Good Question: How Much Of A Threat Are Biker Gangs?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Monday, prosecutors in Texas charged 170 members of rival motorcycle gangs with engaging in organized crime. This came after a fight, which escalated to a shootout over the weekend nine people dead and 18 others hurt.
So, how much of a threat are these biker gangs? Good Question.
According to the FBI's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are 44,000 members of approximately 3,000 organized motorcycle gangs, or OMGs, in the U.S. These groups make up 2.5 percent of all gangs.
Within that group, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms identifies "One Percenters" as an organization of motorcyclists "who have voluntarily made a commitment to band together to abide by their organization's rules enforced by violence and who engage in activities that bring them and their club into repeated and serious conflict with society and the law." The ATF approximates there are 300 One-Percenter OMGs in the United States.
The term One-Percenters goes back to a ride in California in 1947, where the head of the American Motorcycle Association reportedly said 99 percent of the riders were law-abiding and 1% were troublemakers.
The FBI says crimes for some of these OMGs are drug trafficking, money laundering, firearms trafficking, armed robbery and arson.
Local law enforcement says there are eight active OMGs in Minnesota, six of them in Minneapolis. Among them are Hell's Angels, El Forasteros and Sons of Silence. Over the past year, police report they've been involved in at least three fights. Sources say they keep an eye on these gangs in Minnesota, but, for the most part, the gangs stay relatively low-key.
"There's some bad people in those clubs, but there's some pretty good people in them too," said Doc Piltz, the director of Harley Owners Group in St. Paul. His organization doesn't refer to itself as a motorcycle club, but rather as a group of motorcycle enthusiasts.
Piltz, the director of a nonprofit organization, says the image of all bikers as bad guys just isn't true. The overwhelming majority of groups ride for camaraderie and community without ever breaking the law. Often, they ride once or twice a week and engage in charity work. Last week, members of his group cleaned up a mile of highway along I-94.
"It becomes like a family," he said. "We just raised over $700 dollars for the women's advocacy shelter."
