NYTimes | The
difficulties facing the police and prosecutors were foreshadowed by the
last mass arrest of bikers in the United States. In that case, in 2002,
three motorcycle gang members were killed and about a dozen others were
injured in a shooting and knifing brawl in Laughlin, Nev. The brawl
broke out at Harrah’s Casino and Hotel between the Hells Angels and the
Mongols, all of whom were attending an annual motorcycle rally. About
120 people were detained by law enforcement. A total of 44 Hells Angels
were indicted in federal court, but only seven were convicted. Six
Mongols members pleaded guilty to state charges.
“Oftentimes,
these mass prosecutions fail because of the overreach,” said Robert
Draskovich, a Las Vegas criminal defense lawyer who represented a member
of the Hells Angels in the Laughlin case. The charges against his
client were dropped. In the Waco case, Mr. Draskovich predicted, “the
majority of these people will walk.”
Officials,
however, have defended their handling of the arrests and the $1 million
bonds. “I set that bond because there was nine people killed, and I
felt that was appropriate for the incident that occurred,” said Walter
H. Peterson, the justice of the peace in McLennan County who made the
decision.
Sgt.
W. Patrick Swanton, a spokesman for the Waco Police Department, said
the three bikers who had been released — Juan Garcia, Drew King and Jim
Harris, all of Austin — were back in custody. The three men were
arrested Sunday after they rode up to the scene carrying weapons and
wearing motorcyle-gang colors, Sergeant Swanton said. After their
release, new arrest warrants were issued for them, and bond was set at
$1 million for each, he said.
“They were not mistakenly released,” he added.
Law
enforcement officials and gang experts said conflicts between two
motorcycle groups, the Bandidos and the Cossacks, had led to the
shooting outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in south Waco on Sunday. The
shooting, which left nine bikers dead and 18 others wounded, stemmed
from both petty disputes and broader tensions over the smaller group,
the Cossacks, failing to pay respect, and money, to its larger rival,
the Bandidos, officials said.
