Outlaws MC still seeks return of Leather Vests

 The vests worn by the Outlaws MC will be held as contraband, a McHenry County judge ruled

 Photo: McHenry County Sheriff's Office

CHICAGO, ILL 1/26/2016
The Outlaws Motorcycle Club has not backed down in its effort to get authorities to return leather vests and patches that were seized after a 2012 bar fight. After failing to persuade a McHenry County judge last year to return the gear, club lawyer Joel Rabb argued his case Tuesday in front of the 2nd District Appellate Court in Elgin.

McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather had ruled that vests were "contraband" that were used "to facilitate street gang activity." People affiliated with the Outlaws — which Rabb has said is a civic organization, not a gang — wore the vests when they instigated a brutal attack on patrons at the Lizard Lounge outside Wonder Lake, leading to charges against several members.

Four members who were arrested later pleaded guilty to various charges and, as part of their plea deals, forfeited their motorcycle vests. Rabb said one of the vests was returned, which he said shows rightful ownership and should prompt the return of the other three.

He said it's the club patches on the vests, rather than the vests themselves, that members most want back. He argued that the patches were wrongly seized because they belong to the club, not the individual members, and that a piece of clothing cannot be compared to guns or cars that can be confiscated if used to facilitate crime.

Photo: McHenry County Sheriff's Office

When witnesses and victims testified about the bar fight, "nobody stated they felt uncomfortable because of the leather patches," Rabb said. Appellate Judge Michael Burke pointed out that the gang is known to "have a reputation" for criminal activity.

Rabb said members of the club, also known as the American Outlaw Association, are a "microcosm" of all types of people.

"There is good, there is bad, there is ugly," he said, adding that the club's reputation has been skewed by reality TV and the movies.

"Each member stands alone," he said. "Simply being a member of the Outlaws is not a crime."

Judge Mary Seminara-Schostok asked why the return of the patches was so important.

Rabb said they convey "a certain level of pride" for Outlaw members and contended that confiscating them is a violation of free speech rights.

Wounded Warrior Project Wasting Money

Wounded Warrior Project accused of wasting donor money: ‘It just makes me sick’

Dozens of former Wounded Warrior Project employees have accused the charity of needlessly spending millions of dollars in donations on lavish conferences and parties.

In 2014 alone, the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) received more than $300 million in donations, yet it only spent roughly 60 percent of that on vets, CBS News reported. Other respected charities for wounded veterans, like the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust and Fisher House, reportedly spent more than 90 percent of their donations on vets.

CBS News spoke to more than 40 former WWP employees who accused the charity of out-of-control spending.

“Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn’t see is how they spend their money,” said Army Staff Sgt. Erick Millette, who recently quit as a public speaker with WWP. “You’re using our injuries, our darkest days, our hardships, to make money. So you can have these big parties.”

Spending on conferences and meetings went from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery, their top program, according to the charity’s tax forms obtained by CBS News.

“Let’s get a Mexican mariachi band in there, let’s get maracas made with [the] WWP logo, put them on every staff member’s desk. Let’s get it catered and have a big old party,” Sgt. Millette added.

Waco Biker Massacre - Sorting It Out

Roll Back In Time to May, 17th, 2015 at 11:00 am in Waco Texas —The Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas has cold beer, hot wings, scantly clad waitress's and is an ideal spot for Bike Nights even though they have only been open for about a year. The Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents had never held its bimonthly meeting at Twin Peaks before, but the organization's state chairman was returning from a national convention, and he wanted to speak to as many Texas bikers as possible about various legislative initiatives.

After nine bikers were shot dead, 20 were wounded, and 177 people from at least five different clubs wound up being arrested—the Waco Police Department would claim that the bloodbath was triggered by the Bandidos MC and the Cossacks MC arguing over the things that MCs tend to argue over: Namely Territory and Respect. Months later, the Waco Police Department was still suppressing any video footage and ballistic analysis that could offer proof of what started the whole mess. Some of the 177 arrested (including four women) sat in jail for weeks, others for months, before they could afford to post bail. All of them, even guys who hid out in the bathroom while bullets flew could face up to 99 years in jail.

Over the past two years, the Bandidos MC and the Cossacks MC have been engaged in a power struggle over Territory. In November 2013, two Cossacks were stabbed in a roadhouse parking lot in Abilene; the president of the local Bandidos chapter was arrested in connection with the assault. Earlier this year, on March 22, Cossacks allegedly forced a Bandido MC member off I-35 in Lorena and beat him that he nearly lost an eye. At a gas station in Mingus that same day, Bandidos confronted the Cossack son of a local politician and demanded that he remove the Texas bottom rocker from his cut. When he refused, they allegedly attacked him with a hammer.

May 17th, 2015 12:23 pm

The police were already there as the rest of the clubs arrived that morning. “They're circling like buzzards on a dead deer,” one said. “I look at the people I was riding with, and I said, ‘This don't look right.’ ” Afterward, said the Cossacks' John Wilson, “a Waco spokesman was touting the quick 40-second response time of the police, when that was obviously false. They were here.”

The bikers believe this provides a clue to the Waco Police Departments ongoing silence: The cops know their response was overzealous, unlawful, and now they're covering it up. Some bikers and now more of the general public believe there's an even more sinister explanation: that a firefight of some kind was supposed to happen—that it was all part of a plan by the Waco P.D. to provoke rivals into a public brawl that could be violently crushed and then used as a basis for sweeping RICO indictments.

Bullet from deceased Bandido sent for test

 Twin Peaks Restaurant In Waco Texas 

Waco, Texas  (Sept. 17, 2015) - A bullet removed from the arm of a James ‘Spaz’ Anderson, a member of the Bandidos MC wounded May 17 at Twin Peaks and killed four months later in a traffic wreck will be analyzed by federal investigators. Jason Chambers, an investigator in the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office, obtained a search warrant last week to extract the bullet.

Texas Ranger Jake Burson executed the search warrant for the bullet at a funeral home in Henderson on Friday, the day before Anderson’s funeral. Anderson, 53, was killed Sept. 3 when his motorcycle struck a deer on a highway in northwestern Nebraska. The bullet was removed, but it could not be determined initially what caliber it is.

 James ‘Spaz’ Anderson - Bandidos MC

Authorities want the bullet in Anderson’s upper left arm to compare it to weapons seized after nine bikers were killed and 20 were wounded at a meeting of bikers at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.

The bullet will be forwarded to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is conducting the forensic analysis of weapons, bullets, bullet fragments and casings recovered at the scene.

Jason Chambers believes that an analysis of the projectile in Anderson’s upper left arm will be beneficial in the investigation and may more accurately identify the weapon used against him during the incident.

According to the affidavit, Lanie Smith, a Longview police officer, received information that Anderson had been shot May 17 at Twin Peaks. The officer found him “recuperating” from his wound at a home near Longview. Anderson reportedly admitted to Smith that he was shot in the left arm but managed to leave Waco without being identified by police or arrested.

The Nebraska State Patrol reported that Anderson, an electrician, was riding with a group of bikers about 6 a.m. Sept. 3 when he hit at least one deer on U.S. Highway 385 about three miles south of Chadron, Nebraska.

Source: DailyNews  | WacoTrib