By Elaine Magliaro

Jana Winter and Jordan Smith have an interesting article over at First Look Media about a leaked ATF report obtained by The Intercept that shows the extent to which outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) “are represented in nearly every part of the military, and in federal and local government, from police and fire departments to state utility agencies.” According to Winter and Smith, there are more than “100 people with sensitive military and government connections that law enforcement is tracking because they are linked to ‘outlaw motorcycle gangs.’” Those 100 people include senior military officers, nuclear power plant technicians, FBI contractors–as well as an employee of “a highly-secretive Department of Defense agency” with a Top Secret clearance.

Winter and Smith:

A year before the deadly Texas shootout that killed nine people on May 17, a lengthy report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives detailed the involvement of U.S. military personnel and government employees in outlaw motorcycle gangs, or OMGs. A copy of the report was obtained by The Intercept.

The report lays out, in almost obsessive detail, the extent to which OMG members are represented in nearly every part of the military, and in federal and local government, from police and fire departments to state utility agencies. Specific examples from the report include dozens of Defense Department contractors with Secret or Top Secret clearances; multiple FBI contractors; radiological technicians with security clearances; U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees; Army, Navy and Air Force active-duty personnel, including from the special operations force community; and police officers.

The 40-page report, OMGs and the Military 2014, was issued by ATF’s Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information in July of last year.  It reportedly warned about “the escalating violence” of these motorcycle gangs. The report said, “The OMG community continues to spread its tentacles throughout all facets of government.”

Winter and Smith said that the “relationship between OMGs and law enforcement has come under scrutiny after it became known that law enforcement were on site in Waco bracing for conflict.”

From the ATF report:

“Their insatiable appetite for dominance has led to shootings, assaults and malicious attacks across the globe. OMGs continue to maim and murder over territory. As tensions escalate, brazen shootings are occurring in broad daylight.”

The authors of The Intercept article said that the report was “based on intelligence gathered by dozens of law enforcement and military intelligence agencies, and identifies about 100 alleged associates of the country’s most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs and support clubs who have worked in sensitive government or military positions.”

The OMGs evidently “court active-duty military personnel and government workers, both civilians and contractors, for their knowledge, reliable income, tactical skills and dedication to a cause.” Extensive analysis “revealed that a large number of support clubs are utilizing active-duty military personnel and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contractors and employees to spread their tentacles across the United States.”

Winter and Smith:

The report predicted that six dominant OMGs — Mongols, Hells Angels, Outlaws, Pagans, Bandidos and Vagos — would continue to expand, with escalating violence. The groups are known as “one-percenter” clubs, a moniker they proudly use to denote their outlaw status. The report identifies the most violent as Bandidos and Hell’s Angels support clubs — the same groups involved in a deadly shootout in Waco, Texas on Sunday.

The ATF report identified the “Bandidos as the dominant and most violent of the motorcycle gangs in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.” It also identified “a staff sergeant instructor in the United States Air Force, currently stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, as the president of the local Pistoleros chapter, a Bandidos support club.”  The report said that the instructor “routinely hosts parties for active duty military personnel.”

During an interview, “Edward Winterhalder, a former high-ranking member of the Bandidos who left the club in 2003, said that while military veterans have long been involved in motorcycle clubs — many of the current outlaw clubs were formed in the wake of World War II — current-duty military or law enforcement members are not generally involved in the most violent gangs.”

Winter and Smith said that Winterhalder had claimed that “biker clubs not associated with the violent one-percenters have many government employees — current military, law enforcement and firefighters — as members.” They added that some clubs have emerged that disavow “any connections to violence or lawlessness, or that specifically bill themselves as a LEMC — law enforcement motorcycle club.”

Winter and Smith:

Nonetheless, the report documents extensive involvement of current-duty military and government personnel in the outlaw groups, and does not mention LEMCs.

SOURCES

EXCLUSIVE: LEAKED REPORT PROFILES MILITARY, POLICE MEMBERS OF OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS (The Intercept)

OMGs and the Military 2014 (ATF)