And here’s still more information that’s dribbled out on Sunday’s Waco biker shootout:
I can understand the Waco police’s impulse not to give out the names of the biker gangs involved so as not to give them more publicity. However, in today’s media environment this is an essentially meaningless gesture
And still more on the biker gang shootout in Waco that left nine people dead:
The tensions reached a boil recently when some Cossacks members began wearing a patch with the word “Texas” emblazoned at the bottom of their biker jackets and vests.
Those “bottom rocker” patches, as they are called in biker parlance, were a direct affront to the Bandidos, a larger gang with a long history of criminal activity in several states, Mr. Cook said. The Bandidos had claimed the sole right to display the patch as a sign of their turf, he said.
“The fact that the Cossacks would put on a bottom rocker with the state of Texas is basically saying, ‘We don’t respect you, and we won’t answer to you,’ ” Mr. Cook said. “It was a powder keg.”
So if Mr. Cook is correct, nine people just got killed over this:
A few more tidbits on the Waco shootout:
The U.S. Department of Justice identifies the Bandidos as one of the two largest “outlaw motorcycle gangs” in the U.S., with about 900 members in 93 chapters.
According to the Department of Justice website, the Bandidos are “involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and are involved in the production, transportation and distribution of methamphetamine.” The group is most active in the Pacific, Southeast, Southwest and West Central U.S.
The Bandidos gang also has members in 13 other countries, according to the Department of Justice.
A few more details have come to light about the Waco biker gang fight that left nine people dead:
“Nine people are dead in what was described by witnesses as a “war zone” battle between rival biker gangs outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas. All of those killed were members of the biker gangs.”
Twin Peaks is a lot like Hooters, but without so much refinement and class.
It appears that the gangs involved were the Cossacks and the Scimitars, neither of which I’m familiar with. Though if the images are any indication, both are distinctly pale of hue.
Considering the fact that there were a grand total of six murders in all of Waco in 2012, it’s a pretty big story.
More later, maybe.
Update The Waco Tribune says the Bandidos motorcycle gang (a gang with a famous and lengthy rap sheet) was involved fighting with the Cossacks.
Update 2: Now seeing reports that at least five biker gangs were involved in the Waco shootout.
Also the gangs appeared to be there as part of a “peace meeting”:
Swanton said at least five rival gangs gathered at Twin Peaks for a meeting that he said focused on turf and recruitment, two areas where the groups have often clashed. Preliminary findings indicate a dispute broke out in a bathroom and then spilled into the restaurant where it escalated to include knives and firearms, he said. There were 150 to 200 gang members inside the restaurant at the time.
I think we can mark this meeting as way more exciting, and less successful, than the average work meeting…
Update 3: Here’s a Stratfor piece from 2009 that links the Bandidos to Mexican drug cartels.
Update 4: This Daily Mail piece offers up more pictures, and deduces the names of additional gangs from their leathers: “The Pirados, the Veterans (one sitting), and the Leathernecks.” All three show up on this list of Waco motorcycle clubs. Note that a whole lot of those (probably the majority) appear to be law-abiding organizations.
Update 5: Heavy has put up 5 Bandidos Facts You Should Know (including that they had a “Nordic Biker War” with the Hells Angels in Scandinavia in the 1990s) and 5 Cossack facts Your Should Know (less useful); the 5 Scimitars Fast Facts You Need to Know is almost completely a repeat of the other two.