 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
 | |
| Founded | 1965 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Type | Outlaw motorcycle club |
| Website | https://grimreapersmcusa.com/ |
Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club is an American motorcycle club founded in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1965. [1] The club is primarily active in the Southeastern United States and only accepts Harley-Davidson riders.
The Grim Reapers MC was founded as a three-piece patch in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1965. In the United States, such motorcycle clubs are considered "outlaw" as they are not sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and do not observe the AMA's rules. Instead the Grim Reapers have their own set of bylaws based on the values of outlaw biker culture.[ citation needed ] In 1970, the club provided security for the Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival, held on Memorial Day weekend in 1970 near Heyworth, Illinois. [2]
In 1999, charges were brought against 18 members of the club, including the national president, as part of the four-year "Operation Iron Horse", a state and federal investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) into motorcycle clubs in the Mid-West of the United States. The 18 defendants were indicted for selling drugs and dealing stolen motorcycles. The Grim Reapers had purchased 120 kilograms of cocaine worth a total of around $3 million from 1988 to 1998. [3]
Before Operation Iron Horse, there were club chapters in states from North Dakota to Florida, but according to the club's website, there are currently chapters in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois. In Iowa, the Grim Reapers were the first motorcycle club established in that state.
The Grim Reapers MC takes its name and iconography from the symbolic personification of death, the Grim Reaper. The club's name is emblazoned on the top rocker of the three-piece patch. The center patch features the Grim Reaper in red holding a scythe, and is referred to as "the Ghost." The territory where the chapter operates appears on the bottom rocker. An "MC" patch appears to the right of the Ghost, when facing the cut. The cut also features a triangular front patch depicting a scythe over the club's initials, with one letter of the MC's motto, "FTW", in each corner of the triangle.
The 'Grim Reapers' name is also used by other clubs, in Canada and the United Kingdom, and was formerly used by motorcycle clubs in New Zealand, Australia and California.
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.
Pagan's Motorcycle Club, or simply the Pagans, is an outlaw motorcycle club formed by Lou Dobkin in 1957 in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The club rapidly expanded and by 1959, the Pagans, originally clad in blue denim jackets and riding Triumphs, began to evolve along the lines of the stereotypical one percenter motorcycle club.
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 Grim Reaper is a personification of death.
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.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Common nicknames for the club are the "H.A.", "Red & White", "HAMC", and "81". With a membership of over 6,000, and 467 chapters in 59 countries, the HAMC is the largest "outlaw" motorcycle club in the world.
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 Highwaymen Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. The club was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1954. The club has undergone a number of large-scale police and FBI investigations, most notably in 1973, 1987 and 2007. In the early 1970s several members were convicted of bombings and raids of the homes and the clubhouses of rival motorcycle clubs.
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.
The Tribe of Judah Motorcycle Ministries (ToJMM) is an evangelical Christian outreach aimed at "reaching the outlaw biker world and people in all walks of life". The ministry was founded by Ben Priest in 1984, members celebrated its 25 year anniversary at a reunion in Colorado in 2009.
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 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
The East Bay Dragons MC is an all-black, all-male, all-Harley Davidson riding motorcycle club founded in Oakland, California, in 1959 by Tobie Gene Levingston, who died in July 2020.
The Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club was an outlaw motorcycle club, founded in 1967 in Calgary, Alberta, that was active during the sixties and seventies, and grew to become a dominant club in the region during the eighties and nineties.
Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club may refer to:
The Kings Crew Motorcycle Club was an outlaw motorcycle club based in Western Canada and was founded in Calgary, Alberta in 1977. Where it would become one of the provinces most dominant clubs, participating in the Alberta Biker Conflict, until eventually joining the Hell's Angels in the late 1990s.
