Members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club have been convicted of offenses including meth trafficking, firearms violations, robbery, assault and murder. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is described as an organized crime syndicate by the US Department of Justice; the list of its criminal activities is so extensive that it rates its own entry in Wikipedia.
The two clubs have a history of bad blood – literally. In 2002 they had a little disagreement in a Nevada casino that resulted in one Mongol being stabbed to death and two Hells Angels being shot to death.
So when members of these two estimable organizations got together at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center during the Run to the Cascades biker rally last week, it wasn’t likely that they’d spend an afternoon sipping tea, eating watercress sandwiches and complimenting each other’s begonias. And they fully lived up – or down – to expectations.According to police, some Mongols got into a dispute with some Angels that ended with the Mongols threatening the Angels with violence if they didn’t leave the fairgrounds within 15 minutes. Weapons allegedly were flashed. It took 40 cops to break up the squabble. The Angels left, but reportedly promised they’d be back soon with reinforcements.
That was enough for the Redmond Police and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Department, who contacted Expo Center officials and suggested the rally should be shut down. The officials agreed, and fortunately bloodshed was averted.
The police and fairgrounds officials deserve praise for acting quickly enough to prevent what could have been serious carnage. At the same time, we have to wonder what possessed the fairgrounds officials to book an event like this in the first place. Given the ethos and history of motorcycle gangs – especially the “one-percenter” outlaw gangs – violence was completely predictable. (By the time the rally was shut down, three attendees had been arrested on assorted charges ranging from disorderly conduct to attempted murder.)
But every cloud has a silver lining or two, and there are at least two of them to this shabby episode. One is that police are urging fairgrounds officials not to host another biker rally. “This event is something I will strongly advocate to never be held here again,” Redmond Police Capt. Brian McNaughton told reporters.
We couldn’t agree more. Central Oregonians might have to tolerate outlaw motorcycle gangs passing through, but we don’t have to go out of our way to attract them.
The other bright spot is that by getting the rally shut down early the Mongols prevented a performance by Foghat, a truly horrible “classic rock” cover band that’s been hanging on like grim death since its glory days of the mid-1970s. (Its original lead singer, Lonesome Dave Peverett, joined the celestial choir 12 years ago, and only one original member of the band remains.)
Although they might not be the kind of guys you’d want your daughter to bring home, the Mongols’ public service in blocking Foghat’s performance deserves everybody’s gratitude, so we’re giving them THE GLASS SLIPPER. On second thought, make that a steel-toed glass motorcycle boot.
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2012.
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I wish we didn’t have to tolerate these scumbags or the morons that imitate them (poseur professionals or professional poseurs?), rumbling through town and flicking thier throttles at stop lights, to the effect of a malfunctioning jackhammer, and violating our soundscape. If half the country didn’t idolize these idiots, perhaps we’d actually enforce the noise ordinance when it comes to Harley-Davidsons, and discourage them from even passing through. Rather, we just waste that energy on kids with booming subs and fart-can exhausts installed on compact cars, much less revenue-generating concerts and events. Tell me, is it any more absurd for 50-something doctors and lawyers to imatate nasty methhead low-lifes than it is for their suburban-privileged progeny to imitate Compton thugs? I can’t wait for this silly trend to die. Perhaps when Foghat has played their last note, we can finally let seventies and the its bikes go too.
I get the humor in this and that you’re not actually congratulating motorcycle thugs, but Foghat is no joking matter. Foghat is the greatest American rock band in the history of great American rock bands. Better than Skynrd, that’s for sure. How DARE YOU sully the name of an institution such as Foghat. Without Foghat, there would be no Nirvana or Led Zeppelin or Nickelback. Right now, for instance, I’m sitting here in my mom’s basement absolutely CRANKING some Foghat. And it’s not same bullshit-ass “Slow Ride.” I’m into the deep, deep album cuts you’ve never even heard of because your feeble minds probably couldn’t handle the mere mention of these track titles. Try again, Source. On another note, I like the stories from the guy who talks about owls and frogs and looking at birds and stuff. Give him a raise.
“The police and fairgrounds officials deserve praise for acting quickly enough to prevent what could have been serious carnage. At the same time, we have to wonder what possessed the fairgrounds officials to book an event like this in the first place. Given the ethos and history of motorcycle gangs – especially the “one-percenter” outlaw gangs – violence was completely predictable.”
This is a false statement….. I was there… The police did nothing and deserve no praise. If anything the need to go back to the police academy. They forced the town of Redmond out of money by shutting the rally down and let all the bad guys win once again.
I was there.So was my daughter.We no sooner walked in and the security was telling everyone they had to leave.They announced it over the loud speakers 2 times.We kept walking around anyway just to see what was going on.We overheard one of the vendors say the two biker gangs made threats,then security walked up and told the vendors they had to break down there stands and leave.From what I have since heard,no one was offered refunds for expensive admit tickets just to get in the gate much less the money the vendors spent on there spaces.The cops were standing in front of the arena Foghat was suppose to perform in.They didn’t do anything that we saw.No one did,really.
I wonder what Keller’s comdemnation of the police would have been had the gangs been allowed to go at each other and innocent people were hurt (or worse). I am sorry people lost money. I suggest a class action law suit against the Mongols.
No Nickleback without Foghat? I think that helps to make the TSW’s point. Rock music took a nosedive in the seventies, if you catch my drift, and bands like Foghat made it all a big joke, all the mjore hilarious because people bought their records. Can we get the Mongols and Angels to invade the next Chicago show? David Clayton Thomas ruined a good band.
Hopefully the police would not just sit by and let the gangs fight it out they would handle the problem with full riot gear, having a plan before the event might have been a good plan being both clubs were present at last year rally and that a booth was put up by a outlaw club know as the Hells Angles (have you herd of them). The police in Central Oregon, OSP and any ATF need to fight crime not just sent it on its way to the next community. Mongols won they ran off the HA’s and scared the police. In the minds of a criminal they will feed on the weak and central Oregon police showed weakness from there actions at the rally. I think it is very easy to spot a 1r; connected to a gang. In this case it was 35-40 that all wore the same giants symbols on there backs and ride the noisiest machines ever made and all walked about 2ft apart into the descutes county fair grounds in the middle of the day. How about stopping them at the gate searching them or denying them access to the fairgrounds, checking IDs let them know that this is a Central Oregon event and no criminals will get in the way of good people and the community events they attend.
Mongols are growing faster than any club in Oregon and I could see them becoming more a part of Central Oregon. They just got the best publicity they could have asked for. Chasing the HA’s away and shutting down a 3,000 biker rally in about 40 mins from there arrival.
Hell Angles should just wipe- out the mongols. we don’t need them in Oregon.they are a real peace of shit
You guys don’t understand anything about motorcycle clubs do you? It’s not a gang. Got that? And secondly what good does it bring getting in there business. You just might end up dead to