'Like organized crime on wheels': Expert details expansion of outlaw motorcycle gangs in US
Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association Executive Director Steve Cook has studied biker gangs for nearly 30 years.
Cook told WRAL Investigates about their expansion nationwide.
“They are not street gangs,” Cook said. “They are more like the mob. They are more like organized crime on wheels.”
Sources told WRAL Investigates the New Year’s Day victim, Jonas Padilla, was a member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Gang, and five men facing murder charges are with a rival gang known as the Red Devils. Padilla was 37.
“Each one of these groups wants to be king of the hill, top of the mountain,” Cook said.
Cook said the Red Devils are a support group of Hell’s Angels.
“They are not going away. They are not dwindling in size,” Cook said. “If anything, they are expanding rapidly.
“They are becoming increasingly more violent, a lot more public with their violence.”
In July 2021, Clayton police said a fight between the Pagan’s and the Red Devils ended with one person shot and four others severely beaten at the Cleveland Draft House.
Last year, a triple homicide in Fayetteville was tied to biker gangs. Police said the Red Devils were among those involved.
While Raleigh police have not confirmed the biker gang connection with the most recent shooting — they do say five men conspired to kill Padilla, then stole his jacket. That's a sign to Cook.
“If you can take another rival gang members patch from them, that’s a big deal,” Cook said.
The Department of Justice has identified 300-plus Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) in the U.S. Among them - the Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, Outlaws, and Sons of Silence – they pose a “serious national domestic threat.”
“They are involved in a laundry list of criminal activities,” Cook said. “Right at the top of the page is drug distribution.
“These groups are very little about actual brotherhood. They are about earning money, committing crimes and protecting their turf and territory.”
Cook said the gangs are tight-knit, global organizations.
“They attend events together, funerals, USA runs,” Cook said.
With a rapid expansion, Cook said the public needs to be aware and police need to respond.
“This is not something you can let go,” Cook said. “There has to be a response. Otherwise, there’s a perceived weakness that comes out of it.”
Cook said retaliation is common for crimes involving biker gangs.
However, it could happen anywhere, because of how interconnected gangs have become nationwide.
