STURGIS, SD – The shootout between outlaw motorcycle gangs that left nine dead and 18 injured in Waco, Texas has law enforcement officers preparing for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with a watchful eye on gangs around the country.
But then, paying close attention to outlaw motorcycle gangs is part of rally law enforcement every year.
With the 75th rally less than three months away, the pace of preparation is revving up. That includes law enforcement, which will include a variety of state, federal and local officers in an expanded force that could be bigger than ever this year.
And as his 38th rally approaches, Police Chief Jim Bush adds the recent shootout between rival outlaw motorcycle gangs in Texas to his list of concerns.
“We’ll be getting intel from now until the rally probably on those two, three gangs that were involved,” Bush says. “And we’ll be paying attention to them.”
The key gangs in the Waco shootout were the Banditos and the smaller Cossacks. Banditos members are commonly seen at the Sturgis rally, along with Hell’s Angels — a gang also involved in Waco. Bush said the Cossacks have been at the rally a few times, typically in smaller numbers.
“They don’t normally frequent this rally, that I’m aware of, anyway,” Bush said.
Not so with the Banditos.
“Oh yes, the Banditos are pretty prominent up here,” Bush said. “However, the last several years, I’d say five, six years at least, we’ve hardly seen a Bandito up here. Maybe one or two. It ain’t like the old days, back in the early 1980s, you know. They’d be three hundred or four hundred strong up here, and show a very brief presence.”
The Hell’s Angels have been a regular presence, in varying numbers. A big gang event during the 1990 rally attracted swarms of Hell’s Angels
“There was close to 1,700 of them down on the street,” Bush said. “And that’s a lot of Hell’s Angels.”
In recent years, the rally has attracted more like a few dozen to 200 or 300 Hell’s Angels members, he said. Violent clashes between outlaw gangs are relatively rare, but have occurred.
“I think I can count on one hand and have a few fingers left over the times that we’ve actually had real spillover from an argument between outlaw gangs that have gotten together and had a little scrimmage. Whether it was a knifing or a shooting or whatever it might be, you know, we’ve had three or four of them over the years,” Bush says. “And so that does happen, but it’s not the norm.”
The 75th rally is expected to set an attendance record, with projections of 1 million or more.
Like others with years of experience at the rally, Bush is expecting a record turnout, which may or may not mean an increased number of outlaw gangs.
Sturgis-area rider Esther Chapell Parks doesn’t expect the Waco shootout to have any effect on the anniversary rally. She’ll be riding and enjoying her 46th rally without fear of problems with outlaw gangs. She doubts others will shy away from the rally because of Waco.
“Sturgis is already booked full for this rally. And I don’t see that scaring anybody. We don’t have that much trouble up here,” Parks said. “There’s been a few times. But our wonderful police department handles everything very well.”
Even after all his years in law enforcement, Bush was surprised by the number of deaths in Waco.
“You know, this was probably one of the more horrific ones, with that many deaths and that many injuries,” he said.