False Flags, Biker Gangs, and the PATCON Legacy

The bloody incident at Waco’s Twin Peaks restaurant was not a “biker shootout.” At present there is no evidence that any of the nine victims were killed by fellow bikers, rather than being “taken out” by the scores of police — including snipers — who had effectively turned the parking lot into a kill zone.

The Twin Peaks Massacre has prompted the predictable outpouring of state-centered outrage over the purported threat posed by Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs (OMCs). Buried beneath the blizzard of re-purposed official press releases is a critical disclosure made by former FBI undercover operative John Matthews: During the 1990s, as part of the FBI’s PATCON (Patriot Conspiracy) operation, Matthews and his handler, Donald Jarrett, sold illegally converted full-auto machine guns to narcotics-dealing motorcycle gangs. (I first reported about this in early March.) This was done through one of the firearms stores later forced by the ATF into participating in the “Fast & Furious” gun-walking scandal, in which firearms of that kind were provided to operatives of Mexican criminal cartels.

“As we talk of gun control … over the years [of] how many cases of sporterized SKS, AK47s, and SKSs were sold to groups and case after case of ammo for them all with the blessings of the FBI & ATF with no paper work,” Matthews wrote in a November 8, 2014 email (lightly edited here for spelling and grammar). “Also let’s not forget the AR15s, they were made full auto from the Lone Wolf gun store back in the 90s by a guy brought in by the FBI for me to put in place. Those guns went to bikers who were sell[ing] drugs on the border. Those drugs were [believed] to be coming in from China.”

In March 2013 correspondence with Jarrett, Matthews referred to the David Mann, the dealer brought in by the FBI to broker the firearms transaction with the biker gang.

“I [would] pick him up in Payson, AZ on our way up to Surplus & Stuff in Snowflake … and met with a guy name[d] Tim,” Matthews recalled in a March 28, 2013 email to Jarrett. “He [would] show him his weapons that he was making and how he could make them anything they wanted. Then from there we took a trip up to where the guy [kept] the tractors that we were thinking the dope was coming in from.”

The tractors were apparently being used as part of an international narcotics smuggling operation.

During the trip recalled by Matthews, he and David Mann met with another individual who “ran the church and we [thought was] selling the drugs to the bikers. We were going to get David to sell weapons too [sic] them. This trip was where [I] got David in with this [sic] guys so I could move on. Does this sound right to you[?] Also have more info on him and [meetings] at gun store (Lone Wolf) and other places like Scottsdale, before we turn[ed] him loose.”

“Yes, that sounds absolutely correct about David,” Jarrett replied the following day. “I only introduced you to one guy that work[ed] with guns, and that was David.”

On March 2 I sent a letter to the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General requesting an investigation of Matthews’ confirmed claims about the FBI’s role in arming biker gangs. A week later I received an official reply that tacitly validated those claims while dismissing them as inconsequential: “The Investigations Division of the Office of the Inspector General has thoroughly reviewed your allegations and concluded that the issues raised do not warrant an investigation by this office.”

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who has been investigating the death of his brother Kenneth in FBI custody following the 1995, following the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, has been responsible for nearly all of the key disclosures regarding the PATCON program. This was an effort by the FBI to infiltrate so-called Radical Right groups with informants and provocateurs. In a telephone interview, Trentadue told me that he firmly believes that there is a connection between the PATCON-related FBI initiative to arm biker gangs, and the bloodshed in Waco over the weekend.

“At the very least, we’re dealing with part of the legacy of PATCON,” Trentadue declared.

PATCON wasn’t the FBI’s only means of infiltrating OMCs. In 2004, James “Pagan Ronnie” Howerton, a prominent member of the Pagans OMC and a convicted murderer, was recruited by the FBI. He eventually became the club’s sergeant-at-arms. Five years later, the Feds breathlessly announced that with the help of their undercover asset they had compiled a massive indictment against the Pagans as an interstate criminal conspiracy. That bloated indictment eventually deflated into a small number of relatively trivial charges against specific members of the club. The interstate “criminal enterprise” was reduced to the accusation that the Pagans had committed a federal offense by running a raffle.

The only notable violent crime arising from the federal investigation of the Pagans was the police murder of Iraq combat veteran Derek Hale, who was tasered a dozen times and then murdered, execution-style, by Lt. William Brown of the Wilmington, Delaware Police Department. Hale, who was killed in front of the wife and children of a friend from the club, had no criminal record, nor was he a criminal suspect. He died because the State’s officially licensed gang decided to wage an indiscriminate war on the motorcycle club to which he belonged — which, in all probability, is what happened in Waco over the weekend.

Rank	Poster	FR Age	Posts	Replies	Replies per Post
1	Jack Black	16.5y	10	24	2.4
2	tacticalogic	16.4y	2	1	0.5
3	grobdriver	16.8y	1	2	2.0
4	TexasGator	1.8y	48	36	0.8
5	freepersup	14.5y	1	0	0.0
6	M Kehoe	16.6y	1	0	0.0
7	PalmettoMason	7.7y	3	2	0.7
8	Reverend Wright	7.0y	1	0	0.0
9	mad_as_he$$	14.2y	5	4	0.8
10	riverrunner	14.3y	1	1	1.0
11	gaijin	17.3y	1	0	0.0
12	WildHighlander57	14.5y	1	0	0.0
13	Travis McGee	15.4y	6	8	1.3
14	IYAS9YAS	13.9y	1	1	1.0
15	OldSmaj	14.6y	1	1	1.0
16	ctdonath2	14.7y	4	5	1.3
17	Resolute Conservative	8.2y	1	0	0.0
18	LadyBuck	5.4y	5	4	0.8
19	clamper1797	14.3y	1	1	1.0
20	Smokin' Joe	16.1y	17	21	1.2
21	Charles Martel	15.4y	1	0	0.0
22	Jaded	14.8y	1	0	0.0
23	Cliff Dweller	15.7y	1	1	1.0
24	etcb	13.1y	1	2	2.0
25	woollyone	14.5y	1	2	2.0
26	hadaclueonce	12.4y	1	0	0.0
27	the_daug	13.8y	1	0	0.0
28	zeugma	17.1y	1	0	0.0

I think you may be conflating street gangs with motorcycle clubs. Nice try.

Yes, I am.

Not all "motorcycle clubs" are criminal gangs. The local Harley Owners Group isn't, for instance. But there are certainly criminal biker gangs, you know it and so do I.

The big criminal gangs have long histories of organizational involvement in various types of crime. They have been accused, arrested, tried and convicted of organized crime. Repeatedly. They are very similar to street gangs like the Crips. Both have illegal drug dealing as a cornerstone of their operations. Both claim territory. Both claim the rights to make rules for others, weird rules like "don't wear red" or "talk to us before you start a motorcycle club in this state".

Here's some background on some criminal clubs, from Wikipedia:

Clubs active in Washington State:

Free Souls:

From The Free Souls Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Eugene, Oregon in 1969. The club has chapters throughout Oregon and Washington, Europe, and Australia.[1] The club's insignia is an ankh imposed over a spoked motorcycle wheel which is itself imposed over a set of motorcycle handlebars. The club colors are blue and white, which is also a metonym used to refer to the club.

Criminal activities

Three Free Souls members were arrested on a number of charges on May 2, 2007, after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police raided six homes in Eugene. Ten stolen motorcycles, guns, methamphetamine, marijuana and hashish oil were seized.

Gypsy Jokers

The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club (GJMC), or the Gypsy Jokers as they are called in Australia, are a "one-percenter" motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate that was originally formed in San Francisco, California on April Fool's Day, 1956. They are one of the most notorious and violent motorcycle gangs in both the US and in Australia.[6][7][8]

A few highlights of their criminal side:

A Gypsy Joker member was charged with attempted murder on March 17, 2009. He shot and wounded a member of the Newboys gang and former Hells Angel outside their clubhouse in Adelaide, South Australia.[14]

On May 19, 2009, five Gypsy Jokers were involved in a drug-related shoot-out with another gang in Perth, Western Australia. Two were wounded and taken to hospital, one of which was Club President Leonard Mark Kirby.[15]

On April 14, 2012, Gypsy Joker Anthony "Rooster" Perish, his brother Andrew (a Rebels Motorcycle Club gang member) and Matthew Lawton were sentenced to eighteen, nine and fifteen years respectively for the murder of convicted drug trafficker Terry Falconer, conspiracy to commit murder and firearms and drug offences[16]

The Bandidos, one of the two main clubs involved in the Texas shooting are one of the biggest clubs in Washington State. I'm not sure if they claim to control the whole state, as they do Texas, but they are certainly here.

Bandidos

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is a "one-percenter" motorcycle club[1][2][3] and organized crime syndicate with a worldwide membership. The club was formed in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. Its motto is "We are the people our parents warned us about." It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 210 chapters, located in 22 countries. The club considers itself to be an outlaw motorcycle club. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada have named the Bandidos an "outlaw motorcycle gang".[

In November 2006, Glenn Merritt of the Bellingham, Washington chapter was sentenced to four years in prison for drug possession and trafficking in stolen property. A total of 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, and various drug and gun violations. Eighteen of those pled guilty.[18] In October, 2006, George Wegers, then Bandidos' international president, pled guilty and received a two-year sentence for conspiracy to engage in racketeering.

I grew up in Detroit. These guys were notorious criminals in Detroit for decades.

The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle gang that was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1954.[1][2] The club has undergone a number of large-scale police and FBI investigations, most notably in 1973, 1987 and 2007.[2] In the early 1970s several members were convicted of bombings and raids of the homes and the clubhouses of rival motorcycle clubs.[3]

On May 5, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested 40 members and associates of the Detroit chapter of the Highwaymen on a number of charges including racketeering, murder for hire, assault, police corruption, cocaine trafficking, vehicle theft, and mortgage and insurance fraud. Twenty-nine illegal firearms, including assault rifles, shotguns and handguns, were also found when FBI agents raided homes and the chapter's clubhouse. The investigation into the club lasted two years and involved wiretaps and two informants, one of whom was eventually murdered.[2]

High-ranking Highwaymen member Randell Lee McDaniel was arrested for running a chop shop in Lansing, Michigan on June 13, 2007. The investigation by the Monroe County Auto Theft Enforcement began in October 2006 and served several search warrants on properties owned by McDaniel. He was charged with conducting a criminal enterprise, operating a chop shop, motor vehicle theft and possessing a controlled substance.[11]

Four police officers and a member of the Highwaymen were indicted on March 12, 2008 by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges stemming from the 2007 investigation into drug trafficking. Highwaymen member Sean Donovan, who was already incarcerated on stolen property charges, was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and Vicodin. The four police officers were also jailed for corruption.[12][13]

Their rivals were The Outlaws, an equally vicious criminal gang:

The Outlaws

The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is a one-percenter motorcycle club[2][3] that was formed in McCook, Illinois in 1935. Membership in the Outlaws is limited to men who own American-made motorcycles of a particular size,[4] although in Europe motorcycles from any country are allowed so long as they are in the chopper style. Their main rivals are the Hells Angels, giving rise to a phrase used by Outlaws members, "ADIOS" (the Spanish word for "goodbye", but in this case doubling as an acronym for "Angels Die In Outlaw States").

Here's the crime section of the article for Virginia, but they have done stuff everywhere they operate:

On June 15, 2010, a grand jury in Virginia indicted 27 Outlaws members on various charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) related to participating in a criminal enterprise that engaged in assaults, kidnapping, drug dealing, illegal gambling, and attempted murder.[26]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Poster Report