Opinion ID: 4553375
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Rivalry with the Cossacks

Text: The Cossacks are a motorcycle club based in North Texas. In 2014, Pike gave the Cossacks permission to add a Texas bottom rocker symbol to their patch. Pike believed this was a “natural transition for the club,” and he hoped that the gesture would “open[] a line of communication between the two clubs.” Eventually, however, the Bandidos became concerned that the Cossacks were displaying the bottom rocker in a “disrespectful” manner. Portillo told Johnny, “We’re not going to fuck around with them Cossacks, dude, it’s on.” Justin Forster testified that he heard Portillo tell Pike that the group had to “do what 6 Case: 18-50793 Document: 00515516125 Page: 7 Date Filed: 08/05/2020 No. 18-50793 we got to do” to deal with the Cossacks. Pike responded, “Whatever y’all do, just be careful.” At trial, the government introduced evidence pertaining to several violent altercations between the Cossacks and the Bandidos. • Fort Worth, December 2014: The Bandidos attacked Cossacks members at a Fort Worth bar using guns, clubs, and flashlights. During the attack, they took one man outside and shot and killed him. In a recorded call between Romo and Portillo after the incident, Portillo explained that the Bandidos were “at war with these mother fuckers.” • Palo Pinto County, March 2015: Arthur David Young, a member of the Cossacks, was at a gas station when he was approached by a group of Bandidos in a black car. When he refused to remove his vest, they hit him repeatedly in the head with a hammer. • Port Aransas, August 2015: A group of Bandidos attacked several Cossacks members and their wives with beer bottles, knives, and other weapons. After the incident, Portillo was recorded saying that Pike “knows a little bit about it.”