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, Outlaws, and Sons of Silence
pose a serious national domestic threat and conduct the majority of
criminal activity linked to (outlaw motorcycle gangs), especially
activity relating to drug trafficking, and, more specifically, to
cross-border drug smuggling,” the 2014 report says.
Robert Turner, Streator’s deputy police chief, said members of the
Outlaws and Hells Angels have been in the region for some time.
“We haven’t had any problems with them as of yet in Streator,” he said in an interview Monday.
The Hells Angels and Outlaws are known enemies. On a Saturday
afternoon in April 2010, the two groups battled in a parking lot in a
tiny village in southeastern Minnesota, according to the Pioneer Press.
The newspaper reported police cited no one for fighting because no
one involved would talk to officers, but two were charged with
possessing brass knuckles.
In 2008, the Hells Angels and Outlaws brawled at an airport in Great
Britain. Seven members of the two groups were jailed, according to media
reports.
Both the Hells Angels and Outlaws have websites.
The Outlaws claim chapters mainly east of the Mississippi. The
closest chapters to La Salle County include Pontiac, Joliet, Kankakee,
Peoria and Rockford.
The Hells Angels website indicated it has chapters around the world,
on every continent but Antarctica. The nearest chapters are in the
Rockford and Peoria areas, according to the website.
The Hells Angels were founded in 1948 in the San Bernardino area of
California. The Outlaws started in 1935 in the Chicago suburb of McCook.
On its website, the Outlaws group gives an email address but says,
“DO NOT write us asking how to join! Find an Outlaw and ask him!” Its
news feed contains condolences to members who have died, but they are
referred to by their nicknames.
The Hells Angels has an “RIP” section on its site and also uses nicknames.
Biggest outlaw biker gangs listed by Department of Justice:
-Bandidos
-Black Pistons
-Hells Angels
-Mongols
-Outlaws
-Pagans
-Sons of Silence
-Vagos
