From Deseret News archives:
Biker gangs revving up within Utah
Last month the local chapter president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club was arrested for investigation of attempted criminal homicide after the shooting of a former member. One of the nation's biggest and most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs had set up shop in Utah.
In Utah, outlaw biker gangs have not been much of a problem in recent years. But here, as in the rest of the nation, they're growing.
"We're watching the developments very closely. They are a concern," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Andy Burton, head of the Metro Gang Unit. "There have certainly been incidents that have caught our eye."
The Bandidos are one of the groups known among law enforcers as the "Big Four" of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Those four groups are the Bandidos, Hells Angels, Pagans and Outlaws.
And according to one international motorcycle gang expert, Steve Trethewy, "It won't be long until (Utah) sees Hells Angels."
Trethewy is a field services coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Information Network and on the board of directors for the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association. He has done extensive work with outlaw motorcycle gangs for more than 20 years.
Trethewy delivered a workshop recently at the 14th annual Utah Gang Conference in Sandy. His class was closed to the public, but after his session he told the Deseret Morning News that one of the recent trends of motorcycle gangs was expansion.
Motorcycle gangs have been adding new members and forming alliances with smaller gangs at a rapid pace over the past few years. Many experts believe part of that is due to the ongoing war between the two biggest outlaw motorcycle gangs, the Hells Angels and Bandidos.
In April 2002, two members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club and one member of the rival Mongol motorcycle club were killed in a shootout between the two gangs inside a casino in Laughlin, Nev. Following a two-year investigation, 42 men were named in a federal indictment. The indictment also outlined a violent history between the two groups.
Today, the Mongols have teamed with the Bandidos, Outlaws and Pagans in preparation of the next round of the "biker war."
"I don't think we can call it anything else," said John R. Schlim, a retired law enforcer living in California. "These people have expanded dramatically. I don't think there's any question this is what this recruitment is about. This thing is far from over. It's going to happen again. These two haven't buried the hatchet."
