Warlocks MC original member “Grub” dead

Lexington, South Carolina (March 5, 2019) BTN — Thomas “Grub” Freeland, Jr., a founder of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club as died. Freeland was born in Graceville, Florida in 1948. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Lockhart, Florida. From that point on he would say "I am just a little boy from Lockhard, Florida". He attended Lockhart Elementary and Junior High School. He was a junior fireman for Lockhart's Volunteer Fire Department.

 His school days ended at Maynerd Evans High School when he decided to go see what else life had to offer. He joined the Navy at 17. He spent 29 months on the USS Shangri-La where he was a ship fitter. His second Med cruise was cut short by orders to Vietnam.

In 1968 he landed in Saigon and reported onboard the USS Tutillia which was stationed in the Republic of South Vietnam. His 9 months in-country was served working on river water patrol boats as part of The Brown Water Navy.

By the time he got home he had been to 27 countries, fought a war and went 3/4 of the way around the world. While serving on the USS Shangri-La he became one of the original 13 members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club.

When his tour in Vietnam was over he went home and started the Lockhart chapter of the Warlocks. It became known as The Mother Chapter.

Over 50+ years later the Warlocks MC has become international and is known the world over. His brothers in the club gave him the name Grub. He enjoyed cooking and they were relieved they didn't have to. Grub was always spelled with one "b".

He was quick to point this out and did not tolerate any other nicknames or assumptions. It was Grub because he cooked and it was spelled with one B- period. Got that! During his life Grub owned and rode over 30 Harley Davidson's.

His love for Harley's which he called Davidsons never ended. He was also known to call them "The Big Iron". He was often heard saying, "Let's put the Big Iron in the wind." He took his own advice and rode to damn near every state with his club's Bird on his back.

While not a fan of organized religion he did believe in a higher power. His belief led to his love for his wife, family, club and country.

He was very proud to have all of these in his life. He spent a major part of his life enjoying hunting and fishing. Later in life he said he head earned the right to only hunt at Publix and fish at Red Lobster.

While he was always an old Lockhart country boy at heart, once he had all he could take of Mickey Mouse his father's home state became his own. But even before that South Carolina was always a big part of his life. 

He truly believed he was blessed to experience a life which many do not get the opportunity to.

He is survived by his wife, Cindy Freeland; a son, Thomas Morton Freeland III (Trey); and a grandson. His sister, Fran (David) Strawn and brother, Mike (Cathy) Freeland and numerous nieces and nephews. Lastly he will always be survived by his huge Warlock family.

He is predeceased by his father Tom, mother Jimmie and sister Beth. Grub now rides with his Warlock Brothers in the final chapter. Family will receive friends Saturday, March 23rd 2019 at Thompson Funeral Home of Lexington from 10:00 am to noon with ride to follow to graveside services at Plum Branch Baptist Church Cemetery in Plum Branch, SC.

Family and friends may sign the online guest book at www.thompsonsfuneral.com and to view full obituary.

Nomads MC member charged with sexual assault

Sydney, Australia (March 5, 2019) BTN — A member of the Nomads motorcycle club has been charged after allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl he met at a train station in Sydney's south-west. 

Police will allege in court the pair spoke at a railway station and while on the train, before the 27-year-old man led the girl to a home in Chester Hill and sexually assaulted her on February 14. Following inquiries, detectives attended a Chester Hill home in the early hours of February 28, where the man was arrested after a violent struggle.

One officer broke their hand and another received leg injuries during the altercation, police said. The man was taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he was treated by paramedics for a head injury before being taken to hospital for further treatment.

Police charged the man with having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14, and resisting or hindering a police officer in execution of their duty. A bedside hearing was conducted, and he was refused bail to appear at Liverpool Local Court on March 13. The man remains in hospital under police guard.

SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald

Outlaws MC: Harry "Taco" Bowman dead at 69

Butner, N.C. (March 3, 2019) BTN — Midwest biker baron Harry (Taco) Bowman died behind bars of cancer over the weekend at 69. The legendary Outlaws Motorcycle Club President ran his empire from Detroit and brought the Outlaws to prominence nationwide, presenting a formidable challenger to Hells Angels founder Ralph (Sonny) Barger as America’s most powerful biker boss at the apex of his reign in the 1990's.

Called “Taco” for his dark complexion and resemblance to someone of Hispanic heritage, Bowman, simultaneously feared, beloved and respected, was serving a life prison sentence in a federal correctional facility for racketeering and murder. He was found guilty at a 2001 trial in Florida, many of the offenses charged being connected to beatings, bombings and coldblooded slayings ordered during the Outlaws ongoing war with Barger’s West Coast-based Hells Angels. Barger and Bowman both took out murder contracts on each other.

Bowman was a gangland chameleon and the consummate underworld politician. He forged strong ties to Detroit’s Italian mafia and Eastern-European criminals in the area and would often shed his long hair, beard and Outlaws “rocker” for a businessman’s cut and three-piece suit in order to build valuable relationships in the white collar world. Living in a mansion on “Mafia Row” in posh Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, he was often chauffeured around town in a custom-designed Rolls Royce and sent his children to an exclusive private school.

When he was elected International President of the Outlaws in 1984, Bowman moved the club’s headquarters from Chicago, where the club was established, to his hometown of Detroit and spearheaded a campaign to take over all of Florida, previously and somewhat currently considered a biker’s no-man’s land, a place where everybody can operate free of territory disputes. A magnetic leader, Bowman also pushed for the diversification of Outlaws street rackets, expanding from an investment structure based primarily on narcotics to a portfolio boasting gambling, loansharking and extortion to augment the drug proceeds.


Upon being indicted in 1997, Bowman went on the run. With the help of the Detroit and Chicago mobs, he avoided arrest for two years. Making it on to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, he was eventually apprehended in a suburb outside Detroit in the summer of 1999. Years earlier, he had beefed with the Detroit mafia over gambling turf but finessed his way out of a murder contract placed on his head and quickly repaired his bond with local mob chieftains.

Bowman’s downfall resulted from the flipping of his main enforcer Wayne (Joe Black) Hicks, who Bowman assigned the task of overseeing Outlaws activity in Florida and getting other motorcycle clubs in the region in line. Hicks came up through the club’s ranks in the Toledo, Ohio chapter. - Scott Burnstein
SOURCE: The Gangster Report
SOURCE: Death Records

Police target schools to prevent future MC members

Sydney, Australia (March 3, 2019) BTN — ACT police have set their sights on the one commodity bikie clubs could not operate without — a steady stream of new members. Senior officers said after years chasing the drugs, money and leadership figures within motorcycle clubs, it was time for a change in tack. While those areas would still be a priority, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said ACT Policing was stepping up their efforts to work with young, vulnerable men targeted as potential motorcycle club recruits. 

Superintendent Moller said one of the great frustrations for police was motorcycle club members convincing young people that the club could improve their life — offering fast money, friendships and a culture that would rally around them and protect them.

He said part of police's efforts would be to shatter that bikie club image, and expose the "false promises" made to young men putting on club colours for the first time. "That's where a big part of this battle will be won," Superintendent Moller said. "Really showing the true elements of outlaw motorcycle gang life, and how people get used."

Superintendent Moller said the club members police most often interacted with were the newest, who were pushed into the highest-risk and most dangerous tasks. He said the rewards offered in organised crime for that kind of work simply were not worth the risks taken. "You've got these young people making really poor decisions with their life, and being used by significant organised crime figures," he said.

"The front line in the new battle between police and bikie clubs was not in clubhouses, but in high schools."

ACT police and other youth services said the clearest signs of trouble could be seen at school — particularly young people struggling in class, running into trouble or simply not turning up at all. Police rely heavily on services like the PCYC and Menslink to work with teenagers at risk of falling into a spiral of homelessness, substance abuse and crime, and becoming easy targets as potential gang recruits.

"The biggest problem we see is when young people start disengaging from education, and start mixing with people that are probably less desirable to be around," Cheryl O'Donnell from Canberra's PCYC said. PCYC runs 20-week "intensive diversionary programs" for teenagers referred to them by police, schools or the judicial system. The programs focused on steering kids away from crime and substance abuse, and putting them back into either education or employment. 

Young men craving a connection Canberra-based youth service Menslink operates in a similar space, targeting young men they identified as lacking social connection and role models. Peter Davis from Menslink said when young men did not have figures to look up to, bikies and other crime figures were happy to fill that void. "A lot of the time it's not money and prestige [young men] are looking for, it's the connection," he said. "So if they can get that connection here, they don't need that connection on the wrong side."

Mr Davis said senior bikies were just exploiting some of society's most vulnerable young people. "They're making a lot of money using young guys to do the hard work for them. That's part of the message that we're trying to get across," he said. Superintendent Moller said going after the young people that wound up filling the junior ranks of gangs was a strategy with plenty of promise. "What we need to do now is restrict the recruitment," he said. "That's something that ACT Policing is working quite hard on doing."

With four motorcycle clubs operating in the ACT, along with other non-bikie organised criminal networks, Superintendent Moller said the strategy was not without its challenges. But he said police were willing to invest in the idea for the long run. "We've got to really spend some effort, spend some time, working on restricting the recruitment into these criminal gangs," he said.

SOURCE: ABC News