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Posted on 08/12/2006 4:17:00 AM PDT by SLB
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) -- Biker gangs have made the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a violence-marred affair in the past.
The rally, which draws about half a million people each August to the Black Hills in western South Dakota, has since gotten older, laid-back and more diverse.
But this year, gunshots about 75 miles away reminded attendees about the gangs. Authorities said two men affiliated with the Hells Angels shot and wounded five Outlaws Motorcycle Club members in Custer State Park earlier this week.
Suzanne Church, who has ministered to biker gang members at Sturgis since 1997, said she hopes there's no more violence.
"We hate to see people die and go to hell," she said.
The rally attracts bikers of all walks of life, who ride throughout the Black Hills, a patch of forest and valleys 100 miles long and 50 miles wide on South Dakota's western edge. Sturgis, a town of about 7,000, is on the northern edge of the Hills, while Custer State Park is in the south.
Some Hells Angels members own land near Sturgis, so the gang has a presence at every rally, said Jim Bush, Sturgis police chief. Law enforcement officers knew that hundreds of Outlaws members planned to gather at a rented southern Hills campground, Bush said.
The Outlaws are one of the nation's four largest motorcycle gangs, along with the Hells Angels, Pagans and Bandidos. The Outlaws have chapters in 20 states, Europe, Canada and Australia.
A posting on its Web site said law enforcement agencies were informed of the group's plans to attend Sturgis.
It said: "We are not going there to makes any type of statement, or display of power. We are simply going there to enjoy the Sturgis venue, see the historical sights and spend time with our Brothers."
Authorities have their own term for the gangs.
"We classify these organizations as crime syndicates," said Bernard Zapor, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in St. Paul, Minn.
The last major violence involving motorcycle gangs during the Sturgis rally was in 1990, when a Sons of Silence member shot an Outlaws gang member during a bar brawl in which two other Sons of Silence members were stabbed.
"They have not changed," Bush said of the major gangs. "They're as organized and involved in crime as they ever have been."
It was one of only a few major rally-related incidents of violence, Bush said. The only other gang arrests have been three or four members picked up for unrelated crime, he said.
"They usually get along pretty good," Bush said.
In Tuesday's shooting, Chad John Wilson, 30, of Lynnwood, Wash., and John James Midmore, 32, of Valparaiso, Ind., face five counts of attempted first-degree murder. A judge set bond Thursday at $5 million each.
One victim was still in critical condition at Rapid City Regional Hospital on Thursday. Another was in stable condition at a Sioux Falls hospital, said Sara Rabern of the South Dakota Attorney General's office.
On Main Street in Sturgis, a few people wearing Hells Angels vests and T-shirts were spotted at the 66th annual rally, which ends Sunday.
The gang runs a vendor table that sells club pins, T-shirts, bumper stickers and other items. None of three men staffing the table wanted to discuss the shooting. A worker at a tattoo shop down the street that the gang runs also refused comment.
Jim Vlahakis, state Division of Criminal Investigation director, said more than 300 Outlaws members representing 119 different chapters have been seen in the area, along with 80 to 100 Hells Angels members.
Vlahakis said authorities plan to meet with the two gangs to "try to head off any potential problems" but had not done so as of Thursday.
Officers were prepared to respond to gang violence, Bush said, adding that eventual retaliation is likely.
"It may not happen here," Bush said. "It could happen a month from now" somewhere else.
On the Net:
Outlaws: http://www.outlawsmc.com/
Hells Angels: http://www.hells-angels.com/
Well I guess you're keeping tabs too..you posted here.
But you know as well as anyone that most bikers today are just fun loving people who want to show off a little and have some fun checking each other out.
Very few of them are "outlaws"
I'd like to to Sturgis, just once. Just to say I did.
I don't wear anything that could even be loosely construed as gang colors, and don't hang around anyone who does, so my only concern would be getting caught in the crossfire.
We have Banditos out here and I stay the heck away from them.
Hey..don't forget The Branded Few! They're a bunch of bad-a** MOFO's..sorta..well..never mind... Whatever you do, don't follow them down the freeway...dodging all the falling Harley parts...
The Hells Angels were founded in 1948 by WW11 vets.
I would venture to guess that they would fight to the death (of Islam) along with millions of other Patriotic Americans.
The guys that started the Club fought in World War Two.
Many of the current members are Vets.
I would imagine if the younger members were sent over en mass they would be an asset in the WOT.
Maybe the Angels freedom isn't the same as your freedom or mine, but they, in their own way, support America.
This may sound strange, but you might call them the ultimate conservative. They don't depend on anyone else and protect their own.
Flame on!
Paging Mr. Fierro
This surprises me, since most Bikers are older than Moses and need walkers and depends.
Every time I see one of these pukes with long gray hair, "Hell's Angels" gear and tatoos, walking in a walker it takes every ounce of control I have to not go over and take their walker away and laugh while they are on the ground. Back when, they took advantage or and tortured those who were less powerful. I wonder how they would like being on the receiving side.
What's he gonna do? Throw his dentures at me? Fling the stuff in his Depends at me?
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You and I both know that Dallas59 wouldn't open his mouth in a face to face encounter. Big talk is common on the internet. I'll be perfectly honest, I avoid 1%'ers like the plague. They're bad news, and what makes them truly scary is that prison is a vacation to them.
You'd guess wrong. The modern Angels would sell you and yours out for a bag of smoke, $50, or a line of coke. Patriotic my ***. They're criminals.
Don't be a dumbass and confuse bikers in general with 1%'ers. I proudly wear the label of biker.
Be careful out there and be ever vigilant!
You are off the edge
Well freeDUMB you really are dumb, You spout off when you know nothing about the Angels.
Just the ones I ran into. Oh, and those that terrorized commuities in the 60s-80s.
Bullies, the lot of 'em. Oh, wait it just occurred to me. You must have been a bully, too.
I stand corrected. I should have been clear I was talking about Biker gangs -- specifically the Hell's Angels.
And it is silly to riff on my name. Only something a small-minded bully would do.
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