Outlaw Biker Gets Life

T A M P A, Fla., July 27 -- International Outlaws motorcycle gang leaderHarry "Taco" Bowman was sentenced to life in prison today fororchestrating the killing of rival gang members, drug traffickingand fire bombings.

He also was ordered to pay $18,000 restitution to the widow ofRaymond Chaffin, president of the rival Warlocks biker gang, whowas slain in 1991.

Bowman, 52, dressed in orange prison garb, showed no emotion andhad nothing to say during the 25-minute sentencing hearing.

U.S. District Judge James Moody waived a fine that could havetotaled $2 million and tacked on five years of supervised releaseshould Bowman ever get out of prison.

Defense attorney Henry Gonzalez said he would appeal Bowman'sApril conviction on eight counts following a monthlong racketeeringtrial.

The Absolute Biker Leader

After two years on the run, Bowman was caught during a visit tohis family in the upscale Detroit suburb of Grosse Point Farms.

The government said Bowman emerged as the top leader in theinternational Outlaws biker gang during the 1980s. The club haschapters across the country and in Canada, Australia and Europe.

For 20 years, he held absolute power, even ordering executionsthat were then carried out, prosecutors told jurors.

The defense, however, maintained that some clubs were out ofcontrol and operating independently in turf wars.

Jurors rejected defense contentions that local chapter heads,not Bowman, were responsible for killing informants, car bombingsand blowing up rival gang club houses club.