Throughout that Friday afternoon and into the evening, Bandidos continued roaring toward the funeral home, some of them coming from as far northwest as Washington and as far southeast as Alabama. But heres the thing. . Now, he said, he works here alone, restoring and customizing vehicles for select customersincluding a local constable, who knows I do good work, he said with a smirk. 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." [46], There are approximately ninety Bandidos chapters in Europe. (To protect their privacy, Pike asked me not to name the school.) They said Lenny would be gone all the time, riding with the club to God knows where. I strolled around the parking lot, trying to find someone to interview. The Bandidos' color scheme was inspired by that of the United States Marine Corps and chosen by Chambers, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War. Kaiser-Wiegers Funeral Home. Get down! he shouted again. It is worth noting that paperback/hardback version of this book has been split into two parts for the Kindle, which just makes things confusing! The passing of George Wegers. That way, if Im ever asked to testify about anything, I can honestly say I do not know.. Most of these clubs are regional. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. The Bandidos are here!. Wegers has heart problems and high blood pressure and regularly saw three different doctors. Bandidos Book Out in Bad Standings: Inside The Bandidos Motorcycle Club The Making Of A Worldwide Dynastyby Edward Winterhalder. I bought another round, and then anotherasking questions the entire time about Bandido life to anyone who would look my way. He had introduced himself only as F.O., and he was one of the most intimidating-looking men Ive ever seen. There was booze and drugs everywhere. IN THE LATE SEVENTIES, the Bandidos became suspects in two of the states most publicized shootings: the attempted slaying in 1978 of James Kerr, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Antonio who was reportedly conducting an investigation into the club, and the 1979 assassination of U.S. district judge John Wood Jr., of San Antonio, who was known as Maximum John for his merciless sentences for drug offenders, a few of whom were Bandidos. Receive the next edition of "The One Percenter Throwdown" to your inbox. . He wanted bikers who lived only for the open road. About George Wegers George Wegers [44][45] They claim to have more than a dozen patched members and prospects in the Christchurch area. (A Bandido was required to wear his vest whenever he rode his motorcycle. The latter earned his nickname for his tendency to drink whiskey from a Log Cabin syrup bottle. All Bandidos regalia, including tattoos, is considered club property. Read more of his stories here. Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. [16] Subsequent expansion into the Nordic countries in the 1990s led to a violent feud with the Hells Angels. Its the Bandidos! yelled the man in the parking lot. He was 36 years old, the son of one of the first members, Steve Panhead Jonas, who had been shot to death at a San Antonio bar in 1983. Arent they long gone, artifacts of the Easy Rider era? George Wegers pleads guilty to racketeering charges, in exchange for 14 other charges against him being dropped. The police helicopter also showed up, circling clockwise, and an unmarked van with darkened windows stopped across the street. It banked to the right and began to circle the funeral home. In the helicopters open door were a couple of men in police uniforms holding binoculars. Chambers and other Bandidos made the dealers dig their own graves and then set their bodies on fire before burying them, Texas Monthly wrote. In 1998 George Wegers became the International President of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club,Jeff Pikewas the Vice President for much of this time. Wearing high heels and miniskirts, they passed out flyers and free drink tickets, telling the Bandidos that they ought to visit later that night to watch them perform. Nineteen search warrants were executed. He was turning off Interstate 5 in Skagit County, Washington State, near his home when his bike spun out of control. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. 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." The group now counts members throughout the world. Police investigators have found racial paraphernalia in raids on the gang. [43], The Bandidos have a small but growing presence in New Zealand after a rocky start in 2012. George Wegers is now retired from the outlaw motorcycle club. Chester Weger was convicted for the murders of three women in an Illinois state park but he insists on his innocence. [19], The Bandidos embarked on a failed endeavour to establish themselves in Canada after merging with the Montreal-based Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in 2000. NU Nuggets. A few nights at Mejas, then a few nights at Crystals, then back to Meja. [53] Chapters were then founded in Italy in 2001[54] and on the Channel Islands in 2003. Kerr identified three Bandidos in a police lineup as his possible assailants. 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. That's what authorities believe led to the shootout and Waco. In the Wood case, more than one hundred Bandidos were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. We even believed that, just for fun, they had sex with dead women. He is charged in several different conspiracy counts, including a conspiracy to traffic in motor vehicles and motor-vehicle parts. Wegers lived, and still lives, in Bellingham. The other he had built himself to look just like a chopper out of the seventies, complete with an elongated Springer front end, high handle bars, and chrome pipes. And then we looked at one another and said, Hell, we can do a lot better than these guys. . 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 . My father, a straitlaced Presbyterian minister, took our family to Galveston for a vacation. He was a fan of keeping the club out of the media, laying a low profile. When he started downing shots of Windsor Canadian whiskey, people learned real quick that he was not someone to mess with. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Stevens pressed Ojemann on whether he had ever said before that he left the club by mutual agreement. Like the Elks, the Bandidos had their own clubhouses, and like the Masons, they had their own initiation rites. And the truth is that I sometimes do get jealous of all the time he spends with the club. But were not out there shooting people, for Gods sake. Wegers's attorney Jeffrey A . [12] Like other outlaw motorcycle clubs, they call themselves "one percenters", a phrase coined by the former president of the American Motorcyclist Association who once stated that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens and 1 percent "outlaws. 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. Conversely, if he was in a car, he had to take it off.) A former national ranking member of the Bandidos testified Friday that the groups latest president kicked his predecessor out of the biker club for appearing on a television documentary. The group, which the feds have linked to numerous criminal activities, has grown into an international organization. 1701 N. Main St. Higginsville, MO, 64037. Just like the Lions Club, its members had vests and were given rules about wearing them. As he turned westbound to exit onto Highway 20, the motorcycle went off the road, according to the Washington State Patrol. Wegers suffered severe spinal damage while cruising alone on his Harley Street on the afternoon of Sunday, September 27. The specific charges were hardly flashy: Wegers and the others were accused of such varied crimes as stealing motorcycles, kidnapping a rival motorcycle club member (the kidnapping lasted a day), and conspiring to kill a disloyal Bandido associate who was suspected of meeting with federal agents (the killing never took place). For a second, I didnt know what to say. We mourn with the family of George Wegers for this great loss. When I walked in, F.O., who was there with his Old Ladies, leaned into my ear and said, Buddy, it would behoove you to buy some beers. And in 1988 almost all the Bandidos national officers, including Ronnie Hodge and Stubs Schmick, who was then a national vice president, were arrested by federal agencies for conspiring to bomb homes and automobiles belonging to members of the Banshees, an upstart Dallas motorcycle club. There was a tall front gate with a Go Away sign attached to it, but it was wide open. A few minutes later, another car appeared, and out popped a couple of female employees of a local nude dance club called XTC Cabaret. [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. 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 '. Under terms of the plea agreement entered into on May 5, 2006, WEGERS must move out of, and refrain from working in . The Bandidos have many Hispanic members, while blacks appear non-existent. George Wegers was the former National president of the Bandidos and lived just across the line in Bellingham where the Bandidos host that large annual Oyster run which was cancelled this year due to Covid. Now, hes physically and financially busted and out of the club, and theyre either dead or in prison. The cops drive by here just about every day just to see what Im up to. I tagged along in my rental car. [34], Each club chapter follows a structured hierarchy, with a president, vice-president, sergeant-at-arms, road captain and secretary/treasurer. Canadian authorities were curious to learn if Pike had ordered the shooting of the eight Bandidos to remind other members just what would happen to them if they too turned against the club. Red McCombs funeral service draws S.A. community, Spurs stars . 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