The popularity of motorcycle clubs exploded in the 1940s when thousands of World War II veterans, who had shared the adrenaline of combat and a brotherhood unmatched, found themselves on the tranquil thresholds of middle-class America — and bored.
Looking to share again in dangerous thrills, some turned to motorcycles. In 1947, thousands of bikers streamed into Hollister, California, for races and a rally where drinking and club rivalries brought havoc to the small town.
The resulting outcry prompted the American Motorcyclist Association to declare that 99 percent of motorcycle clubs were law-abiding and harmless.
Seventy years later, the nefarious few — like the two clubs Rhode Island law enforcement literally blew the doors off Wednesday — still proudly call themselves “1 percenters.”
And for the last few years some violent biker gangs have been feuding over Rhode Island turf, says State Police Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin.
“In the last three or four years, we’ve had the Outlaws come here, now the Pagans, the Thugriders, the James Gang, the Lost Horsemen, the Kryptmen,” Philbin said. “They just pop up. Some of them don’t last. Some of them stick around for a while.”
“Unfortunately,” says Philbin, “Rhode Island is a pivotal state, with Massachusetts and Connecticut right above us and beside us.”
Rhode Island isn’t new ground for some older motorcycle clubs.
http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180524/ri-seen-as-key-crossroads-for-biker-gangs
Looking to share again in dangerous thrills, some turned to motorcycles. In 1947, thousands of bikers streamed into Hollister, California, for races and a rally where drinking and club rivalries brought havoc to the small town.
The resulting outcry prompted the American Motorcyclist Association to declare that 99 percent of motorcycle clubs were law-abiding and harmless.
Seventy years later, the nefarious few — like the two clubs Rhode Island law enforcement literally blew the doors off Wednesday — still proudly call themselves “1 percenters.”
And for the last few years some violent biker gangs have been feuding over Rhode Island turf, says State Police Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin.
“In the last three or four years, we’ve had the Outlaws come here, now the Pagans, the Thugriders, the James Gang, the Lost Horsemen, the Kryptmen,” Philbin said. “They just pop up. Some of them don’t last. Some of them stick around for a while.”
“Unfortunately,” says Philbin, “Rhode Island is a pivotal state, with Massachusetts and Connecticut right above us and beside us.”
Rhode Island isn’t new ground for some older motorcycle clubs.
http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180524/ri-seen-as-key-crossroads-for-biker-gangs