Shootings, fires, and fights: Nationwide increase in outlaw biker violence seeping into Oklahoma

Just before 8 p.m. on April 13, a man rode his motorcycle into the parking lot of a southside Panda Express. Soon after, he was followed by several more bikers who rumbled into the same area.

Moments after the bikers thundered into the parking lot, Oklahoma City police received calls that a man was being attacked. The bikers fled before officers arrived.

A lone biker remained and was described by police in court documents as showing “visible signs he had been assaulted.”

He told officers he didn’t want their help. When officers informed him he was free to leave, the biker rode away.

Police say the group of suspected attackers were associated with the Fear City Firing Squad motorcycle club, which describes itself online as “respectfully representing patriotism, the right to carry, safe firearms ownership and motorcycles.”

The alleged victim was a prospect — someone seeking to join a motorcycle club — associated with the Homietos.

The U.S. Department of Justice describes the Homietos as an outlaw motorcycle gang. They are associated with Tango Blast, a Texas prison gang. The motorcycle club’s motto is “pocos pero locos,” meaning “few but crazy.”

Two days after the Panda Express episode in which the Homietos prospect reportedly was jumped, the Fear City clubhouse in Oklahoma City was set on fire.

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Witnesses said two men wearing all black clothes with hoods and face coverings kicked in the door just a little before midnight, poured gasoline all over the floor, lit the fire and fled in a black sedan.

On July 1 in Oklahoma County District Court, Jordan Ysasaga, 26, was charged with felony first-degree arson and felony gang-related offense. In a probable cause affidavit, Ysasaga is described by an Oklahoma City police investigator as the local president of the Homietos.

The attacks might appear to some as isolated incidents signifying little more than a random skirmish.

But recent arrests and court cases — along with police records, interviews with federal and state authorities, and documented plans of more clashes to come — reveal a disturbing rise in outlaw biker violence in Oklahoma.

The threats include shootings on Oklahoma streets and interstates.

While they operate largely out of public view, outlaw motorcycle gangs impact communities through criminal activities often connected to international cartels.

Indeed, heading off outlaw biker activity is a high-stakes game of keeping the public safe.

“Whether that’s trafficking people, moving weapons and enforcing some type of criminal harm, to moving drugs — if there’s money to be made, criminal biker gangs definitely do step out and take those opportunities to make their money,” said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

As to the Homietos conflict with Fear City, one chronicler of underworld violence told The Oklahoman more can be expected.

“Those things are never one-off deals,” said Scott Burnstein, a Michigan-based journalist who writes at gangsterreport.com and who is the executive producer of “ Hells Angels: Kingdom Come ,” a new VICE documentary series. “I would say that those kinds of situations are part and parcel to violent conflicts that don't last just a day or a week.”

‘Getting real:’ Outlaw biker gang violence goes back to the 1940s

Outlaw motorcycle gangs sprung up in the United States in the 1940s. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was founded in 1948 near San Bernardino, California.

Hells Angels, along with Pagans, Vagos, Sons of Silence, Outlaws, Bandidos and Mongols are among the largest outlaw motorcycle gangs, according to the FBI.

A common story is that they are known as “1%” gangs because the American Motorcyclist Association once declared that 99% of motorcyclists are law-abiding citizens, meaning just 1% were outlaws.

Along with the growth of outlaw motorcycle gangs came territorial wars over control of the illicit trade market. With the money came violence, which has led to prolonged cycles of retribution.

Bad blood between the Outlaws Motorcycle Club and the Pagans Motorcycle Club has led to deadly shootings in the United States, including Oklahoma.

Outlaws member Steven Roberts, 58, was sentenced last year to 13 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter in the 2021 shooting death of Daniel Aaron, 33, a member of the Pagans, in the area of U.S. 62 and 3300 Road near Harrah.

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Before noon on Sept. 12, 2021, witnesses reported a motorcycle crash to the Lincoln County Emergency 911 Center.

Brandon Drain, a prospect for the Pagans who was riding alongside Aaron, told investigators he saw Aaron nodding off and swerving his motorcycle before crashing the bike. Drain told investigators when he approached Aaron, he saw that Aaron had a lump on the front of his neck.

Aaron's preliminary cause of death was homicide, and his manner of death was a gunshot wound to the back, according to court documents.

Drain, who told investigators he was a prospect and Aaron was a Pagans member, told authorities that he and Aaron rode out from Midwest City and while traveling east on NW 23 between Harrah and Choctaw, two motorcycles passed them going west.

Drain told investigators the motorcycle riders were wearing black Outlaw Motorcycle Club vests, according to a probable cause affidavit written by an agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Drain said in Harrah he saw two motorcycles ride up behind him and Aaron. The motorcycles followed them onto U.S. 62. Drain said when the motorcycles passed them, Aaron immediately drifted into the opposing lane of traffic and crashed his motorcycle.

The motorcycle that passed closest to Aaron was occupied by a driver and female rear passenger, Drain told investigators. He said he heard one gunshot and fired two rounds, but did not aim at the Outlaws.

Investigators learned of messages between Roberts and an associate — months before the deadly shooting — in which they discussed Pagans activity.

“Yeah. They have moved into TX and OK,” Roberts wrote.

"Damn,” his associate wrote.

"(Expletive) getting real,” Roberts replied.

Burnstein, the journalist, explained to The Oklahoman that the shooting of Aaron was likely part of an ongoing battle between the traditionally East Coast-based Pagans and other outlaw motorcycle gangs in the country.

A few years ago, the Pagans issued a “blue wave” mandate to set up new chapters in states all over the country, Burnstein said. This led to turf wars in places where rival gangs had strongholds.

“The ripple effect of this blue wave is creating these scenarios where you have three major biker clubs in America — the Pagans, the Outlaws, the Hells Angels — all in this kind of circular firing squad.”

Burnstein said Oklahoma is known as Outlaws territory, and the gang has functioned here since the late 1970s. But with Outlaw attrition due to members locked away in prison or a lack of new members, the Pagans might have “smelled blood in the water” and decided to start a chapter here.

“From 1977 to 2017 — four decades — it’s undisputed Outlaws territory,” Burnstein said. “And by the late part of the 2010s and the 2020s, the Pagans who had been 2,000 miles away showed up at your doorstep. It shakes things up. They enacted a kill-on-sight order and Danny Aaron was murdered.”

Less than two years later, a deadly shoot-out between outlaw bikers at an Oklahoma City bar would bring the Sooner State international attention.

A new biker war in Oklahoma?

On the night of April 1, 2023, a shoot-out between the Homietos and the Bandidos Motorcycle Club at the Whiskey Barrel Saloon, 4120 Newcastle Road , left three dead, one person seriously wounded and two people with injuries that were not life threatening.

The shooting — which took the lives of Eric Oberholtzer, 29; Andrew Sump, 28; and Francisco Tanajara, 38 — was part of what some consider an ongoing feud that extends into Texas.

More than a dozen people have been charged in the case, with several convictions including conspiracy to commit a felony, gang related offenses, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm while in commission of a felony, and accessory to murder.

In October, Douglas Jacobs, 48, is scheduled to face trial for first-degree murder.

In an affidavit, an investigator with the Oklahoma City Police Department wrote that it is believed members of the Bandidos “came to this bar, with support clubs, for the purpose of attacking the Homietos and acted in concert thereof.”

According to court documents, video surveillance showed Oberholtzer and fellow Homietos member Tyler Myers walking into the bar and followed by several Bandidos, including Sump, and their support club members.

Sump rushed behind Myers and struck him “in the head, causing him to fall down,” according to the affidavit. As the brawl ensued, Myers used a chair to fight and also pulled a gun from his hip, the affidavit said.

Meanwhile, Jacobs had entered the bar through the back door, and pulled a gun from his hip, according to the affidavit.

Sump and others, including Tanajara, could be seen walking toward Oberholtzer.

In a hail of gunfire, Oberholtzer engaged both Tanajara and Sump. Investigators said it appeared Sump fell near a stage area and crawled on the floor to avoid Oberholtzer, who had struck Tanajara with gunfire.

Myers was then seen firing at Tanajara, who at that point was also crawling on the floor, according to the affidavit.

Sump took cover from Oberholtzer but was shot at by Myers.

“Almost simultaneously, Douglas Jacobs can be seen shooting, causing Eric Obrholtzer to fall to the ground ...,” an investigator wrote in the affidavit.

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Seconds later, Sump is still seen crawling on the floor when Myers again shoots toward him.

“It appears with this shot, Andrew Sump falls to the ground and into some chairs,” the affidavit reads. “As Andrew Sump moves, a trail of blood can be seen and he can be seen holding something in his hand, possibly a gun.”

In Oklahoma County District Court, Myers pleaded guilty to felony first-degree manslaughter, possession of a firearm while in commission of a felony and gang-related offense.

He received suspended sentences, including a 20-year suspended sentence for the first-degree manslaughter offense.

Days after the deadly shooting at Whiskey Barrel , three bikers were shot and killed along Interstate 45 in Walker and Montgomery counties in Texas. Police said the victims wore Bandidos clothing.

According to reports, investigators were looking into whether the shootings were related to the deadly clash at Whiskey Barrel.

The Oklahoman City Police Department declined to comment on specific biker violence for this story.

“Our officers work very hard to identify and address criminal gang activity, regardless of whether those involved are bikers or belong to other types of street gangs,” Master Sgt. Gary Knight said in an email. “We monitor their activities and try to proactively prevent violence any time we can.”

Planning hits in Oklahoma City

Also in 2023, arrests were made during a federal investigation into biker violence in New Mexico.

That investigation included a chilling portrayal of potential violence on Oklahoma streets.

Through confidential informants, investigators learned of the early stages of an alleged plot by Oklahoma-based Bandidos to fire at Mongols Motorcycle Club members “from side streets, at intersections, on freeway overpasses or the open roadway.”

“Law enforcement officials in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma have observed a sharp increase in violence between the BMC and MMC over the past four years,” Bryan Acee, an FBI special agent, wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant just last August. “The violence did not start four years ago, rather it seems to have escalated during that time frame and remains ongoing.”

When he learned of the recent flareup between the Homietos and Fear City, Acee told The Oklahoman in a phone interview:

“That would be a little alarming to me as an investigator. There is probably some retaliation that likely has to do with disrespect.”

Because outlaw biker gangs have thousands of members, with chapters home and abroad, the potential threat of violence across state lines is ever present.

Alexander M.M. Uballez, who serves as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, told The Oklahoman these are “incredibly violent groups” with internal and external infrastructures.

Last August, Uballez, along with other federal and state authorities, announced the arrest of two men in a multi-agency operation targeting the Bandidos.

Authorities said several Bandidos members from New Mexico and Texas confronted members of the Water Dogs Motorcycle Club in a “continuation of months of harassment by the Bandidos concerning whether the Water Dogs MC had aligned itself with the Bandidos or Mongols.”

Two Bandidos members and one Water Dogs member were shot to death. Five bystanders were wounded.

After the deadly shooting last year, authorities in New Mexico created the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Task Force.

Authorities across several cities seized 151 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, ballistics vests, cocaine, meth and fentanyl. Authorities also recovered a stolen police radio.

Seventeen confidential informants, including Bandidos members, were used in the investigation. They provided background information on the gang and its structure, and sat in on several Bandidos meetings.

“They are really people who are as tired of the bloodshed as you are,” Uballez told The Oklahoman.

Deep in the FBI affidavit for a search warrant, alarming details emerged about possible violence in Oklahoma between the Bandidos and the Mongols.

Some of the informants told authorities Bandidos members in New Mexico were communicating with fellow members in Oklahoma and Texas who were conducting research on Mongols members for the purpose of targeting them.

One informant told investigators two Bandidos “were planning to hit some MMC members when they rode across I-40 from Arizona to Albuquerque or Oklahoma City.”

According to the affidavit, when questioned about using members from other chapters or states to commit violence locally, the informants said such was a common practice among Bandidos.

“The sources explained brothers from other chapters, to include out of state chapters, would come into New Mexico and take out rivals or other persons who had run afoul of the BMC so the local members would have alibis and not be blamed for the crime,” Acee wrote in the affidavit. “In turn, local BMC members might be called upon to travel to Texas, Oklahoma, Washington or other states to ‘put in work’ for the BMC.”

The informants said some of the recent shootings in New Mexico had been conducted in the same manner “and future homicides would occur in a similar fashion,” according to the affidavit.

“They are well-connected,” Acee told The Oklahoman.

Acee said one sign of the increased violence among outlaw biker clubs is the bullet-proof vest many wear on long rides.

“That these guys are riding from one location to the other and wearing ballistics vests — that's something I didn't see 25 years ago,” he said.

'Sons of Anarchy' may have played a role in biker gang popularity

One former member of an outlaw motorcycle gang spoke to The Oklahoman on the condition that he not be named.

“In the last four or five years we've seen an astonishing increase in club-on-club violence,” the former member, who is based out of state, said.

He explained several other reasons for violence among bikers. One might be that a particular club makes a practice of taking in members without proper screening. Some clubs don’t have structures in place and members may run amok, he said.

“In Oklahoma, this is one of the absolute biggest causes for violence, is that the new club or the upstart chapter is started by former members of the current 1% club,” he said. “Former members of one gang start a chapter of another gang. And within 90 days you have three shootings.”

Burnstein said biker wars lead to a second phase of various gangs forming alliances.

“Outlaws and Hells Angels have come to the table to talk peace because of the Pagans,” he said. “These are two groups that have had a shooting war for half a century. It’s interesting to see where we are today. Then the third phase is where the third groups — like the Homietos — have to find a port in the storm, and they create storms at all three levels. It has sparked an era of confusion and violence because the landscape had been in place in terms of the Outlaws being top dog in Oklahoma.”

Burnstein said another factor has been Hollywood.

“I would say ‘ Sons of Anarchy’ played a role,” he said. “It made being a biker cool again, and it really spurred a renaissance around the country in outlaw biker circles among people who never had thought about being a biker. People without long hair, beards and tattoos everywhere. People feel like Jax Teller.”

Older outlaw bikers enjoy younger riders because they have the energy and zeal to further the cause of the gang, Burnstein said.

“You have a whole new generation of outlaw bikers who have been ushered into this outlaw world for 10 to 15 years. It’s a wildfire across the outlaw biker landscape in America, and I would even say North America, going into Canada. It’s been an era of outlaw violence.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shootings, fires, and fights: Nationwide increase in outlaw biker violence seeping into Oklahoma