Further to my last post, the world of the OMG is vastly different from the horror stories of the 60`s and early 70`s. These biker organisations have seriously changed the mode of operation, many are involved in serious crime. The Big Four - Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos & Pagans are involved in serious crime, but the other clubs are not being too far behind them. The drug trade & in particular, methamphetamine, are the mainstays of biker crime, along with bike thefts & anything else they can turn to a profit. However, not all back patch clubs are villains, but serious bikers who want to do and live they want, without stepping over the mark into serious crime.
Our homegrown clubs that have expanded are the Satan`s Slaves, with a number of chapters, and also The Outcasts. The Outcasts were featured in a BBC documentary in the mid 80`s, but it has been claimed in the media that they have developed more chapters. I once spotted in Manchester a lad with a top rocker on the back of his jacket saying "Jesus & Lords" who walked into a McDonalds and sat with some biker types. This must have been a christian back patch club - They do exist - and this lad must have been a prospect. The oldest established British club is The Blue Angels, formed in 1963 in Scotland and now have a couple of chapters in Yorkshire. The first official Hells Angel chapter here, could have been the Wessex Freewheelers, chartered around 1969.
Scandinavia had the worst biker wars, along with Canada, and another stronghold for OMGs is Germany. The main three have a strong presence there along with numerous other clubs, such as the Gypsy Jokers, and I believe the Sons of Silence or the Mongols. German OMGs have a long history of extreme violence, going back to the 60`s. At the 1970 Isle of Fehmarn rock festival, the festival was marred by continuing violence from bikers, who were firing guns indiscriminately. One roadie for Jimi Hendrix was wounded with a bullet in his leg.
Next stop-off is Australia & New Zealand. NZ had the fist Angel chapter outside of the USA, indeed, it was the first outside of California. Formed in Auckland in 1961, it was many years before the other big clubs set up there. Their own big homegrown gang is called Highway 61. In Australia, the big three are firmly established there, with the Outlaws having a chapter in Tasmania. The big Australian gang, The Rebels, have around 60 chapters throughout the continent. Other mobs, in particularly in Melbourne, are the Coffin Cheaters, Satan`s Slaves, The Black Uhlans and a religious group, The God Squad, headed by John Smith. Smith is a preacher, who conducts marriages, funerals and christenings for the biker world in Melbourne. The Gypsy Jokers are also in OZ, and were involved in the murder of a top cop.
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