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| Image: Renee Silverman |
Written by Marianne Mansfield
Of all the things I don’t know much about, right up there close to the head of the list is outlaw motorcycle gangs, commonly referred to as OMGs. That is, at least until last Sunday, when I began to hear of a confrontation between two rival gangs in Waco, Texas, that led to the death of nine persons.
What I know about motorcycle riders in general is limited to what I’ve observed as I share the road with them. I like to see them acknowledge one another as they approach and pass with the left hand extended and cocked slightly downward toward the pavement. I think their leather jackets are cool, and I always move to the outside lane if I encounter them taking shelter from the elements under a bridge overpass. That’s it. I know no more. Naïve? You betcha.
Still, my interest remained less than piqued until I heard James Quinn, a professor of criminal justice at the University of North Texas, being interviewed about the existence of the OMGs. Emphasis on Outlaw. He linked the rise of membership in such gangs to our country’s involvement in military conflicts, beginning with World War II. It seems that even then, some young men returning from war struggled to fit into a society absent the camaraderie of brothers in battle and the excitement of combat. Drawn to a sub-culture which offered both, but without the strictures of military discipline, some veterans found a home in the OMGs of California and the southern United States. Quinn postulated that today membership numbers can be observed to ebb and flow based on how involved we are in military conflicts abroad.
A CNN report documenting the history of OMGs estimated their collective membership today to be around 44,000 nationwide. Despite their relatively small numbers, OMG members have managed to create a disproportionate amount of havoc over the years since WWII.
The 1953 movie “The Wild One” with a brooding Marlon Brando, dramatized an OMG’s real life takeover of the small town of Hollister, California. Then came the 1969 incident in which the Hells Angels were hired to provide security for a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California. Before the event was over, a member of the Angels had stabbed a man to death after that man attempted to charge the stage. The gang member was later acquitted by reason of self-defense.
In 2002, there was a casino brawl at Harrah’s in Laughlin, Nevada, leaving three dead. In 2006, members of the Bandidos in London, Ontario, gunned down eight of their own members in a territorial dispute.
And then Waco last Sunday.
There is some dispute as to what led the gangs to come together at the Twin Peaks restaurant on the outskirts of Waco. Some said it was to straighten out some “territorial issues.” Others said they were there for a Confederation Club “meeting.”
Authorities say that the bad blood between the two gangs primarily involved in the incident, the Bandidos and the Cossacks, had been brewing for some time. The primary issue in contention was the use by the Cossacks of an emblem on their jackets that has been claimed as exclusively theirs by the Bandidos. Since the symbol incorporates the name of the state of Texas—which both groups call home—the confrontation was inevitable.
What is clear is that violence erupted. Gunfire erupted, and knives, brass knuckles and clubs appeared out of nowhere. Nine dead, 18 wounded, and a town’s sense of peace and safety fiercely disrupted.
There is another element to the violence here. Most OMGs make their money illegally, often transporting and marketing illicit drugs. Territory is more than a just a concept to these groups; rather it is the turf on which their money is made. Competition is seriously frowned upon.
So, why should we care? For two reasons, the first of which arises in the form of self-preservation. In July of 2014, Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lane Critser told members of the Legislature’s Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee that there had been a 300 percent increase in members of OMGs in Utah over the last five years.
Apparently, the fact that Utah is largely rural is appealing to members who want to do business beyond the prying eyes of law enforcement officers and concerned citizens. Critser urged the legislators to get ahead of the game by seeking to develop and enact legal ways by which OMGs could be banned from entering communities.
The second reason we need to care, however, is a more humanitarian one. Some of the members of OMGs are veterans returning from combat, not fitting in the society they left to defend freedom, seeking that welcoming embrace of family no matter how flawed. This phenomenon is yet another unintended consequence of war. Call it what you will, PTSD, or disenfranchisement, these men—and it is largely a male population—often find what they think they need in OMGs. Moreover, these veterans often bring with them skills they honed in the military, an attractive bonus to the OMGs engaged in business outside the law.
Is the behavior in which the OMG members engage deplorable? Of course it is. Are they a threat to communities where they congregate? Ask the people of Waco. Should members who break the law be held accountable? Absolutely. Should our legislature be proactive in dealing with OMGs seeking Utah as new turf? I hope they will.
But to stop there is short-sighted. Until we as a society figure out how to offer that sense of family, that spirit of brotherhood and, perhaps the greatest challenge, acceptable outlets for the need for the excitement once experienced in combat, the ugliness will continue to build. Until we acknowledge that we are not doing as much as we might to help all our warriors as they return, the supply line will keep pumping new blood into the aging ranks of violent motorcycle gangs.
Waco won’t be the end of it.
