USA | Violence long simmered between rival Texas biker gangs

Texas authorities had warned earlier this month about growing animosity between two motorcycle clubs, weeks before the two gangs faced off in a shootout that left nine dead, 18 injured and 170 arrested.
The Texas Department of Public Safety’s Joint Information Center issued a bulletin May 1 that cautioned authorities about increasing violence between the Bandidos and the Cossacks, Dallas TV station WFAA reported Monday (yesterday in Macau). The county sheriff has said all those killed in the melee Sunday belonged to those two groups.
The bulletin, obtained by WFAA, said the tension could stem from Cossacks refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for wearing a patch on their vest that claimed Texas as their turf without the Bandidos’ approval.
“Traditionally, the Bandidos have been the dominant motorcycle club in Texas, and no other club is allowed to wear the Texas bar without their consent,” the bulletin said, according to WFAA.
The bulletin said the FBI had received information that Bandidos had discussed “going to war with Cossacks.” It also outlined several recent incidents between the two groups, including one instance in March when about 10 Cossacks forced a Bandido to pull by the side of the highway near Waco and attacked him with “chains, batons and metal pipes before stealing his motorcycle,” WFAA reported.
That same day, a group of Bandidos confronted a Cossack member fueling up at a truck stop, the bulletin said. When the Cossack member refused to remove the Texas patch from his vest, the Bandidos hit him in the head with a hammer and stole it.
The Bandidos “constitute a growing criminal threat to the U.S. law enforcement authorities,” the Justice Department said in a report on outlaw motorcycle gangs. According to the report, the Bandidos are involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and in the production and distribution of methamphetamine.
On Monday, about 170 gang members were charged with engaging in organized crime. McLennan County Justice of the Peace W.H. Peterson set bond at $1 million for each suspect. AP