Founded | 1970s |
---|---|
Founding location | Queensland, Australia [1] |
Territory | |
Membership | ~80 members (2006) |
Leader(s) | |
Activities | Drug trafficking, money laundering, gunrunning, assault, intimidation and murder [10] [11] |
Rivals |
The Black Uhlans Motorcycle Club are an Australian "one-percenter" outlaw motorcycle club. [13] Maintaining several chapters throughout the country, the club has been described by law enforcement as one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in the state of Victoria and are said to be among the wealthiest, if not, wealthiest of Australia's outlaw bikie groups. [14] [3]
Orchestrated by one of their 10 co-founders, the highly secretive motorcycle gang held a fifteen-year reign as one of the country's largest suppliers of illicit amphetamine. [15] [16] Since then, however, they have reportedly become less organized and have lost a considerable amount of influence over the Australian underworld. [17]
The Black Uhlans were initially established as the Banshees during the 1970s by ten former members of the Wollongong-based Fourth Reich Motorcycle Club who had fled to Queensland to avoid facing criminal charges from an apparent rape case they were linked to. [18] [19] Among one of its founders was John Higgs, a notorious career criminal who already had an extensive rap sheet of charges which included manslaughter, gunrunning, theft, and drug dealing. [16]
Adopting their name from Germany's historical military regiment, the Black Uhlans MC modeled themselves after the influential Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Nevertheless, they remained independent and unaffiliated from the latter group. [16]
After acquiring a recipe from ex-Hells Angels member Peter Hill to concoct the stimulant drug known as "speed", Black Uhlans co-founder John Higgs constructed a lucrative narcotic network for the club - which proved to be extremely profitable. [20] [21] The Black Uhlans MC also deal in other drugs including heroin and cocaine. To further gang revenue, the gang would later become heavily involved in gun trafficking rackets from the Philippines. [22] [23] [24]
In addition to generating income from organized crime operations, the Black Uhlans Motorcycle Club has also made money from financial investments in lawful business ventures such as (alleged) retirement homes in the city of Melbourne. [25]
Throughout May 1999, several violent clashes took place in Gladstone, Queensland between Black Uhlans MC and the (initially) rivaling Rebels Motorcycle Club. [26] The two motorcycle gangs, however, eventually reached a truce - as both have since been known to associate with one another on friendly terms. [27]
High-ranking Black Uhlans member Sydney "Syd" Collins was reported missing on September 1, 2002 during a trip from his Gold Coast residence to northern New South Wales to recover an underworld debt. During an 2009 interview with 60 Minutes, infamous Australian criminal figure Mark "Chopper" Read confessed that he had killed Collins out of revenge for an incident that occurred back in 1992 where Collins reported Chopper to the police for shooting him in the stomach. [28] As a result of Sydney reporting Chopper Read to the authorities for the crime, Chopper ended up receiving a prison sentence of eight years at the Risdon Prison Complex that same year. According to Chopper's confession, he murdered Sydney Collins in Casino, NSW and buried his body near a football field within the town. [29] [30]
A brief representation of the Black Uhlans MC (under a fictitious name) was depicted on the two-part miniseries Underbelly Files: Chopper, which stars Todd Lasance as Sydney "Syd" Collins. [31] [32] [33]
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is an outlaw motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. Formed in San Leon, Texas, in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members and 303 chapters located in 22 countries, making it the second-largest motorcycle club in the world behind the Hells Angels.
The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in McCook, Illinois in 1935, the Outlaws MC is the oldest outlaw biker club in the world. With 275 chapters located in 23 countries, and a membership of over 3,000, the club is also the third-largest in the world, behind the Hells Angels and the Bandidos.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker gang or motorcycle gang, is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club, also known as the Mongol Brotherhood or Mongol Nation, is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Originally formed in Montebello, California, in 1969, the club is headquartered in Southern California. Although the Mongols' main presence lies in California, they also have chapters nationwide in 14 states and internationally in 11 countries. Law enforcement officials estimate approximately 2,000 "full-patched" members are in the club. The Mongols are the fifth-largest outlaw biker club in the world, after the Hells Angels, the Bandidos, the Outlaws and the Pagans.
Organised Crime and Gangs in Australia refers to the activities of various groups of crime families, organised crime syndicates or underworld activities including drug trafficking, contract killing, racketeering and other crimes in Australia.
The Comanchero Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang in Australia and South East Asia. The Comancheros are participants in the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, which convened a conference in 2009 to address legislation aimed against the "bikie" clubs, their poor public image in the wake of several violent clashes and ongoing biker wars, and defusing deadly feuds such as the Comancheros' battles with the Hells Angels. The sincerity of these efforts to defend the battered image of the clubs has been met with skepticism.
The Finks are an Australian outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Adelaide, Australia, in 1969 and now also has chapters in other states. The name comes from The Wizard of Id cartoon where the peasants, to his dismay, often proclaim, "The King is a fink!". The logo used by the Finks is of Bung, the king's jester. The pants worn by the jester used to differ in colour depending on the state the chapter resides in.
The history of gangs in Australia goes back to the colonial era. Criminal gangs flourished in The Rocks district of Sydney in its early history in the 19th century. The Rocks Push was a notorious larrikin gang which dominated the area from the 1800s to the end of the 1900s. The gang was engaged in running warfare with other larrikin gangs of the time such as the Straw Hat Push, the Glebe Push, the Argyle Cut Push, the Forty Thieves from Surry Hills, and the Gibb Street Mob.
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club (GJMC), are a "one-percenter" motorcycle club that was originally formed in San Bernardino, California on April Fool's Day, 1956. Though founded in the United States, the MC expanded successfully overseas and is now one of the most notorious motorcycle clubs in Australia, the United States, and Norway.
Satudarah MC is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club that was founded in 1990 in the Dutch town of Moordrecht. It was banned in the Netherlands on 18 June 2018, but continues to exist through international chapters and affiliates. Members of the motorcycle club have frequently been tied to cases of violent crime, extortion, illegal drug trade, and arms trafficking.
The Nomads Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle club in Australia with a large number of chapters and members nationwide. It was founded in Newcastle in 1968. A number of countries have motorcycle clubs called "Nomads Motorcycle Club", e.g. Australia, South Africa and Germany, and there is a Nomads gang in New Zealand.
The Coffin Cheaters are an international outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 1970. The Perth-based Coffin Cheaters amalgamated in 1999 with a previously unrelated club in Victoria called Coffin Cheaters, and later "patched over" two Norwegian gangs, Forbidden Few MC and Wizard MC, in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The Coffin Cheaters were the first Australian gang to expand internationally.
The Club Deroes Motorcycle Club or Club Deroes MC are an Australian outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 1971.
The Mobshitters Motorcycle Club, is a "one-percenter" outlaw motorcycle club in Australia with around four chapters.
Notorious is a former gang that was based in Sydney, Australia. They claimed to be an outlaw motorcycle club; however, not all members ride motorcycles. A large percentage of its membership consisted of petty criminals, with no real history of bikers among their ranks. Its emblem features a skull with a turban brandishing twin pistols and the words "Original Gangster" beneath it, along with the motto "Only the dead see the end of war". Labeled as one of Australia's most dangerous gangs, they had been feuding with larger and well-known motorcycle gangs including the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. It was thought that as of March 2012 the gang no longer existed as an organised structure after being dismantled by a police operation arresting key members and with other members choosing to quit the gang life. This served to reinforce claims by established MCs that Notorious wasn't a genuine club.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), an international outlaw biker gang, has been involved in multiple crimes, alleged crimes, and violent incidents in Australia. The Hells Angels are legally classified as a criminal organisation in the Australian state of Queensland, and there have been attempts to classify them as such in New South Wales. The Hells Angels have been linked with drug trafficking and production, as well as a host of violent crimes including murder, in Australia.