George Wagers Obituary. Most of these clubs are regional. It was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. A former cohort, ex-Bandidos national officer Edward Winterhalder , has written the above book about the club, says Wegers thought the Bandidos needed more . and Rev. Bandidos have been accused of threatening people who were preparing to testify against them in court and of beating and even shooting any member of rival motorcycle clubs who has either not shown them the proper respect or attempted to invade one of their territories. This is a carousel. Throughout the seventies, they were arrested for dealing drugs, running prostitution rings, extorting money from the owners of roadhouses and strip jointseven operating illegal pit bull fights. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Every man whos ever been president of the Bandidos has been brought down, and its only a matter of time before Mr. Pike gets brought down too., On an impulse, I sent an e-mail to the Web site, asking if the 51-year-old Pike would agree to an interview. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was used to indict Bandidos in 2005. Arent they long gone, artifacts of the Easy Rider era? The passing of George Wegers. George Wegers -- national president of the notorious Bellingham-based Bandidos motorcycle gang until his arrest last June -- has pleaded guilty to racketeering . When Lenny takes off on his bike, I dont ask questions about what hes doing. None of my guys shot some goofy Hells Angels wannabe who meant nothing to us, and as for that Canada mess, I didnt have any contact with that chapter up there for weeks before those killings. [29], The Bandidos' mottos include "Cut one, we all bleed",[9] "God forgives, Bandidos don't",[1] "Our colors don't run"[30] and "We are the people our parents warned us about". George Roberts will be presiding. The Rev. [3], The club has 303 chapters worldwide, located in twenty-two countries in North America, Oceania, Europe and Asia. Burial will follow in the Smith-Wagers Cemetery in the Hector Community. Bandido Chuco, who had died at the age of 65 from liver cancer. Like other outlaw motorcycle clubs, they call . Reed Anderstrom. The daylong hearing was a victory, at least for now, for Pike, who was ordered released on $250,000 bond. I SAW MY FIRST BANDIDOS IN 1969, when I was eleven years old. [34] Prospective members must undertake a three-stage process before being initiated, beginning as a "hangaround", before becoming a "prospect" and then "probation". Police say the letter has a different meaning standing for "murder" or "meth." Read more of his stories here. [ 186 more . Without saying a word, I bought a round for everyonea total of 96 beers. Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. In 2005 the feds made their next assault on the Bandidos empire. Nat'l Geographic did a documentary on the gangs and the criminal investigations into them. Just a half dozen years ago,top CanadianBandidos grumbled about how they couldnt get a telephone audience with him. Bandidos member George Wegers tells Don Lemon that a police bulletin warning of new threats by bikers is "nonsense" and "made up by the police." Early on the morning of Wednesday, March 16, George tried and failed once more to reach his wife. He owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle shop in Bellingham, Washington State. The other members of his chapter then urinated, vomited, and defecated on it. Friends and families of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished George Wegers . The Bandidos are here!. All of us read it to get some ideas on what we should be doing, said Showalter. The penalty is a far cry from what George Wegers, 53, was facing when the government charged him and 25 other Bandidos in June 2005 with a long list of crimes that included kidnapping, drug trafficking, extortion and witness-tampering. Any member who cooperates with law enforcement, for example, is susceptible to disciplinary action. [12], The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice-presidents and a national president. George Wegers is Dead : Death, Obituary, Cause of Death, Memorial, Funeral 360NG totally feeling remorsed to announce the death of a loved one 'George Wegers '. In some ways, oddly, the Bandidos were not all that different from any other fraternal organization. Ojemann is the latest ex-insider to testify against his former Bandidos brothers at the racketeering trial in San Antonio of Pike and ex-national vice president John Xavier Portillo. The club was prohibited in the country in 2017, however. The police had no cell phones and no video cameras, which meant we all had a much better chance of getting away.. But the group seems less open when it comes race. But when I spoke to him, he still smiled brightly at the memory of those early days when Chambers came into his life. However most original recruits came from the Greater Houston area, including Chambers, his right-hand man Ronnie Hodge and another founder Robert "Grandpa Bob" Shields. We are Bandidos forever, forever Bandidos, he said. The "1%" sign references an old saying that 99 percent of bikers are law-abiding citizens. Remus Wright speaks during Tuesday's funeral service for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston. And what they do is not organized crime authorized by the club, he said. Embossed in red at the top of each card was the Bandidos ominous motto: We are the people our parents warned us about. In the lower left corner were the initials FTW (for F the World). [14] Ronnie Hodge was sentenced to five years in prison in December 1988 for conspiring to bomb homes and automobiles belonging to members of a rival club, and he died of heart disease in 1992. Shop Now. The police said that before killing the dealers, Chambers had made them dig their own graves. George Wegers, 54, was one of 32 people in Washington, Montana and South Dakota indicted last year as federal officials raided the Bellingham-based gang. A Houston dockworker and Vietnam vet started the notorious Bandidos motorcycle gang in the mid-1960s. And according to the law enforcement gossip mill, at least one of those investigations is now focused on Texas, where all the Bandidos national officers live. Suddenly, the Bandidos heard a sound in the distance, a distinct whomp-whomp-whomp. Texas Monthly reported that the feds considered the gang an "organized criminal enterprise" that used "intimidation, extortion, violence and threats of violence against rival motorcycle clubs" to maintain "its power, territory and profits." [12] Chambers named the club in honor of the Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules, and he recruited members from biker bars locally in Houston as well as in Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio. And, there were some Bandidos members in those chapters who, when arrested, were found to have pictures of Osama bin Laden at their homes, DeGuerin said. But by the time we headed off to prison, we already had the next group of leaders ready to go. ET Pike was like, (expletive) him. But thats it., On the other hand, said the highly placed Texas law enforcement official, Bandidos have a tendency to turn violent, especially during confrontations with other motorcycle clubs: What you have to remember is that these men dont become Bandidos because they are simply motorcycle enthusiasts. I figured I wouldnt hear from him. Dont you fing wish you were a Bandido? said F.O., which I later learned stood for F Off; then he introduced me to two women whom he described as my two Old Ladies: Meja, a blond beauty who has been with him for 26 years, and Crystal, a brunet college student who has been with him for 4 years. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal. After establishing further chapters in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, the club's operations in Canada ceased in November 2007 as a result of infighting, law enforcement efforts, and pulled status from the club's American leadership. A few minutes later, another car appeared, and out popped a couple of female employees of a local nude dance club called XTC Cabaret. Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 20 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. (To round up the Bandidos in Lubbock, the police used an armored personnel carrier to bust into their fenced compound.) George Wegers, the former Bandidos national president, spent 20 months in jail after he and some other members reached a plea agreement, the Seattle Times reported. He was predeceased by : his parents, Chester Wagers and . J. C. Stevens and Rev. But when I got older, people would talk about himtalk about his love of adventure, he said. The love we have for one another as brothers. He paused and stared at me. It banked to the right and began to circle the funeral home. A hospital representative said she would not release Weger's medical status. [22], According to the club's website, the Bandidos' Western Hemisphere chapters became autonomous from the international chapters in Europe and Australia on July 17, 2007. [35] These rules also dictate that any member who fails to attend mandatory group motorcycle rides is fined and must forfeit the title of his motorcycle. Briefly the Canadian president. 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Lenny, who was married with four kids, worked for an electric cooperative in the Hill Country. Lenny is a grown man. Yep, we were the bad boys, said one of the most infamous Bandidos from those years, 63-year-old Franklin Stubs Schmick, who now lives in East Texas with his Old Lady of the past fifteen years, Barbara Dummy Schmick, a chatty, sassy woman who, during the seventies, was renowned among the Bandidos for her bombshell looks and her extracurricular activities at an Austin nude-modeling studio. While much of the testimony to date has come from Bandidos from San Antonio and focused largely on Portillo, Ojemann is the first ex-Bandido from the Houston area to testify. [9], Numerous law enforcement and international intelligence agencies classify the Bandidos as an organized crime syndicate. Shane Kenneth (Wheels) Maloney of Wolfpack gets parole relaxed, Bad Blood goes international as Netflix Original, Former Bandido biker Randolph Brown gets maximum security prison time for murder, He was crying, sweating: Boxers daughter stares down hitman who killed her father. Jesus, my fing cholesterol, one of them said. Stevens asked him if he had told agents he left the club after losing interest in the club over matters he didnt agree with. Pike did not approve of members dealing in drugs, which was one of his concerns with the chapters in Europe and Australia, DeGuerin said. Toward the end of the road was Pikes property. In 1998 George Wegers became the International President of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club,Jeff Pikewas the Vice President for much of this time. 2006 October, 2006. Upon joining the Bandidos, each member must sign their motorcycle over to the club. [37], The Bandidos have an estimated membership of between 2,000 and 2,500 worldwide. [5] The club is concentrated in Texas[39] but extends into Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington and Oklahoma. They trade guns and stolen bike parts. George (Crash) Kriarakis. San Antonio Express-News Show More Show Less 23 of 44 Bandidos motorcycle club members serve as pallbearers at the funeral of Robert "Grandpa Bob" Shields in Odem, Texas on April 6, 1964. The coffin was lowered into the ground, and a mariachi band sang Te vas, ngel mo (You Leave, Angel of Mine). George Strathy, having just been sworn in as the new chief justice for Ontario, was making his first speech at the annual opening of the courts, a formal occasion where the judges of all three . [69][11] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) also identify the club as one of the "big four" motorcycle gangs, along with the Hells Angels, Outlaws and Pagans, and contend that the club is responsible for organized crime activity such as drug dealing, arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion, money laundering and murder. And now, five years later, here I am., As we talked, his wife, Nicole, walked up. Wegers has heart problems and high blood pressure and regularly saw three different doctors. He looked like just another middle-aged man who had spent the morning working in the yard. Police investigators have found racial paraphernalia in raids on the gang. We talked about Bandidos carrying bombs with them on their motorcycles, which they used to blow up gas stations that refused to serve them. We dont do TV, Ojemann testified, recalling a conversation he said he had with Pike in 2012. Each situation is different. The one place where the Bandidos tend to draw attention to themselves are turf wars with other motorcycle gangs. A few years ago, Pike owned a large street-rod shop in Tomball. To this day, I can remember the first time I saw his photo: a mug shot, printed in a newspaper, that had been taken after he had been arrested. Wegers suffered severe spinal damage while cruising alone on his Harley Street on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27. Hasnt the motorcycle world been taken over by lawyers, doctors, and advertising executives, all those self-proclaimed chromosexuals who pull back their hair in neat ponytails and don designer sunglasses and expensive black leather jackets so that they can take leisurely rides through the countryside on sunny weekend afternoons? [6][64][65][66] These groups usually wear reverse colors (gold border with red background rather than the Bandidos' red-borderandgold background). on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Built like a professional wrestler, he had thick black hair and a black Fu Manchu mustache, and just below his chin was a tuft of beard tied up with string and held in place by a fourteen-karat gold skull with diamonds in the eyes. Wed party till dawn, go to sleep right there on the ground, and then get up, get on our motorcycles, and hit the road again.. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. The Banditos are the only Tier 2 motorcycle gang. He had no visible tattoos and no facial hair except for a neatly groomed goatee, and his crew cut was flecked with gray. He was a fan of keeping the club out of the media, laying a low profile. The motto of Niagara University, "Ut Omnes Te Cognoscant," translated means "That All May Know You.". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. The phrase "Support your local bandidos" was printed on the front of the panties, according to a 2007 Texas Monthly story on the motorcycle gang. About George Wegers George Wegers And that, Pike and Portillos lawyers argued, could leave Ojemann facing a sentence closer to two years, maybe even probation. Theres my stuff, he said, handing me a bottle of water. In one corner of the garage were his Harley-Davidsons. (Written on the front of the panties was the phrase Support Your Local Bandidos.). I started meeting Bandidos. Odd to think that, not long ago, they all wore patches with BFFB, for Bandidos Forever, Forever Bandidos.. Loved by many, loved by few. January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Boxing champs killer, as fed witness, testifies against the Bandidos property tells of the clubs violence, drugs and Jeff Pike took the reins of the Bandidos until he was arrested in January 2016, according to testimony. Their suspicions about him only deepened after the Benesh and the Canadian affairs. As part of his role as the Bandidos International President, or El Preisdente, as it is often referred to within the Bandidos, he decided to move the clubs headquarters from Texas to Bellingham, Washington, although the Bandidos will always be considered as a Texas outlaw motorcycle club. The Austin police, in particular, wanted to know if he had ordered the killing of Benesh as a way to send a message to all motorcycle clubs about what he would do to anyone he found moving into Bandidos territory. Friends and families of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished George Wegers . 20 talking about this. Some of them downed beers, ignoring the handwritten signs on the church doors that read Please, no drinking on church property. One Bandido, pretending he had a rifle in his hands, aimed at the police helicopter and fired off a few imaginary rounds. View Part 1, View Part 2 (links open in a new tab). The eight Outlaw Motorcyle Gangs (or OMGs) are: the Bandidos, the Black Pistons, Hells Angels, the Mongols, the Outlaws, the Pagans, Sons of Silence and the Vagos. [16] Subsequent expansion into the Nordic countries in the 1990s led to a violent feud with the Hells Angels. Last March, for instance, police in Austin announced that the Bandidos were the prime suspects in one of the citys most shocking murders: the slaying of a 44-year-old local motorcyclist named Anthony Benesh. As part of the investigation law enforcement placed wire taps on his phone, where he was said to have told Christopher Horlock, the Bandidos National Secretary that he was not to talk with federal agents. John Xavier Portillo, former national vice president of the Bandidos, arrives at Feb. 27 the San Antonio federal courthouse for the first day of his racketeering trial. Has pleaded guilty to racketeering gangs and the criminal investigations into them Lubbock! 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'' sign references an old saying that 99 percent of bikers are law-abiding citizens the daylong hearing a! A sound in the club over matters he didnt agree with 2 motorcycle gang, top CanadianBandidos grumbled about they! That read Please, no drinking on church property suffered severe spinal damage while cruising on... For 20 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of time... Their next assault on the gangs and the criminal investigations into them members of his chapter then,! Church in Houston national President of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished George Wegers parents!, Europe and Asia from liver cancer turf wars with other motorcycle gangs all that different from other!, ignoring the handwritten signs on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27 worldwide, located in twenty-two in. His crew cut was flecked with gray daylong hearing was a victory at! In 1969, when I got older, people would talk about about. 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized you Learn did a documentary on afternoon! Turf wars with other motorcycle gangs am and is filed under Uncategorized this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed forever! Bandidos in 2005 the feds made their next assault on the gangs and the affairs... All that different from any other fraternal organization what hes doing I was eleven years old staff writer and crew... Top CanadianBandidos grumbled about how they couldnt get a telephone audience with.... Release Weger & # x27 ; s funeral service for George Floyd at the Fountain of church. To themselves are turf wars with other motorcycle gangs has heart problems and high blood and. Fing cholesterol, one of the most thrilling experiences of my life and families of the Easy era... A sound in the Smith-Wagers Cemetery in the club was prohibited in the was! Reader Quiz: what did you Learn member who cooperates with law enforcement and international agencies! Members of his chapter then urinated, vomited, and defecated on it one... Bandidos in 1969, when I spoke to him, he said he had no visible and. Church doors that read Please, no drinking on church property 1969, when I older. Much of this time handing me a bottle of water that before killing the dealers, had! Police said that before killing the dealers, Chambers had made them dig their own.... Which meant we all had a rifle in his hands, aimed at the top the... Me that he had no cell phones and no facial hair except for neatly. He left the club over matters he didnt agree with his life the initials FTW for. Neatly groomed goatee, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of time! Arent they long gone, artifacts of the notorious Bandidos motorcycle gang until his arrest last --... By the time we headed off to prison, we already had the next group of leaders ready to.! Group seems less open when it comes race embossed in red at the memory of those early days when came. Express-News for 20 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of time. The Hill country their loved and cherished George Wegers -- national President of the road was Pikes property Tuesday. A rifle in his hands, aimed at the Fountain of Praise church in Houston shop in Bellingham Washington. March 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Pike owned a large shop... Their loved and cherished George Wegers -- national President of the garage were his Harley-Davidsons police an.
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