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[JCZ]

Taken from yahoo today:     http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-02-02/fast-growing-motorcycle-group-is-largely-for-law-enforcement

One of the nation's fastest-growing motorcycle clubs is composed largely of military, police officers and prison guards




By SADIE GURMAN, Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — One of the nation's fastest-growing motorcycle clubs is composed largely of military, police officers and prison guards. It also embraces the regalia and traditions of outlaw biker gangs — a choice that has provoked deadly clashes with other groups.

The Iron Order club insists it is a law-abiding, charitable brotherhood of family men who just like to ride. But experts say its members are increasingly becoming entangled in violence with other biker groups, blurring the line between professionals who are sworn to uphold the law and a biker culture with a long history of criminal activity.

"It's almost like they are playing dress-up on the weekend and acting out what their perception of an outlaw gang is," said David Devereaux, a spokesman for the National Council of Clubs, which represents hundreds of motorcycle groups. "They create aggressive situations with other motorcycle clubs in opposition to the culture."


The latest skirmish happened Saturday, when the Iron Order and the Mongols motorcycle club clashed in a brawl that left a Mongols member dead.

The two groups blame each other for inciting the violence at the Colorado Motorcycle Expo, a gathering of biker groups from across the country. Police are not sure what set off the fight, which left seven other people shot, stabbed or beaten. More than one person fired a weapon during the melee, including a Colorado Department of Corrections officer who wore patches that clearly identified him as a member of the Iron Order.

No one has been arrested, adding to the frustration of other groups that complain Iron Order members pick fights, then use their law enforcement connections to avoid prosecution.

It's not uncommon to for law enforcement to join motorcycle clubs. Some groups exist exclusively for police, such as the Blue Knights, which has almost 20,000 members and performs community services year-round. A source of friction is that the Iron Order consists of both law enforcement and other professions, and it adopts emblems more common to well-established gangs, according to experts.

The Iron Order says its members have lawfully defended themselves during confrontations provoked by other groups that feel threatened by the club's rapid growth and its open disregard for time-honored rules of motorcycle culture.

An Iron Order recruit fatally shot a member of the Black Pistons motorcycle club during a June 2014 fight outside a bar in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The shooter said members of the other group attacked him and broke his nose. Three people were shot in a February 2015 gunbattle with bikers affiliated with the Bandidos gang. A fourth person was hit over the head with a baton.

A few years earlier, in 2011, an Iron Order member was stabbed by another gang member in South Carolina. And a 2014 melee at a Baltimore strip club involved Iron Order members who were attacked by riders from the Iron Horsemen group who wielded flashlights, hammers, bats and knives.

Accounts of some of those episodes were contained in a 2014 report from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describing the involvement of the military in motorcycle gangs. The report described Iron Order as one of the nation's fastest-growing clubs that continues to expand into territories normally controlled by well-established outlaw gangs despite the violence.

The ATF says the club "infuriated" the most notorious motorcycle gangs, such as the Hells Angels and Pagans, by wearing a three-piece patch arrangement with a crescent-shaped bottom patch bearing the name of a state. The bottom "rocker" historically belonged to outlaw gangs, called "one-percenters." But Iron Order never sought their permission to use it and took colors already claimed by other clubs, said John C. Whitfield, an Iron Order attorney and a member himself.

[JCZ]

Continued:

[The Iron Order group formed in 2004, seeking the mystique of outlaw gangs without the crime, he said. The founders liked the motorcycle fellowship, which reminded them of the camaraderie of a military unit or a police department.

"We wanted to kind of change the dynamics of the motorcycle world," Whitfield said. A lot of members like the three-piece patch for its "cool factor," he said. "There's a little bit of danger that kicks in, and it kind of makes these weekend warriors feel like they are a little bit dangerous. But we're not."

There has been "a ton of pushback" from other groups as a result, Whitfield said.

Other police clubs also wear three-piece patches but have no trouble with other groups, said Stephen Stubbs, an attorney for the Mongols.


"It's not about the patches. It's about Iron Order living out its 'Sons of Anarchy' fantasy, starting fights and causing trouble," Stubbs said, referring to a cable television show about an outlaw motorcycle club.

The Iron Order group usually goes out of its way to avoid crime, even requiring its members to have concealed-carry weapons permits as a way to vet for convicted felons, said Steve Cook, executive director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, which offers training for police agencies.

Iron Order members typically cooperate with law enforcement, while their outlaw counterparts swear against doing so, he said. Yet their disparate membership, which includes people from all professions, seems to invite hostility.

"Most people who ride know not to pretend to be a one-percenter if you're not truly a one-percenter. It's a good way to get attacked," said John Risenhoover, a former ATF agent who has investigated biker gangs. "It's like you're out trying to pick a fight."/size]

[kiro]

Wow - interesting read JC. Can't say I ever heard about these guys previously.

[Fired00d]

IO has chapters in VA and one in my city. Friend of mine used to ride/hang around w/them but decided not to patch in.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[FLSTFI Dave]

Iron Order is nothing like say the Blue Knights.  They seem to go out of there way to aggravate the Big 1% clubs such as HA, OL and so on,

[smkymtnboy]

  keep messin with snakes you are bound to get bite. 

[FlaHeatWave]

There has been some problems with them over this way too...

[turn_key]

Sorry for the long rant but this stuff makes me mad. I belong to an LEMC and we wear the bottom rocker. This subject keeps popping up and I find the arguments ridiculous. A few comments and articles I've read, are basically saying the non 1% clubs who wear a bottom rocker need to seek permission. Does that make any sense? A law enforcement group needs to ask a criminal organization permission to wear something that they have a constitutional right to wear? That is their defense when places refuse entry or participation based on colors; freedom of speech and right to assemble and all that, and who is standing right there to protect those rights? The police. The hypocrisy is astounding. I remember a motorcycle event a few years ago banned colors, and ABATE fought for the rights of outlaw clubs as much as they fought for the 99% clubs.

That being said, I know gangs, and I know what they are about; making money through criminal activity within a territory that they protect with their lives. Period. Other gangs encroach on an established territory and there is bloodshed. I live and work in Chicago and this is a fact of life here. If these gangs and clubs have the slightest suspicion that you are dealing in the territory, they will confront you with violence, and colors, patches, and tattoos mean everything in their world. I was a jail guard for 12 years and now work at dispatch. Those of you who read the papers, watch the news, are only told a fraction of the crime here. 20 people shot, and 3 dead is almost an everyday occurrence.

I get the whole colors-gangs-rocker-outlaw thing, but my club has never had a run in with an outlaw club because we mind our own business, and that's what everyone needs to do. I've met some guys from the outlaw clubs and I don't agree with what they do, but they live their lives the way they want, as do I. The fact that I have a Chicago rocker doesn't mean that I am making a claim on their territory, and that's what every shooting, fight, or confrontation is about between the outlaw clubs. The outlaw clubs know this, and most of the time they leave you alone because there is no threat, or they have nothing to gain, or they just don't want the heat. We have a big LE square right next to our center patch. We don't pose as a gang, we don't pick fights, and unless someone messes with us, we mind our own business. We don't hide who we are, or where we are from, nor go out of our way to aggravate another club, just like FLSTFI Dave said.

I swear some of this stuff is written by sympathizers trying to scare people into not joining a club. Sorry, but they don't own the rights or patent to a 3 patch cut, and wearing one doesn't mean you are in an outlaw club. Sadly some of these gangs and clubs cant see past their own bullchit and think everyone is like them and live by their street rules. I remember processing some little gangbanger years ago. He comes in all cocky, wearing his best ghetto gear (4x red shirt although he's 120lbs, baggy jeans, new air force ones), and boasting about how much rock he slings, and how big his knot is (how much crack cocaine he sells and how much money he has). When I searched his shoes he told me to be careful and "you don't know nothin' bout no Jordans, ya'll cant afford them". After we traded some insults we had a long conversation about jobs, money, and what each of us believe is financially secure. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't by $300 Nikes or put 20in spinners on my car, or why I put money in a bank. He couldn't think outside of his own little world. The color red and new Nikes meant everything to him and he just couldn't believe there were people and a world beyond his little neighborhood that don't care about those things.

There are dirty/good cops, there are dirty/good clubs, and neither good cops or clubs want to be lumped into the bad group and be guilty by association. Bikers have a reputation to begin with, but what the media has done lately is despicable. 1% has become synonymous with criminal, and maybe some clubs have embraced that. Other clubs that aren't one or the other get labeled as criminal anyway, and that is a shame. Being a biker used to mean non-conformity, now it means you are a scumbag. Being the police these days isn't good either, officers can thank the media for that one too.

Maybe people are mimicking the outlaw clubs because they watched sons of anarchy once too many times? I don't know, but what I do know is to mind your own business, don't mess with people, and if you don't want the attention of a gang, then don't act like you are in a gang. They don't know you, or "what you be about", and will not hesitate to make you an example.

[RoadDawg]

"I get the whole colors-gangs-rocker-outlaw thing, but my club has never had a run in with an outlaw club because we mind our own business, and that's what everyone needs to do. I've met some guys from the outlaw clubs and I don't agree with what they do, but they live their lives the way they want, as do I. The fact that I have a Chicago rocker doesn't mean that I am making a claim on their territory, and that's what every shooting, fight, or confrontation is about between the outlaw clubs. The outlaw clubs know this, and most of the time they leave you alone because there is no threat, or they have nothing to gain, or they just don't want the heat. We have a big LE square right next to our center patch. We don't pose as a gang, we don't pick fights, and unless someone messes with us, we mind our own business. We don't hide who we are, or where we are from, nor go out of our way to aggravate another club, just like FLSTFI Dave said."

Amen, Brother. I'm in a LE Club as well. In the past 13 years, I've run into Warlocks, Outlaws and Pagans while wearing my colors and never had a problem with them for the same reasons you say. Thanks for taking the time to tell the truth about LE Clubs.

[turn_key]

Thanks RoadDawg. My club had a meeting and denounced Iron Order's actions. People always complain about the blue wall/shield or whatever, I can tell you that's bullchit. None of us support acting that way, on the job or off. We heard a rumor that HA has a shoot on sight order for IO members for a previous altercation. Be safe out there.

[RoadDawg]

Thanks RoadDawg. My club had a meeting and denounced Iron Order's actions. People always complain about the blue wall/shield or whatever, I can tell you that's bullchit. None of us support acting that way, on the job or off. We heard a rumor that HA has a shoot on sight order for IO members for a previous altercation. Be safe out there.

Thanks for the heads-up. No doubt this feud will affect other LE Clubs.