Motorcycle clubs are a subject of national discussion after Sunday's mass shootout at a biker gang meet-up in Waco, Texas. Also, where is the line between anti-Semitic speech and free speech? Then, what LA venues have soul to you? Share some of your favorite venue memories.
Motorcycle clubs: Fraternal organizations or organized crime syndicates? The answer may be both.
As Waco, Texas police continue to sort through Sunday’s shootout at a restaurant that left nine dead and saw more than 170 arrested and charged, the conversation about motorcycle clubs (or biker gangs, depending on who you ask) has taken a place in the national spotlight again.
While many clubs claim they are simply recreational groups of people who enjoy riding motorcycles together, the reality is that many of the more well-known motorcycle clubs operate as organized crime syndicates.
“A lot of their members aren’t hardcore criminals…but a lot of them are,” says James Quinn, a professor at the University of North Texas and expert in motorcycle gang culture. “I don’t think anybody knows the percentage, it’s going to vary from one group to another and over time.”
Reports are now surfacing that Sunday’s incident at Twin Peaks, a Waco restaurant known for catering to biker club clientele, may have started because of an argument over a parking spot. But Quinn says there was likely more to it than that.
“These kinds of tensions and rivalries are endemic to the entire subculture,” Quinn said during an interview with AirTalk’s Larry Mantle. “They kind of ebb and flow within regions over time. What appears to be going on here is the Bandidos and their allies are upset with the Cossacks and their allies over what appears to be a symbolic claim to territory by the Cossacks.”
Turf wars are often a major catalyst for gang confrontations. Former U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Special Agent and undercover operative Jay Dobyns knows this better than most. He’s best known for infiltrating and becoming a full patched member of the Hells Angels’ legendary Skull Valley chapter, and says the same beef over turf started a war here in California between the Mongols and Hells Angels motorcycle clubs.
“30 years ago, the Hells Angels felt like they controlled California; that it was under their umbrella and they had the say-so as the most powerful club. The Mongols put a California bottom rocker [a patch identifying club affiliation] on their vests. That set it off. 30 years later, hundreds of dead gang members, gallons of blood spilled over that, and we saw a repeat of it in Texas.”
Rory’s story
One man who called into AirTalk and identified himself as Rory (skip to 6:00 mark in audio) said that his brother was one of the people being held on $1 million bail after the Waco brawl. He says that his brother is an Army veteran who served six tours in Iraq and joined a biker group after he returned from his most recent tour because it gave him a group of guys to hang with and activities in which to participate.
“Rounding them all up because they happened to be at a civil meeting and some criminals took part in shooting has really put us all under the gun in my family," explains Rory. "Now he’s being held on $1 million bail and he didn’t even have a firearm with him, or any drugs, or a past record. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time wearing the wrong vest.”
Rory told AirTalk he’d expressed his concern to his brother about his involvement with the club, but his brother assured him that his club was a fraternal organization and doesn’t take part in illegal activity. He says his brother’s group does community service and fundraisers for charity events, and that there are many bikers out there like his brother who work day jobs during the week and ride with a club for fun in their spare time.
“There are hundreds, thousands of biker clubs out there that do community service, that are people that enjoy riding their motorcycles, and sometimes enjoy riding them as part of a club,” says Jay Dobyns. “They’re not causing the problem. The problem is the gang element, the criminal element, the syndicate element.”
Rory says his brother and many of his fellow club mates have high security clearance at Fort Hood, where they work, and he worries that if his brother is convicted, even by association, it could ruin his life permanently. Dobyns says while he sympathizes with Rory, his brother should have been more aware of his surroundings.
“If you’re in one of those civilian clubs, and you’re going to a meeting that’s being held by the Bandidos, which everyone knows is an international crime syndicate, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you can’t afterwards say ‘Oh, I wish I wouldn’t have been here.’ You knew who you were going to meet with. You should’ve been wise enough to say ‘This is not where I need to be.’”
Dealing with the problem
Dobyns says, for law enforcement, dealing with biker gangs is a challenge because of their code of silence. Cooperating with law enforcement is considered treason, and is punishable by death in many gangs.
“They don’t talk, they’re not going to communicate with law enforcement with any authenticity, with any accuracy, for the most part, unless someone becomes so leveraged with their personal freedom that they decide that they’re basically going to betray their brotherhood and cooperate with law enforcement.”
Professor James Quinn at North Texas says that when people like Dobyn’s infiltrate biker gangs, it ratchets up the pressure on the gang to be more vigilant about new recruits.
“Every time they get penetrated by law enforcement, they increase the rigor of their selection and recruiting processes and that tends to toughen up the members that they do get and it tends to bind even more loyalty among the members.”
Since his time undercover with the Hells Angels, Jay Dobyns has written a book about his time in the gang, and says that at the end of the day, despite their differences, street gangs and motorcycle gangs are one in the same.”
“The reality of it is, biker gangs aren’t all that different than traditional street gangs. Look at Crips and Bloods. Whether you’re wearing red or blue can get you killed. With these different biker gangs, depending on what vest you have on, can get you killed.”
Guests:
James Quinn, Ph.D., professor of rehabilitation, social work, and addictions at the University of North Texas and a published author and expert on motorcycle gang culture.
Jay Dobyns, retired Special Agent and veteran undercover operative with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. He’s best known for infiltrating the Hell’s Angels, and has written a book about his time undercover called “No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels.”
Debating the line between anti-Semitism and free speech
UC faculty and rabbis from across the state are calling on UC president Janet Napolitano to crack down on anti-Semitic statements made during campus protests.
The letter, sent yesterday, comes after a series of demonstrations over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the letter, members of the Jewish community urge UCs to adopt the State Department definition of anti-Semitism, and punish students accordingly. It’s a demand that not all Jewish groups are on board with, and they’re speaking out.
In a recent open letter to the State Department, the Jewish Voice for Peace Advisory Council calls for the revision of anti-Semitic definitions that have been on the books for years. They claim that, as currently written, the rules could be used to silence critics of Israel. In addition, they say that the Department’s guidelines create a double standard, mandating that Israel be treated differently than any other country in the world.
The recent disagreement between Jewish groups raises an important question: where is the line between anti-Semitic speech and free speech?
Guests:
Sydney Levy, advocacy director at Jewish Voice for Peace, a national Jewish organization that provides a voice for Jews and allies who believe that peace in the Middle East will be achieved through justice and full equality for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Aron Hier, director of campus outreach at the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Consequences of war: One soldier's struggle with torture and PTSD in Iraq
In 2005, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Russell Edmonds traveled as a Special Forces captain with the U.S Army to Iraq as part of the United States' attempt to advise Iraqi and Kurdish officers on how to rein in the type of torture highlighted at Abu Ghraib.
It was Lt. Edmonds who was asked to monitor interrogations and ultimately draw the line banning physical torture, but allowing mental abuse to gain information.
But as his mission went on, it began to wear him down to a point that he felt powerless to stop interrogation behavior he felt was wrong. As he puts it, he was a “good person forced to make many horrible choices.”
Years later, his guilt would manifest as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates nearly one in four Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have developed. Lt. Edmonds writes about the experience and his frustrations with the lack of support of veterans in his book, "God is Not Here: A Soldier's Struggle with Torture, Trauma, and the Moral Injuries of War.”
Guest:
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Russell Edmonds, decorated counterterrorism and counterinsurgency expert who has served in various positions throughout the Special Operations community, and author of "God is Not Here: A Soldier's Struggle with Torture, Trauma, and the Moral Injuries of War" (Pegasus Books, 2015).
What the Supreme Court’s 401(k) ruling means for your retirement
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in a class-action lawsuit against the Rosemead-based Edison International this week to add new protections for investors in 401(k) retirement plans.
Edison, one of several large companies sued over high fees paid on mutual funds held by employees investing in company retirement accounts, contended a six-year statute of limitations had run out for employees to sue. The court disagreed.
The court’s ruling states that plan administrators must continue “to monitor trust investments and remove imprudent ones. This continuing duty exists separate and apart from the trustee’s duty to exercise prudence in selecting investments at the outset.”
The case was based on 401(k) investors at California energy holding company Edison International who claimed the company violated its trustee duties by buying retail mutual funds when nearly identical products were available through less-expensive institutional-class funds.
While this ruling offers new protections to retirees, how will it be put into practice? What are the implications for employers offering 401(k) plans?
Guest:
Margaret (Peggy) Collins, personal finance and investing reporter at Bloomberg News and Businessweek in New York
(Don’t wanna be) All by myself: Why we hate doing things alone
The next time you’re at a restaurant and see someone eating alone at a table for two, rather than assuming the person has no friends, ask yourself why you don’t do things alone more often.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that activities are more fun when done in groups, and for many, this is true. But as it turns out, you might be missing out on a whole load of fun that you could be having...by yourself.
A study set to be published in the August edition of the Journal of Consumer Research explores humanity’s aversion to doing things alone.
Titled "Inhibited from Bowling Alone," the study surveyed whether participants preferred to do certain activities alone or with friends. Then, they set out to see whether participants enjoyed visiting an art gallery more alone versus in a group of people.
The result? The participants expected to have less fun on the solo trip, but actually found they enjoyed themselves just as much, if not more, going alone than they did in a group.
The research suggests that our aversion to doing things by ourselves does not stem from a fear of not having fun, but rather from how we think others will perceive us.
Do you enjoy doing things on your own, or can you not have fun unless you’re with a group of friends? Why do you think this is?
Guest:
Rebecca Ratner, professor of marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She’s also the co-author of the study “Inhibited From Bowling Alone,” which will appear in the August 2015 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Staples, The Fonda, Hollywood Forever -- LA’s venues with and without soul
Los Angeles is filled with great places to hear live music.
There’s the Hollywood Bowl, Orpheum theatre, Echoplex, the Fonda, the Staples Center...the list goes on.
But some places are better than others, some have a special something, a kind of personality or ‘soul’ that keeps you coming back every year.
Dave Brooks, founder and editor of Amplify Magazine is here to help sift through the many Los Angeles venues and share which ones you should definitely not miss this summer season.
What LA venues have soul to you? Share some of your favorite venue memories!
Your Favorite Movies of the 1990s
Guest:
Dave Brooks, founder and editor of Amplify and ampthemag.com