Bandidos
Encyclopedia
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is a "one-percenter" motorcycle gang and organized crime
syndicate with a worldwide membership. The club was formed in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. Its slogan is We are the people our parents warned us about. It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 210 chapters, located in 16 countries. The club considers itself to be an Outlaw Motorcycle Club
. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
as well as the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada
have named the Bandidos an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
by Donald Eugene Chambers
. Many people think Chambers named his club the Bandidos after seeing a TV commercial with the Frito Bandito
enthusiastically promoting Fritos
corn chips. This is not true, as the cartoon came out in 1968 (although he did adopt an obese machete- and pistol-wielding Mexican Bandido as the center patch for the club's colors). Don Chambers, having served in Vietnam
as a Marine, modeled the club's colors after the scarlet and gold motif of the United States Marine Corps
. After Chambers' presidency ended due to his conviction for murder in El Paso, Texas
, Ronnie Hodge was elevated to president.
Motorcycle club in Canada merged with the Bandidos in 2000; there was a chapter in Toronto, Ontario until a dramatic internal conflict led to their deaths. The Bandidos are also found in Australia; aside from the non-locale-specific Nomads
chapter, the chapters are located in Adelaide
, Ballarat, Brisbane
(Bayside, Centro, City), Byron Bay
, Cairns, Geelong, Gold Coast
, Hunter Valley
, Ipswich
, Melbourne
, Mid North Coast, Mid State, Mission Beach
, Noosa, North Victoria, Northside, Sunshine Coast
, Sydney
, and Toowoomba, and were acquired with much bloodletting. In recent years the club has also expanded heavily into Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, France and the Channel Islands
. Additionally, it is looking into setting up shop in Russia and Eastern Europe
and also in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The Bandidos are organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice presidents and a national president.
Like the Hells Angels
, The Bandidos also have a number of puppet, or so-called "support," clubs, who are used as proxies for both legal and illegal activities. These groups usually wear reverse colors (gold border with red background rather than the Bandidos' red-border–and–gold background). They also commonly wear a unique patch (known as the "Heart Patch") consisting of a round patch in Bandidos colors on the front upper left of the colors (vest), as worn by the member. Most of these clubs are regional.
chapter was sentenced to four years in prison for drug possession and trafficking in stolen property. A total of 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, and various drug and gun violations. Eighteen of those plead guilty. In October, 2006, George Wegers, then Bandidos' international president, pleaded guilty and received a two-year sentence for conspiracy to engage in racketeering.
On 16 August 2004, a passer-by on Interstate 10
flagged down a police officer after finding Robert Quiroga
, International Boxing Federation
Super flyweight
champion from 1990 to 1993, lying next to his car. Quiroga had been stabbed multiple times. Richard Merla, a member of the Bandidos, was arrested in 2006 for the killing, pleaded no contest
to murdering Quiroga in 2007, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. "I don't regret it. I don't have no remorse. I don't feel sorry for him and his family. I don't and I mean that," Merla admits.
In regards to the murder of Robert Quiroga, the Bandidos Motorcycle Club denounced any involvement in the crime, stating that Merla's actions were his own, and not those of the Club. Merla was removed from the Club due to his actions.
In March 2006 police in Austin, Texas
announced that the Bandidos were the prime suspects in the March 18, 2006 slaying of a 44-year-old local motorcyclist named Anthony Benesh. Benesh, who had been trying to start an Austin chapter of the Hells Angels
, was shot in the head by an unseen sniper, as he was leaving a North Austin restaurant with his girlfriend and two children. Police said that Benesh was flanked by other people and the shooter used only one bullet, fired at a distance from a high-powered rifle. The murder occurred on the same weekend as the annual Bandidos MC "Birthday Party" in Southeast Texas, marking the 40th anniversary of the club's 1966 founding. According to police, in the days before his murder, Benesh had been receiving telephone calls from Bandidos telling him to stop wearing a vest that displayed Hells Angels patches.
" raged from 1994 until 1997. It resulted in 11 murders, 74 attempted murders, and 96 wounded members of the involved biker clubs. In Denmark a law was passed in response to the biker war that banned biker clubs from owning or renting property for their club activities. The law was later repealed on constitutional grounds.
On 14 January 2009, the Bandidos Sweden President, Mehdi Seyyed, was sentenced to nine years in prison for two counts of attempted murder. He bombed two cars in Gothenburg
, in September 2006, with hand grenades, in acts of revenge as the victims had previously testified against him. Four other Bandidos members received shorter sentences for their involvement in the attacks.
that killed six gang members and a young bystander and their large constituent of members of Middle Eastern origin and of Muslim faith.
More recently, five Bandidos are accused of starting a blaze which destroyed the Rebels clubhouse at Albion
, a suburb of Brisbane
, Australia on 27 March 2007. All five faced Brisbane Magistrates Court again on 4 June 2007.
On 22 October 2008, Bandido member Ross Brand, 51 and an acquaintance were shot while walking outside the gang's Geelong clubhouse. Mr. Brand was struck in the head and died. Rival Rebels motorcycle gang affiliate John Russell Bedson was convicted for the shooting and sentenced to a maximum 23 years in jail, with an 18-year non-parole period
On 24 March 2009 the Sergeant of Arms of the Bandidos Parramatta chapter Mahmoud Dib was arrested and charged with firearms offences by police investigating a string of drive-by shootings in Sydney. Police found a .45 calibre semi-automatic pistol which was loaded with seven bullets. Days before Dib's arrest his family home was the scene of a wild shootout between members of the Bandidos and the Notorious gang in what is believed to be an ongoing feud with the latter Parramatta based bike group and the Bandidos.
On November 29, 2011 Toby Mitchell, 37, a Bandidos sergeant-at-arms and former champion heavyweight kickboxer, was fired on in Barkly Square shopping centre car park in an inner melbourne suburb
organized "puppet clubs" to persuade local Montreal
, Quebec club Rock Machine
controlled bars, and their resident drug dealers, to surrender their illegal drug business. Rock Machine resistance led to bloodshed. On July 14, 1994, two members of the Hells Angels' top puppet club entered a downtown motorcycle shop and shot down a Rock Machine associate. That was the beginning of the Quebec Biker war
.
That August, a Jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded killing a Rock Machine associate and an 11-year-old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing in a nearby schoolyard. A month later, the first full Hells Angels member was shot to death entering his car at a shopping mall. Nine bombs went off around the province during his funeral.
The war eventually ended with mass killings by the Hells Angels, plus public outcry over the deaths of innocent bystanders resulted in police pressure including the incarceration of over 100 bikers.
It was this turf war that prompted the over-matched Rock Machine to align itself with the Bandidos patching over as Bandidos Quebec chapter. Not all members were happy about the patch-over. Some defected to other clubs while others remained with the club but hoped to restore their sovereignty.
On April 8, 2006, four vehicles containing the bodies of eight murdered men were discovered in a farmer's field outside of the hamlet of Shedden
, Ontario, Canada. Six of the men killed in what became known as the Shedden Massacre
were full members of the Bandidos Toronto branch, including the president of the organization in Canada; they were Luis Manny Raposo, John Muscedere, Jamie Flanz, George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli and Michael Trotta. The suspects in the case, Michael Sandham, Marcelo Aravena, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Wayne Kellestine, were also full members or probationary members (also known as "prospects"), in what police described as an internal cleansing of the Bandidos organization NSCC (No Surrender Crew Canada). The victims were brought to the farm of Kellestine, where they were held captive before being systematically led out of his barn and murdered "execution style."
On October 30, 2009 after eighteen hours of deliberation a jury in London, Ontario found the 6 suspects guilty on 44 counts of first degree murder and 4 counts of manslaughter.
These murders would finally close the chapter on the Bandidos Canada "No Surrender Crew" and end any hopes of Bandido dominance in the country. Many of the remaining Canadian Bandidos would later go on to re-form the Rock Machine Biker Gang in Canada early in 2008 which would spread outside their traditional home of Quebec and open up chapters in Australia and the United States.
, Germany. Reports say they drove to his Harley-Davidson
shop and shot him there on May 23, 2007. After the first day of a related lawsuit on December 17, 2007, riots between the two gangs and the police had been reported. On October 8, 2009, a Bandidos member was shot to death by an Hells Angels prospect in Duisburg
.
In February 2010, about 8 ethnic Turkish Bandido members and supporters in Berlin in an unprecedented move defected and joined the Hells Angels, forming a sub-chapter known as "Hells Angels Nomads Türkiye". This triggered a gang war in Berlin that lasted from February to April 2010.
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
syndicate with a worldwide membership. The club was formed in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. Its slogan is We are the people our parents warned us about. It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 210 chapters, located in 16 countries. The club considers itself to be an Outlaw Motorcycle Club
Outlaw motorcycle club
An outlaw motorcycle club is a type of motorcycle club that is part of a subculture with roots in the post-World War II USA, centered on cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals celebrating freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the...
. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
as well as the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada is an inter-agency organization in Canada designed to coordinate and share criminal intelligence amongst member police forces. The CISC has a central bureau in Ottawa and ten bureaus in each province offering services to over 380 law enforcement agencies in...
have named the Bandidos an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
History
The club was formed on March 4, 1966 in San Leon, TexasSan Leon, Texas
San Leon is a census-designated place in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,365 at the 2000 census.-History:...
by Donald Eugene Chambers
Donald Eugene Chambers
Donald Eugene Chambers was the founder the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle club, in 1966 in San Leon, Texas. He was a Marine Vietnam veteran who created his club after his return. He was convicted of murderering two drug dealers in 1972 and served a life sentence until his parole in...
. Many people think Chambers named his club the Bandidos after seeing a TV commercial with the Frito Bandito
Frito Bandito
The Frito Bandito was the cartoon mascot for Fritos corn chips from 1967 to 1971. The Bandito was created by the Foote, Cone & Belding Agency, and animated by Tex Avery. The character was voiced by Mel Blanc, who used an exaggerated Mexican accent not unlike another character of his, Speedy...
enthusiastically promoting Fritos
Fritos
Fritos is the name of a brand of corn chips made by Frito-Lay. Elmer Doolin was so taken with the bag of corn chips served with his lunch in San Antonio, Texas that he paid $100 for the recipe. In 1932, he started the Frito Corporation. Original Fritos ingredients are limited to whole corn, corn...
corn chips. This is not true, as the cartoon came out in 1968 (although he did adopt an obese machete- and pistol-wielding Mexican Bandido as the center patch for the club's colors). Don Chambers, having served in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as a Marine, modeled the club's colors after the scarlet and gold motif of the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. After Chambers' presidency ended due to his conviction for murder in El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Ronnie Hodge was elevated to president.
Organization
The Bandidos has over 90 chapters in the United States, 90 chapters in Europe, and another 17 in Australia and Southeast Asia. In the United States, the club is concentrated in Texas, but extends into Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and several other states. The Rock MachineRock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
Motorcycle club in Canada merged with the Bandidos in 2000; there was a chapter in Toronto, Ontario until a dramatic internal conflict led to their deaths. The Bandidos are also found in Australia; aside from the non-locale-specific Nomads
Nomad (motorcycle-club membership)
A Nomad in an outlaw motorcycle club has authority delegated by the National President to enforce club rules and behavior.Most club members wear a territorial rocker which signifies what city/locale, state, or province their chapter is located in. A Nomad's territorial rocker, however, will simply...
chapter, the chapters are located in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Ballarat, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(Bayside, Centro, City), Byron Bay
Byron Bay, New South Wales
Byron Bay is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. At the 2006 Census, the town had a...
, Cairns, Geelong, Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...
, Ipswich
Ipswich, Queensland
Ipswich is a city in South-East Queensland, Australia. Situated along the Bremer River Valley approximately 40 kilometres away from the state's capital Brisbane. The suburb by the same name forms the city's Central Business District and administrative centre...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Mid North Coast, Mid State, Mission Beach
Mission Beach, Queensland
Mission Beach is a small village along the Coral Sea in Queensland, Australia. The popular tourist destination of Dunk Island lies 4 km offshore.-History:...
, Noosa, North Victoria, Northside, Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and Toowoomba, and were acquired with much bloodletting. In recent years the club has also expanded heavily into Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, France and the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. Additionally, it is looking into setting up shop in Russia and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and also in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The Bandidos are organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice presidents and a national president.
Like the Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
, The Bandidos also have a number of puppet, or so-called "support," clubs, who are used as proxies for both legal and illegal activities. These groups usually wear reverse colors (gold border with red background rather than the Bandidos' red-border–and–gold background). They also commonly wear a unique patch (known as the "Heart Patch") consisting of a round patch in Bandidos colors on the front upper left of the colors (vest), as worn by the member. Most of these clubs are regional.
United States
In November, 2006, Glenn Merritt of the Bellingham, WashingtonBellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
chapter was sentenced to four years in prison for drug possession and trafficking in stolen property. A total of 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, and various drug and gun violations. Eighteen of those plead guilty. In October, 2006, George Wegers, then Bandidos' international president, pleaded guilty and received a two-year sentence for conspiracy to engage in racketeering.
On 16 August 2004, a passer-by on Interstate 10
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90, I-80, and I-40. It is the southernmost east–west, coast-to-coast Interstate Highway, although I-4 and I-8 are further south. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 in Santa Monica,...
flagged down a police officer after finding Robert Quiroga
Robert Quiroga
Robert Quiroga was the International Boxing Federation Super flyweight champion from 1990 to 1993. Quiroga successfully defended his title five times and retired in 1995...
, International Boxing Federation
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
Super flyweight
Super flyweight
Super flyweight is a weight division in professional boxing. It is alternatively referred to as junior bantamweight and light bantamweight...
champion from 1990 to 1993, lying next to his car. Quiroga had been stabbed multiple times. Richard Merla, a member of the Bandidos, was arrested in 2006 for the killing, pleaded no contest
Nolo contendere
is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest.In criminal trials, and in some common law jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an alternative to a pleading of...
to murdering Quiroga in 2007, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. "I don't regret it. I don't have no remorse. I don't feel sorry for him and his family. I don't and I mean that," Merla admits.
In regards to the murder of Robert Quiroga, the Bandidos Motorcycle Club denounced any involvement in the crime, stating that Merla's actions were his own, and not those of the Club. Merla was removed from the Club due to his actions.
In March 2006 police in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
announced that the Bandidos were the prime suspects in the March 18, 2006 slaying of a 44-year-old local motorcyclist named Anthony Benesh. Benesh, who had been trying to start an Austin chapter of the Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
, was shot in the head by an unseen sniper, as he was leaving a North Austin restaurant with his girlfriend and two children. Police said that Benesh was flanked by other people and the shooter used only one bullet, fired at a distance from a high-powered rifle. The murder occurred on the same weekend as the annual Bandidos MC "Birthday Party" in Southeast Texas, marking the 40th anniversary of the club's 1966 founding. According to police, in the days before his murder, Benesh had been receiving telephone calls from Bandidos telling him to stop wearing a vest that displayed Hells Angels patches.
Scandinavia
A turf and drug war between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, known as the "Great Nordic Biker WarGreat Nordic Biker War
The Great Nordic Biker War, sometimes called the Great Northern Biker War or Great Scandinavian Biker War, refers to the violent gang war that began in 1994 and continued until 1997 in many parts of Scandinavia and Finland, mainly involving Hells Angels MC and Bandidos MC but also involving many...
" raged from 1994 until 1997. It resulted in 11 murders, 74 attempted murders, and 96 wounded members of the involved biker clubs. In Denmark a law was passed in response to the biker war that banned biker clubs from owning or renting property for their club activities. The law was later repealed on constitutional grounds.
On 14 January 2009, the Bandidos Sweden President, Mehdi Seyyed, was sentenced to nine years in prison for two counts of attempted murder. He bombed two cars in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, in September 2006, with hand grenades, in acts of revenge as the victims had previously testified against him. Four other Bandidos members received shorter sentences for their involvement in the attacks.
Australia
The Bandidos are known in Australia for their involvement in the Milperra Bikie Massacre, a shoot-out with the rival Comanchero Motorcycle ClubComanchero Motorcycle Club
The Comanchero Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang in Australia, with chapters in Strathfield and Erskine Park. The Commancheros are participants in the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, which has recently convened a conference aimed at addressing legislation aimed against the "bikie"...
that killed six gang members and a young bystander and their large constituent of members of Middle Eastern origin and of Muslim faith.
More recently, five Bandidos are accused of starting a blaze which destroyed the Rebels clubhouse at Albion
Albion, Queensland
Albion is an inner north-eastern suburb of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-Geography:Albion is bounded by Wooloowin in the north, Ascot in the east, Newstead in the south, and Windsor to the west, with Breakfast Creek defining the suburb border in its south and south-west...
, a suburb of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia on 27 March 2007. All five faced Brisbane Magistrates Court again on 4 June 2007.
On 22 October 2008, Bandido member Ross Brand, 51 and an acquaintance were shot while walking outside the gang's Geelong clubhouse. Mr. Brand was struck in the head and died. Rival Rebels motorcycle gang affiliate John Russell Bedson was convicted for the shooting and sentenced to a maximum 23 years in jail, with an 18-year non-parole period
On 24 March 2009 the Sergeant of Arms of the Bandidos Parramatta chapter Mahmoud Dib was arrested and charged with firearms offences by police investigating a string of drive-by shootings in Sydney. Police found a .45 calibre semi-automatic pistol which was loaded with seven bullets. Days before Dib's arrest his family home was the scene of a wild shootout between members of the Bandidos and the Notorious gang in what is believed to be an ongoing feud with the latter Parramatta based bike group and the Bandidos.
On November 29, 2011 Toby Mitchell, 37, a Bandidos sergeant-at-arms and former champion heavyweight kickboxer, was fired on in Barkly Square shopping centre car park in an inner melbourne suburb
Canada
Hells Angels Quebec president Maurice BoucherMaurice Boucher
Maurice "Mom" Boucher is a convicted murderer, reputed drug trafficker, and outlaw biker—the former President of the Hells Angels' Montreal chapter. Boucher led Montreal's Hells Angels against the rival Rock Machine biker gang during The Quebec Biker War of 1994 through 2002 in Quebec, Canada...
organized "puppet clubs" to persuade local Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec club Rock Machine
Rock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
controlled bars, and their resident drug dealers, to surrender their illegal drug business. Rock Machine resistance led to bloodshed. On July 14, 1994, two members of the Hells Angels' top puppet club entered a downtown motorcycle shop and shot down a Rock Machine associate. That was the beginning of the Quebec Biker war
Quebec Biker war
The Quebec Biker war refers to the violent turf war that began in 1994 and continued until late 2002 in Quebec, Canada.The war began as the Hells Angels in Quebec began to make a push to establish a monopoly on street-level drug sales in the province. A number of drug dealers and crime families...
.
That August, a Jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded killing a Rock Machine associate and an 11-year-old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing in a nearby schoolyard. A month later, the first full Hells Angels member was shot to death entering his car at a shopping mall. Nine bombs went off around the province during his funeral.
The war eventually ended with mass killings by the Hells Angels, plus public outcry over the deaths of innocent bystanders resulted in police pressure including the incarceration of over 100 bikers.
It was this turf war that prompted the over-matched Rock Machine to align itself with the Bandidos patching over as Bandidos Quebec chapter. Not all members were happy about the patch-over. Some defected to other clubs while others remained with the club but hoped to restore their sovereignty.
Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario
Shedden, Ontario is a hamlet in Southwold Township, Elgin County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is known as "The Rhubarb Capital of Ontario" and is home to the "Rosy Rhubarb Festival" which is held in early June each summer...
, Ontario, Canada. Six of the men killed in what became known as the Shedden Massacre
Shedden massacre
The Shedden Massacre involved the killing of eight men, whose bodies were found in a farmer's field five kilometres north of Shedden, a hamlet in the Canadian province of Ontario, on April 8, 2006. Four vehicles, with the bodies inside, were first discovered by a farmer...
were full members of the Bandidos Toronto branch, including the president of the organization in Canada; they were Luis Manny Raposo, John Muscedere, Jamie Flanz, George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli and Michael Trotta. The suspects in the case, Michael Sandham, Marcelo Aravena, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Wayne Kellestine, were also full members or probationary members (also known as "prospects"), in what police described as an internal cleansing of the Bandidos organization NSCC (No Surrender Crew Canada). The victims were brought to the farm of Kellestine, where they were held captive before being systematically led out of his barn and murdered "execution style."
On October 30, 2009 after eighteen hours of deliberation a jury in London, Ontario found the 6 suspects guilty on 44 counts of first degree murder and 4 counts of manslaughter.
These murders would finally close the chapter on the Bandidos Canada "No Surrender Crew" and end any hopes of Bandido dominance in the country. Many of the remaining Canadian Bandidos would later go on to re-form the Rock Machine Biker Gang in Canada early in 2008 which would spread outside their traditional home of Quebec and open up chapters in Australia and the United States.
Germany
On June 11, 2008, two Bandidos members were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a Hells Angels member in IbbenbürenIbbenbüren
Ibbenbüren or Ibbenbueren is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on position 185 of the largest cities in Germany and the largest city in Tecklenburger Land.-Geography:...
, Germany. Reports say they drove to his Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
shop and shot him there on May 23, 2007. After the first day of a related lawsuit on December 17, 2007, riots between the two gangs and the police had been reported. On October 8, 2009, a Bandidos member was shot to death by an Hells Angels prospect in Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
.
In February 2010, about 8 ethnic Turkish Bandido members and supporters in Berlin in an unprecedented move defected and joined the Hells Angels, forming a sub-chapter known as "Hells Angels Nomads Türkiye". This triggered a gang war in Berlin that lasted from February to April 2010.
Books and Newspaper Articles
- Edwards, Peter (2010), The Bandido Massacre; A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, (ISBN 978-1-55468-044-3)
- Winterhalder, Edward, Out in Bad Standings: Inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club — The Making of a Worldwide Dynasty, Blockhead City Press, 2005/Seven Locks Press, 2007 (ISBN 0-9771747-0-0)
- Winterhalder, Edward, & De Clercq, Wil, The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos — Bikers United Against the Hells Angels, ECW Press, 2008 (ISBN 1-55022-824-2)
- Coulthart, Ross and McNab, Duncan, Dead Man Running: An Insider's Story on One of the World's Most Feared Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, the Bandidos Allen & Unwin, 2008, (ISBN 1-74175-463-1)