Outlaw Bikers Surge Again

June 6 -- The biker gang wars are back.

With clashes between the Outlaws, Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, and Pagans, police have launched intensified crackdowns across the nation and in Canada, and think we are at the start of a new war on wheels.

"I think it's just starting. I think it's going to be a long, hot summer in the biker world," said Detective Al Goetz, a Long Island, N.Y., officer who has investigated bikers for more than two decades.

Goetz and others in law enforcement consider the so-called "outlaw motorcycle clubs" a breed apart from most bikers, and describe them as fundamentally criminal organizations.

Supporters of the Big Five outlaw clubs — the Hells Angels, Pagans, Outlaws, Bandidos, and Mongols — insist the vast majority of members are law-abiding citizens with nothing more than a rebellious streak and an affinity for Harley Davidsons.

They say police are unfairly targeting them because of their reputations and image.

Recent Violence

No one disputes the recent increase in violent clashes between the clubs, however, or the current crackdown by law enforcement agencies.

On Wednesday, Canadian police raided clubhouses and homes belonging to the Bandidos and arrested 62 club members.

Quebec's Hells Angels leader, Maurice "Mom" Boucher, was sentenced in May to life in prison for ordering the killings of two prison guards. He is appealing the convictions.

In April, a meeting of the principal clubs in Laughlin, Nev., turned deadly. Two Hells Angels and a Mongol were killed during a gun and knife battle in Harrah's casino there, and a third Hells Angels member was shot and killed while leaving town.

The Laughlin meeting was meant to settle disputes between the groups, but it appears more violence is on the way.

In February, a group of Pagans clashed with Hells Angels at the Angels' annual Hellraiser Ball on Long Island, N.Y. The incident left one Pagan dead and a Hells Angel charged with murder.

Rebel History

The recent round of violence is only the latest in the long, controversial history of the clubs. Six years ago, Bandidos members fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Hells Angels house in Denmark.