| Founded | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Earl Swift, Charles Hanks, Butch Cheatham, Paul Henley, Tom Eliason and Carl Blair |
| Named after | The Cossacks, an East Slavic ethnic subgroup |
| Founding location | Tyler, Texas |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Territory | Texas, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana |
| Ethnicity | Predominantly white Americans |
| Membership | Around 900 [1] |
| Allies | |
| Rivals |
The Cossacks Motorcycle Club or Cossacks MC are an American outlaw motorcycle club. Said to be one of the largest outlaw biker groups in the state of Texas, they are best known for their conflicts with the rival Bandidos Motorcycle Club - most notably, the 2015 Waco shootout which left seven members of the group dead. The Cossacks MC are allegedly the second-largest biker club in the state of Texas. [1]
The Cossacks Motorcycle Club was founded in Tyler, Texas in 1969 by a group of six bikers: Earl Swift, Charles Hanks, Butch Cheatham, Paul Henley, Tom Eliason and Carl Blair. The club was named after historical Cossack horsemen of Ukraine and southern Russia. Membership eventually grew in number, with many chapters being established across the state of Texas. [3] Chapters of the club also exist in Ohio, Indiana and Virginia. [5]
During November 2013, Bandidos MC Abilene Chapter President was arrested for the stabbing of two members of the Cossacks - one of which was the group's Mingus chapter President: Timothy Satterwhite. The incident occurred outside a Logan's Roadhouse restaurant in Abilene, Texas. [6] [7] [8]
Nearly two years later, on March 22, 2015, a total of ten Cossacks MC members forced a lone Bandidos MC member to pull off Interstate 35 near the town of Lorena (roughly 15 miles south of Waco, Texas). The members of the Cossacks then proceeded to beat the Bandidos biker with melee weapons including chains, metal pipes, and batons. Afterwards, those members of the Cossacks MC stole the motorcycle that the Bandidos MC member had been riding. [9] [10] [11] [12] That same day, A group of either Bandidos or Bandidos-affiliated bikers (support club members), approached a single member of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club at a Palo Pinto County gas station (approximately 60 miles west of Fort Worth and request that the Cossack biker remove his 'Texas' bottom rocker. The biker responded with refusal, resulting in him being hit in the head with a hammer and his Cossacks MC vest being taken off his person. [3]
The El Paso branch of the FBI was 'tipped off' by a confidential source on April 7, 2015 about a group of 100 Bandidos members expected to travel to Odessa, Texas for the purpose of starting a gang war with the Cossacks MC. [13]
On April 7, 2015, the FBI's San Antonio headquarters were alerted to be on the lookout for potential conflicts between the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and Cossacks Motorcycle Club at the biker rallies held in the towns of Amarillo, Hondo, Midland and Odessa. [3]
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 441 chapters located in 43 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. Outlaws members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or bikie club, 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 Sons of Silence Motorcycle Club (SOSMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in Niwot, Colorado in the United States in 1966, the club has a membership of over 250, with 35 chapters based in 12 U.S. states and in Germany. The Sons of Silence are the sixth-largest motorcycle club in the world, behind the Hells Angels, the Bandidos, the Outlaws, the Pagans and the Mongols.
The Nordic Biker War was a gang war that began in January 1994 and continued until September 1997 in parts of Scandinavia and Finland, involving the Hells Angels and Bandidos outlaw motorcycle clubs. The conflict is also known as the Great Nordic Biker War or Second Biker War to distinguish it from the earlier Copenhagen Biker War, which took place between 1983 and 1985.
Colors are the insignia, or "patches", worn by motorcycle club members on cut-off vests to identify membership of their club and territorial location. Club patches have been worn by many different groups since the 1960s. They are regarded by many to symbolize an elite amongst motorcyclists and the style has been widely copied by other subcultures and commercialized.
Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club (GGMC) is a motorcycle club that began around a motorcycle racing team and friends based out of Los Angeles, California in the United States in 1942. The group was informal and not chartered until 1946. Soon after, the organization spread out from southern California, establishing chapters in Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Indiana, Wyoming, Kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. The Galloping Goose are considered by law enforcement to be among the many second-tier, after the "Big Four", outlaw motorcycle gangs.
El Forastero Motorcycle Club (EFMC) is a one-percenter motorcycle club which was established after being turned down for a chapter by the Satan Slaves MC. The El Forasteros are well known for their criminal activities, and are considered by law enforcement to be among the many second-tier, after the "Big Four", outlaw motorcycle clubs.
The Rebels Motorcycle Club was an outlaw motorcycle club based in Western Canada that was founded in Red Deer, Alberta in 1968. It was one of the three dominant motorcycle clubs in the province of Alberta during the 1970s-1990s
On May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas, United States, a shootout erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant where more than 200 persons, including members from motorcycle clubs that included the Bandidos, Cossacks, and allies, had gathered for a meeting about political rights for motorcyclists. Law enforcement, which included 18 Waco Police Department officers and four Texas Highway Patrol troopers, had gathered to monitor the restaurant and meeting from outside, and, according to police, "returned fire after being shot at". Nine bikers were killed, 18 others wounded or injured, and 177 individuals were ultimately arrested and initially detained in connection with the shootout, most for alleged participation in organized crime. According to The New York Times, "the response by prosecutors was widely criticized as brazen overreach". According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, the shootout led to a "four-year prosecutorial fiasco that resulted in zero convictions."
The Red Devils Motorcycle Club (RDMC) is an international 1% outlaw motorcycle club and the principal support club of the Hells Angels. The club is not to be confused with the now-defunct Original Red Devils Motorcycle Club that was founded in Canada in the late 1940s.
The Popeye Moto Club, also referred to as the Popeye(s) MC, and often shortened to simply The Popeyes was a French-Canadian outlaw motorcycle club and criminal organization based in Quebec. At their peak, they were as the second-largest biker gang in all of Canada, behind the rivaling Satan's Choice.
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 Wheels of Soul Motorcycle Club are a multiracial one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. Although they are active nationwide in the United States, they are primarily based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With chapters in at least 25 states across the US, the group claims to be the country's largest mixed-race outlaw motorcycle club.
Iron Order Motorcycle Club (IOMC) is a motorcycle club that was formed on July 4, 2004, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. With a worldwide membership, the Iron Order is one of the largest and fastest growing motorcycle clubs in the world. The IOMC has charters in nearly every U.S. state and in eight countries around the world. Membership is open to all males over the age of eighteen.
The Kinfolk Motorcycle Club is an American one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club best known for their longstanding rivalry with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. The club was formed in Texas in 2016 and has several chapters within the United States that include Texas, Nevada, Washington, Oklahoma, New Mexico and recently has seen expansion to the East Coast in states such as Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Florida. The Kinfolk United States Nation continues to grow and flourish. There are International chapters in Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada and South America, although they are separate from the US club. The Kinfolk MC as a whole embraces the values that traditional clubs had and choose to create its own identity as an American 1% club.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club has been designated an outlaw motorcycle gang by the U.S. Department of Justice. The club is involved in drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, explosives violations, motorcycle and motorcycle-parts theft, intimidation, insurance fraud, kidnapping, robbery, theft, stolen property, counterfeiting, contraband smuggling, murder, bombings, extortion, arson and assault. The Bandidos partake in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana, and the production, transportation and distribution of methamphetamine. Active primarily in the Northwestern, Southeastern, Southwestern and the West Central regions, there are an estimated 800 to 1,000 Bandidos members and 93 chapters in 16 U.S. states.
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