Opinion ID: 4553375
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Bandidos Outlaws Motorcycle Club

Text: The Bandidos Outlaws Motorcycle Club (“Bandidos”) is an international motorcycle club with approximately 1100 members worldwide. Members of the club describe it as a “one percent” motorcycle club—a designation that signifies loyalty, brotherhood, and commitment. According to Special Agent Scott Schuster, the government’s expert witness, the “one percent” classification is a way for the Bandidos to “brand[] themselves as . . . outlaw[s].” Johnny Romo, a member of the Bandidos, explained at trial that the “one percent” term means that “we’re above all the other clubs.” Though there are other one-percent motorcycle clubs in the country, the Bandidos consider themselves “the most dominant.” The Bandidos use a variety of symbols to identify themselves to one another and to outsiders. Members of the club wear a three-piece patch, which includes an emblem of a cartoon character known as “the fat Mexican.” In the emblem, the character is depicted holding a semi-automatic pistol and a machete. The bottom section of the patch, known as the “bottom rocker,” identifies “the territory that [each] Bandido is going to claim.” In Texas, for example, the bottom rocker indicates that a member belongs to a Texas-based chapter. The Bandidos closely guard the integrity of the bottom rocker, and only allow full members of the club to wear the three-piece patch. Before becoming an official member, prospects can join support clubs, which are “a stepping stone to get closer to the Bandidos.” Once an individual becomes a full member, he has “patched in.” 2 Case: 18-50793 Document: 00515516125 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/05/2020 No. 18-50793 Though the Bandidos have chapters across the world, the club has a particularly strong presence in Texas. The club was founded in March 1966 in San Leon, Texas. At the time of trial, there were between 35 and 40 Bandidos chapters in Texas, with about 400 Bandidos members statewide. The Bandidos is the only major one-percent motorcycle club in Texas. The Bandidos maintain a highly-organized management structure. Several national officers are responsible for organizing regular events, including an annual summer run and a spring birthday run. Local chapters are self-governing and largely autonomous, though they are required to pay dues to the national office to support the cost of the group’s events. The national office includes a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and several Sergeants-at-Arms. In addition to organizing events, national officers control the selection and distribution of patches. Patches are often distributed to acknowledge a member’s sacrifices on behalf of the club. Jeffrey Pike served as national President of the Bandidos from 2005 until 2016. Pike assumed this role after the group’s former President, George Wegers, pleaded guilty to a RICO conspiracy. According to Schuster, the Bandidos President, also known as El Presidente, has “full authority to make decisions on a day-to-day basis.” Some members of the Bandidos refer to the President’s role as a “dictatorship.” Pike disputes this characterization, and testified that the “individual chapters run themselves.” Pike also testified that it was his goal as President to make the group “more mainstream” and “more family oriented” than it had been under Wegers’s leadership. In 2002, John Portillo was promoted from local chapter president of the San Antonio Bandidos chapter to national Sergeant-at-Arms. In that position, Portillo was responsible for protecting the group’s national officers and managing relationships between local chapters and rival clubs. Pike selected Portillo as National Vice President, or El Vice Presidente, in 2013. Schuster 3 Case: 18-50793 Document: 00515516125 Page: 4 Date Filed: 08/05/2020 No. 18-50793 testified that the Vice President’s “purpose” was to provide the President “with plausible deniability.” In one recorded conversation introduced at trial, Portillo explained that he thought of himself as “Jeff’s guy.” “I’m here to protect [Pike] . . . . I’m gonna protect [him] from the fuckin bullshit that’s going on.” In another wiretapped conversation, Portillo was recorded explaining that he “don’t make no majors without [Pike] knowing about it.”