Unlike the Hells Angels, who have tried to finesse their public image with toy runs and other charity stunts, wrote the Canadian journalist Julian Sher, who has spent years covering motorcycle gangs, the Texas-based Bandidos have never shied away from flaunting their brutal pedigree. And the truth is that I sometimes do get jealous of all the time he spends with the club. Before long, several of the Bandidos headed to the Double Deuce, one of south San Antonios better biker bars. 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. This is significantly less time than the 20 years that the federal sentencing guidelines could have seen him facing. They came in packs, riding two, sometimes three abreast, their motorcycles roaring loudly enough to rattle all the funeral homes windows. I started meeting Bandidos. George Wagers Obituary. He was surrounded by bouquets of flowers, along with photos of him in his younger days standing beside his motorcycle or next to topless biker chicks. And the police certainly had their doubts about Pike. Red McCombs funeral service draws S.A. community, Spurs stars . Pike laughed out loud. And when you get a bunch of men like that together in one club, you better watch out, because theres no telling what can happen.. He was turning off Interstate 5 in Skagit County . Not only had a member been killed, but the Bandidos were embarrassed that a much smaller club would dare to take them on . Some police departments formed motorcycle gang task forces. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. They do some minor drug deals. 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. In the Wood case, more than one hundred Bandidos were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. So I decided to get a bike. 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. 'George Wegers ' has Passed Away. But would they call that entire department a criminal enterprise? All I ask is that he not bring it home and tell me about it. Wearing high heels and miniskirts, they passed out flyers and free drink tickets, telling the Bandidos that they ought to visit later that night to watch them perform. Reed Anderstrom. BY SATURDAY MORNING, AT LEAST FOUR HUNDRED Bandidos were in San Antonio, gathered in the parking lot of an evangelical church for Chucos funeral. [32], Bandidos members must be male[33] and own at least one Harley-Davidson motorcycle (although other American-made motorcycles can also be allowed). 20 talking about this. IN 1998 THERE WAS TALK ONCE AGAIN that the Bandidos had suffered a fatal blow: Craig Jaws Johnston, who was then the Bandidos president, and other leaders pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that they had conspired to manufacture and sell as much as a thousand pounds of methamphetamine. Pike did not approve of members dealing in drugs, which was one of his concerns with the chapters in Europe and Australia, DeGuerin said. The Bandidos Motorcycle Club was founded by 36-year-old dockworker Donald Eugene Chambers on March 4, 1966, in San Leon, Texas. October 6, 2006. The FBI went so far as to buy a biker bar in Dallas, bringing in as the owner a New York agent who tried to find out what the Bandidos were up to. If he wishes to do something illegal, thats his choice. [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". Less than a month after the Benesh shooting, eight Bandidos were found stuffed inside abandoned vehicles in a field in Canada. Service 1 PM Wednesday at Evans-Nordby Funeral Home . [53] Chapters were then founded in Italy in 2001[54] and on the Channel Islands in 2003. The Bandidos are here!. Friends and families of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished George Wegers . It was just something you dont forget, like a cowboy seeing his first train., He dropped out of high school, and in 1973 he moved with a buddy to Texaspartly because the drinking age was eighteen. A couple of years later, when he was twenty years old, he bought a big Harley Panhead. The length of this process is decided by each chapter president, and ends when the chapter's members vote unanimously to allow the probationary member to enter the club. And if that didnt work, hed pull out his knife and start swinging that around too.. About George Wegers George Wegers Pikes lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin, also said some of the incidents Ojemann testified about were part of Pikes efforts to clean up the Bandidos. I hope you dont believe all that bullshit the feds are feeding you, he said in a surprisingly cheerful voice. (To round up the Bandidos in Lubbock, the police used an armored personnel carrier to bust into their fenced compound.) Nineteen search warrants were executed. Toward the end of the road was Pikes property. That's what authorities believe led to the shootout and Waco. George (Crash) Kriarakis. Suddenly, the Bandidos heard a sound in the distance, a distinct whomp-whomp-whomp. [34] Prospective members must undertake a three-stage process before being initiated, beginning as a "hangaround", before becoming a "prospect" and then "probation". [ 186 more . One member was nicknamed Log Cabin because he loved drinking whiskey from a Log Cabin syrup bottle. The new recruit was then required to put the vest back on and dry it out by riding on his motorcycle. A hospital representative said she would not release Weger's medical status. He was pissed. Chester Weger was convicted for the murders of three women in an Illinois state park but he insists on his innocence. But by his teenage years, he had discovered cigarettes and girls, and he also became fascinated with motorcycles when he saw a pack of Hells Angels flying down a road. They become Bandidos because they love being known as the badasses. Kerr identified three Bandidos in a police lineup as his possible assailants. The Bandidos would appreciate it.. But defense lawyers for Pike and Portillo attacked Ojemanns testimony as self-serving, or of being fabricated to wrongly accuse their clients in order to save himself from lengthy prison time in his own drug case. Loved to say "top left", meaning "from the heart.". Other Tier 2 gangs include the Bloods, the Crips and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. George Wegers Death | Obituary | George Wegers Dead | Died | Funeral Plans - We heard about the great loss, that George Wegers is no more and has reportedly passed away. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland. At George Funeral Home, we have provided superior personal service to the Aiken community for over 100 years. Why cant the feds just accept the fact that were a bunch of old bikers who love to get together and have some fun? He wanted Galveston John (expletive) up.. Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering: Kidnaping (VICAR), Anthony Snodgrass Spencer (Bandidos Australia President), Jeff Pike (Bandidos International President), Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering Assault, Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Methamphetamine, Carrying a Firearm During and in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime, Conspiracy to Traffic in Certain Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Parts. Consider, for instance, the gold-colored courtesy card that Chambers printed up for his members to give to citizens (the word they used to describe nonmembers). George Wegers Bandidos MC George Wegers Early Life / Family Life. He told his friends that he was naming his club the Bandidos, in honor of the Mexican bandits who refused to live by anyones rules but their own, and he began recruiting his first members not only out of Houston but also out of the biker bars in Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio. TRUSTED AREA FUNERAL HOMES. [21] In 2007, the Bandidos' Canadian chapters went defunct following the internal Shedden massacre. 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. Although the particular meaning of each patch is not publicly known, various law enforcement agencies have identified Bandidos patches which they believe are related to criminal activity. 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.. These so-called outlaws are the remaining 1 percent. Just a half dozen years ago,top CanadianBandidos grumbled about how they couldnt get a telephone audience with him. They walked back outside, looked up, and saw a helicopter coming right at them. He owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle shop in Bellingham, Washington State. The Bandidos live here, and they love to steal motorcycles. . But were not out there shooting people, for Gods sake. Let me tell you one thing, my friend, said a Bandido who had seen me standing quietly by the funeral homes front door taking notes. Divorced, with a grown son, two grandkids, and other family in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Cut one, we all bleed, the Bandidos warnand the blood has never stopped flowing, often from internal strife as much as external battles.. Weve got guys who own their own businesses, guys who work for oil companies, guys who are in the computer industry. In some ways, oddly, the Bandidos were not all that different from any other fraternal organization. The music on the jukebox cranked up, and I saw Jeff Pike by a pool table. He wanted bikers who lived only for the open road. Lenny is a grown man. A few days later I drove into a well-kept neighborhood near the Woodlands residential community. When a beloved brother died last summer, more than four hundred bikers thundered into San Antonio for his funeral. The gang's founder died of cancer in 1999. Richard George Osorio February 6, 1938 - January 09, 2023 Bellingham , Washington - Richard G. Osorio "Zorro" passed away peacefully January 9th, 2023. . The men roared with laughter. A two year law enforcement investigation leads to the arrest of George Wegers and 25 other Bandidos members and associates. [44][45] They claim to have more than a dozen patched members and prospects in the Christchurch area. Court room illustrations from Karlene Ryan. But I know he loves it so much that I would never ask him to quit., When Lenny was out of earshot, I asked Nicole what she thought about the allegations that the Bandidos were a criminal enterprise. . He was a hell-raiser, there was no question about that, said his daughter, Donna Lee Chambers-Miers, who lives near Crockett and used to go barhopping with her father when she was a teenager. 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. Pike, whos divorced, told me that although he would be living in it alone, he wanted it to be big enough that his two kids would have a place to stay when they came to visit him from college. When the hearse stopped, members of Chucos own San Antonio chapter carried his casket to the grave site. For the most part, everybody knew, dont cause no (expletive) in Houston.. ET And now, five years later, here I am., As we talked, his wife, Nicole, walked up. The Bandidos deny that they're "white supremacists.". George Wegers -- national president of the notorious Bellingham-based Bandidos motorcycle gang until his arrest last June -- has pleaded guilty to racketeering . The phrase "Support your local bandidos" was printed on the front of the panties, according to a 2007 Texas Monthly story on the motorcycle gang. There was booze and drugs everywhere. [35][38] The Bandidos' "mother chapter" is based in Houston, Texas. The city had 12 chapters and 175 members at the time. [16] Subsequent expansion into the Nordic countries in the 1990s led to a violent feud with the Hells Angels. The one place where the Bandidos tend to draw attention to themselves are turf wars with other motorcycle gangs. Eventually, Pike met some Bandidos at a Harley shop in Houston and at the strip joints on Gessner Road, and in 1979 he became a prospect. He quickly moved his way up in the club, becoming president of one of Houstons chapters in 1988 at the age of 33 and a national vice president eleven years later. He had no visible tattoos and no facial hair except for a neatly groomed goatee, and his crew cut was flecked with gray. Tier 1 gangs like the Tango Blast pose the greatest threat to Texas due to ties "with Mexican cartels, large membership numbers, high levels of transnational criminal activity and organizational effectiveness." [40], The Bandidos expanded into Canada following a merger with the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in Quebec in 2000. J. C. Stevens and Rev. 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