National leaders of the Bandidos biker gang face federal racketeering charges in an indictment that accuses the group of waging “war” on the rival Cossacks motorcycle gang.
Both groups were present at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, in May, when shooting broke out. Nine people were killed and almost 200 were arrested. At the time, police theorized gang rivalry set off the violence.
The indictment, announced on Wednesday by the US attorney’s office in San Antonio, accuses national Bandidos leaders of running an organization that used “murder, attempted murder, assault, intimidation, extortion and drug trafficking” to protect the organization’s power.
Each of the three defendants, including national president Jeffrey Fay Pike, vice-president John Xavier Portillo, and sergeant at arms Justin Cole Forster, are charged with one count of racketeering and one count of violent crimes in aid of racketeering.
In addition, Pike is charged with an additional count of extortion, and Portillo is accused of receiving ounce quantities of methamphetamine, that Pike would in turn sell.
A special agent said the investigation, called Operation Texas Rocker, is a “debilitating blow” to the Bandidos’ leadership. The name of the operation refers to the patch often warn on the back of bikers’ leather vests, sometimes called “colors”. “Rockers” are arc shaped patches above and below the insignia of a motorcycle club.
The incident in Waco was national news for days, after police rounded up and arrested an estimated 170 bikers present for the gathering. At the time, numbers of weapons found and people arrested at the restaurant fluctuated, and Waco police were later accused of poorly investigating the scene.
Several bikers have brought lawsuits, the most recent brought by a half-dozen Vaqueros and Desgraciados members, both support clubs of the Bandidos, according to the Waco Tribune.
A Bandidos representative couldn’t immediately be reached by the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
