The federal government is worried about biker gangs.
So the headline says on the link attached to this blog post.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/why-the-feds-are-worried-about-these-biker-gangs/ar-BBjVBAs
Bikers erupted in a violent spasm in Waco over the weekend. Nine of them were killed in a fire fight at an adult club. Local police are investigating this bizarre explosion of violence.
News of this carnage brought to my mind a seriously distant name from my past. This individual warned in the 1970s about his fear of biker gangs and he said at the time he thought bikers could become the next great “organized crime threat” facing the United States.
John Renfro served as sheriff of Clackamas County, Ore., where I got my start in daily print journalism. I was covering policeĀ and other agencies for the Oregon City Enterprise-Courier, a suburban daily about 15 miles south of Portland. I met the sheriff when I moved from covering sports for the paper to working as a general assignment reporter.
He told me way back then of his concern over bikers. I cannot recall the precise quotes he uttered nearly 40 years ago. Suffice to say he believed that the county where he served as sheriff was a prime place for the bikers to congregate and to do serious harm to the community.
Clackamas County was far more rural than it is today. It still includes many many miles of secluded roads and highways criss-crossing through heavily forestedĀ territory. It offers good cover for gangs of individuals — be they bikers or other thugs — to engage in such activity as drug manufacturing and trafficking.
I can’t say today whether Sheriff Renfro’s projection is coming true.
Still, the federal government ought to be wary of these outfits and the fact — as the shootout in Waco has demonstrated — that they’re heavily armed and dangerous.
As the Los Angeles Times reported on the Waco incident: “‘This is not a bunch of doctors and dentists and lawyers riding Harleys,’ said Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton. The Department of Justice has identified seven motorcycle clubs that it believes are highly structured criminal enterprises, many of them allied in one form or another against the best-known gang, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.”
“Highly structured criminal enterprise.” Isn’t that the same thing as organized criminals?