Outlaw motorcycle clubs are what people perceive them to be: bike enthusiasts who want to look badass and think nothing is cooler than being in a motorcycle club.
For law enforcement, they are mostly a bane. For the people who tend to be sticklers about following the law and staying out of trouble, they are just criminals. And for the motorcycle brands, outlaws MC members are one big customer base. But for the outlaw motorcycle clubs themselves, their very existence and brotherhood is a matter of pride.
Movies and series such as Sons of Anarchy glorify them even further, but is everything as hunky-dory as it seems? Hardly. While many things may not be a secret anymore, given the age of the Internet media, some things are definitely not advertised.
Here are some of the many things that outlaw motorcycle clubs keep on the DL because sometimes bad publicity is just bad.
10 Brothers Have A Strict Hierarchy
When outlaw motorcycle club members talk about brotherhood and how they love each other more than their family, it's really not all the same. The senior members of an outlaw MC have far more power and there is a strict hierarchical system to be followed.
The President of the club, as well as the founding members, dictate what is to be done and for the junior members, it's like in the army, “there’s not to question why; there’s but to do and die”.
9 Getting In Is Tough, Getting Out Tougher
Getting admitted and becoming a full-patch member of an outlaw club is not easy, and the hopefuls are usually called prospects. The prospects are subjected to plenty of hazing and rituals that would make a grown man balk before they are trusted with the patch.
Of course, getting out is not easy either, and you better have a very serious reason to want out of the brotherhood. If not, anyone who leaves is cold-shouldered for the rest of their lives. Outlaw MCs do not take rejection easily.
8 Women Are Not At Par With The Men
Any outlaw motorcycle club worth its salt will have a major gender disparity going on. Women are never members, period. Only the men are members. Their better halves, and by that we mean their wives, serious girlfriends, or longtime partners are allowed to wear a patch jacket.
That said, the jacket has a rather degrading aspect to it. Most will read, “Property Of” with the name of the outlaw motorcycle club member written below, so the women in outlaw MCs are nothing but chattel.
7 Most Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs Avoid Each Other
And no, this is not out of politeness or the goodness of their hearts, but rather because outlaw MCs are fiercely territorial. Only one MC rules a city, or sometimes even a state. And they tend to avoid each other because running into another outlaw MC usually means an all-out brawl.
The violence can and has escalated many times with the loss of life and property when two outlaw motorcycle clubs are at loggerheads. So best to avoid a battle and win your own war, right?
6 Smaller Outlaw MCs Are Often Edged Out
The big fish eat the small fish and so it is with outlaw motorcycle clubs. When an outlaw MC is on an expansion drive, one of the easiest ways to do this is to take over the territory of a smaller and somewhat new MC and destroy the patch of the latter forever.
The members are either driven away, and some may even be offered membership in the bigger MC, especially if they swear fealty. The Pagans MC is one such outlaw gang that is on an expansion drive, making law enforcement rather concerned.
5 The Patch Numbers Are Usually Codes
The numbers on patch jackets aren’t just there for show, as most have a meaning behind them. For example, the number 18 is exclusively used by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and not by any other MC.
Another hidden meaning comes via the number 13. In the English alphabet, the 13th letter is M, which hints at an illicit substance. So any MC member that wears the number 13 indicates a fondness for illegal substances in that they distribute the same as a way to make money.
4 Many Outlaw MC Members Play With The Law
Actually, it's more like many of them break the law. And it may be done by small offenses such as not following traffic rules and DUI, but many of them cross into the more serious territory when it comes to violence, especially against enemy outlaw MCs.
In fact, many of them are arrested, tried, and even sentenced for their crimes. And we’re not saying all outlaw MC members choose a life of crime, but many of them do have a charge sheet stashed in their history somewhere.
3 They Are Not Liked By Law Enforcement
Despite many outlaw MCs claiming that they abide by the law and declare they earn their keep by doing only above-the-law business, law enforcement simply does not like outlaw motorcycle clubs.
Most of these MCs have displayed a streak of violence or hooliganism over the years, and having them around means the locals keep filing complaints about them, wanting their neighborhood MC to go away. For law enforcement, keeping an outlaw MC in check usually means keeping a constant vigil.
2 And Yet, Outlaw MCs Use The Law When Needed
For a group of people who have no compunction in breaking the law when it suits them, they also have no problem using it to their advantage when needed. For example, when the fed seized the Mongols MC patch, the motorcycle club filed a countersuit to win it back. And did.
Another example is when HAMC sued Disney in 2006 for the movie Wild Hogs for using their logo without permission, and they won the suit as well. HAMC has also sued plenty of other brands for copyright infringement.
1 They Are Proud Of Their Badass Reputations
They may not say it and claim that they are just a group of brothers who love to ride and follow the law to the letter, but outlaw MC members are rather proud of their murky reputations. Most of the public tends to give them a wide berth and this makes the MC members feel rather happy.
The fact that the law distrusts them is no skin off their bones. Most outlaw MC members love the stares they get, from the public, the hopefuls, and even members of the law. All this simply eggs them on to be wild.
Sources: CourierPost, TheWashingtonPost