Biker shootout signals Balkanization of American Southwest
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Posted on 06/19/2015 7:04:55 AM PDT by Elderberry
Waco – It’s official, signed, sealed, delivered, and filed in the District Clerk’s office.
Petitions involving vehicle forfeiture cases to seize 17 motorcycles, 8 pickups and two SUV’s reveal the extent of the Balkanization of alleged criminal enterprises in the Southwest and central Texas.
When members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club of San Antonio rolled onto the parking lot at the Twin Peaks restaurant shortly after high noon on May 17, Cossacks from chapters throughout the state were ready to rumble and waiting for them.
Here’s why, according to an Associated Press pool report published by the local daily, which quotes from petitions filed in support of the forfeiture cases in which “the people’s law firm” headed by McLennan County Criminal District Attorney Abel Reyna is seeking to seize as contraband the vehicles owned by members of both clubs.
The one elephant in the living room that goes unmentioned is the state of the case against KC Massey II, a former Sergeant-at-Arms of the eastern division of the Cossacks’ national club.
(Excerpt) Read more at radiolegendary.com ...
They were doing just fine, repelling smugglers on the muddy banks of the river by simply maintaining an armed presence on private property following U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s order of injunction sought by 28 states’ Attorneys General to stay the actions of the government in enforcing a five-year amnesty program granted by executive order of President Barack Hussein Obama that would allow immigrants who arrived without papers due to official oppression in their home countries.
Massey demonstrated that without licenses as security guards or a standard operating procedure order from the Governor, they could operate as friends allowed to patrol private property in border areas. The mere sight of armed men dressed in fatigues cause many smugglers to turn around and swim back to Matamoros in the area of a private farm owned by Rusty Monsees – hence, the nickname of the small armed force, Rusty’s Rangers.
ATF agents filed the charge of felon in possession of a firearm against Massey following a shooting incident involving a Border Patrol Agent who fired five shots at an armed member of Massey’s contingent, and missed. The Cameron County Sheriff could find no violation of the law, but confiscated the weapons carried by Massey’s men. Judge Hanen ordered him to stand trial with jury selection beginning on July 28.
There is little doubt that Massey and his men interfered with the lucrative shipments of drugs and undocumented aliens slated for transshipment to other points throughout the U.S.
But the violent and often armed skirmishes between Bandidos and Cossacks stretch back several years, according to the paperwork filed in State District Courts to seize as contraband the vehicles used by the members of both clubs to arrive at Twin Peaks on the ill-fated Sunday when 9 died, 18 wounded, and 177 people who stood by during the attacks were arrested, charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, their bond set at $1 million.
A Cossack arrested following the melee of May 17, Timothy Satterwhite fought with Bandidos in the parking lot of a Logan’s Roadhouse in 2013 at Abilene after the rival club damaged motorcycles owned by Cossacks. Two others involved in the Abilene incident were in Waco that day.
A lone Cossack suffered injuries from hammer blows and a group stomping after he refused on March 22 to remove a rocker from his jacket stating Texas as the exclusive territory of his club. The Bandidos then confiscated his colors, jacket and all
A Waco police criminal intelligence officer discovered that Bandidos were waiting at the Flying J Truck Stop at the corner of I-35 and New Road while just north of that location Cossacks stood by at the Legends Cycles dealership, owned by Cossacks Chapter President John Wilson. When the intel officer visited Wilson’s place of business, he observed an assault rifle on the premises of Wilson’s motorcycle shop.
The next month, on April 16, Twin Peaks’ management hosted a Bike Night at the restaurant at which 55 Cossacks and members of Los Caballeros, a Bandidos support group, kept uneasy company while members of at least 5 law enforcement agencies stood by. Nothing happened that night, but that was soon to change.
A week later, police arrested a Cossacks member in a nearby parking lot who was holding a gun, a knife, and a bandana with a padlock tied to it. He said he was merely waiting for fellow Cossacks to arrive. Police also arrested him following the May 17 shootout.
Fighting and gunfire erupted when Cossacks arrived early to a Confederation of Clubs meeting at Twin Peaks on May 17, took up positions on the patio, and according to newsmen and prosecutors who have viewed video of the incident, checked their holsters as members of the Bandidos arrived on their hogs.
An uproar ensued when a member shouted out to arriving Bandidos that they were parking in an unauthorized spot. Fighting and gunfire ensued when a Bandido allegedly nearly hit a Cossack with his scooter, fists flew, a gun wheeled out of a vest pocket, and the trigger played the old one-two. Bandido Reginald Weathers would up shot through and through the arm, the bullet exiting and becoming embedded in his torso.
According to the affidavits filed in the forfeiture cases, Cossacks had threatened that Waco is a Cossacks town, that no one other than members of the Cossacks are allowed to ride there.
The open borders crowd is on the horns of a real dilemma here. Fewer jobs for Americans on the lower rungs of the economy = more time to join motorcycle gangs and patrol the borders which our ruling class refuses to enforce.
I wonder if the judge or prosecutors have called dibs on any of the motorcycles they want to buy cheap at auction yet...
I bet they’ll show up on Lone Star Auction’s site
https://www.lonestaronline.com/listings/categories/index.cfm?category=821726877
There is little doubt that Massey and his men interfered with the lucrative shipments of drugs and undocumented aliens slated for transshipment to other points throughout the U.S.
It's always very dangerous to do the right thing when your government is backing the other side.
I have found that being in a biker gang is a lot like being in the Mafia. It’s a good way to shorten your life.
When Cossacks shut that down, the Bandidos decided to make a change.
Ping.
Having worked on more than a few government corruption cases I have seen some situations where the people involved in the asset forfeiture / sieizure process called dibs on the seized property and bought it cheap at auction themselves then turned around and sold it for a nice profit or kept it for themselves. I mean when you can buy a $20K Harley for $2K - $5k its not a bad deal at all.
BFLR
The Cossacks have been discussing an affiliation arrangement with the Hell's Angels, long-time rival of the Bandidos. The Hell's Angels have their own cartel connections and links to related drug distribution in the U.S. And Canada.
More than one cartel might've been behind the incident (a fight over the I-35 corridor?). What's worse is the body count, which suggests that the cops had the Bandidos' backs.
Marking for later.
It sounds like you were in on the scheme.
> It sounds like you were in on the scheme.
You might say that but not the way you think...: )
True. The crux is who will control the North/South Texas corridors, though. They are lucrative and worth fighting over.
According to what source? So far in my own digging, the only ones IMPLYING criminal activity/intent on the part of the Cossacks is vaguely-referenced "police intelligence," while the only real criminal "activity" I can find on the part of the Cossacks in Texas, at least, is their resisting when they are harassed and attacked by Bandidos for wearing the Texas patch on the open road, and their actions to retaliate by harassing and attacking Bandidos in return.
One of the Cossacks arrested at Waco, K.C. Massey, had already crossed the Feds and is slated to stand trial with jury selection starting July 28, because he and some others apparently had the audacity to do what Border Patrol agents refused to do, and do an armed patrol on private property in Texas to stop illegal and drug smuggling from crossing at that part of the border, where a border patrol agent fired five rounds at one of Massey's men, missing him. Even though The Cameron County Sheriff could find no violation of the law, they confiscated the weapons of Massey and his guys, who had apparently been guilty only of doing what the Border Patrol was failing to do.
Unless of course Massey and his guys were actually engaging in drug/human trafficking themselves while patrolling that bit of private property, but if so, apparently law enforcement has ZERO evidence to even accuse them of it.
Maybe the Cossacks are a gang on a par with Bandidos/Hells Angels, maybe some individuals in the club aspire to be, I don't know. I find ZERO record or even direct accusation of Cossacks engaging in human and drug trafficking, murder, and robbery.
In fact, as far as I have seen, the only things the Cossacks have actually done according to police, is to respond to Bandido harassment. It takes a few times of reading these various articles to notice it, but indeed, Cossacks' criminality is only ever implied, whereas Bandidos have a long established reputation as really bad dudes and have convictions and criminal charges to prove it.
Regardless, the whole set-up at Waco looks like ... a setup for a massacre against Cossacks on the pretense that they weren't playing nice with the Bandidos.
Biker shootout signals Balkanization of American Southwest
Check out article, ... and comments.
Thanks.
Mmmmm, no. There used to be biker shootouts every couple of weeks in Tucson, they were arguing over the drug trade. One shootout in a blue moon does not equal balkanization.
Correction: Massey was NOT arrested at Waco.
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