Any member who cooperates with law enforcement, for example, is susceptible to disciplinary action. [29], The Bandidos' mottos include "Cut one, we all bleed",[9] "God forgives, Bandidos don't",[1] "Our colors don't run"[30] and "We are the people our parents warned us about". At recess, we swapped storiesperhaps true, perhaps notabout how Bandidos pulled out their enemies teeth with pliers and beat them with heavy metal wrenches. The last was George Wegers, who pleaded guilty in Washington state to federal racketeering charges and was sentenced to about 20 months. Their suspicions about him only deepened after the Benesh and the Canadian affairs. 03:13. A two year law enforcement investigation leads to the arrest of George Wegers and 25 other Bandidos members and associates. Its the Bandidos! yelled the man in the parking lot. With heavy hearts, we announce the death of George Wagers (Manchester, Kentucky), who passed away on December 3, 2021 at the age of 71. You know, I feel sorry for guys who dont have a clue what this feels like.. [ 186 more . Ojemann agreed with that, and with DeGuerins assertion that Pike was disappointed with Ojemann for his involvement in drugs. Though Wegers returned to the Bandidos after serving a 20-month prison sentence for racketeering charges, he is no longer in the club because of the documentary, Ojemann said, without specifying which one. The club was prohibited in the country in 2017, however. If he wishes to do something illegal, thats his choice. The coffin was lowered into the ground, and a mariachi band sang Te vas, ngel mo (You Leave, Angel of Mine). In the helicopters open door were a couple of men in police uniforms holding binoculars. Not bad, huh?, A few minutes later, I came across an agreeable, clean-cut young Bandido named Lenny Jonas. Theyre at a major university right here in Texas, he said, grinning again. Lenny is a grown man. Investigators speculated that the victims had been killed by a team of hit men as part of an internal cleansing ordered by the Bandidos leaders. on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Former Hells Angels boss Sonny Barger was a fraud who beat his wife and 14-year-old stepdaughter, ex-gangster George Christie writes in 'Exile on Front Street' tell-all. Obviously, said Rodriguez, Benesh didnt follow their advice. After the service, all the Bandidos headed to their bikes. After establishing further chapters in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, the club's operations in Canada ceased in November 2007 as a result of infighting, law enforcement efforts, and pulled status from the club's American leadership. The specific charges were hardly flashy: Wegers and the others were accused of such varied crimes as stealing motorcycles, kidnapping a rival motorcycle club member (the kidnapping lasted a day), and conspiring to kill a disloyal Bandido associate who was suspected of meeting with federal agents (the killing never took place). police raid Texas massage parlor. Furious, law enforcement agencies redoubled their efforts to bring the club down. Members must abide by various by-laws, such as not wearing the club patch while riding in a car or truck, and are required to attend meetings (known as "Church") four times per month. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. [10][11], The Bandidos Motorcycle Club was founded by 36-year-old dockworker Donald Eugene Chambers on March 4, 1966, in San Leon, Texas. The Bandidos live here, and they love to steal motorcycles. . Chambers and other Bandidos made the dealers dig their own graves and then set their bodies on fire before burying them, Texas Monthly wrote. I figured I wouldnt hear from him. Several of them headed into the chapel to see Chuco in his casket. Wed go flat out on our motorcycles all day long, eighty to ninety miles an hour, and then at night, wed hold our parties far out in the woods so the cops wouldnt find us. Under terms of the plea agreement entered into on May 5, 2006, WEGERS must move out of, and refrain from working in . January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? They are not Boy Scouts, but they are not outlaws. The penalty is a far cry from what George Wegers, 53, was facing when the government charged him and 25 other Bandidos in June 2005 with a long list of crimes that included kidnapping, drug trafficking, extortion and witness-tampering. [26] In addition to the "Fat Mexican" and diamond-shaped "1%er" emblems, club members also wear other patches on leather or denim vests known as colors. People who worked in the nearby stores and businesses rushed outside to get a better look. The club also continued expanding into Canada, Australia, and Europe, where young motorcyclists were enamored of the Bandidos after reading about their exploits in biker magazines. Defendant George Wegers is the lead defendant in this prosecution, and is named in six of the thirty-six counts in the First Superseding Indictment ("FSI"). There was booze and drugs everywhere. The Bandidos would appreciate it.. And what they do is not organized crime authorized by the club, he said. Embossed in red at the top of each card was the Bandidos ominous motto: We are the people our parents warned us about. In the lower left corner were the initials FTW (for F the World). The message, George said, was simple call home immediately. [23] The American chapters began wearing a redesigned patch in 2011. SEATTLE - The president of the Bandidos motorcycle club was sentenced to 20 months in prison Friday in a deal that will allow him to retain his position in the But were not out there shooting people, for Gods sake. He owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle shop in Bellingham, Washington State. I started meeting Bandidos. [12] Chambers named the club in honor of the Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules, and he recruited members from biker bars locally in Houston as well as in Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio. George Wegers was the International President (El Presidente) of Bandidos MC from 1998 until 2005. [70][10][71], While individual chapters had previously been banned in Germany, the Netherlands became the first country to prohibit the club as a whole in December 2017 when a court in Utrecht outlawed both the Dutch department of the Bandidos and the international organization on the grounds that the club forms a threat to public order.[72]. In the Wood case, more than one hundred Bandidos were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. The Houston FBI agent who investigates us has called me so many times that Ive got his number on my speed dial. There was a tall front gate with a Go Away sign attached to it, but it was wide open. They are not getting on their bikes and looking to commit crimes. In March 1966 Chambers founded the first Motorcycle Club with the name BANDIDOS MC in San Leon, Texas. And now, five years later, here I am., As we talked, his wife, Nicole, walked up. When Lenny takes off on his bike, I dont ask questions about what hes doing. When the hearse stopped, members of Chucos own San Antonio chapter carried his casket to the grave site. [3], The club has 303 chapters worldwide, located in twenty-two countries in North America, Oceania, Europe and Asia. [69][11] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) also identify the club as one of the "big four" motorcycle gangs, along with the Hells Angels, Outlaws and Pagans, and contend that the club is responsible for organized crime activity such as drug dealing, arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion, money laundering and murder. In the past, he had been a member of other Houston-area motorcycle clubs, but they had bored him. [5] In the United States, the majority of the club consists of white and Hispanic males. They hit Johnstons successor, George Wegers, who lived in Washington State, and 27 other Bandidos and their associates in that area with a RICO indictment. Formed in San Leon, Texas in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members[5] and 303 chapters, located in 22 countries,[4] making it the second-largest motorcycle club in the world behind the Hells Angels. It was all chrome and noise, he said. He suffered spinal injuries from a motorcycle crash when he exiting Interstate 5 in Skagit County, Washington State in 2010. The Bandidos' color scheme was inspired by that of the United States Marine Corps and chosen by Chambers, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War. A few minutes later, another car appeared, and out popped a couple of female employees of a local nude dance club called XTC Cabaret. Hell, no.. Ojemann is the latest ex-insider to testify against his former Bandidos brothers at the racketeering trial in San Antonio of Pike and ex-national vice president John Xavier Portillo. And, there were some Bandidos members in those chapters who, when arrested, were found to have pictures of Osama bin Laden at their homes, DeGuerin said. Weve gotten to know each other so well that I once met him at a Dennys for a cup of coffee to answer his questions.. Standing in the doorway to the chapel, the thin, dark-suited director of the funeral home smiled nervously, his lips as pale as milk. . I headed down a dirt road, drove past a stand of trees, and saw an unfinished two-story frame home, about 3,500 square feet. Its only a matter of time, a highly placed Texas law enforcement official told me last spring. Early on the morning of Wednesday, March 16, George tried and failed once more to reach his wife. [12] Like other outlaw motorcycle clubs, they call themselves "one percenters", a phrase coined by the former president of the American Motorcyclist Association who once stated that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens and 1 percent "outlaws. George Wegers was born in Whatcom County in Washington State around 1953. I SAW MY FIRST BANDIDOS IN 1969, when I was eleven years old. The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation,[1] is an outlaw motorcycle club[6][7][8] with a worldwide membership. [17] The third Bandidos international president, James Edward "Sprocket" Lang, as well as his successor, Charles Craig "Jaws" Johnston, were each sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on drug charges in November 1998. [ 186 more . And no one, absolutely fing no one, is going to take that brotherhood away.. The group, which the feds have linked to numerous criminal activities, has grown into an international organization. So I decided to get a bike. With an estimated 800 to 1,000 members in sixteen states (about 400 in Texas alone) and another 1,400 members in Canada, Europe, and Australia, they are now as large as the fabled Hells Angels, from California, and according to law enforcement officials who investigate the club, the new Bandidosor at least some of themare just as ribald and rebellious as the originals, whom the cops used to chase day and night. They came in packs, riding two, sometimes three abreast, their motorcycles roaring loudly enough to rattle all the funeral homes windows. [57][58], In 2001, the Bandidos were established in Thailand via a merger with the Diablos Motorcycle Club in Pattaya. Kerr identified three Bandidos in a police lineup as his possible assailants. Other Tier 2 gangs include the Bloods, the Crips and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Upon joining the Bandidos, each member must sign their motorcycle over to the club. [47] The first European chapter opened in Marseille in France in 1989. And the truth is that I sometimes do get jealous of all the time he spends with the club. For the most part, everybody knew, dont cause no (expletive) in Houston.. Federal prosecutors have gone so far as to indict Bandidos under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal statute originally intended to destroy Mafia families, claiming that the club is an organized criminal enterprise that resorts to intimidation, extortion, violence and threats of violence against rival motorcycle clubs to maintain its power, territory and profits. This past August, the federal government also admitted in a court filing that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with other investigative agencies, was carrying on active investigations into the club. We are brothers until the day we die. George Wegers was the former National president of the Bandidos and lived just across the line in Bellingham where the Bandidos host that large annual Oyster run which was cancelled this year due to Covid. It was a patch-pull offense., RELATED: 'Hundreds of condoms' destroy pipe. One Bandido popped a wheelie on his Harley-Davidson and rode on his back tire for at least thirty yards. They kept coming and coming, their wind-burned faces grim and purposeful. Kaiser-Wiegers Funeral Home. The Bandidos were so brazen that they even started their own Web site. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? To this day, I can remember the first time I saw his photo: a mug shot, printed in a newspaper, that had been taken after he had been arrested. As part of the case he admitted that he, along with other members, conspired to tamper with witnesses, traffic stolen motorcycles as well as conspire to commitother crimes. Loved by many, loved by few. We take our clothes to the dry cleaners. Then Chambers and the other Bandidos had set their bodies on fire before burying them. And then, as if given a silent cue, several of them lifted their hands in unison and flashed their middle fingers toward the sky. He was pissed. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. The daylong hearing was a victory, at least for now, for Pike, who was ordered released on $250,000 bond. He was 36 years old, the son of one of the first members, Steve Panhead Jonas, who had been shot to death at a San Antonio bar in 1983. Please help us out by hitting the Share button so that we can keep bringing you more articles and Follow us on Facebook so that you get updated when we release new articles. About George Wegers George Wegers Funeral Services for George S. Wagers will be conducted on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:00 P. M. at the Lower Hector Church. The leadership of the club consists of an international president, known as "El Presidente", who has authority over every club chapter. Membership fees are required, and are used to cover club expenses, such as funeral costs, and contribute to a legal defense fund. Oh, hell, its not like its any secret where I live. Still, the evidence was strong enough that 18 of the Bandidos, including Wegers, agreed to plea deals in return for short prison sentences. But its not only the Bandidos rivals who are getting killed. We are made to known about his death on September 23, 2020. They promised us there would be no trouble, he said hesitantly as the Bandidos parked their bikes and began hugging and kissing one another on the mouththe traditional Bandido greeting. We are Bandidos forever, forever Bandidos, he said. On the back of some of the motorcycles were the Bandidos wives or girlfriends, known as PBOLs: Proud Bandido Old Ladies. Chambers named the club in honor of the Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules, and he recruited members from biker bars locally in Houston as well as in Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio. [42] The club has since expanded substantially in Australia and there are forty-five Bandidos chapters throughout the country. The music on the jukebox cranked up, and I saw Jeff Pike by a pool table. A former national ranking member of the Bandidos testified Friday that the groups latest president kicked his predecessor out of the biker club for appearing on a television documentary. Just like the Lions Club, its members had vests and were given rules about wearing them. They were dressed in steel-toed boots, jeans, and their colors: denim or black leather vests covered with a variety of red-and-gold patches that carried such slogans as Loyalty is our honor, Our colors dont run, and Expect no mercy. On the back of every vest was a large patch of a bellicose Mexican bandit brandishing a pistol and a machete. Every man whos ever been president of the Bandidos has been brought down, and its only a matter of time before Mr. Pike gets brought down too., On an impulse, I sent an e-mail to the Web site, asking if the 51-year-old Pike would agree to an interview. Chambers started the Bandidos in March 1966, when he was 36 years old and working on the ship docks in Houston. Toward the end of the road was Pikes property. Throughout the seventies, they were arrested for dealing drugs, running prostitution rings, extorting money from the owners of roadhouses and strip jointseven operating illegal pit bull fights. Not only had a member been killed, but the Bandidos were embarrassed that a much smaller club would dare to take them on . [19], The Bandidos embarked on a failed endeavour to establish themselves in Canada after merging with the Montreal-based Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in 2000. Just a half dozen years ago,top CanadianBandidos grumbled about how they couldnt get a telephone audience with him. [4], The United States is home to ninety-three Bandidos chapters, located in sixteen states. And that, Pike and Portillos lawyers argued, could leave Ojemann facing a sentence closer to two years, maybe even probation. For instance, Ojemann said he attended a meeting in 2011 at the Mason Jar restaurant in Houston in which Pike and other national members talked about Pikes proposal to split the Bandidos from chapters in Europe and Australia. And as far as we were concerned, the great outlaw of the state was not Sam Bass, John Wesley Hardin, or any of the other nineteenth-century gunslingers mentioned in our textbooks. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was used to indict Bandidos in 2005. But the Bandidos kept right on growing, opening new chapters throughout the country. And we all go to work. The Banditos are the only Tier 2 motorcycle gang. I remember him turning down the radio and saying he wanted Galveston Johns (backside), Ojemann said. In the mid-90s in Scandinavia, the Bandidos fought with the their rival in an event dubbed the "Great Nordic Biker War.". Next to the Harleys was his Bandidos vest, hanging from a coat rack. The new recruit was then required to put the vest back on and dry it out by riding on his motorcycle. For a few moments, the Bandidos stood there, unmoving. 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