Outlaw motorcycle club#One percenter

File:Hells Angels New York by David Shankbone.jpg New York City clubhouse, with many security cameras and floodlights on the front of the building]] While organizations may vary, the typical internal organization of a motorcycle club consists of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, road captain, and sergeant-at-arms (sometimes known as enforcer).[http://www.rcvsmc.net/id6.html 1% – Example of Bylaws]- Motorcycle Club and Riding Club Education In some clubs, localized groups of a single, prominent MC are called charters or chapters, and the first chapter established for an MC is referred to as the mother chapter. The mother chapter serves as the ruling body of the club.[https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change] p. 192, Pennsylvania Crime Commission (1990) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110162943/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf |date=November 10, 2022 }} Sometimes, the president of the mother chapter serves as the president of the entire MC, and sets club policy on a variety of issues, whereas other clubs either elect or appoint a National President for this role.

Larger motorcycle clubs often acquire real estate for use as a clubhouse or private compound. Clubhouses, which are frequently fortified and equipped with a sophisticated security system, serve as a meeting place for a club or chapter.[https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/bonds-brotherhood-origin-and-growth-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs Bonds of Brotherhood: The Origin and Growth of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs] Heather Hamilton, Office of Justice Programs (2002) {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20221208215447/https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/bonds-brotherhood-origin-and-growth-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs |date=December 8, 2022 }} To meet the expenditures of running an outlaw motorcycle club, namely the renting, purchase or furnishing of a clubhouse, groups raise funds primarily through membership dues and club fines, the sale of various items to members, the brokerage of club shares, sponsoring parties and organizing motorcycle trips. Some clubs also maintain a fund for the legal defense of its members.[https://repository.unikom.ac.id/45323/1/buku%202%20-%20Policing%20Organized%20Crime%20-%20bahan%20ajar%202011%3B2012%20-%20ada%20teks.pdf Policing Organized Crime] p. 159 Peter Gottschalk (2010) {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20240828231157/https://repository.unikom.ac.id/45323/1/buku%202%20-%20Policing%20Organized%20Crime%20-%20bahan%20ajar%202011;2012%20-%20ada%20teks.pdf |date=August 28, 2024 }}

Some "biker" clubs employ a process whereby members must pass several stages, such as "friend of the club", "hang-around", and "prospect", on their way to becoming full-patch (see the explanation of 'patching' below) members.{{cite web|title=Levels of Club Affiliation|url=http://www.wolfpackmc.org/aboutlevels.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520153336/http://www.wolfpackmc.org/aboutlevels.php|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 May 2007|website=Wolfpack Motorcycle Club|access-date=10 June 2016}} The actual stages and membership process can and often do vary widely from club to club. Usually, an individual must pass a membership vote and swear some level of allegiance to the club. Some clubs have a unique club patch (cut or top rocker){{Cite web|url=https://www.gq.com/story/untold-story-texas-biker-gang-shoot-out|title=The Untold Story of the Texas Biker Gang Shoot-Out|date=30 September 2015|website=GQ}} adorned with the term MC that are worn on the rider's vest, known as a kutte.

In these clubs, some amount of hazing may occur during the early stages (i.e., hang-around, prospecting) ranging from the mandatory performance of menial labor tasks for full patch members to sophomoric pranks and, in rare cases with some outlaw motorcycle clubs, acts of violence."Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang". Author William Queen, 2004 During this time, the prospect may wear the club name on the back of their vest but not the entire logo, though this practice may vary from club to club. To become a full member, the prospect or probate must be voted on by the rest of the full club members. Successful admission usually requires more than a simple majority, and some clubs may reject a prospect or a probate for a single dissenting vote. A formal induction follows, in which the new member affirms his loyalty to the club and its members. The final logo patch is then awarded. Full members are often referred to as "full patch members" or "patchholders" and the step of attaining full membership can be referred to as "being patched".Biker Gangs and Organized Crime. Thomas Barker. Elsevier, 1 October 2007

The majority of members of outlaw motorcycle clubs have no serious criminal record and express their outlaw status on a social level, equating the word "outlaw" with disregard for the law of groups like the American Motorcyclist Association, not the laws of government. Outlaw bikers view themselves as a fraternity of men who reject societal norms, and their sense of brotherhood is reflected in tattoos, the wearing of the club "colors", and earning ranks and titles within a club or chapter.[https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change] p. 193, Pennsylvania Crime Commission (1990) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110162943/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf |date=November 10, 2022 }} However, there is also a subculture of outlaw biker activity which revolves around performing outrageous acts, the denigration of women, maintaining a macho image, and the heavy use of drugs and alcohol.

Many non-outlaw motorcycle clubs adopt similar insignia, colors, organizational structures, and trappings to outlaw clubs, making it difficult for outsiders (including police) to tell the groups apart.{{Citation |last1= Brown |year=2000 |first1=Roland |last2=McDiarmid |first2=Mac |title=The Ultimate Motorcycle Encyclopedia: Harley-Davidson, Ducati, Triumph, Honda, Kawasaki and All the Great Marques |publisher=Anness Publishing |isbn=9781840388985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SWQAAAACAAJ |page=352}} Much of the mystique and many of the unwritten rules, values, and ideals of non-outlaw clubs are believed to come from outlaw clubs.{{Citation |last=Joans |first=Barbara |year=2001 |title=Bike Lust |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=9780299173548 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEeaBjCKJvkC&pg=PA5 |page=5|quote=As middle America rides and parties with the urban middle class, neither discusses the skeleton in the closet. Neither draws attention to the fact that much of the Harley mystique, most of the unwritten rules of the road, and many of the values and ideals come from the unruly and bastard parent, the outlaw club}}

Outlaw clubs are often prominent at charity events, such as toy runs. Charitable giving is frequently cited as evidence that these clubs do not deserve their negative media image. Outlaw clubs have been accused of using charity rides to mask their criminal nature.{{Citation |title=Motorcycle Gang Training For Yakima |date=7 October 2009 |url=http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/48934037.html |periodical=Kima Tv |last=Klugh |first=David |quote=The problem with that according to Steve Cook is that if you eat in local restaurants, drink in local bars or even participate in local charity events, you already associate with them. Charity rides, toy donations... Cook has learned these are part of the disguise. 'What they don't tell you is what they're doing the rest of the year. They're selling drugs. They're stealing motorcycles. They're beating people up. They're committing a laundry list of crimes.' |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713151441/http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/48934037.html |archive-date=13 July 2011 }}Renegades Do Good Works, Too But Officials Say Biker Gang Is Simply Polishing Its Image. [Final Edition] Richard S. Koonce, Virginian – Pilot ( Norfolk, Va. ) 1999-12-29, A.1 The American Motorcyclist Association has frequently complained of the bad publicity for motorcycling in general caused by outlaw clubs, and they have said that the presence of outlaw clubs at charity events has harmed people in need by driving down public participation and reducing donations.{{Citation |magazine=American Motorcyclist |author1=Assoc, American Motorcyclist |date= March 2003|title=Gang fears hurt charity ride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3foDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA34}} Events such as a 2005 shootout between rival outlaw clubs amid a charity toy drive in California have raised fears about the participation of outlaw biker clubs in charity events.{{Citation |title=Gunfight blamed on bikers // About 150 people queried after violence at a toy giveaway |first1=Paige |last1=Austin |first2=Sonja |last2=Bjelland |newspaper=The Press – Enterprise |location=Riverside, Calif. |date= 6 December 2005 |quote=Witnesses blame tensions between two rival motorcycle gangs for a shooting at a Christmas toy drive that left a firefighter and two others injured.}}{{Citation |title=Neighbors want site of shooting shut down |first=Paige |last=Austin |newspaper=The Press – Enterprise |location= Riverside, Calif. |date=8 December 2005 |page= B.01 |quote= Next week Norco city leaders will consider revoking an operating permit for Maverick Steakhouse where a Christmas toy drive Sunday ended in violence after several gunmen fired into the crowd. Witnesses say a fight between two rival biker clubs at the event led to the shooting in which at least three people were injured, including a Norco firefighter.}} Authorities have attempted to ban outlaw clubs from charity events or to restrict the wearing of colors at events to avert the sort of inter-club violence that has happened at previous charity runs.{{Citation |title=Bikie 'colours' banned from Morcombe charity ride |first=Marissa |last=Calligeros |date=22 June 2009 |newspaper=Brisbane Times |quote='Ride organisers received an unlawful edict from police blocking the participation of riders wearing clothing that identified them as members of some motorcycle clubs,' Mr Walker said. 'You can't say that to our members...these guys live for their patches.' He said bikies would never, ever ride without patches as a cardinal rule. |url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/bikie-colours-banned-from-morcombe-charity-ride-20090622-ct7t.html}}{{Citation |title=Police blitz hits bikers' charity ride |first=Nikkii |last= Joyce |date= 3 August 2009 |newspaper=Sunshine Coast Daily |url=http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2009/08/03/police-blitz-hits-bikers-charity-ride/}} In 2002, the Warlocks MC of Pennsylvania sued over their exclusion from a charity event.{{Citation |title=National Briefing Mid-Atlantic: Pennsylvania: Biker Gang Sues Over Exclusion From Charity Event |newspaper=New York Times |location=New York, N.Y. |date=9 November 2002 |page=A.17 |agency=Associated Press |quote=The Warlocks motorcycle gang has filed a lawsuit accusing the Philadelphia Police Department of preventing its members from participating in a motorcycle parade to deliver toys to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on Sunday. Joshua Briskin, a lawyer for the gang, said the Warlocks had taken part in the event for 15 years. The suit, seeking unspecified compensation, says the group's civil rights were violated.}}

{{Main|Colors (motorcycling)}}

File:Kutte Motorrad vorn.jpg

The primary visual identification of an outlaw motorcycle club member is the vest adorned with a large club-specific patch or patches predominantly located in the middle of the back. The patches will contain a club logo, the club's name, the letters MC, and a possible state, province, or other chapter identification. This garment and the patches themselves are referred to as the colors or cut (a term taken from the early practice of cutting the collars or sleeves from a denim or leather jacket). Many non-outlaw motorcycle riding clubs such as the Harley Owners Group also wear patches on the back of their vests, without including the letters MC.

The club patches always remain the property of the club itself, not the members, and only members are allowed to wear the club's patches. Hang-arounds or support club members wear support patches with the club's colors. A member must closely guard their colors, for allowing one's colors to fall into the hands of an outsider is an act of disgrace and may result in loss of membership in a club or some other punishment.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

The colors worn by members of some motorcycle clubs will sometimes follow a convention of using either a one-piece patch for nonconformist{{Explain|date=December 2022}} social clubs, a two-piece patch for clubs paying dues{{Explain|date=December 2022}}, a three-piece patch for outlaw clubs or side patches. The three-piece patch consists of the club logo and the top and bottom patches, usually crescent-shaped, which are referred to as rockers. The number and arrangement of patches somewhat indicate the club's nature. Since many motorcycle clubs wear the three-piece patch arrangement, this does not necessarily suggest that a club is an outlaw motorcycle club.

Law enforcement agencies have confiscated colors and other club paraphernalia of these clubs when they raid a clubhouse or the home of a MC member, and they often display these items at press conferences.{{Cite web | url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060410/mass_murder_autopsies_060410 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412135432/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060410/mass_murder_autopsies_060410 | url-status=dead | archive-date=12 April 2006 | title=Five charged in murders of eight Bandidos bikers | website=CTV.ca | date=10 June 2006 | access-date=10 October 2007 }} These items are then used at trial to support prosecution assertions that MC members perform criminal acts on behalf of their club. Courts have found that the probative value of such items is far outweighed by their unfairly prejudicial effects on the defense.The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Case Nos. 95–2829 and 95-2879; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JOHN E. IRVIN and THOMAS E. PASTOR, Defendants-Appellants

File:Bandidos MC Berlin - One Percenter.jpg

Some outlaw motorcycle clubs can be distinguished by a "1%" or "Diamond" shape patch worn on the colors. This is said to refer to a comment made in 1960 by William Berry, a former president of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last one percent were outlaws.{{Citation |last=Dulaney |first=William L. |date=November 2005 |title=A Brief History of 'Outlaw' Motorcycle Clubs |url=http://ijms.nova.edu/November2005/IJMS_Artcl.Dulaney.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202095034/http://ijms.nova.edu/November2005/IJMS_Artcl.Dulaney.html |archive-date=2 February 2006 |url-status=dead |periodical=International Journal of Motorcycle Studies |quote=The Life story caused something of a tumult around the country (Yates), and some authors have asserted that the AMA subsequently released a press statement disclaiming involvement in the Hollister event, stating that 99% of motorcyclists are good, decent, law-abiding citizens and that the AMA's ranks of motorcycle clubs were not involved in the debacle (e.g., Reynolds, Thompson). The American Motorcyclist Association says it has no record of releasing such a statement. Tom Lindsay, the AMA's Public Information Director, said 'We [the American Motorcyclist Association] acknowledge that the term 'one-percenter' has long been (and likely will continue to be) attributed to the American Motorcyclist Association, but we've been unable to attribute its original use to an AMA official or published statement—so it's apocryphal.'}}[https://buffalonews.com/news/bikers-brought-years-of-feuding----and-guns----to-town/article_9dcf25f1-580a-52a8-a9c6-4f1929154b5c.html Bikers brought years of feuding – and guns – to town] Michael Beebe and Dan Herbeck, The Buffalo News (October 2, 1994) ({{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20210420145258/https://buffalonews.com/news/bikers-brought-years-of-feuding----and-guns----to-town/article_9dcf25f1-580a-52a8-a9c6-4f1929154b5c.html |date=April 20, 2021 }})

The alleged AMA comment, supposedly about the Hollister riot of 1947,{{Citation |last= Dougherty |first= C.I. |title= Motorcyclists Take Over Town, Many Injured |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date= 5 July 1947 |url= http://www.cestcop.com/chron1.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151103080713/http://www.cestcop.com/chron1.htm |archive-date= 3 November 2015 |url-status= usurped |via=cestcop.com}}{{Citation |last= Dougherty |first= C.I. |title= 2000 'Gypsycycles' Chug Out of Town and the Natives Sigh 'Never Again' |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date= 6 July 1947 |url= http://www.cestcop.com/chron2.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151103080713/http://www.cestcop.com/chron2.htm |archive-date= 3 November 2015 |url-status= usurped |via=cestcop.com}} is denied by the AMA, which claims to have no record of such a statement to the press and that the story is a misquote.In March 1972 (p. 3), Chas Deane, the editor of Motorcycle Mechanics, wrote: "Motorcycling is a way of life, almost a religion to some and the next best thing to breathing for others. There is no such thing as a 'typical motorcyclist'; on the one hand we're outcasts and 'one percenters', while on the other hand we are the 'in' people." Whether the original quote is true or not, the "1%" patch is worn only by clubs characterized by criminality.Quinn JF. "Sex roles and hedonism among members of outlaw motorcycle clubs". Deviant Behavior. 1987;8:47–63.Quinn JF, Forsyth CJ. "Leathers and rolexs: The symbolism and values of the motorcycle club". Deviant Behavior. 2009;30:1–31.Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: Aspects of the One-Percenter Culture for Emergency Department Personnel to Consider. Anand N. Bosmia, BA, James F. Quinn, PhD, [...], and R. Shane Tubbs, PhD, PA-C, MS"The Infamous 'One Percenters': A Review of the Criminality, Subculture, and Structure of Modern Biker Gangs". Danielle Shields, Justice Policy Journal, Volume 9, No. 1, Spring 2012

Outlaw clubs began wearing the "1%" patch after Hells Angels president Sonny Barger convened a meeting of the leaders of various Hells Angels chapters and other California clubs in 1960 in which the multiple clubs parleyed over the mutual problem of police harassment. The clubs voted to ally under the patch. In 1963, the Outlaws became the first club east of the Mississippi River to begin wearing the "1%" emblem.[https://www.hotcars.com/17-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-outlaws-motorcycle-club/ 17 Things You Didn't Know About The Outlaws Motorcycle Club] Arun Singh Pundir, hotcars.com (August 27, 2021) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915145405/https://www.hotcars.com/17-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-outlaws-motorcycle-club |date=September 15, 2022 }}

Other patches may be worn by members, including phrases and symbols. The style or meaning of these other patches can vary between clubs. Some, such as a skull and crossbones patch, or the motto "Respect Few, Fear None", are worn in some clubs by members who commit murder or other acts of violence on behalf of the club.http://www.ktla.com/content_landing_page/?Dozens-of-Mongols-Biker-Gang-Members-Arr=1&blockID=112738&feedID=171 {{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} KTLA TV, Los Angeles{{cite web |url=http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/Mongols_-_SW_affidavit%5B1%5D.pdf |title=Mongols – SW Affidavit |access-date=5 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309104139/http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/Mongols_-_SW_affidavit%5B1%5D.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2012 |author=ATF }}{{Citation |title=Hell's angels: a strange and terrible saga |first=Hunter S. |last=Thompson |publisher=Random House |year=1996 |isbn=0-345-41008-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oosssb76G9oC&pg=PA8}}{{Citation |title=Criminal Investigation |first=Ronald |last=Becker |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=0-8342-1711-2 |page=432 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSyjRXt_qpEC&pg=PA432}}

There are also wings or biker's wings, which are earned similarly to jump wings or pilot's wings, but with various color-coded meanings, e.g., in some clubs, it is said that a member who has had sex with a woman with venereal disease can wear green wings.{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24537495-663,00.html|newspaper=Herald Sun|title=Bikers face murder, torture, drug charges|date=23 October 2008|archive-date=25 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025111118/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24537495-663,00.html|via=news.com.au }}{{Citation |last= Glover |first=Scott |date=22 October 2008 |title=Raid targets Mongols motorcycle gang |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-22-me-mongols22-story.html |quote=There also are patches associated with the gang's alleged sexual rituals. Members are awarded wings of varying colors for engaging in sex acts with women at pre-arranged 'wing parties,' the indictment states. For example, members who have sex with a woman with venereal disease are given green wings, according to the indictment.}} It has also been suggested that these definitions are a hoax, intended to make fools of those outside the outlaw biker world and also to serve the purpose of provoking outrage among the conservative public and authorities.{{Citation |title=Philosophical Ridings: Motorcycles and the Meaning of Life |last= Bourne |first= Craig |publisher= Oneworld Publications |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-1-85168-520-2 |pages= 11–12}}

Frequently, additional patches may involve symbols, such as the use of the Iron Cross, Nazi swastikas, the Sig Rune insignia of the Schutzstaffel or the Totenkopf. These may not indicate Nazi sympathies but serve to express the outlaw biker's total rejection of social constraints and desire for the shock value among those who fail to understand the biker way.{{Citation |last=Pratt |first=Alan R. |chapter= Motorcycling, Nihilism, and the Price of Cool; Nihilism and FTW Style |editor-last=Rollin |editor-first=Bernard E. |year= 2006 |title=Harley-Davidson and philosophy: full-throttle Aristotle; Volume 18 of Popular culture and philosophy |publisher=Open Court Publishing |isbn=9780812695953 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrsfTreAPfwC&pg=PA82 |quote='Dangerous Motorcycle Gangs,' a widely circulated two-hour police course, notes that a white cross on a biker's colors is earned by robbing a grave, a red cross by 'committing homosexual fellatio with a witness present.' Green wings denote the wearer performed cunnilingus on a venereally diseased woman and purple wing signify—get this!—oral sex with a dead woman! (p. 32). As a rejection of values and an expression of nihilism, what could be more aberrant and grossly offensive? And even if these interpretations are inaccurate or fabricated by bikers themselves as a joke, they still reveal the outrage that the outlaw biker expression of nihilism intended to inspire.}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5q3AoSbTGAC&q=hells+angels |title=Ebony Dec 1966 |date= December 1966|access-date=12 November 2013|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company }}

File:Vietnam Vets MC colors.JPG

Most outlaw motorcycle clubs do not allow women to become full-patch members.{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWQmx84lZeIC&dq=role+of+women+outlaw+motorcycle+gangs&pg=PA133 |title=Organised Crime |date=2006 |publisher=Willan Pub. |isbn=978-1-84392-140-0 |language=en}} Rather, in some 1%er clubs, women have in the past been portrayed as submissive or victims to the men,{{cite book |url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=151025|chapter=Women in Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs |title=Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction|pages=389–401|year=1994|editor1-first=Patricia A|editor1-last=Adler|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Adler|first1=Columbus B. |last1=Hopper |first2=Johnny|last2=Moore|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704222622/https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=151025|archive-date=4 July 2009|publisher=Wadsworth Publishing|url-status=dead }} treated as property, forced into prostitution or street-level drug trafficking, and often physically and sexually abused,{{cite web|url-status=dead |url=http://www.faculty.missouristate.edu/M/MichaelCarlie/Storage/motorcycle_gangs.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305054803/http://www.faculty.missouristate.edu/M/MichaelCarlie/Storage/motorcycle_gangs.htm|archive-date=5 March 2010|title=Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs |first=Mike|last=Carlie }} their roles as being those of obedient followers and their status as objects. These women are claimed to pass over any pay they receive to their partners or sometimes to the entire club.{{Cite journal |last1=Hopper |first1=Columbus B. |last2=Moore |first2=Johnny |title=Women in Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs |date=1990 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/089124190018004001 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |language=en |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=363–387 |doi=10.1177/089124190018004001 |s2cid=144132821 |issn=0891-2416}} This appears to make these groups extremely gender segregated.{{Cite book |last1=Mahan |first1=Sue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx-5je_EYAQC&dq=role+of+women+outlaw+motorcycle+gangs&pg=PA149 |title=Beyond the Mafia: Organized Crime in the Americas |last2=O'Neil |first2=Katherine |date=10 June 1998 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-0-7619-1359-7 |language=en}} This has not always been the case, as during the 1950s and 1960s, some Hells Angels chapters had female members.Ralph (Sonny) Barger. Hells Angel. Harper Collins, 2001. p103

Academic research has criticized the methodology of such previous studies as being "vague and hazy" and lacking in participant demography.Depicting outlaw motorcycle club women using anchored and unanchored research methodologies. van den Eynde, Julie University of Queensland, Australia and Veno, Arthur Monash University, Australia Such reports may have made clear statements and authoritative analyses about the role of women associated with outlaw motorcycle clubs, but few state how they have come to such conclusions; one admitting that, "[his] interviews with biker women were limited lest [his] intentions were misinterpreted" by their male companions{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=J. Mark |date=October 1980 |title=Outlaw motorcyclists: An outgrowth of lower class cultural concerns |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.1980.9967541 |journal=Deviant Behavior |volume=2 |issue=1 |at=p. 42 |doi=10.1080/01639625.1980.9967541 |issn=0163-9625}} and that such views of women are mythic and "sexist research" in itself, using deeply flawed methodologies and serve two highly political purposes of maintaining a dominance myth of women by men and amplifying the deviance of the male club members.

These myths about the women are: that they are subservient working-class women, used as objects for club sexual rites{{Clarify|date=May 2022}}; are hard-bitten, unattractive, and politically conservative; and that they are 'money makers' for the biker men and clubs, i.e., prostitutes, topless barmaids or strippers who are forced to hand over their money to the club.{{Cite journal |last1=HOPPER |first1=COLUMBUS B. |last2=MOORE |first2=JOHNNY |title=Women in Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs |date=1990 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089124190018004001 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=363–387 |doi=10.1177/089124190018004001 |s2cid=144132821 |issn=0891-2416}} A 1990 paper noted the changing role of women within outlaw motorcycle clubs,{{Cite journal |last1=Hopper |first1=Columbus B. |last2=Moore |first2=Johnny |title=Women in Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs |date=January 1990 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089124190018004001 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=363–387 |doi=10.1177/089124190018004001 |s2cid=144132821 |issn=0891-2416}} and a 2000 paper stated that they now have agency and political savvy, reframing the narratives of their lives. "We did it. We showed them we are real women dealing with real men. I'd much prefer to be living with an OMC member than some dork who is a pawn in the system", said one woman who felt she and her peers had "set the record straight".{{Cite journal |last=Rappaport |first=Julian |date=February 2000 |title=Community Narratives: Tales of Terror and Joy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/a:1005161528817 |journal=American Journal of Community Psychology |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1023/a:1005161528817 |pmid=10824272 |s2cid=141943263 |issn=0091-0562}} One woman in 2001 described the previous work done by men about women in the outlaw motorcycle club world by saying "the men that wrote that must be meatheads". They [women] are part of the scene because they want to be and enjoy it. These women have broken from society's stereotypically defined roles and found freedom in the biker world.Joan, Barbara. Bike Lust: Harleys, Women, And American Society. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2001

High-profile outlaw bikers have historically been white, and their clubs are typically exclusively racially homogeneous.{{Citation |title=One Percent Biker Clubs – A Description |last=Barker |first=Tom |periodical=Trends in Organized Crime |publisher=Springer New York |issn=1084-4791 |volume=9 |issue= 1 |date=September 2005 |doi=10.1007/s12117-005-1005-0 |page=111 |s2cid=144003167 |quote=One percent biker clubs in the existing literature have been described as all white clubs, but there are at least four black or interracial 1% biker clubs.}} Other sources state outright that "With few exceptions, blacks are excluded from membership or riding with one-percenter biker clubs."{{cite book|last=Barker|first=Thomas|title=Biker Gangs and Organized Crime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pg28hmWc_4wC&pg=PA52|date=6 April 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-4377-5507-7|page=52}} The average age for a club studied was 34.{{Citation |last1=Hopper |first1=Columbus B. |last2=Moore |first2=Johnny "Big John" |title=Hell on Wheels; The Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |periodical=Journal of American Culture |volume=6 |issue=2 |date=Summer 1983 |pages=58–9 |quote=Outlaw cyclists are generally male and between 21 and 45 years of age.}}

There are black clubs, white clubs, and Mexican and other Spanish-speaking clubs. Bikers in American prisons, as prisoners generally do, band together along racial lines.(Killinger and Cromwell, 1978). |doi=10.1111/j.1542-734X.1983.0602_58.x[http://www.ozbiker.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=295&Itemid=35 Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs]- OZBiker.org[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27296867 Dozens of outlaw bikers arrested in ATF sting]- NBC News, 21 October 2008 It is claimed that racial discrimination within clubs has led to creation of rival clubs in the past, such as the Mongols Motorcycle Club after members were rejected by the local Hells Angels chapter.[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27296867 Dozens of Outlaw Bikers Arrested in ATF Sting.]- NBC News, 21 October 2008 Some clubs or individual chapters are now multi-racial, but the number of "white supremacist biker clubs are growing nationwide", according to the ADL.{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/extremism/report-white-supremacist.html|publisher=Anti-Defamation League |title=White Supremacist Biker Clubs Are Growing Nationwide}}{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/domestic-extremism-terrorism/c/bigots-on-bikes.html#.U7rh4ChsE24|title=Bigots on Bikes: The Growing Links between White Supremacists and Biker Gangs|publisher=Anti-Defamation League}}

Many members of outlaw motorcycle clubs engage in criminal activities and organized crime and "pose a serious domestic threat".{{Citation |title=Motorcycle Gangs |url=https://www.justice.gov/criminal/gangunit/gangs/motorcycle.html |author=U.S. Dept. of Justice |access-date=27 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210150226/http://www.justice.gov/criminal/gangunit/gangs/motorcycle.html |archive-date=10 February 2010 }} Law enforcement agencies perceive such individuals and motorcycle clubs as being unique among criminal groups because they maintain websites and businesses, identify themselves through patches and tattoos, write and obey constitutions and bylaws, trademark their club names and logos, and even hold publicity campaigns aimed at improving their public image.{{Citation |title=The Fall of a Hells Angel Leader; Indictment Alleges Spokesman's Charity Masks Drug Ring. |first=Jeff |last= Adler |newspaper=The Washington Post |location= Washington, D.C. |date= 3 March 2001 |page=A.07}} The term "outlaw motorcycle gang" was coined by the journalist Hunter S. Thompson in 1966 and was subsequently adopted by federal and local law enforcement agencies in the United States and elsewhere.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mUVYDwAAQBAJ&dq=blue+angels+crime&pg=PA97 |title=Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Street Gangs: Scheming Legality, Resisting Criminalization |author=Tereza Kuldová and Martín Sánchez-Jankowski |page= |date=25 April 2018 |publisher=Springer |access-date=1 December 2022 |isbn=9783319761190 |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201201453/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mUVYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=blue+angels+crime&source=bl&ots=UTk6FraBiG&sig=ACfU3U3tdf_xghWzgMFKdUvc27U1s78Ghw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikqbOX2r3oAhVpQEEAHY-ZDUo4FBDoATAAegQIBxAB |url-status=dead }}

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Criminal Intelligence Service Canada have designated four MCs as "outlaw motorcycle gangs": the Hells Angels, the Pagans, the Outlaws, and the Bandidos,[http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Security/citizensecurity/eeuu/documents/ssgu00.pdf FBI Safe Street Violent Crime Initiative – Report Fiscal Year 2000]– FBI.org[http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports/annual_report_2004/document/cisc_2004_annual_report.pdf 2004 Annual Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222072041/http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports/annual_report_2004/document/cisc_2004_annual_report.pdf |date=22 December 2009 }}- Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, cisc.gc.ca known as the "Big Four".[http://ctgia.org/mcgang.html Motorcycle Gangs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804054924/http://ctgia.org/mcgang.html |date=4 August 2015 }}- Connecticut Gang Investigators Association These four have a large enough national impact to be prosecuted under the U.S. Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute.[http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports/annual_report_2004/document/cisc_2004_annual_report.pdf 2004 Annual Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222072041/http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports/annual_report_2004/document/cisc_2004_annual_report.pdf |date=22 December 2009 }}- Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), cisc.gc.ca The California Attorney General also lists the Mongols and the Vagos as outlaw motorcycle gangs.[http://ag.ca.gov/publications/org_crime2004.pdf Organized Crime in California – 2004 Annual Report to the Legislature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912192103/http://www.ag.ca.gov/publications/org_crime2004.pdf |date=12 September 2011 }}- California Department of Justice

The FBI asserts that outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) support themselves primarily through drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, and extortion and that they fight over territory and the illegal drug trade{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070206090126/http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/3220/3220lect07a.htm Organized Crime Investigation]}}- by T. O'Connor, Austin PEA State University and collect $1 billion in illegal income annually.[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1992/11/30/77184/index.htm The Hells Angels' Devilish Business]- CNN.com, 30 November 1992[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/ Biker Gangs in Canada]- CBC News, 5 April 2007[http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/news/2005_10_04_NDW_Vol_4_No_40_Gangs.pdf Narcotics Digest, Gangs In The United States] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325153857/http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/news/2005_10_04_NDW_Vol_4_No_40_Gangs.pdf |date=25 March 2009 }}- the National Gang Center[http://www.dea.gov/speeches/s102005.html Comprehensively Combating Methamphetamine: Impact on Health and the Environment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516211618/http://www.dea.gov/speeches/s102005.html |date=16 May 2008 }}- DEA Deputy Chief Joseph Rannazzisi, congressional testimony on 20 October 2005[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1992/11/30/77184/index.htm The Hells Angels' Devilish Business]- by Andrew E. Serwer, Fortune Magazine, 30 November 1992[http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1992-12-02/news/look-homeward-angelcycle-icon-sonny-barger-kick-starts-life-as-a-free-man-by-violating-parole/ Look Homeward Angel: Cycle Icon Sonny Barger Kick-Starts Life as a Free Man by Violating Parole] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405163203/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1992-12-02/news/look-homeward-angelcycle-icon-sonny-barger-kick-starts-life-as-a-free-man-by-violating-parole/ |date=5 April 2015 }}- by Philip Martin, Phoenix New Times, 2 December 1992.

Motorcycle gangs frequently begin mutually beneficial partnerships with independent criminals and maintain an extensive network of associates by doing so.[https://newspaperarchive.com/wilson-daily-times-aug-15-1985-p-5/ Bikers' Clubhouse Vacated, Destroyed] Wilson Times (15 August 1985) Crimes are typically carried out by associates rather than "full patch" members to protect the club from implication by law enforcement.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUZdmDmu_78C&dq=Members+of+the+Dutch+Angels+agreed+to+do+the+job.+They+say+Grumps+is+at+the+bottom+of+some+canal+now+I+don%27t+think+his+body+is+ever+going+to+be+found&pg=PT150|title=Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld|isbn=9780340830529|last1=Thompson|first1=Tony|date=28 February 2005|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |quote=Particular deals are co-ordinated and run by bikers using a few associate, mostly prospects and hang-arounds (the two ranks below full membership of the club) to do the legwork. That way, even if they're caught, the club is unlikely to be implicated.}} In 1985 a three-year, eleven-state FBI operation named Roughrider culminated in the largest OMG bust in history, with the confiscation of $2 million worth of illegal drugs, as well as an illegal arsenal of weapons, ranging from Uzi submachine guns to antitank weapons.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001002459/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968213,00.html Busting Hell's Angels]}}- Time Magazine, 13 May 1985 In October 2008, the FBI announced the end of a six-month undercover operation by agents into the narcotics trafficking by the Mongols Motorcycle Club. The bust went down with 160 search warrants and 110 arrest warrants[http://www.kval.com/news/31724039.html Feds bust motorcycle gang with Ore. ties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714132750/http://www.kval.com/news/31724039.html |date=14 July 2009 }} – KVAL-CBS, 21 October 2008

Canada, especially, has in the late 20th century experienced a significant upsurge in crime involving outlaw motorcycle clubs, most notably in what has been dubbed the Quebec Biker War, which has involved more than 150 murders[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,382689,00.html Was Noye case witness killed by Hell's Angels?]- Guardian Observer, 15 October 2000 (plus a young bystander killed by an exploding car bomb), 84 bombings, and 130 cases of arson.[http://ww2.ps-sp.gc.ca/policing/organized_crime/FactSheets/omg_e.asp Organized Crime Fact Sheet] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018195221/http://ww2.ps-sp.gc.ca/policing/organized_crime/FactSheets/omg_e.asp |date=18 October 2008 }}- Public Safety Canada The increased violence in Canada has been attributed to turf wars over the illegal drug trafficking business, specifically relating to access to the Port of Montreal,The Biker Trials: Bringing Down the Hells Angels, by Paul Cherry, ECW Press, 2005 but also as the Hells Angels have sought to obtain control of the street level trade from other rival or independent gangs in various regions of Canada.Fallen Angel: The Unlikely Rise of Walter Stadnick in the Canadian Hells Angels, by Jerry Langton, Wiley & Sons, 2006 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette, quoting from the Provincial Court of Manitoba, defines these groups as: "Any group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have voluntarily made a commitment to band together and abide by their organizations' rigorous rules enforced by violence, who engage in activities that bring them and their club into serious conflict with society and the law".

The Hells Angels sponsors charitable events for Toys for Tots in an attempt to legitimize themselves with public opinion.{{cite news |url=http://www.missoulian.com/specials/hellsangels/ha01.html|title=Storm Approaching |first=Michael|last=Jamison|newspaper=Missoulian|date=July 2000|archive-date=17 October 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001017175223/https://www.missoulian.com/specials/hellsangels/ha01.html }}

Contrary to other criminal organizations, OMGs operate on an individual basis instead of top-down, which is how supporters can claim that only some members are committing crimes. Belonging guarantees each member the option of running criminal activity, using other members as support—the main characteristic of OMGs is "amoral individualism", in contrast to the hierarchical orders and bonds of "amoral familism" of other criminal organizations such as the Mafia.{{cite web |url=http://www.tandemnews.com/printer.php?storyid=96|website=tandemnews.com|title=Angels With Dirty Faces |first=Antonio|last=Nicaso|date=24 June 2001|archive-date=28 April 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020428185156/http://www.tandemnews.com/printer.php?storyid=96 }} U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent William Queen, who infiltrated the Mongols, wrote that what makes a group like them different from the Mafia is that crime and violence are not used as expedients in pursuit of profit, but that the priorities are reversed. Mayhem and lawlessness are inherent in living "The Life" and the money they obtain by illegal means is only wanted as a way to perpetuate that lifestyle.{{Citation |author-link=William Queen |title=Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang |first=William |last= Queen |publisher=Random House |year= 2006 |isbn=0-345-48752-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s85YVXxHZgIC&pg=PA65 |page=65}}

Recently, authorities have tried tactics aimed at undermining the gang identity and breaking up the membership. But in June 2011 the High Court of Australia overturned a law that outlawed crime-focused motorcycle clubs and required members to avoid contact with one another.{{Citation |newspaper= Sydney Morning Herald |title= Hells Angel kills NSW anti-bikie laws |first= Miles |last= Godfrey |date= 23 June 2011 |access-date= 23 June 2011 |url= http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/hells-angel-kills-nsw-antibikie-laws-20110623-1ggao.html}} In the U.S., a Federal judge rejected a prosecutor's request to seize ownership of the Mongols Motorcycle Club logo and name, saying the government had no right to the trademarks.{{Citation |title= Judge sides with biker gang over logo |first1= Greg |agency=Associated Press|url= http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18420209 |access-date=7 July 2011 |last1= Risling |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News}}{{Citation |title= Judge Rejects Government Attempt to Seize Mongols Biker Gang's 'Colors'; The U.S. Attorney's Office says the effort marks the first time in which the government has sought a gang's trademarks |first= Craig |last= Clough |newspaper= North Hollywood and Toluca Lake Patch |url= http://northhollywood.patch.com/articles/judge-rejects-government-attempt-to-seize-mongols-biker-gangs-colors |access-date= 7 July 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110713025330/http://northhollywood.patch.com/articles/judge-rejects-government-attempt-to-seize-mongols-biker-gangs-colors |archive-date= 13 July 2011 }} Federal prosecutors had requested, as part of a larger criminal indictment, a court order giving the government ownership of the logo in order to prevent members from wearing the club's colors.{{Citation |first= Kate |last= Mather |title= Feds want to bar Mongols biker gang from using its trademarked logo |date= 20 June 2011 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date= 23 June 2011 |url= http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/feds-wants-to-bar-mongols-biker-gang-from-trademarking-its-logo-.html}}

Certain large one-percent MCs have rivalries between each other and will fight over territory and other issues. Sometimes, smaller clubs are forced into or willingly accept supportive roles for a larger one-percent club. They are sometimes required to wear a "support patch" on their vests that shows their affiliation with the dominant regional club. Smaller clubs are often allowed to form with the permission of the dominant regional club. Clubs that resist have been forcibly disbanded by being told to hand over their colors on threat of aggression.[http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Oct-05-Thu-2006/news/10051829.html Ex-Hells Angels official says cops kept out of club]- by Adrienne Packer, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5 October 2006[http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Apr-30-Tue-2002/news/18638909.html Laughlin Shootout: Signs told of melee in making]- by Glenn Puit and Dave Berns, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 30 April 2002[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE0DA1239F930A25750C0A9649C8B63 73 Bikers Arrested]- New York Times, 13 March 2002

In Australia[http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3492444.htm Diverse groups unite to fight anti-association laws]. David Weber, ABC News Australia and the United States, many MCs have established statewide MC coalitions. These coalitions are composed of MCs who have chapters in the state and the occasional interested third party organization, and hold periodic meetings on neutral ground where representatives from each club meet in closed session to resolve disputes between clubs and discuss issues of common interest. Local coalitions or confederations of clubs have eliminated some of the inter-club rivalries, and together, they have acted to hire legal and PR representation.Terry the Tramp: The Life and Dangerous Times of a One Percenter. K. Randall Ball. MotorBooks International, 30 October 2011{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/ferrets-manifesto/story-e6frg8h6-1225894609789 |title=Ferret's manifesto. RICHARD GUILLIATT. The Australian July 20, 2010 |publisher=Theaustralian.com.au |date=29 August 2013 |access-date=12 November 2013}}

Larger outlaw motorcycle clubs will often establish localized smaller clubs subservient to the gang. These clubs are called support clubs, satellite clubs, or puppet clubs. They act as auxiliary groups, supporting the larger club by propelling their influence further, acting as recruitment sources, and various other ways in return for protection and bolstering their reputations.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hotcars.com/15-surprising-facts-about-the-bandidos-motorcycle-club/|title=15 Surprising Facts About The Bandidos Motorcycle Club|date=31 January 2020|website=HotCars}} Support clubs can also be used to help the principal club facilitate criminal activities.{{Cite web|url=https://auto.howstuffworks.com/10-notorious-motorcycle-gangs.htm|title=10 Notorious Motorcycle Gangs | HowStuffWorks|date=6 June 2011}}

Although the outlaw motorcycle club subculture tends to be associated with the United States, many regional scenes have emerged transcontinentally within countless nations across the globe.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/708926|doi = 10.1086/708926|title = Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Organized Crime|year = 2020|last1 = Lampe|first1 = Klaus von|last2 = Blokland|first2 = Arjan|journal = Crime and Justice|volume = 49|pages = 521–578|s2cid = 219916746}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.co.uk/shows/outlaw-chronicles-hells-angels/articles/top-6-notorious-biker-gangs|title=Top 6 Notorious Biker Gangs|website=Sky HISTORY TV channel}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ocgs/gallery/outlaw-motorcycle-gangs-omgs|title = Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs)|date = 8 May 2015}}

Europol has reported that there has been steady growth in the membership of outlaw motorcycle clubs worldwide since the year 2005.{{Cite web|url=https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas-and-trends/crime-areas/outlaw-motorcycle-gangs|title = Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs}}

Outlaw motorcycle clubs were reported to have first appeared in Australia during the 1960s.{{Cite book |last=Dowling |first=Christopher |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1236155359 |title=The changing culture of outlaw motorcycle gangs in Australia |date=1 February 2021 |others=Dominic Boland, Anthony Morgan, Julianne Webster, Yi-Ning Chiu, Roger Lowe |publisher=Australian Institute of Criminology |isbn=978-1-922478-05-4 |location=Canberra, ACT |oclc=1236155359}} There, they are commonly referred to as "bikie gangs".{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/as-organised-crime-makes-headlines-are-bikie-gangs-the-threat-they-are-made-out-to-be-157425|title=As organised crime makes headlines, are bikie gangs the threat they are made out to be?|first1=Gaelle|last1=Brotto|first2=Terry|last2=Goldsworthy|website=The Conversation|date=16 June 2021 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.9news.com.au/bikie-gangs|title=Bikie Gangs – 9News – Latest news and headlines from Australia and the world|website=www.9news.com.au|date=16 June 2023 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/international-bikie-gangs-target-victoria-for-business-20150313-143gxc.html|title = International bikie gangs target Victoria for business|date = 15 March 2015}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3r_eDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22called+bikie+gangs%22&pg=PA79|title=Modern Criminal Law of Australia|isbn=9781108132831|last1=Gans|first1=Jeremy|date=5 December 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}

There are many outlaw motorcycle clubs in Australia - many of which are homegrown clubs (founded within the country) and have since expanded overseas. However, a good amount of the country's groups are chapters of international one-percenter clubs that originated outside of the Commonwealth of Australia, such as the Hells Angels and the Mongols MC.{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.com.au/list-of-australian-outlaw-motorcycle-clubs-their-territories|title = List of Australian Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs & their Territories| date=26 March 2019 }}{{Cite web|url=https://harleyliberty.com/2019/12/02/australian-biker-gangs-increasingly-involved-in-the-international-drug-trade-business-using-thailand-as-a-base-to-supply-drugs-to-australia-and-worldwide/|title = Australian biker gangs increasingly involved in the international drug trade business using Thailand as a base to supply drugs to Australia and worldwide|date = 2 December 2019}}

The year 2007 saw an increase in the country's amount of OMCG chapters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-04/bikie-gangs-by-colours/4999510|title=Outlaw motorcycle gang identification guide|newspaper=ABC News|date=4 October 2013}}

According to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, there are (at least) 38 outlaw motorcycle gangs operating across the nation as of 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.acic.gov.au/about/priority-crime-themes/gangs|title=Gangs | Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission|website=www.acic.gov.au}}

Outlaw biker clubs first began to appear in Belgium in the 1970s, and the Belgian biker scene continued to be dominated by small local clubs until the 1990s. In 1992, Belgium's Blue Angels club became the first international club in the country when they merged with the Blue Angels of Scotland. The Hells Angels opened its first Belgian chapter in Ghent in 1997.[https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hell%27s+Angels%27+wings+clipped+in+Belgium.-a060535844 Hell's Angels' wings clipped in Belgium] Geoff Meade, Birmingham Post (8 May 1999) In 1999, the Outlaws formed its first chapter in Belgium through a "patch over" of an Indigenous Outlaws club based in Mechelen.[http://www.xavier-raufer.com/archives/mcc/html/archives/memoires_theses/anonyme/fr1/motards-15.html Les Gangs de Motards Criminalisés: Une expansion internationale] Xavier Raufer, Institut de Criminologie de Paris The Belgian Federal Police has designated the Bandidos, the Blue Angels, the Hells Angels and the Outlaws as criminal motorcycle gangs.[https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/vier-criminele-motorbendes-in-belgie~aa536593/ Vier criminele motorbendes in België] Het Laatste Nieuws (14 May 2009) {{Cite web |url=https://www.hln.be/binnenland/vier-criminele-motorbendes-in-belgie~aa536593/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=8 September 2023 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221123191213/https://www.hln.be/binnenland/vier-criminele-motorbendes-in-belgie~aa536593/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}

Outlaw motorcycle clubs first began to appear in Ontario and Quebec in the early 1950s. In 1978, the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada launched Project Focus, an investigation into motorcycle gangs.[https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/hells-angels-forever Hells Angels Forever] Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette Volume: 56 (1994) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208230732/https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/hells-angels-forever |date=December 8, 2022 }} By 2002, 26 motorcycle gangs were operating in Canada, the largest and most powerful of which was the Hells Angels. Canadian biker gangs are involved in money laundering, intimidation, assault, attempted murder, murder, fraud, theft, counterfeiting, loan-sharking, extortion, prostitution, escort agencies, strip clubs, and the trafficking of illegal weapons, stolen goods, contraband, and illicit alcohol and cigarettes.

Some of the other major biker organizations (aside from Hells Angels) that have operated in Canada include the following:{{Cite web |title=Quebec Biker War (1994–2002) {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-biker-war |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}{{Cite web |date=13 July 2011 |title=Biker Gangs in Canada |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/biker-gangs-in-canada-1.775978 |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=CBC News}}

• Bandidos—Founded in the 1960s in Texas, the gang once operated chapters in many cities, including Toronto. However, they currently do not operate in Canada. According to NGIC's 2009 report, the Bandidos are the second-most powerful criminal biker gang, with over 2,000 members in 14 countries.
• Outlaws — First established in 1935 in the U.S., the Outlaws made their way into Canada in 1977 when several chapters of Satan's Choice (in Montreal, Quebec) changed allegiance and decided to set up shop as the Outlaws Motorcycle Club of Canada. The Outlaws are known to detest the Hells Angels.
• Rock Machine — Second only to Hells Angels in Quebec (not Canada). A long-running turf war with the Hells Angels has left hundreds of people dead while the two gangs fought over the territorial drug trade (as narcotics was, and still is, a lucrative black market business). The ongoing war also led to the enactment of anti-gang and anti-organized crime legislation by the federal government, consequentially leading to more severe penalties and harsher sentencing. The Rock Machine expanded into Ontario, where it established three new chapters. In 2001, the organization aligned itself with the Bandidos.
• Satan's Choice — Once one of Ontario's strongest, most cohesive motorcycle gangs, Satan's Choice became part of the Hells Angels during H-A's more significant expansion into Ontario in 2000–2001. Satan's Choice had branches in Keswick, Kitchener, Oshawa, Sudbury, Simcoe County, Thunder Bay, and Toronto, but nothing was outside the province then.
• Para Dice Riders—This group was once among Ontario's strongest biker gangs. Its membership was initially limited to Toronto, Ontario until the Hells Angels absorbed the group in 2001 when the H-A moved into Ontario.
• Last Chance — A small Ontario-based biker gang that agreed to switch over and join up with the Hells Angels when they, the world's most powerful biker gang, decided to move into the province (Ontario).
• Lobos — Originally from and concentrated around the Windsor, Ontario area, the Lobos motorcycle gang decided to take up with the Hells Angels on its offer to merge with them in 2001.
• Loners — The Loners Motorcycle Club was founded in Woodbridge, Ontario, in 1979, and it has a handful of chapters, including a now-defunct chapter in southwestern Ontario. The Loners have at least sixteen (16) chapters in Canada, ten (10) chapters in Italy, nine 9) in the United States, and several chapters in other countries across the world. The club was established by two well-known Italian-Canadian bikers, Frank Lenti and Gennaro Raso. As part of its Ontario expansion, the Hells Angels tried to persuade the St. Thomas, Ontario Loners chapter to merge with them. In Ontario, its highest media profile in recent years was in the infamous legal battle (by the Toronto chapter) involving animal rights and personal property. This 2001 legal court battle was so that the Loners could fight to keep their official mascot, Woody the Lion, on their property, which was located just north of Toronto. The Loners lost the legal battle, and their lion was removed and placed in an animal sanctuary outside of Toronto.{{Cite web |date=19 April 2013 |title=Loners bikers hit in pre-dawn raids |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/04/19/loners_bikers_hit_in_predawn_raids.html |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=thestar.com |language=en}}
• The Lion, nicknamed "Woody", was kept in a tidy 25-metre by 25-metre pen area. He was a club pet from approximately three weeks old named for a biker who died in a motorcycle accident. Woody was confiscated and shipped to a compound near Barrie after the club was charged with violating a King Township bylaw against keeping exotic pets. All on account of pre-dawn raids by the York Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
• Vagabonds — An Ontario-based motorcycle gang mostly absorbed by the Hells Angels when they expanded into Ontario in 2000–2001.
• The Red Devils — Said to be the oldest motorcycle gang in Canada (the "Original Red Devils," founded in 1948), the group has a few dozen members concentrated in and around the Hamilton, Ontario, area.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were considered to be the "golden age" in Western Canada for independent outlaw motorcycle clubs.{{cite web |url=http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1972/1974scr0-133/1974scr0-133.html |title=Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions – Emkeit v. R. |website=csc.lexum.umontreal.ca |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327171819/http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1972/1974scr0-133/1974scr0-133.html |archive-date=27 March 2010 |url-status=dead}}

{{further|Quebec Biker War}}

Outlaw motorcycle clubs first appeared in the Canadian province of Quebec during the early 1950s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/bonds-brotherhood-origin-and-growth-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs|title=Bonds of Brotherhood: The Origin and Growth of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs | Office of Justice Programs|website=www.ojp.gov}} By the year 1968, the province was home to at least 350 of such groups – with most of, if not all, being "home-grown" – rather than having origins outside of Canada (or even Quebec).{{Cite web|url = https://medium.com/the-true-crime-edition/the-worst-hells-angel-in-canada-f1142112aec0|title = The Worst Hell's Angel in Canada|date = 15 January 2021|access-date = 31 October 2021|archive-date = 31 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211031204324/https://medium.com/the-true-crime-edition/the-worst-hells-angel-in-canada-f1142112aec0|url-status = dead}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TfP9GURM8yQC&q=Quebec+350+outlaw+biker+clubs&pg=PA35|title = Charlie and the Angels: The Outlaws, the Hells Angels and the Sixty Years War|isbn = 9780307358967|last1 = Caine|first1 = Alex|date = 8 January 2013| publisher=Random House of Canada }}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TfP9GURM8yQC&q=%22350%22+outlaw+motorcycle+clubs+quebec&pg=PA35|title = Charlie and the Angels: The Outlaws, the Hells Angels and the Sixty Years War|isbn = 9780307358967|last1 = Caine|first1 = Alex|date = 8 January 2013| publisher=Random House of Canada }} Some of the most notable outlaw biker gangs at this time were Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club, Popeye Moto Club, Devil's Disciples Motorcycle Club (unrelated to the American group of the same name), the Gitans, the Atomes, the Missiles MC, and of course, Hells Angels.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgNRMZAg8N4C&q=popeyes+motorcycle+club&pg=PA336|title=The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers|isbn=9780802073631|last1=Wolf|first1=Daniel R.|date=January 1991|publisher=University of Toronto Press }}{{Cite web|url=https://bustedknucklechronicles.com/component/k2/item/2070-motorcycling-in-canada-a-ride-through-our-history-part-8.html|title=Motorcycling in Canada – A Ride Through our History – Part 8|first=Renee|last=Charbonneau|website=bustedknucklechronicles.com|access-date=1 November 2021|archive-date=27 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027230552/https://bustedknucklechronicles.com/component/k2/item/2070-motorcycling-in-canada-a-ride-through-our-history-part-8.html|url-status=usurped}}{{Cite web|url=https://onepercenterbikers.com/popeyes-mc-motorcycle-club/|title = Popeyes MC (Motorcycle Club)|date = 30 September 2017}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZO8jKSn25DAC&q=gitans+mc+sherbrooke&pg=PA389|title=Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada|isbn=9780470835005|last1=Schneider|first1=Stephen|date=9 December 2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}{{Cite web |title=Guerre des gangs - Éphémérides - 1945-1994- (organisation criminelle) |url=https://www.memoireduquebec.com/wiki/index.php?title=Guerre_des_gangs_-_%C3%89ph%C3%A9m%C3%A9rides_-_1945-1994-_%28organisation_criminelle%29 |website=La Mémoire du Québec |language=fr}} The largest, most-feared chapter of Hells Angels was formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1977, when a biker gang called the Popeyes joined up the Hells Angels. After the Rock Machine emerged in 1986, they quickly became the number one rival of the Hells Angels, and a full-blown turf war between the two biker gangs erupted in the 1990s; unfortunately, claiming more than 150 individual lives, including two (2) prison guards and an innocent 11-year-old boy named Daniel Desrochers, who died several days after a planted car bomb exploded and a piece of shrapnel penetrated his head.

Throughout the 1990s, the province of Quebec witnessed violent confrontations between rivaling outlaw biker gangs with activities that ranged from homicides to bombings.{{Cite book |last=Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/434793153 |title=Inquiry into the legislative arrangements to outlaw serious and organised crime groups |date=2009 |publisher=Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia |isbn=978-1-74229-163-5 |location=Canberra |oclc=434793153}} Such violence and brutality was a decade-long conflict between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine, better known as the "1994 Biker Wars." The Quebec Biker Wars officially began on 13 July 1994, when three (3) masked-men shot and killed Pierre D'aoust (member of a Hells Angels-affiliated club called the Death Riders) at a motorcycle shop in Montreal. This ongoing feud largely stemmed over territory and the narcotics trade in Quebec, while also being fueled further by long-standing rivalries, deep-seated hatred and animosities between major players in the Quebec criminal underworld at that time. To provide a general idea of the criminal underworld involvement, it's essential to recall that the Hells Angels in Quebec at that time (i.e., 1994) were backed by Vito Rizzuto (of the Montreal Mafia), while the Rock Machine were affiliated with the criminal coalition known as the Alliance Against the Angels (otherwise known as the Dark Circle). The two central figures in the 1994 conflict were the leaders of the two warring gangs (Hells Angels and the Rock Machine): Maurice "Mom" Boucher (leader of Quebec's Hells Angels); and Salvatore Cazzetta (leader of the Rock Machine). The extreme levels of violence, assassinations, bombings, arson attacks, fly-by-fire attacks eventually led to the creation and passing of both Bill C-95 in 1997 and Bill C-24 in 2001 – setting forth harsher punishments and penalties for members of gangs and organized crime groups.

Over the next several weeks, the violence reached a peak. In one week in September 1995, there was an assassination in a parking lot; bombings at a strip club, a bar, and the mansion of an organized crime figure; arson attacks on a pawn shop, tanning salon, and a used-car lot; and a friendly-fire incident where bikers accidentally killed three members of their club.

The Hells Angels (or "H-A" as they're often referred to) were, and continue to be, one of the more prominent biker gangs still in existence today in Quebec and other regions of Canada – having at least 34 different chapters across the country in April 2009.

American military personnel stationed there established the first outlaw biker clubs in Germany, including the Bones MC, founded in 1968, and the Ghost Riders MC, formed in 1972.

Outlaw motorcycle clubs began developing rapidly in Indonesia in the 1990s, although some of the country's homegrown groups are said to have existed as early as the 1970s.{{Cite journal |last1=Agusta |first1=Rizal Widya |last2=Hastuti |first2=Lina |title=The Legal Enforcement Of Organized Transnational Crime (Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Study In Indonesia) |url=https://archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/download/3812/3769 |journal=PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology |volume=17 |issue=4 |issn=1567-214X}} The presence of biker gangs in Indonesia has received national media attention.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/05/14/editorial-violent-motorcycle-gangs.html|title = Editorial: Violent motorcycle gangs}}

Large international outlaw biker groups which have expanded into Indonesia include the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, Eight Demons Motorcycle Club,Finks Motorcycle Club, Satudarah Motorcycle Club, Rebels Motorcycle Club, Rock Machine Motorcycle Club, and the Diablos Motorcycle Club.

Outlaw motorcycle clubs have been present in the Netherlands since the 1970s.{{Cite journal |title=Outlaw bikers in the Netherlands: Clubs, social criminal organizations, or gangs? |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321275481 |journal=Understanding the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: International Perspectives}} In 1978, the Hells Angels absorbed the Kreidler Ploeg Oost biker club in Amsterdam.

The most prominent Dutch club is Satudarah MC. Following the group's initial foundation in Moordrecht, they've since expanded into 44 chapters nationwide and have branched internationally within at least 20 countries. Another notable one of these groups that came out of the Netherlands is No Surrender Motorcycle Club. While not as large as Saturdarah, they have managed to set up branches overseas with an approximate total of more than one thousand members in roughly 19 nations across the globe.

Due to the notable presence of biker gangs in the Netherlands, alongside their tendency to be involved in criminal activity, certain one-percenter groups have been subject to nationwide prohibition by the Judiciary of the Netherlands.{{Cite web|url=https://www.prosecutionservice.nl/latest/news/2018/06/19/district-court-satudarah-motorcycle-club-banned-in-the-netherlands|title=District Court: Satudarah Motorcycle Club banned in the Netherlands – News item – Public Prosecution Service|date=19 June 2018}}

New Zealand has a relatively large outlaw motorcycle club scene that has gained significant national and international media attention over the years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-new-zealand-is-middle-earth-its-ganglands-are-mordor|title = If New Zealand is Middle Earth, Its Ganglands Are Mordor|newspaper = The Daily Beast|date = 11 July 2020|last1 = Mutch|first1 = Tom}}

Biker gang violence is viewed as a growing problem within the country.{{Cite web|url=https://m.sundayworld.com/crime/world-crime/idyllic-new-zealand-hit-with-gang-violence-as-biker-gangs-cash-in-on-meth-problem-40095251.html|title = 'Idyllic' New Zealand hit with gang violence as biker gangs cash in on meth problem| date=16 February 2021 }}

The outlaw motorcycle club movement of Scandinavia and the Nordic countries started in Sweden after numerous groups were established throughout the country during the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1007/s12117-017-9310-y|title = Organizing on two wheels: Uncovering the organizational patterns of Hells Angels MC in Sweden|year = 2019|last1 = Rostami|first1 = Amir|last2 = Mondani|first2 = Hernan|journal = Trends in Organized Crime|volume = 22|pages = 34–50|s2cid = 148954843|doi-access = free}}

The American one-percenter biker scene greatly influenced Sweden's variation of the subculture.

The Kingdom of Thailand, along with many other parts of South-East Asia, have chapters of some of the most prominent international outlaw motorcycle clubs in the world including the Rebels Motorcycle Club, the Mongols Motorcycle Club, and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club.{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-26/hells-angels-founding-member-calls-for-aus-members-deported/8375254#:~:text=While%20there%20are%20dozens%20of,%2C%20Mongols%2C%20Bandidos%2C%20Outlaws.|title = Thai Hells Angel bashed in power struggle with Australian bikies|newspaper = ABC News|date = 26 March 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/18/australian-motorcycle-gangs-expanding-into-south-east-asia-to-get-slice-of-drug-market|title=Australian motorcycle gangs expanding into south-east Asia to get slice of drug market|website=TheGuardian.com|date=18 July 2019}} Additionally, the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, Gremium Motorcycle Club, Satudarah Motorcycle Club, No Surrender Motorcycle Club, and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club all have chapters in Thailand.{{Cite news |last=Hore |first=Monique |date=3 July 2013 |title=The Comancheros motorcycle gang are rolling west into Victoria |work=Herald Sun |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-comancheros-outlaw-motorcycle-gange-are-rolling-west-into-victoria-and-south-australia/news-story/77c7a7052abf226c7bb37498914c33ab}}{{Cite web|url = https://www.hotcars.com/motorcycle-clubs-that-are-bad-buys-and-that-are-saving-the-world/|title = 9 Motorcycle Clubs That Are Bad Guys (And 10 That Are Saving the World)|date = 8 November 2018|access-date = 19 February 2022|archive-date = 19 February 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220219003853/https://www.hotcars.com/motorcycle-clubs-that-are-bad-buys-and-that-are-saving-the-world/|url-status = dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-26/hells-angels-founding-member-calls-for-aus-members-deported/8375254|title = Thai Hells Angel bashed in power struggle with Australian bikies|newspaper = ABC News|date = 26 March 2017}}

One notable outlaw motorcycle club to have been founded in Thailand is the Diablos Motorcycle Club. They are a support club for the larger Bandidos Motorcycle Club, which also has chapters within the country.

The outlaw biker scene in the U.K. began as early as the 1960s and has four main independent clubs, the Blue Angels MC, Road Rats MC, Commitatus MC, and the Satans Slaves MC (unrelated to the New Zealand-based MC of the same name).{{Cite news|url=https://onepercenterbikers.com/road-rats-mc-motorcycle-club/|title=Road Rats MC (Motorcycle Club)|newspaper=One Percenter Bikers |date=22 October 2016|author1=Onepercenterbikers }}{{Cite web|url=https://onepercenterbikers.com/satans-slaves-mc-motorcycle-club/|title = Satans Slaves MC (Motorcycle Club)|date = 8 January 2016}}

The outlaw biker subculture emerged in the United States in the late 1940s, as disenfranchised service members returned from World War II and founded motorcycle clubs to replicate the camaraderie and psychological stimulation they had experienced in the war. Early biker clubs established by World War II veterans included the Boozefighters, the Hells Angels, the Market Street Commandos and the Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington.{{sfn|Barker|2014|p=25}} Various other clubs, such as the Bandidos, the Sons of Silence and the Warlocks, were later formed by Vietnam veterans.{{sfn|Barker|2014|p=27}}

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 500 motorcycle gangs were operating in the United States in 1991, with a combined membership of several thousand.{{Cite web |title=Outlaw motorcycle gangs – USA overview |publisher=National Institute of Justice |date=May 1991 |url=https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/147691NCJRS.pdf |access-date=19 March 2022 |archive-date=23 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123220851/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/147691NCJRS.pdf |url-status=live }} These gangs range in levels of criminal sophistication, from groups of thugs to well-organized criminal networks.[https://info.publicintelligence.net/LA-OutlawBikers.pdf Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs] Deputy John Williams, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (2008){{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128070159/https://info.publicintelligence.net/LA-OutlawBikers.pdf |date=28 November 2021 }} A government survey published in 1990 found that outlaw motorcycle gangs control 40% of the traffic of dangerous drugs in the U.S., including three-quarters of the methamphetamine trade. A subsequent study concluded that outlaw motorcycle gangs control or are heavily involved in the sale of meth in 38 states.

The drug trade is the primary source of income for motorcycle gangs, and the bikers on the East Coast deal primarily in cocaine. Outlaw biker clubs also control approximately 70–80% of the methamphetamine market in New York City and Albany, New York, however. Motorcycle gangs are also more heavily involved in prostitution on the East Coast than on the West; women operate the streets and out of gang-owned massage parlors and escort services. Eastern U.S. biker gangs use bodyguard services, horse ranches, vending machine companies, lawn services, and real estate to launder money.

Cocaine is the drug most commonly distributed by biker gangs in the Midwest. Motorcycle gangs in the central U.S. launder money via beauty shops, towing companies, construction companies, horse ranches, and real estate.

Detroit has had an affluent presence of outlaw motorcycle clubs since the 1960s.{{Cite web|url=https://bobberbrothers.com/blogs/bobber-blog/all-about-the-detroit-biker-gangs|title=All About The Detroit Biker Gangs|website=Bobberbrothers Apparel|date=12 March 2019|access-date=3 November 2021|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026015420/https://bobberbrothers.com/blogs/bobber-blog/all-about-the-detroit-biker-gangs|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://gangsterreport.com/biker-gangs-in-the-motor-city-a-history-of-riding-rough/|title = Biker Gangs in the Motor City: A History of Riding Rough|date = 2 July 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://wdet.org/posts/2015/05/20/80516-one-percenters-michigans-outlaw-motorcycle-gangs/|title = One-percenters: Michigan's Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs|date = 20 May 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2015/05/18/local-biker-gangs-clash-with-law/|title = Local biker gangs clash with law|date = 18 May 2015}} Some of the most notable clubs to have come out of the city of Detroit include the Forbidden Wheels Motorcycle Club, Highwaymen Motorcycle Club,{{Cite news |date=25 June 1969 |title=Clubhouse Burned in War Between Motorcycle Gangs |pages=3 |work=Detroit Free Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9377348/forbidden-wheels-vs-highwaymen-1969/ |access-date=9 March 2022}}{{Cite web |title=The Most Dangerous Biker Gangs in America |url=https://www.complex.com/sports/10-most-dangerous-motorcycle-gangs-in-america/ |access-date=9 March 2022 |website=Complex |language=en}} Outcast Motorcycle Club,{{Cite web |last=MURRAY |first=Rheana |title=Meet the Biker Group Who Says It's Set on Keeping Ferguson Safe |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-bikers-ferguson-deter-looters-join-peaceful-protests/story?id=25037411 |access-date=9 March 2022 |website=ABC News |language=en}} Satan's Sidekicks Motorcycle Club,{{Cite web |last=Throttle |first=Insane |date=23 May 2020 |title=Satan Sidekicks MC clubhouse shut down after shootings |url=https://harleyliberty.com/2020/05/23/satan-sidekicks-mc-clubhouse-shut-down-after-shootings/ |access-date=9 March 2022 |website=Insane Throttle Biker News |language=en}} and Scorpions Motorcycle Club.{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=John Wisely and Robert |title=ATF joins investigation of suspicious biker-club fire in Oakland County |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2017/09/22/oakland-county-biker-club-fire-detroit/692205001/ |access-date=9 March 2022 |website=Detroit Free Press |language=en-US}}

File:California motorcycle gangs map.png in 1991.]]

In post–World War II California, four motorcycle clubs—the Market Street Commandos, the Boozefighters, the Galloping Gooses, and the Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington—became prominent. Such clubs first came to the attention of state and federal authorities following the Hollister riot of July 1947.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-statesman-the-beginnings-an/151054394/ The beginnings] Mike Gallagher, The Herald Statesman (August 23, 1987) As of 2008, there are approximately 60 outlaw motorcycle gangs active in California, with a combined membership of around 2,000.

Motorcycle gangs in the Western U.S. deal primarily in methamphetamine. As a result of stringent laws regarding the sale of precursor chemicals and the formation of task forces to target clandestine labs in California, many methamphetamine manufacturers from the state relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where the rugged terrain and sparse population of rural Oregon and Washington made ideal conditions for clandestine meth labs. According to a 1989 report by the Western States Information Network (SWIN), 11% of drug labs seized had outlaw motorcycle gang paraphernalia present at the site. Motorcycle gangs in the western U.S. launder money through interior decorating businesses, construction companies, locksmiths, pizza parlors, jewelry businesses, and real estate.

Outlaw motorcyclists and their clubs have been frequently portrayed and parodied in movies and the media generally, giving rise to an "outlaw biker film" genre.Two Wheels on Two Reels: A History of Biker Movies. Mike Seate. Whitehorse Press, 24 December 2000 It generally exists as a negative stereotype in the public's subconsciousAt the Movies, Strandberg, Keith. American Motorcyclist, Oct 1987 and yet has inspired fashion trendsThe Dictionary of Fashion History. Valerie Cumming, C. W. Cunnington, P. E. Cunnington. Berg, 15 November 2010Harley-Davidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle. Bernard E. Rollin. Open Court Publishing, 9 February 2006The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers. Daniel R. Wolf. University of Toronto Press, 1991 for both males and, as "biker babes", for females.Consumers. Eric J. Arnould, Linda Price, George Martin Zinkhan. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004Elle, Issues 273–275. Elle Publishing Company, 2008The House of Klein: Fashion, Controversy, and a Business Obsession. Lisa Marsh. John Wiley & Sons, 18 August 2003 The appearance has even been exploited by the fashion industry, bringing it into legal conflict with some clubs'Hells Angels sue luxury fashion house'. Brichall, Jonathan. Financial Times, 27 October 2010 [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/caf87e7a-e153-11df-90b7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1xBrfaPXA] and simultaneously encouraging a cultural specific fetishistic look that conveys sex, danger, rebelliousness, masculinity, and working class values.

The biker style has influenced the look of other sub-cultures such as punk,Punk and Neo-Tribal Body Art. Daniel Wojcik. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1995 heavy metal,The Post-Subcultures Reader. David Muggleton, Rupert Weinzierl. Berg, 17 April 2004 leather subcultureMovie-made America: a cultural history of American movies. Robert Sklar. Vintage Books, 1994 and cybergoth fashion,As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising. Daniel Delis Hill. Texas Tech University Press, 15 September 2007 and, initially an American subculture, has had an international influence.The Berg Companion to Fashion. Valerie Steele. Berg, 15 November 2010 Bikers, their clothing, and motorcycles have become cultural iconsMobility Without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship. Jeremy Packer. Duke University Press, 5 February 2008Profane Culture. Paul E. Willis. Taylor & Francis, 1978 of mythic status, their portrayal generally exaggerates a criminal or deviant association exploited by the media for personal financial interests.Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. Stephen D. Reese, Oscar H. Gandy, August E. Grant. Routledge, 1 June 2003

{{main|Outlaw biker film}}

{{in popular culture|date=March 2022}}

• {{citation |title= The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos – Bikers United Against the Hells Angels |first1 = Edward |last1= Winterhalder |first2= Wil |last2= De Clercq |publisher= ECW Press |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-1-55022-824-3 }}
• {{Citation |title= Out in Bad Standings: Inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club - the Making of a Worldwide Dynasty |first= Edward |last= Winterhalder |publisher =Blockhead City Press |year= 2006 |isbn= 0-9771747-0-0 }}
• Brigands M.C. (2009), the eleventh novel in the teenage spy series CHERUB by Robert Muchamore, sees the protagonists attempt to take down the eponymous biker club.
• The outlaw biker film genre took off in the mid-1960s, after the Hells Angels club became prominent in the media,{{cite web |url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/articles/outlaw-biker-movie.htm |title=Ripped from Today's Headlines: The Outlaw Biker Movie Cycle |access-date=26 January 2008 |last=Syder |first=Andrew |publisher=Scope |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060830230257/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/articles/outlaw-biker-movie.htm |archive-date= 30 August 2006}} in particular, after Hunter S. Thompson's book Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966) was published.

• The mini-series The Last Chapter (2002) was set in Toronto and Montreal and portrayed a fictional feud reminiscent of the Quebec Biker War in which The Triple Sixers MC attempted to establish a chapter in the province of Ontario.{{IMDb title|qid=Q3222129|title=The Last Chapter}} This show predated Sons of Anarchy by six years.
• Sons of Anarchy portrays a fictional outlaw motorcycle club, founded mainly by Vietnam War veterans, which is involved in various criminal activity and associated with underworld gangs. The show's creator thought it was too obvious to have them be methamphetamine dealers, and so instead, they traffic illegal guns.{{Citation |url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/826/826342p1.html |title=FX Greenlights New Series from Shield Producer |publisher=IGN |date=10 October 2007 |access-date=19 October 2009}}{{Citation |title=Sons of Anarchy;Wild Bunch on Wheels, Playing by Its Rules |date=3 September 2008 |access-date=18 November 2009 |first=Gina |last=Bellafante |newspaper=The New York Times |url=http://tv.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/arts/television/03sons.html}}
• True Detective season one portrays an antagonistic outlaw biker club located in Galveston, Texas called the Iron Crusaders. Homicide Detective Rust Cohle infiltrates the club as his former undercover alias "Crash" and joins some of its members on a failed home invasion to elicit information on their methamphetamine cook who is believed to have ties to serial murders in Louisiana.{{Cite episode|title=Who Goes There|episode-link=True Detective (season 1)#ep4|series=True Detective|series-link=True Detective|network=HBO|airdate=9 February 2014|season=1|number=4}}
• Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms: The six-episode series dramatises the story of the Milperra massacre, when the Bandidos and the Comanchero motorcycle clubs went to war on Father's Day, Sunday 2 September 1984. The massacre had its beginnings after a group of Comancheros broke away and formed the first Bandidos Motorcycle Club chapter in Australia. This resulted in intense rivalry between the two chapters. At a public swap meet at the Viking Tavern at Milperra, New South Wales, a brief but violent battle ensued with seven people shot dead, including a 14-year-old innocent female bystander. A further 28 people were wounded, with 20 requiring hospitalisation. Each episode starts with a quote stated by Justice Adrian Roden when the clubs went before the New South Wales Supreme Court; "As patriotism can lead to jingoism and mateship can lead to cronyism, so bikie club loyalty can lead to bikie club war."
• Gangland Undercover is an American dramatized series inspired by the true story of police informant Charles Falco, who infiltrated several bike clubs in the United States in the early 2000s.
• Mayans M.C. is a spin-off of Sons of Anarchy centered around the Sons' rivals turned allies, the predominantly Mexican Mayans Motorcycle Club.
• The plot of the Danish-language miniseries Warrior revolves around a fictional biker gang in Copenhagen known as the Wolves MC.{{Cite web|url=https://decider.com/2018/11/13/warrior-on-netflix-stream-it-or-skip-it/|title = Stream It or Skip It: 'Warrior' on Netflix, A Danish Crime Drama with Overtones of War and Guilt|date = 13 November 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://readysteadycut.com/2018/11/13/warrior-netflix-review/|title = 'Warrior' ('Kriger') | Netflix Series Review|date = 13 November 2018}}
• The German-language TV show, Dogs of Berlin, features a fictional Muslim outlaw motorcycle club known as the Death Daggers MC.{{Cite web|url=https://showsnob.com/2018/12/17/dogs-of-berlin-season-1-episode-8-recap/|title=Dogs of Berlin season 1 episode 8 recap: National|date=17 December 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://subslikescript.com/series/Dogs_of_Berlin-6839788/season-1/episode-8-Lnderspiel|title = Dogs of Berlin: Season 1, Episode 8 script | Subs like Script}}{{cite web|url=https://birparcatuhaftik.com/dogs-of-berlin-ve-almancilar/|last=Özay|first=Efe|title=Dogs Of Berlin ve Almancılar |website=Bir Parça Tuhaftık|language=tr|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201215229/https://birparcatuhaftik.com/dogs-of-berlin-ve-almancilar/ }}
• The TV series Bad Blood features a fictional French-Canadian biker gang known as the Devil's Kings MC as a participant in Montreal's drug trade.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bad_blood/s02/e02|title=Bad Blood: Season 2, Episode 2|website=Rotten Tomatoes}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/is-bad-blood-based-on-a-true-story-the-rizzuto-family-ran-the-real-montreal-mafia-13255861|title = Is 'Bad Blood' Based on a True Story? The Rizzuto Family Ran the Real Montreal Mafia| date=7 December 2018 }}
• In Season 11, Episode 9 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit features a New York-based outlaw motorcycle gang known as the Death Knights who reputably engage in contract killing as well as prostitution. The plot of the episode is centered around the murder of one of the club's members.{{Cite web|url=https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/law-and-order-special-victims-unit/7323295882704556112/seasons/11/episodes/perverted-episode-9/8be1c219-0471-375a-8f14-6d891801d9de|title = Watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 11 Episode 9: Perverted on Peacock}}{{Cite web|url=https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=421&t=21609|title = 11x09 – Perverted – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Transcripts – Forever Dreaming}}
• Several TV series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feature a fictional outlaw motorcycle gang called the Dogs of Hell, who engage in various criminal activities, including theft, drug trafficking, and murder. In the episode "Yes Men" of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., members of the gang are enthralled by the Asgardian Lorelai as her army. In the Marvel/Netflix series Daredevil and The Punisher, the Hell's Kitchen, New York chapter of the gang is targeted for extermination by Frank Castle during his vigilante campaign against his family's killers, and are fought by both Castle and Matt Murdock/Daredevil.

• The 2008 action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodic content feature two warring outlaw motorcycle clubs: the Lost and the Angels of Death. The former serve as the main focus of the first story expansion, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, which follows the efforts of the club's vice-president (later president), Johnny Klebitz, to keep the gang afloat when they are faced with various problems, such as the war with the Angels and a conflict with the Mafia. The Lost return as minor antagonists in Grand Theft Auto V, where they become caught in a war with one of the protagonists, Trevor Philips, which ends with heavy losses for the gang. The club is also featured as antagonists in Grand Theft Auto Online, where many missions involve the player stealing the Lost's product or killing their members. An outlaw biker-themed update for the game, entitled GTA Online: Bikers, was released on 4 October 2016 and introduced various biker-themed weapons, clothing, and vehicles, as well as the ability for players to join or start motorcycle clubs and run illicit businesses, such as counterfeit cash factories and cocaine lockups.{{cite web| title = GTA Online: Bikers Update | work = Rockstar| date = 12 October 2016| url = http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/rockstar-prices-gtaiv-the-lost-and-damned| access-date =28 December 2016}}
• The critically panned 2013 videogame Ride to Hell: Retribution tells the story of a one-percenter who seeks revenge for his brother's death, caused by the bosses of rival gangs.{{cite web |title=Ride to Hell: Retribution Review |url=https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/ride-to-hell-retribution-review/1900-6411189/ |website=Gamespot.com |access-date=20 June 2023}}
• Days Gone is a 2019 post-apocalyptic survival game set in Oregon where the protagonist, Deacon St. John, and his friend William "Boozer" Gray, are former members of an outlaw motorcycle club known as the Mongrels. They still wear their club's colors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.onlysp.com/days-gone-deacons-bike-real-main-character/amp/|title=OPINION In Days Gone, Deacon's Bike is the Real Main Character|last=Pereira|first=Daniel|work=OnlySP|date=4 May 2019|access-date=5 May 2019|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226014730/https://www.onlysp.com/days-gone-deacons-bike-real-main-character/amp/|url-status=dead}}

{{Portal|Society}}

• List of outlaw motorcycle clubs
• List of outlaw motorcycle club conflicts
• Bōsōzoku
• Mat Rempit

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Barker |first=Thomas |title=Biker Gangs and Transnational Organized Crime |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=9781138168220}}
• Coulthart, Ross and McNab, Duncan, Dead Man Running: An Insider's Story on One of the World's Most Feared Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, the Bandidos. Allen & Unwin, 2008, ({{ISBN|1-74175-463-1}})
• Hayes, Bill. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NL4UIEZohVwC The Original Wild Ones: Tales of The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club, Est. 1946]. St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks, 2005.
• {{Cite press release |last1=Rann |first1=Mike |author-link1=Mike Rann |last2=Holloway |first2=Paul |title=Police to boost organized crime fight |publisher=Premier of South Australia |date=13 August 2007 |url=http://www.ministers.sa.gov.au/news.php?id=2007&print=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070831040206/http://www.ministers.sa.gov.au/news.php?id=2007 |archive-date=31 August 2007}}
• Veno, Arthur, The Mammoth Book of Bikers, Constable & Robinson, 2007 ({{ISBN|0-7867-2046-8}})
• Vieth, Errol, "Angels in the Media: Constructing Outlaw Motorcyclists", in Consent and Consensus, edited by Denis Cryle and Jean Hillier, Perth, API Network, 2005, 97–116 ({{ISBN|1-920845-12-7}}).
• {{Cite book |last= Winterhalder |first= Edward |year= 2006 |title= Out in Bad Standings: Inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club - the Making of a Worldwide Dynasty |publisher= Blockhead City Press |isbn= 0-9771747-0-0}}
• {{Cite book |last1= Winterhalder |first1= Edward |last2= De Clerc |first2= Wil |year= 2008 |title= The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos—Bikers United Against the Hells Angels |publisher= ECW Press |isbn= 978-1-55022-824-3}}

{{Commons category multi|Outlaw motorcycle clubs|Motorcycle club colors}}

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{{Biker culture}}

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{{Organized crime groups in the United States}}

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Category:1950s introductions

Category:1966 neologisms

Category:Criminal subcultures

Category:Motorcycle clubs