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Founded | 1999 |
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Founded at | Pattaya, Thailand |
Type | Outlaw motorcycle club |
Purpose | Support club for the Bandidos |
Region | Australia, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Philippines, UAE and Ukraine [1] |
The Diablos Motorcycle Club is an international outlaw motorcycle club that was founded in Pattaya, Thailand, in 1999. The Diablos are a support club (called puppet clubs by law enforcement) [2] for the Bandidos.
The Diablos' colors are red and gold. Like all Bandidos support clubs, the lettering on the patch is gold on red, contrasting the Bandidos' red on gold. The club insignia consists of a maliciously grinning devil's head.
Since the foundation of the first chapter in Thailand in 1999, branches in other Asian countries have also been formed, including Indonesia, Kazakhstan, [3] Laos, [4] Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. [5] In 2000, the club expanded to Europe, and chapters in Belgium and Germany were founded. [6] Branches opened in Sweden and Finland [7] the following year. The club was established in Australia in 2014. [8]
Members of the Hells Angels and associated clubs raided the Diablos' clubhouse in Melton, Melbourne, on 1 March 2013, according to the Sydney Morning Herald "bashing" a Diablos member and taking identification details of the Diablos' girlfriends at gunpoint as a threat to stop them reporting the attack to police. Approximately thirty minutes after the assault began, Bandidos members arrived in four cars in response to the raid. The Hells Angels group set up their own ambush, ramming a car driven by Bandidos national sergeant-at-arms Toby Mitchell and firing around thirty shots. Mitchell was shot in the right arm and another Bandido received a minor gunshot wound. [9]
The National Bureau of Investigation has designated the Diablos a criminal organization. [10]
Police conducted a search of the Diablos' clubhouse in Oulu on 18 October 2011 due to a serious criminal suspicion. The chapter president was arrested during the raid. [11]
Diablos member Timothy Stuart Robinson shot and wounded a man in the buttocks in a restaurant in Oulu on 24 May 2012. [12] Robinson was arrested in the vicinity of the restaurant shortly after the crime. [13] In September 2012, Robinson was convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, assault and a firearms offence, and was sentenced to 4+1⁄2 years in prison. In addition to the shooting, he, along with another man, committed a gross robbery at the beginning of the same month during which the duo beat the victim with a metal baseball bat and an iron pipe. [14]
In January 2015, a total of eight people, some of whom were members of the Bandidos and X-Team, were given prison sentences of various lengths for the violent extortion of a man in Oulu that took place in July 2014. According to the district court, the events originated when the Diablos chapter in Varkaus asked Bandidos' Oulu branch to collect the debt. [15]
The Diablos chapter in Heinsberg, along with the Aachen Bandidos chapter, was banned by the ministry of SPD MP Ralf Jäger on 26 April 2012. [16]
A nationwide ban on wearing the emblems of the Diablos and seven other motorcycle clubs in public came into effect on 16 March 2017. [17]
Two members were arrested at the Diablos' clubhouse in Malmö on 22 August 2002 following an assault at a nightclub which left three people injured. [18] [19]
Police raided the Diablos' clubhouse in Toftanäs, Malmö, on 25 February 2006, seizing amphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Police also found several firearms, including two automatic guns with ammunition, during a search of the chapter president's home. On 10 May 2006, the chapter president was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for firearms offences. [20]
Police arrested six people for drug offences following an operation at the club's Malmö headquarters on 27 June 2007. [21]
Eight members were arrested after police found quantities of weapons and narcotics during another raid on the Diablos' clubhouse in Malmö on 23 January 2008. [22]
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 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.
Jan Leif Tinndahn, also known as "Big Jim" and "Solkongen", is a Danish outlaw biker and gangster who served as the president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Europe between 1994 and 2012.
Per Michael "Joe" Ljunggren was a Swedish outlaw biker and gangster who served as the first national president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Sweden. Ljunggren was a central figure in the Nordic Biker War, in which the Bandidos feuded with the Hells Angels. He was shot dead while riding his motorcycle on the E4 motorway in Småland. The murder remains unsolved, but police believe members of the Hells Angels to be responsible.
The Rebels Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle club. At its peak in Australia, it had around 70 chapters and over 1,000 members and associates nationwide, making it the largest club in the country at the time. It was founded by Clint Jacks in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1969 and was originally named the "Confederates". Their insignia is a Confederate flag with a cap-wearing skull and 1% patch in the centre. The Australian government and law enforcement consider the Rebels to be a criminal organisation, but the club claims to be a group of motorcycle enthusiasts rather than gangsters.
Numerous police and international intelligence agencies classify the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) as a motorcycle gang and contend that members carry out widespread violent crimes, including drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gunrunning, extortion, and prostitution operations. Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole. Members of the club have been accused of crimes and/or convicted in many host nations.
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 Chicanos Motorcycle Club is an international outlaw motorcycle club that was founded in Pritzwalk, Germany on 23 August 2003. The Chicanos are a support club for the Bandidos.
X-Team is a gang associated with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Members are not required to own a motorcycle, and the group is essentially a street gang recruiting young criminals to provide reinforcements for the club. X-Team members carry out crimes on behalf of the Bandidos, such as debt collection and drug dealing, which allows the club to distance itself from violence and crime.
The Red Devils Motorcycle Club (RDMC) is an international 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 Loners Motorcycle Club (LMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada in 1979. It has seventeen chapters in Canada, eleven chapters in Italy, eleven in the United States. They also possess several chapters in other countries across the world. The club was established by two prominent Italian-Canadian bikers, Frank Lenti and Gennaro Raso.
Marko Asser Hirsma was a Finnish musician, outlaw biker and gangster who served as the first national president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Finland.
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 Cannonball Motorcycle Club (CMC) is an outlaw motorcycle club in Finland and Estonia. Founded in Helsinki in 1991, the club has eleven chapters and a membership of over two-hundred. Cannonball MC is designated an organized crime group by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
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 Ontario Biker War in Canada saw the Hells Angels engage their long-term rivals the Outlaws Motorcycle Club for control of the province of Ontario. The war occurred between 1999 and 2002 and is also known as the London Biker conflict as a large majority of the events occurred in the city of London, Ontario. The Quebec Biker War, the largest motorcycle conflict in history was occurring during the same period in the province of Quebec.
Numerous police and international intelligence and enforcement agencies classify the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club as a motorcycle gang and contend that members carry out widespread violent crimes, including drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gunrunning, extortion, and prostitution operations. Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole. Members of the club have been accused of crimes and/or convicted in many 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.
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.
Puppet Clubs. In addition to the Big 5 and the Independent clubs there are also "puppet" clubs that do the bidding of the larger clubs, act as potential recruiting sources, serve as cannon fodder in the wars between clubs, and give a portion of their illegal gains to the larger club. The Red Devils MC is well known as a puppet club for the HAMC as are the Black Pistons MC as a puppet club for the Outlaws. The Outlaw Nation and the Bandido Nation list their puppet clubs on their national websites.