Biker gangs: PhDs in intimidation

As police in Waco, Texas, continue the lengthy task of charging 170 members of two separate motorcycle gangs involved in a shootout that killed 9 bikers and injured 18 others, we are learning more about these rival gangs with a feud nearly half a century long.

The gangs involved in the shootout last weekend are the Bandidos and the Cossacks, and they started a long rivalry when they formed in the 1960s.

The Bandidos became Texas’ biggest motorcycle gang. Known as the “big dogs” of Texas, they would not bow down to the smaller gang … the Cossacks.

These gangs, along with other well-known groups like the Hells Angels and the Outlaws, have been declared by the government to be criminal enterprises. The Department of Justice said all these groups pose a serious national domestic threat.

Former federal undercover agent Jay Dobyns, who infiltrated the Hells Angels, spoke to Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga about how big a threat these gangs pose and what it was like going undercover.

“I think the event in Waco, in a public venue with that many people involved, it shocks us as a society,” said Dobyns. “But [the biker gangs] act like this all the time.”

Dobyns said when he infiltrated the Hells Angels, he entered a world of violence and intimidation.

“The people I ran with were not necessarily book-smart, educated people, but they had PhDs in intimidation,” said Dobyns. “That’s what their goal was: to scare you, to dominate you, to dominate the world and the culture they controlled.”

Dobyns warned that there will be retribution for the deadly attacks in Waco.

“These guys don’t forgive, and they don’t forget,” said Dobyns. “There’s going to be no handshake, there’s going to be no turning your back and walking away — they’re going to seek opportunities for retaliation.”