From Bandidos to Vagos, the most dangerous US biker gangs

Washington, May 19 (IANS/EFE) Bandidos, Vagos, Outlaws, Mongols -- these dangerous US motorcycle gangs bear the unmistakable stamp of leather and gasoline and links to violence and drugs.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) describes them as "highly structured criminal organisations whose members engage in criminal activities such as violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking".

In the latest explosion of gang violence, nine people died and 18 were wounded in Waco, Texas on Sunday, while 170 others were arrested and charged with engaging in organised crime, after a firefight in a restaurant between members of five rival gangs which US media reported to include Cossacks and Bandidos.

The Bandidos, the largest US gang, boasts a membership of 2,000-2,500 across 14 countries and is considered one of the most dangerous gangs amongst the 300 listed by the DOJ.

With approximately 900 members in 93 chapters in the US, the Bandidos is trafficking cocaine, marijuana and meth, a drug it also produces, according to the DOJ.

The Cossacks, although smaller, has staked a claim in Texas.

In their black and gold strip, media says members compare their motorcycles with the horses that Russian Cossacks rode 400 years ago.

Also listed is the Black Pistons, with an expanding presence in Canada, the US and Europe.

It is backed by the Outlaws gang, which helped it gain a foothold in the US in 2002 and now uses it to source members and for drug trafficking.

The Outlaws has 1,700 members in 12 countries outside the US and dominates in the Great Lakes region where it engages in kidnapping, homicide and fraud and money laundering activities.

The Hells Angels, present in 27 countries, is the Outlaws' main rival and traffics methamphetamine, cocaine, hashish, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, PCP (phencyclidine) and diverted pharmaceuticals, says the DOJ.

In the 1980s, the Mongols seized control of Southern California from Hells Angels and has joined forces with the Bandidos, the Outlaws and two other gangs -- the Sons of Silence and the Pagans -- against Hells Angels.

Mongols members are Hispanic males living in Los Angeles, many former members of criminal groups with a long history of violence.

The last gang on the DOJ's most dangerous list is the Vagos, with hundreds of members in Mexico and the US involved in drug trafficking, murder, assault, extortion and intimidation.