The Iron Order Motorcycle Club is one of the fastest-growing motorcycle clubs in the United States of America. The club was formed in Jefferson, Indiana in 2004. They are technically not a one-percenter motorcycle club but embrace the traditions of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG). This has resulted in deadly altercations with some of their rivals.

Iron Order consists of mostly military, police officers, prison guards, and other government employees. They claim to be a group of family-friendly bike owners that just love to ride, but their recent violent encounters with rival gangs suggest this is far from true.

Experts have said that the members of the Iron Order MC have been blurring the lines between what they get paid to do (uphold the law) and living their darkest outlaw motorcycle gang fantasies. They have chapters across the United States as well in other parts of the world, and they're still growing.

But what is The Iron Order Motorcycle Club? Are they vigilantes? Criminals? Law-abiding citizens? Let's find out...

Related: 20 Things People Might Be Surprised To Learn About Motorcycle Clubs

The History Of The Iron Order Motorcycle Club

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The Iron Order has eight founding members (Big Rick, Chief, Copper, Bad Dog, Doc, Ice, Izod, and Professor). They founded it with the aim of making it like the motorcycle clubs of the 1960s and yet they still maintain that they are not a criminal organization. Ray "Izod' Lubesky was the President of the Iron Order MC for years before being replaced in 2014 by Patrick "Brit" Ward.

The club was founded in 2004, and in April 2005, they opened their first clubhouse in Louisville, Kentucky. In their first year, the club had already opened six chapters in six different states. The members of the Iron Order wear a three-piece patch with a State bottom rocker. Their use of the State bottom rocker angered one-percenter clubs such as the Hells Angels, Iron Horsemen, Pagans, and the Bandidos and resulted in a number of dangerous altercations between the clubs.

Related: Everything You Need To Know About America’s Law Enforcement Motorcycle Clubs

Law-Abiding Citizens

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Members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club are law enforcement personnel by training. They maintain that they still remain true to those principles. They call themselves a law-abiding club, and have distanced themselves from other motorcycle clubs linked to criminal activities. They often cooperate with law enforcement, something that true outlaw motorcycle gangs rarely ever do.

John C. Whitfield, one of the founding members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club once said, "Iron Order was started by a former secret service agent in 2004... More than half of our members are law enforcement."

Police officers in the United States view the Iron Order Motorcycle Club as a force for good fighting against the one-percenter motorcycle clubs.

Criminal Organization

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The military view the Iron Order Motorcycle Club very differently to how the police do. In 2014 the navy as a gang. In fact, a document was distributed to service members at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton which threatened sailors and marines who join the Iron Order or any other Outlaw Motorcycle Gang with disciplinary action.

According to the document Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are "organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for the criminal enterprise". Some of the other motorcycle clubs included in the document were the Bandidos, Hells Angels, Mongols, Pagans, and Vagos.

Criminal Activity

In 2014 a member of the club fatally shot a member of the Black Pistons Motorcycle Club. The Iron Order member maintained that he was only defending himself.

In 2015 three people were shot when the Bandidos and the Iron Order MC clashed.

The number of incidents that the Iron Order Motorcycle Club has been involved in has rapidly been increasing over the years. Iron Order maintains that most instances are a result of their members defending themselves and they aren't the aggressors. They claim that their rivals are intimidated by their rapid growth.

Related: 10 Motorcycle Clubs We Would Love to Be A Part Of (5 We Would Avoid)

Overall, They Are Far From Being Law-Abiding Citizens

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There are very few motorcycle clubs that divide opinion the way that these guys do. They have perfectly associated themselves with what people perceive as the right side of the law. Another way of looking at this is to say that they think that they are above the law.

The Iron Order Motorcycle Club is closer to being a criminal organization than they are to being a family-friendly motorcycle club. They may not be participating in the same level of criminal activity that their one-percenter rivals are doing, but they are far from being law-abiding citizens.

Next: 10 Things Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs Don’t Want You To Know (5 Things They’re Proud Of)