News video about the Waco Texas Shooting at Twin Peaks Restaurant between rival biker gangs one of them called Cossacks.
About 170 people are in police custody following a shootout between rival motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas on Sunday. Nine people were killed and at least 18 were wounded in the violence at the Twin Peaks restaurant. Zlatica Hoke reports those arrested face various criminal charges, including capital murder, which can carry the death penalty.
With nine people dead and nearly 20 injured, a gunbattle between rival motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas on Sunday was one of the worst shoot-outs in recent U.S. history. The incident has focused attention on so-called biker gangs that law enforcement officials say pose a great threat to public safety.
The shoot-out in Waco was between members of a large Texas-based gang called the Bandidos and members of smaller gangs, one of which is called the Cossacks. Investigators recovered more than 100 guns on the scene and arrested around 170 people, according to Waco Police spokesman Sergeant Patrick Swanton.
“I will tell you that in 34 years in law enforcement, this is the worst crime scene, the most violent crime scene that I have ever been involved in," he said.
Swanton said authorities knew the gangs were assembling in Waco and tracked their movements closely, having a unit on hand at a restaurant to take action in case a fight broke out.
“We were extremely fortunate to have our best, most well-trained officers here. That was our tactical unit. They were here for the specific reason that we knew there was going to be trouble at this biker event," he said.
Swanton said the gang members also fired at police, but no one other than gang members was wounded or killed.
Federal and state authorities say the 2,000-member Bandidos gang is involved in drug smuggling and other types of organized crime. The gang formed in south Texas in the 1960s and now has affiliated chapters around the United States and in several other countries.
Sociology professor James Quinn at the University of North Texas, who has studied biker gang group dynamics, says the character of gang chapters varies.
“You can have a chapter with some guys that are pretty sophisticated and into organized crime; you can have another one that is more on the misfit, riding, drinking, carousing types and sometimes you get a bit of both," he said.
Quinn said men also join these gangs for various reasons.
“A lot of them are looking for excitement and camaraderie and you have other people who are looking for opportunities to launch organized crime," he said.
Quinn and other experts on gangs say members are bound by an oath of loyalty to defend any member who is threatened by an outsider.
The primary rivals of the Bandidos are members of the even larger, California-based gang, known as the Hell’s Angels. Both have international affiliates and there have been violent clashes between them in Australia, western Europe and Canada, according to Julian Sher, a Canadian journalist who has written two books about the biker gangs.
“More than 160 people were killed, most of them biker gang members, but some civilians, when the Bandidos and the Hell’s Angels fought it out on the streets of the province of Quebec [1994-2002]. The Bandidos and the Hell’s Angels fought it out in Europe for control of the drug trade there. So the Bandidos have a long history of violence," he said.
Sher said there may be a lull in violence following the Waco shooting, but he says eventually the gangs will clash again.
“The image of the biker gangs never changes. This is what they are about. This is their very nature and it was just pure luck that no innocent people were killed in that shoot-out, but there have been cases in which innocent people have been killed," he said.
Most of the people arrested in Waco are members of the Bandidos, and authorities there remain concerned that other members could come to town and clash with members of rival groups who are still in the city. Both Texas state investigators and federal agents are on scene to assist in the investigation of the crime, and authorities say they have taken precautions to deal with any further disruption of the peace.
