El Forastero Motorcycle Club
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = El Forastero MC
| image = El Forastero Motorcycle Club logo.jpg
| image_size =
| founded = 1962
| founding_location = Sioux City, Iowa
| founder = Tom Fugle and Harlan "Tiny" Brower
| leader_name =
| leader_title =
| key_people = David Mann
| type = motorcycle club
| region = Midwestern USA
| marque =
| purpose =
| activities =
| website = {{URL|elforasteromc.net}}
| abbreviation =
}}
El Forastero Motorcycle Club (EFMC) is a one-percenter motorcycle club{{Cite web |url=http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2010/05/21/el-forastero-motorcycle-club-members-eric-burkitt-and-robert-stewart-get-five-years-for-meth-distribution |title=The Pitch News Kansas City |access-date=October 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612014252/http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2010/05/21/el-forastero-motorcycle-club-members-eric-burkitt-and-robert-stewart-get-five-years-for-meth-distribution |archive-date=June 12, 2015 |url-status=dead }} which was established after being turned down for a chapter by the Satan Slaves MC. The El Forasteros are well known for their criminal activities, and are considered by law enforcement to be among the many second-tier, after the "Big Four", outlaw motorcycle clubs.{{Cite news |url= http://www.examiner.net/features/x663894310/Ganging-up-on-motorcycle-gangs|title= Ganging up on motorcycle gangs |newspaper= The Examiner (Missouri) |first= Jeff |last= Martin |date= October 8, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111110075323/http://www.examiner.net/features/x663894310/Ganging-up-on-motorcycle-gangs |archive-date= November 10, 2011 }}{{Citation | first=Stephen | last=Mallory | title=Understanding Organized Crime | year=2007 | page= 160 | publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning |isbn=978-0-7637-4108-2}}
Its early members included the renowned biker artist Dave Mann. The name of the club means "the outsider" in Spanish.The One Percenter Encyclopedia: The World of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs from Abyss Ghosts to Zombies Elite. Bill Hayes. MotorBooks International, December 15, 2011
History
The club was founded in 1962[http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/live-free-and-die/Content?oid=2178276 KC Outlaw Bikers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927110954/http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/live-free-and-die/Content?oid=2178276 |date=September 27, 2013 }}[http://www.weaselsusa.org/davidmann.pdf David Mann Eulogy] by Tom Fugle and Harlan "Tiny" Brower [http://www.throttlermagazine.com/throttlerDAVIDMANN.html Throttler Magazine] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506005403/http://www.throttlermagazine.com/throttlerDAVIDMANN.html |date=May 6, 2012 }} has chapters in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri [http://www.bikernews.net/?d=news&p=read&newsid=2564&flush= Biker News] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407014200/http://www.bikernews.net/?d=news&p=read&newsid=2564&flush= |date=April 7, 2012 }} and close links to the Galloping Goose MC.The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos - Bikers United Against the Hells Angels. Edward Winterhalder, Wil De Clercq. ECW Press, June 1, 2008
Some of the club members have been found guilty for the crimes motorcycle theft {{Citation
|title= 9 arrested in alleged motorcycle theft ring; An estimated $785, 000 worth of stolen Harley-Davidson motorcycles and parts were recovered during a half-year investigation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-none-arrested/164749240/ |periodical=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis, MN |date=April 9, 1998 |page=B9 |last=Chanen |first= David |publisher= Star Tribune Co.}} and for transporting and distributing methamphetamine after members testified the club members pooled money to buy narcotics for consumption at their organized events.{{Citation
|title=19 motorcycles, parts recovered (and hidden) by sheriff, Harley hogs most enticing for thieves |periodical=St. Paul Pioneer Press |first=David |last=Chanen |location=MN |date=April 9, 1998 |page=3D Metro }}{{Citation
|title=Biker gang linked to meth ring: Six members or associates of El Forastero are charged with trafficking |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-biker-gang/164749688/ |date= October 17, 2006 |page=B2 |location=Kansas City, MO |first= Tony |last=Rizzo| periodical=The Kansas City Star}}{{Citation |title=Live Free & Die. After Kansas City's first generation of outlaw bikers rides off into the sunset, who will replace them? |periodical=The Pitch |location=Kansas City, MO |publisher=Village Voice Media |first=Bryan |last=Noonan |date=June 30, 2005 |url=http://www.pitch.com/2005-06-30/news/live-free-die/ |quote=Later, though, Shifty would spend seven and a half years in prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. ('Actually, I was transporting it,' he says.) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103034314/http://www.pitch.com/2005-06-30/news/live-free-die/ |archive-date=January 3, 2011 }}
El Forastero member William Eneff received a sentence of seven years in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. According to the US Department of Justice, Eneff, "admitted that members of El Forastero and the affiliated Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club were required to annually pay dues and attend a certain number of motorcycle trips, known as runs, each year. On each run, the members were required to pay money that was pooled, or collected by each club charter, then forwarded to the specific Galloping Goose or El Forastero charter that hosted the particular motorcycle run in order to purchase methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Those drugs were maintained in run bags, which were distributed to all club members who attended the run."{{Citation |url= http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2009/eneff.sen.htm |publisher= US Department of Justice |title= Motorcycle Club Member Sentenced For Meth Conspiracy |date= December 21, 2009 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110529161918/http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2009/eneff.sen.htm |archive-date= May 29, 2011 }}
An editorial by Mark Sheehan in the St. Joseph News-Press expressed wonderment at the advanced age of the "dangerous motorcycle gang", the El Forasteros, noting that among one group indicted on methamphetamine charges in 2006, "the ages of these rebels on wheels range from 51 to 60". Indicted El Forastero Larry D. "Eight Ball" Williams was at age 60 a "card-carrying member of AARP." Sheehan said, "My deepest concern is that we are stuck in a psychological rut. We are determined to live in the 1960s when motorcycle gangs were cool."{{Citation |first=Mark |last=Sheehan |title= Danger: Psychological rut ahead |newspaper= St. Joseph News-Press |location=St. Joseph, Missouri |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-news-press-mark-sheehan/164748614/ |date= November 12, 2006 |type=General OneFile }}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.elforasteromc.net/}}
{{OutlawMotorcycleGroups}}
{{Organized crime groups in the United States}}
Category:Outlaw motorcycle clubs
Category:Gangs in the United States
Category:1962 establishments in Iowa