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92-949: Bandidos MC Hells Angels MC [REDACTED] Danish government [REDACTED] Finnish government [REDACTED] Norwegian government [REDACTED] Swedish government Support: [REDACTED] U.S. government Michael Garcia Olsen Lars Harnes Marko Hirsma Uffe Lindenskov Larsen † Michael Ljunggren † Jim Tinndahn Thore Holm Hansen Torkjell Alasker Thomas Möller Christian Sass Middelboe Jørn Nielsen Bent Svane Nielsen [REDACTED] Poul Nyrup Rasmussen [REDACTED] Esko Aho (until 1995) [REDACTED] Paavo Lipponen (until after 1995) [REDACTED] Gro Harlem Brundtland (until 1996) [REDACTED] Thorbjørn Jagland (until after 1996) [REDACTED] Carl Bildt (until 1994) [REDACTED] Ingvar Carlsson (until 1996) [REDACTED] Göran Persson (until after 1996) The Nordic Biker War

184-481: A "prospect" and then "probation". The length of this process is decided by each chapter president, and ends when the chapter's members vote unanimously to allow the probationary member to enter the club. A screening process is carried out to prevent infiltration by law enforcement. Upon joining the Bandidos, each member must sign their motorcycle over to the club. Each club chapter follows a structured hierarchy, with

276-512: A Bandidos prospect chapter 19 August 1995 and moved to a new clubhouse in Kamppi , Helsinki. The same month, Marko Hirsma and two other Undertakers members assaulted and stole the " colors " of the former Overkill president. On 27 September 1995, Hirsma and another Undertakers biker were attacked by members of Cannonball and Overkill outside a courthouse in Pasila , Helsinki when they arrived to attend

368-745: A HAMC "hangaround" club in 1992 via an association with the Hells Angels of Denmark. Overkill became involved in a struggle with another local motorcycle gang, the Iron Hog biker club, for the Hells Angels' approval. On 9 February 1993, several Iron Hog members including the club's president was severely beaten by Overkill bikers at a restaurant in Järvenpää , and the club subsequently withdrew. The following day, Overkill member Riko Roimu told Finnish television: "We are an official Hells Angels hangaround club and I'm fucking proud of it". Police then carried out

460-594: A July 1992 knife and chain attack on a rival club, which led to the hospitalization of several of its members. The Malmö club Dirty Dräggels then became Sweden's first Hells Angels chapter on 27 February 1993. They were sponsored for membership by the Danish Hells Angels after vanquishing two other local clubs for the right to wear the Angels' " colors ". In Finland, the Overkill gang of Helsinki were made

552-446: A Morbids member losing a finger. On 13 February 1994, fifteen Danish Bandidos members were ambushed by Hells Angels associates at a Helsingborg nightclub, resulting in thirteen gunshots being fired and Joakim Boman, a member of the Hells Angels support club Rednecks MC, being shot dead. Three others, including Hells Angels hangaround Johnny Larsen and a Bandidos member, were wounded. Boman's murder has never been solved. On 21 February 1994,

644-519: A booby trap once. Car bombs were utilized three times, while other types of explosives were also used on three occasions. The bombs used scaled in size between one and five kilograms. Over twenty drive-by shootings also occurred. Shortly after the Morbids MC in Helsingborg became a probationary Bandidos chapter on 22 January 1994, members of the Hells Angels prospect club Rebels MC strafed

736-570: A car, leaving one man wounded. Customizers were made a Hells Angels prospect chapter and Rabies became a Bandidos probationary branch in October 1995. The vice president of the Hells Angels support club Cannonball MC was shot and wounded by an Undertakers member at a restaurant in Helsinki on 1 April 1995. Jim Tinndahn transferred from the Bandidos' "Northland" chapter in Stenløse , Denmark to

828-652: A gold background. The Bandidos' color scheme was inspired by that of the United States Marine Corps and chosen by Chambers, a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War . Patches denoting a member's rank and chapter are worn, as are various other patches which have specific meanings. Although the particular meaning of each patch is not publicly known, various law enforcement agencies have identified Bandidos patches which they believe are related to criminal activity. For example, police have reported that

920-511: A gunfight in central Helsingborg on 5 March 1996. On 10 March 1996, the Hells Angels carried out a twin attack on Bandidos members at Copenhagen Airport and Oslo Airport, Fornebu . Members of both clubs were attending events in Helsinki and found themselves on the same flights as they returned to their respective cities in Denmark and Norway, allowing the Hells Angels to formulate at ambush at both airports. At Copenhagen, two Bandidos members,

1012-730: A high-profile raid, using a Patria Pasi armored personnel carrier and a Super Puma helicopter, on Overkill's headquarters in Tapulikaupunki , Helsinki on 3 March 1993, arresting five people. The Bandidos were established on the European continent via a chapter in Marseille , France, on 20 September 1989. After violent encounters between the French Bandidos and Hells Angels, American executives from both clubs met in Paris in

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1104-530: A leg and two associates were also wounded when two hand grenades were thrown into his home in Brønshøj from a passing vehicle on 7 May 1996. A stolen car used in the attack was discovered nearby. Two female tourists were wounded when the car they were travelling in was fired upon while they were driving past the Customizers' Oslo clubhouse on 9 May 1996. One woman suffered minor wounds despite being shot in

1196-518: A legal defense fund. Club bylaws state that any member who commits suicide will not receive a Bandidos funeral. The Bandidos have an estimated membership of between 2,000 and 2,500 worldwide. In the United States, the majority of the club consists of white and Hispanic males. The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice-presidents and

1288-616: A meeting where the club's leader Sonny Barger declared that, while the Paris pact marked Sweden as Hells Angels territory, the agreement was one of non-aggression. The Oakland chapter then met with senior Bandidos members in Houston and reaffirmed their claim over the country. Bandidos leaders in the U.S. were unable to control their probate chapter in Helsingborg, however, as the club's European president Jim Tinndahn continued to support

1380-677: A merger of two clubs opposed to the HAMC's dominance, settled in Copenhagen's Christiania and took control of the hashish trade in the area. Bullshit and the Hells Angels engaged in a conflict, that came to be known as the First Biker War or Copenhagen Biker War , between September 1983 and December 1985, resulting in the murder of eight Bullshit members (including three presidents), one Hells Angels member, and two innocent people. In addition, Bullshit MC members were also prime suspects for

1472-854: A merger with the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in Quebec in 2000. After establishing further chapters in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, the club's operations in Canada ceased in November 2007 as a result of infighting, law enforcement efforts, and pulled status from the club's American leadership. In 2004, the Bandidos formed a chapter in Costa Rica . The first Australian chapter was formed in 1983, in Sydney , by former members of

1564-481: A music festival in Järvenpää . Members of the two clubs were then involved in a prison fight the following month. Bandidos Motorcycle Club Numerous law enforcement and international intelligence agencies classify the Bandidos as an organized crime syndicate. The Bandidos Motorcycle Club was founded by 36-year-old dockworker Donald Eugene Chambers on March 4, 1966, in San Leon , Texas. Chambers named

1656-594: A national president. The leadership of the club consists of an international president, known as "El Presidente", who has authority over every club chapter. The club also has Nomad chapters , made up of members not bound by geographical location, which are responsible for security, counterintelligence and internal discipline. The Bandidos' "mother chapter" is based in Houston , Texas. The club has 303 chapters worldwide, located in twenty-two countries in North America, Oceania, Europe and Asia. The United States

1748-466: A nightclub two days later. That same month, a Morbids member killed a fellow inmate at Helsingborg prison for providing information to the police. On 6 and 7 December 1994, car bombs were discovered attached to the vehicles of two Rebels members. A shooting involving two cars occurred on a road outside Kattarp on 8 January 1995 when members of the Rebels and Morbids both arrived at the same time to assist

1840-516: A period of time, the Undertakers were patched over by the Bandidos on 17 December 1993. The Hells Angels sanctioned the Bandidos' takeover of the Undertakers on the condition that they confine themselves to just two chapters, in Stenløse and Hørsholm . Christian Möller of the Danish police blamed the conflict upon the Bandidos leader Jim Tinndahn as he told Sher and Marsden: "As far as we known

1932-439: A president, vice-president, sergeant-at-arms, road captain and secretary/treasurer. Members must abide by various by-laws, such as not wearing the club patch while riding in a car or truck, and are required to attend meetings (known as "Church") four times per month. These rules also dictate that any member who fails to attend mandatory group motorcycle rides is fined and must forfeit the title of his motorcycle. Another requirement

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2024-493: A press conference that the rival clubs had ended their war. Nielsen stated "We cannot give guarantees that there will be no more incidents, but we can actively intervene and ensure that those who defy the cooperation agreement are excluded from our biker culture." The Nordic outlaw biker culture emerged in Sweden with the establishment of numerous motorcycle clubs (MCs) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Motorcycle groups inspired by

2116-471: A prospect and a hangaround were shot, resulting in the death of Uffe Lindenskov Larsen, president of the club's Dalby -based "Southside" chapter. Jan Anderson of the Swedish Bandidos told a journalist that he saw between 8-10 Hells Angels came out of a car in the parking lot to start shooting into the bus that he and the other Bandidods were in. Bandidos Norway president Lars Harnes was wounded in

2208-697: A rival club, and he died of heart disease in 1992. In 1989, the club was established in Europe when a chapter was formed in Marseille , France. Subsequent expansion into the Nordic countries in the 1990s led to a violent feud with the Hells Angels . The third Bandidos international president, James Edward Lang, as well as his successor, Charles Craig Johnston, were each sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on drug charges in November 1998. George Wegers, who served as international president between 1998 and 2005,

2300-452: A shooting at Oslo. Commander Jørgensen stated of the Larsen murder: "It was a very good professional job, like a military operation. The Hells Angels are not like the Bandidos, who are kamikaze pilots. The Hells Angels always try to measure out the pros and cons, what is good, what is bad. The Bandidos have recruited the worst of the worst. The scum. But that made them extremely strong. So there

2392-469: A sick mixture produces more sick things". Simultaneously, a conflict was brewing between the Hells Angels and the Mordids MC across the Øresund strait in southern Sweden. The Helsingborg -based Morbids were offered a path to Hells Angels membership on the condition that they merge with the Rebels, a rival club with whom they had previously clashed. The Morbids rejected the offer and instead aligned with

2484-539: A woman whose vehicle had broken down. The Morbids were awarded Bandidos membership on 28 January 1995. On 5 February 1995, a Rebels member was assaulted by two men armed with iron pipes while visiting a restaurant in Helsingborg with his girlfriend. The Undertakers were appointed a hangaround club by the Bandidos on 9 February 1995. On 19 February 1995, a shooting involving members of the Customizers and Rabies took place in Oslo when Customizers fired at Rabies bikers riding in

2576-744: Is credited to the club's founder, Donald Chambers . The "Fat Mexican" bears a resemblance to the Frito Bandito – a cartoon mascot of the Fritos corn chips brand – and according to Bandidos lore, Chambers took the club's name and logo from the mascot. However, the Frito Bandito was not developed until 1967, the year after the Bandidos' foundation. In addition to the "Fat Mexican" and diamond-shaped " 1%er " emblems, club members also wear other patches on leather or denim vests – known as " colors ". These patches consist of red lettering displayed on

2668-532: Is home to 93 Bandidos chapters, located in sixteen states. The club is concentrated in Texas but extends into Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington and Oklahoma. The Bandidos incorporated in Texas as a non-profit organization in 1978. The club has subsequently incorporated in other states, including Washington and Alabama. The Bandidos expanded into Canada following

2760-453: Is that Bandidos must follow the philosophy "All members are your brothers and your family", and must "not fear authority and have a general disdain for the rules of society". Any member who cooperates with law enforcement, for example, is susceptible to disciplinary action. All Bandidos regalia, including tattoos, is considered club property. Membership fees are required, and are used to cover club expenses, such as funeral costs, and contribute to

2852-728: The Bandidos as they sought protection in more powerful clubs. The Hells Angels arrived in 1980 and gradually established dominance over the Scandinavian biker scene, before smaller clubs banded together and began forming Bandidos chapters in 1993 in order to resist forced amalgamation by the HAMC. The first Hells Angels chapter in Scandinavia was founded in Denmark on 30 December 1980 when Unionen MC from Copenhagen  – a union of four local clubs, dating from 1977 – was patched over. Bullshit Motorcycle Club ,

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2944-794: The Comanchero Motorcycle Club . The club has since expanded substantially in Australia and there are forty-five Bandidos chapters throughout the country. The Bandidos have a small but growing presence in New Zealand after a rocky start in 2012. They claim to have more than a dozen patched members and prospects in the Christchurch area. There are approximately ninety Bandidos chapters in Europe. The first European chapter opened in Marseille in France in 1989. This

3036-785: The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada , Europol and the Australian Federal Police consider the Bandidos to be a criminal organization. Law enforcement agencies in the United States also identify the Bandidos as one of the "big four" motorcycle gangs , along with the Hells Angels , the Outlaws and the Pagans , and contend that the club is responsible for organized crime activity such as drug dealing, arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion, money laundering and murder. In Australia,

3128-526: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Thorkild Høyer " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

3220-467: The "Expect No Mercy" patch is awarded to those who have committed murder on behalf of the club, while the "TCB" ("Taking Care of Business") patch is worn by club officers and nomads . Similar to the "Expect No Mercy" patch, the "CDG" ("Coup de Grâce") patch reportedly signifies a member who has committed a significant act of violence. The Bandidos' mottos include "Cut one, we all bleed", "God forgives, Bandidos don't", "Our colors don't run" and "We are

3312-455: The Bandidos also have a number of "support" clubs . These groups usually wear reverse colors (gold border with red background rather than the Bandidos' red-border–and–gold background). They also commonly wear a unique patch (known as the "Heart Patch") consisting of a round patch in Bandidos colors on the front upper left of the colors (vest), as worn by the member. Most of these clubs are regional. The United States Department of Justice ,

3404-898: The Bandidos are included among the "big six", with the Hells Angels, the Comanchero , the Finks , the Mongols and the Rebels . While individual chapters had previously been banned in Germany, the Netherlands became the first country to prohibit the club as a whole in December 2017 when a court in Utrecht outlawed both the Dutch department of the Bandidos and the international organization on

3496-406: The Bandidos became an international motorcycle club when the first foreign chapter was established in Sydney , Australia in 1983. The Australian branch was founded by Anthony Mark Spencer, who had previously encountered Bandidos members during a visit to the United States. Hodge was sentenced to five years in prison in December 1988 for conspiring to bomb homes and automobiles belonging to members of

3588-565: The Bandidos or their support clubs were responsible for the majority of the thefts. The Danish and Swedish militaries subsequently tightened security. The Hells Angels obtained Russian- and Yugoslavian-made rocket launchers as well as surplus machine guns and rifles from former Eastern Bloc countries. The conflict saw the use of the Swedish AT4 eight times, and the Russian RPG-22 three times. Hand grenades were used four times and

3680-510: The Bandidos promised not to expand further, but they did". Upon their foundation, the Danish Bandidos attracted several new members, including former members of Bullshit and individuals who had either been expelled from the Hells Angels or had left the club in protest over the organizational and leadership philosophy. One Danish Hells Angels stated: "He [Tinndahn] filled his club with this dirt. Tinndahn recruited all that garbage, and such

3772-550: The British rocker subculture then began in Denmark in the 1970s. Beginning around 1980, Danish clubs became increasingly influenced by developments in the United States and began to refer to themselves as "bikers", the American term for motorcycle enthusiasts. The term "rocker" is still commonly used by the police and media in Denmark to refer to the outlaw motorcycle subculture. Relative to its population, Denmark in particular had

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3864-516: The Customizers were charged in the case. A tattoo studio linked to the Hells Angels in Oslo was firebombed on 1 February 1996. On 12 February 1996, two grenade attacks were carried out against Overkill in Helsinki; two people were badly injured when a restaurant in the Tapanila neighborhood belonging to a club member was bombed, and motorcycle garage in the Hernesaari quarter owned by the club

3956-466: The Danish Bandidos for support. The Bandidos and their leader, Jim Tinndahn , had no intention of adhering to what they considered Hells Angels-imposed protocol concerning their recruitment and development, and they made the Morbids a probationary Bandidos chapter on 22 January 1994. Police and prosecutors described the conflict that followed as a drug trade war between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos,

4048-470: The Hells Angels shortly after the killing, leading to a theory that the Choppers carried out the assassination of Ljunggren on orders from the HAMC. The Bandidos launched two attacks against the Hells Angels in retaliation. On 25 July 1995, two Undertakers members fired a rocket-propelled grenade stolen from a Swedish Army weapons depot at the Overkill clubhouse in northern Helsinki. The missile penetrated

4140-670: The Hells Angels' were more strategically aware, targeting their rivals' leadership. In the weeks before Overkill MC in Helsinki became a prospective Hells Angels chapter on 19 February 1994, club member Marko Hirsma was beaten at a Hells Angels party in Sweden where he was working as a bar tender. The reasons behind the beating are unknown. He resigned from the club and went on to found the Undertakers MC in Vantaa in August 1994. In

4232-523: The Hells Angels. The recruitment pool for the clubs in Scandinavia consisted of over a thousand outlaw bikers. By 1997, the Bandidos' presence in the Nordic countries consisted of approximately 130 members from at least seven chapters, while the Hells Angels' contingent was made up of around 290 members in total from fifteen chapters, with 85 in Sweden, 110 in Denmark, 70 in Norway and 25 in Finland. Denmark at

4324-652: The Helsingborg chapter in June 1995. On 17 July 1995, Bandidos Sweden president Michael "Joe" Ljunggren was shot dead with a submachine gun, likely a Carl Gustaf m/45 , while riding his motorcycle on the European route E4 south of Markaryd in Småland , Sweden while returning from a meeting with the Undertakers in Helsinki. Ljunggren's murder remains a cold case . The Choppers MC in Stockholm gained prospect status from

4416-449: The Morbids retaliated by attacking the Rebels' clubhouse with a Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle , damaging the premises' garage and swimming pool but resulting in no injuries. After these incidents, a number of break-ins to the armories for the militias of Sweden and Denmark began. Most men in both Sweden and Denmark undergo obligatory military service and know how to use military weapons. The first major theft of weaponry occurred on

4508-475: The Morbids' retaliation against the Hells Angels. A delegation of Bandidos from Texas met with the Hells Angels chapters in Malmö and Copenhagen in an effort to resolve the dispute but diplomacy proved futile. A series of shootings in Helsingborg followed in the spring of 1994. The war quickly revealed the differences in the strategies of the opposing sides. The Bandidos' attacks were seemingly indiscriminate, whereas

4600-451: The Nordic region is the proximity to the Baltic states , where drugs could be exchanged for weapons from the former Soviet Union. The Bandidos' growth in the drug trade brought them into conflict with Hells Angels-sponsored dealers. However, the criminologist Joi Bay criticised this assumption, saying that the police tactics were ineffective because they were based on the incorrect premise that

4692-457: The biker subculture. Specifically, the members of both groups sought a monopoly on the right to engage in crime in certain geographical areas. The war resulted in the killings of nine gang members, with shootings and bombings totalling another 74 attempted murders. The bikers utilized car bombs, machine guns, hand grenades, anti-tank missiles and small arms during their gang war, and assassination attempts were even made inside prisons. The majority of

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4784-540: The building's walls but failed to explode on impact. An identical strike was carried out by the Helsingborg Bandidos against the Rebels' headquarters in Hasslarp on 31 July 1995, again resulting in no injuries. Dan Lynge, a Danish police officer who infiltrated the club, carried out surveillance on the compound with a Swedish Bandidos prospect in the days before the attack. The Undertakers were upgraded to

4876-459: The club in honor of the Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules, and he recruited members from biker bars locally in Houston as well as in Corpus Christi , Galveston , and San Antonio . Like other outlaw motorcycle clubs, they call themselves "one percenters", a phrase coined by the former president of the American Motorcyclist Association who once stated that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens and 1 percent "outlaws". By

4968-414: The club's headquarters with gunfire. The Rebels later became a HAMC chapter in Hasslarp , based out of a rural compound less than two miles away from the Morbids' dairy farm-turned-clubhouse in Helsingborg. The clubhouse was targeted again the following week when, on 26 January 1994, Malmö Hells Angels chapter president Thomas Möller fired a high-caliber submachine gun from the roof of a van, resulting in

5060-410: The club's website, the Bandidos' Western Hemisphere chapters became autonomous from the international chapters in Europe and Australia on July 17, 2007. The American chapters began wearing a redesigned patch in 2011. The Bandidos' insignia, known as the "Fat Mexican", consists of a caricature of a Mexican bandit wearing a sombrero and holding a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. The design

5152-455: The country in 2017, however. In recent years the club has also expanded heavily into Spain, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, England and Ireland. Additionally, it is reportedly considering establishing a presence in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 2001, the Bandidos were established in Thailand via a merger with the Diablos Motorcycle Club in Pattaya . The club further expanded to Malaysia and Singapore in 2006. Like other major motorcycle clubs,

5244-510: The country of Hans Christian Andersen. We should not create crooks like that". As the biker milieu expanded in Sweden and Denmark, violent conflicts arose between motorcycle clubs and the authorities began to take an interest in the clubs while gang wars proliferated. Outlaw motorcycle clubs then began to appear in Finland in the late 1980s, during which time there was little distinction between club-affiliated bikers and independent recreational motorcyclists. Motorcycle gang violence did not occur in

5336-402: The country until the early 1990s. Inter-gang violence escalated in the Nordic countries as motorcycle clubs became increasingly more involved in organized crime during the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in the arrival of larger international clubs. Biker gangs in the region previously consisted of locally bounded single chapters which later merged ("patched over") into the Hells Angels (HAMC) and

5428-407: The early 1970s, the club had over one hundred members, including many Vietnam War veterans. Ronald Jerome Hodge took over from Chambers as the Bandidos' president in 1972. Hodge was nicknamed "Mr. Prospect" because of the short amount of time in which he was awarded his club membership, and he later became known as "Step Mother" in deference to Chambers' moniker "Mother". Under Hodge's leadership,

5520-403: The early hours of 11 April 1996, the Hells Angels' compound in Hasslarp was targeted again, this time with two rockets. The clubhouse was severely damaged, but no-one was injured or killed. The Danish Hells Angels "South" chapter clubhouse in Snoldelev was hit with an anti-tank missile shortly after midnight on 17 April 1996, destroying the upper floor of the structure but causing no injuries to

5612-429: The founding of a Bandidos chapter in Trondheim, a city that has since been seen as a Hells Angels stronghold. The conflict reached Danish soil when two Hells Angels members were severely beaten by a gang of between five and ten Bandidos at the "Stardust" discotheque in Strøget , Copenhagen on 26 December 1995. Another Hells Angel reportedly locked himself in a women's bathroom to escape the Bandidos. An explosive device

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5704-1010: The grounds that the club forms a threat to public order. Thorkild H%C3%B8yer Look for Thorkild Høyer on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Thorkild Høyer in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

5796-413: The head. Five people with ties to the Customizers were charged in the case. An unexploded hand grenade was found outside Hells Angels' Espoo clubhouse on 12 May 1996. Another attack on the same location on 18 May 1996 also failed when two drunken men blew themselves up while attempting to throw hand grenades into the clubhouse. Both men were seriously wounded but survived. Undertakers president Marko Hirsma

5888-456: The highest number of outlaw bikers in Europe and perhaps even in the world. Commander Troels Ørting Jørgensen of the Danish police told the Canadian journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden in a 2006 interview: "No one has ever done a sociological investigation as to why in this small, extremely peaceful country of Denmark we have so many chapters of outlaw motorcycle gangs. They are very much hardliners, they are fierce, they are violent. We are

5980-411: The hostilities took place in or around Copenhagen in Denmark, Helsinki in Finland, Oslo in Norway, and Helsingborg in Sweden. The biker war was also costly for the police, who struggled to put an end to the murders. In overtime for police officers alone, the cost was set at around 50–75 million kroner. On 15 October 1996, a bill, known as the Rockerloven  [ da ] ("Rocker Act") in

6072-483: The larger Hells Angels. Most of the violence of the conflict took place in the Copenhagen area. The Danish chapters of the HAMC and Bandidos were seen as the driving forces behind the biker war, and were also responsible for its resolution. While there were just two Bandidos chapters in Denmark and a single Hells Angels chapter in Sweden when the war commenced in 1994, each country was home to approximately fifteen independent motorcycle gangs, most of which were aligned with

6164-433: The late summer of 1993 and signed a non-aggression pact in order to avoid police and government countermeasures that could prevent their expansion. The Undertakers MC, a club in North Zealand formerly on good terms with the Hells Angels before disputes led to a strain in relations, applied for membership in the Bandidos from the club's leadership in the United States and France in 1992. After serving as prospective members for

6256-500: The media, was passed in the Folketing (Danish Parliament) which allows the police to evict motorcycle gangs from their headquarters. As a result of the 1996–1997 period of the conflict alone, 138 people were sentenced to a total of 240 years in prison. Several of those convicted were given life imprisonment for murder and attempted murder. Specific wings for motorcycle gang members were created at Vridsløselille Prison and Horsens State Prison . Significant improvements were also made to

6348-405: The motivation of the bikers was profit, while in fact they were driven by values such as honor, style, respect, and brotherhood, and any drug crimes were incidental. In retrospective interviews in 2014, involved bikers rejected the drug-trade dispute interpretation and said the war started from a purely personal confrontation when the small Morbids club, with only six members, refused to capitulate to

6440-425: The murder of two non-bikers during the war. When the police visited the former clubhouse of Bullshit in 1986, they also found the corpse of a man beneath the clubhouse floor. The first war was limited to Copenhagen alone, unlike the second, and the number of deaths during the Copenhagen war met or exceeded the number of deaths in the following war. Unlike the second war, the first had a clear winner and no "peace treaty"

6532-446: The night of 20 February 1994 when the Bandidos broke into an armory in rural Sweden to steal 16 shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets along with hundreds of hand grenades, pistols, rifles and crates of ammunition. The Hells Angels' leadership in the United States became concerned about the Bandidos' expansion, but also wished to avoid a war and the associated legal repercussions. The HAMC mother chapter in Oakland summoned Thomas Möller to

6624-408: The people our parents warned us about". Another, more generic, saying of the club is "Bandidos forever, forever Bandidos" ("BFFB"). Bandidos members must be male and own at least one Harley-Davidson motorcycle (although other American-made motorcycles can also be allowed). Prospective members must undertake a three-stage process before being initiated, beginning as a "hangaround", before becoming

6716-494: The prospect survived. As a result of the killing, Overkill were made the Hells Angels' Finnish chapter on 23 March 1996 and relocated to a new headquarters in Nöykkiö , Espoo . Two Hells Angels were convicted of Kokko's murder; Ilkka Ukkonen was sentenced to 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 years' imprisonment and Jussi Penttinen was given 6 years'. A Bandidos prospect was seriously injured when Bandidos and Hells Angels in two cars engaged in

6808-488: The security of military weapons depots as a result of the Nordic Biker War after several burglaries. The conflict effectively came to an end in the summer of 1997 when the two sides reached a peace agreement, with the well-known defence lawyer Thorkild Høyer  [ da ] as mediator. On 25 September 1997, Bent Svane Nielsen of the Hells Angels and then-Bandidos president Jim Tinndahn announced during

6900-487: The sixteen bikers inside. Four hours later, the headquarters of the HAMC support club Avengers MC in Nørresundby near Aalborg was struck by another missile, causing minor damage as the projectile embedded itself in an interior wall without exploding. Four club members inside the clubhouse were unharmed. On 26 April 1996, imprisoned Bandidos "Southside" chapter vice-president Morten " Træben " ("Wooden Leg") Christiansen

6992-707: The spring of 1994, an officer with the Hlsinborg police department complained: "There were shootings almost every day". On 22 June 1994, Juha Nousiainen – president of the Barley MC, a HAMC support club in Kellokoski  – fatally shot Kari Korpi, president of the Klan MC, outside a restaurant in Järvenpää . Nousiainen was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years in prison on 22 September 1994. While seemingly an isolated incident at

7084-544: The time was home to the highest concentration of motorcycle gang members in Europe and possibly the world, a phenomenon police and sociologists have been unable to explain. Between 1994 and 1997, there were at least 36 break-ins at Swedish Army and Danish Home Guard installations; at least 16 Bofors anti-tank rockets , 10 machine guns, around 300 handguns, 67 fully automatic rifles, 205 rifles of various calibres, hundreds of hand grenades and land mines, and 17 kilograms of explosives plus detonators were stolen. Police believe

7176-527: The time, Korpi's killing has in retrospect been viewed in relation to the biker war. According to some sources, the Klan was a Bandidos affiliate. The Customizers MC and Rabies MC in Oslo became hangaround clubs of the Hells Angels and Bandidos, respectively, in June 1994. A Morbids member was shot in his car in central Helsingborg on 11 November 1994, and a brawl ensued between Bandidos and Hells Angels supporters at

7268-528: The trial of Kai Tapio Blom and Antti Tauno Tapani, two club members charged with the RPG attack on the Overkill headquarters. Four men with baseball bats destroyed an Overkill-owned tattoo parlour in Punavuori , Helsinki as reprisal on 11 October 1995. Blom and Tapani were convicted in October 1995 and sentenced to 6 years' and 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 years' imprisonment, respectively. A prospective Outlaws chapter

7360-408: The two most powerful outlaw biker gangs in Scandinavia. Members of both clubs were involved in drug, prostitution, extortion and arms smuggling rings, and bikers controlled the distribution of amphetamine, cocaine, hashish and MDMA in some areas. Amphetamine was sourced from Poland and hash from Morocco. Canadian researcher Yves Lavigne stated that one of the reasons for the intensified biker activity in

7452-640: Was a gang war that began in January 1994 and continued until September 1997 in parts of Scandinavia and Finland, involving the Hells Angels and Bandidos outlaw motorcycle clubs. The conflict is also known as the Great Nordic Biker War or Second Biker War ( Danish : anden rockerkrig ) to distinguish it from the earlier Copenhagen Biker War , which took place between 1983 and 1985. The conflict arose from disputes over territory and organized crime rackets , as well as personal feuds within

7544-643: Was also targeted in a second attack. The grenade was thrown into a warehouse next door to the garage in error. The Rebels became a full-fledged Hells Angels chapter on 27 February 1996. A hand grenade left by the car of a Hells Angels hangaround in Helsingborg two days later failed to explode. Eight bikers were shot in four different Nordic countries in just over a week in early March 1996, resulting in two deaths. On 1 March 1996, an Undertakers member and prospect were shot after confronting Overkill bikers carrying out reconnaissance on their clubhouse. Club vice-president Jarkko Kokko died from his wounds on 17 March 1996, and

7636-498: Was convicted of racketeering charges in October 2006. The Bandidos embarked on a failed endeavour to establish themselves in Canada after merging with the Montreal -based Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in 2000. The Bandidos ceded Quebec to the Hells Angels at the conclusion of the province's deadliest biker war in 2003. In 2007, the Bandidos' Canadian chapters went defunct following the internal Shedden massacre . According to

7728-515: Was followed by expansion into the Nordic countries, with branches being established in Denmark in 1993, Sweden in 1994, and Finland and Norway in 1995. The German department of the Bandidos was chartered in 2000. Chapters were then founded in Italy in 2001 and on the Channel Islands in 2003. The Bandidos formed its first chapter in the Netherlands in 2014. The club was prohibited in

7820-565: Was founded in Oslo by Thore "Henki" Holm Hansen on 26 October 1995 and became a full-fledged chapter by the end of the year. Due to the clubs' positive relations in the U.S., the Norwegian Outlaws pledged support to the Bandidos in the escalating biker war. Gunshots were fired at the Outlaws' clubhouse on 18 November 1995, with four bullets going through the premises' windows and another four striking its brick walls. A Rebels member

7912-482: Was given a life sentence, for the Copenhagen attack, while Hells Angels Oslo chapter president Torkjell " Rotta " ("Rat") Alsaker was sentenced to three years' for the shooting at Fornebu airport. The airport shootings marked the beginning of the most violent phase of the Nordic Biker War. An unexploded hand grenade was discovered outside the clubhouse of the Bandidos' chapter in Drammen , Norway on 21 March 1996. In

8004-435: Was left in critical condition with shrapnel wounds and burns when assailants threw a hand grenade into his cell after breaking into Horserød State Prison by cutting a large steel padlock securing the gate of the perimeter fence. After tossing a grenade into Christiansen's cell, the Hells Angels shot up his cell with machine guns. Brian " Bremse " ("Brake") Paludan Jacobsen, a member of the Hells Angels' Copenhagen chapter, lost

8096-525: Was required. Bullshit's members were younger and less organized than those in the Hells Angels, and they disbanded in 1988. The Hells Angels subsequently expanded into Norway, opening a chapter in Trondheim on 1 August 1992 following a "patch over" of the Rowdies biker gang. The Rowdies spent close to ten years as a Hells Angels support club and were eventually "patched over" two weeks after carrying out

8188-418: Was retaliation after retaliation". Sher and Marsden wrote that "the Bandidos just blasted away in apparent indiscriminate attacks" while "the Hells Angels, if anything, showed themselves to be more strategically aware. They appeared to plot their attacks with the aim of decapitating the Bandidos". Six Danish Hells Angels members and associates were sentenced to a total of fifty-three years' imprisonment, and one

8280-461: Was sentenced to nine months in prison on 12 July 1996 after being convicted of orchestrating the attempted attack. The imprisonment of leading members of both the Undertakers and the Hells Angels saw the conflict decelerate in Finland. Violence continued in the prison system, however. The last public conflict of the Finnish biker war occurred on 29 June 1996 when Hells Angels and Undertakers clashed at

8372-532: Was thrown at the headquarters of the Hells Angels hangaround club Screwdrivers MC in Hamar , Norway on 15 January 1996, and the Customizers' clubhouse in Oslo was struck with a petrol bomb on 18 January 1996. On 26 January 1996, seven shots were fired at a car carrying several Outlaws members outside the Customizers' clubhouse in Alnabru , Oslo, leaving an Outlaws biker wounded in the arm. Thirteen people associated with

8464-510: Was wounded in the leg during a shootout between two vehicles on a motorway outside Helsingborg on 6 December 1995. On 17 December 1995, two leading members of the Bronx '95 MC – a Bandidos hangaround club founded in Trondheim earlier that year – were shot and wounded while riding in a car. Three Hells Angels members were charged with attempted murder, but were acquitted in December 1996. The incident effectively stopped

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