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Bandido leader speaks out
U.S. biker denies link to 'horrible' gangland slayings
April 13, 2006
By Julian Sher
The Texas-based president of the international Bandidos biker
club says he was as "shocked as anybody else" by the
murder of eight of his members last weekend in Ontario and denied
his organization had anything to do with the slaying.
"The only people that really know what happened are the
eight people killed and maybe the people in jail," said Jeff
Pike in an exclusive interview with the Globe and Mail from his
home outside of Houston, Texas.
"Whatever happened…what a mess!" Mr. Pike said.
Mr. Pike took over the leadership of the 2,400-strong biker gang
- second only to the Hells Angels worldwide - when the long-serving
Bandido chieftain George Wegers was arrested last June along with
19 other bikers and charged with conspiracies to commit murder,
kidnapping, extortion, and methamphetamine distribution under
tough American racketeering laws.
"We're no stranger to funerals," said the new leader
of the biker gang known for its ferocity. "But this was a
shock. I really feel sorry for their families. It was a horrible
thing, no matter how you look at it."
Mr. Pike angrily dismissed as a "stupid story" reports
in some newspapers of a hit squad being sent from the Chicago
to deal with troublesome Canadian members. "We don't do that
kind of stuff," he said.
The biker leader's denials got an unusual endorsement from Det.
Gary Georgia of the Albuquerque Police Special Investigations
department, who has been tracking the Bandidos since 1985.
"That story makes no sense," he said, noting that the
Bandidos do not have a presence in Chicago or anywhere else in
the Midwest or eastern United States.
Det. Georgia, though no fan of the Bandidos, said Mr. Pike is
seen as a "capable and respected" biker leader. "Sometimes
he's a straight shooter," he said.
The police expert confirmed there have been tensions between
the Texas-based gang and their poor performing Canadian franchise,
which has not been able to hold its own against the Hells Angel
monopoly over the outlaw biker scene in Canada. "There is
no real love lost between the Canadian and US Bandidos,"
the detective said.
Mr. Pike himself admitted he was "disappointed" so
many Bandidos in Canada in recent years have switched allegiances
and joined their hated rivals, the Hells Angels. "If someone
could so easily change, it shows their heart not in the right
place in the first place."
But Mr. Pike vehemently denied the Bandidos have made any deals
with the Hells Angels to cede any territory or drug turf in Canada
"We don't buy and sell people," he said.
He said the Ontario murders - which wiped out the only official
chapter the Bandidos had left in Canada - meant "there's
going to be a hard road back" to rebuilding the club here.
"It would take years," he said. A Bandidos patch is
earned. It's not something you buy on Ebay."
But the Bandido leader felt in the long term the massacre would
have little impact on the growth of his organization, which has
170 chapters in 14 countries.
"The Hells Angels did damn near did the same thing,"
he said, referring to the massacre of five Hells Angels in Lennoxville
Quebec in 1985, which did not stop the HA club from expanding.
"I don't think it will effect us."
Mr. Pike - -who at age 50 has carried the Bandidos patch for 27
years - echoed the oft-repeated refrain that his biker gang was
not engaged in any illegal activity.
"We don't condone it and we damn sure don't require it,"
he said. "What a member does for himself is his own business."
Asked about the Bandidos' reputation for law-breaking, Mr. Pike
replied: "We get speeding tickets all the time."
In fact, Det. Georgia says the latest police statistics show
that 70 to 80% of the Bandido members have criminal for drugs,
weapons or other violent offences.
But Mr. Pike said he was used to police criticism and negative
media coverage and expressed confidence his biker gang would ride
out the storm generated by the largest mass murder in Ontario
history.
"If I worried what others thought," said the American
Bandido, "I would have joined the Boy Scouts."
