The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in McCook, Illinois, in 1935, the Outlaws MC is the oldest outlaw biker club in the world. Outlaws members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
The club is designated an organized crime syndicate by numerous law enforcement and international intelligence agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, and Europol.
History
Originating as the McCook Outlaws MC, the club was founded by Electro-Motive Company employees at Matilda's bar on Route 66 in the southwestern Chicago suburb of McCook, Illinois, in 1935. John Davis was reportedly the founder of the club. Although inactive during World War II, the Outlaws re-formed afterwards and attended the first major postwar motorcycle rally, held at Soldier Field in Chicago in May 1946. By 1950, the club had begun recruiting members from around the Chicago area and was renamed the Chicago Outlaws MC after relocating its headquarters to the South Side of the city. In 1964, the Outlaws merged with the Cult biker club from Voorheesville, New York, the Gypsy Outlaws of Milwaukee, and the Gypsy Raiders in Louisville, Kentucky, becoming the largest "one percenter" club east of the Mississippi River and the second-largest in the United States after the California-based Hells Angels. On January 1, 1965, the various aligned clubs incorporated as the American Outlaws Association. The Outlaws further expanded into Florida in July 1967 by "patching over" the Iron Cross club in West Palm Beach.
The club featured in a work of photojournalism called The Bikeriders published in 1967 by Danny Lyon, a collection of photographs and interviews documenting the lifestyle of members of the club in the 1960s. Lyon spent four years riding with the Outlaws' Chicago chapter beginning in 1963 and became a full-fledged member of the club in "an attempt to record and glorify the life of the American bike rider". The Bikeriders preceded Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs by Hunter S. Thompson, who warned Lyon that he should "get the hell out of that club unless it's absolutely necessary for photo action."
During the early 1970s, a power struggle for control of the Outlaws developed between a faction of "beer drinkers" and a rival group of club members who preferred to smoke marijuana. Several Outlaws gang members, including John Davis the reputed founder of the Outlaws, were killed by a "pot smoker" and Vietnam veteran during a shootout near Lake Shore Drive on the North Side of Chicago as a result of the feud, leaving 11 dead.
The Outlaws' long-standing rivalry with the Hells Angels began when 3 Hells Angel bikers were executed and beheaded by Outlaw members in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 27, 1974. The triple murder was carried out in retaliation for the earlier beating of an Outlaw by a Hells Angel, which took place in New York City on December 31, 1973. The Hells Angels declared war on the Outlaws during a club summit held in Cleveland later in 1974. The deadly conflict resulted in over 1,000 fatalities in each club in the following decades. The club further expanded internationally, into France in 1993, Australia in 1994, and Norway in 1995. Additional chapters were subsequently established throughout Europe.
Insignia
thumb|Outlaws members wearing club "colors"
The Outlaws' original insignia consisted of a head-on view of a motorcycle in a winged circle, which was hand-painted onto the back of members' jackets. In 1950, the club's logo was changed; a small skull replaced the winged motorcycle, and Old English-style letters were adopted. This design was embroidered on a black shirt or hand-painted onto leather jackets. Influenced by the fictional Black Rebel Motorcycle Club depicted in the film The Wild One, the Outlaws added crossed pistons affixed to the original small skull in 1954, a design embroidered on a black western-style shirt with white piping. The skull and crossed pistons logo, known as "Charlie", was redesigned in 1959, making it larger and with more detail. In 1963, the Outlaws began wearing a diamond-shaped "1%er" patch, becoming the first club east of the Mississippi River to do so. The "one percenter" emblem was originally adopted by several California biker clubs beginning in 1960. After incorporating as the American Outlaws Association in 1965, the club added an additional A.O.A. patch to its "colors", featuring an upstretched middle finger in a rounded triangle. The A.O.A. emblem was adopted as a parody of the A.M.A. logo. A patch listing a member's rank within the organization is also worn by club officers. An "S.S." patch featuring twin lightning bolts is allegedly awarded to members who have committed murder, attempted murder or a bombing on behalf of the club. A black-and-white color scheme is associated with the Outlaws, as is Totenkopf imagery, symbols such as a hand clenching a pistol, and paraphernalia featuring the phrases "Support Black & White" and "Support Your Local Outlaws", or "SYLO".
In 1969, the club adopted the motto "God forgives, Outlaws don't" ("GFOD"). The Outlaws' rivalry with the Hells Angels has given rise to other phrases used by Outlaws members; namely "ADIOS" (the Spanish word for "goodbye", but in this case doubling as an acronym for "Angels Die In Outlaw States"), and "All Hells Angels must die", or "AHAMD". "Snitches are a dying breed" as well as the more generic "Outlaws forever, forever Outlaws" ("OFFO") are other mottos used by the club. Patches featuring these various abbreviations are commonly worn by Outlaws members. Outlaws in the United States and Canada are essentially limited to riding Indian, Victory and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which are most common in the club.
To be formally inducted into club, applicants have to be sponsored by a member, and they begin as an associate, or "hangaround", in order to assist the chapter, before being made a prospective member, or "prospect"; if he is approved by the club, then a prospect is moved up to probationary, or "probate", status, a position in which he is required to demonstrate his commitment to the club. A probate is identified by wearing a mandatory patch on a cut-off leather or denim vest reading: "Probationary Outlaws". The highest level of membership in the Outlaws is "patched" or "patchwearing" member, which is attained by a unanimous vote of each chapter. Upon becoming a full-fledged member, an Outlaw is permitted to wear a vest bearing the club's insignia, known as "colors", and to attend weekly "church" meetings. Regarding contact with non-club members, Outlaws are required to adhere to a "strict no comment policy". Incarcerated Outlaws members are known as "Lounge Lizards": the club maintains a list and collects money on their behalf. An Outlaw who has served a prison sentence is entitled to receive an "LL", or "Lounge Lizard", tattoo. Each chapter is headquartered at a clubhouse, which is typically a building secured by concrete walls, steel doors, razor wire, guard dogs, and video surveillance. Clubhouses are used to host "church" meetings and parties. According to law enforcement, the Outlaws' internal enforcer squad is known as the "S.S.".
The Outlaws' territory in the United States is divided into ten color-coded regions; the black region (Indiana and Michigan), the blue region (Pennsylvania), the copper region (North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia), the gold region (Wisconsin), the gray region (Tennessee), the green region (Kentucky, Ohio and Oklahoma), the orange region (Florida), the red region (New England and the Philadelphia metro area), the silver region (Alabama and Georgia), and the white region (Illinois). Formerly, the club's territory was divided into three areas; "Central", headquartered in Chicago; "North", headquartered in Detroit; and "South", headquartered in Oklahoma City. The South Side, Chicago chapter was designated the club's "mother chapter" in 1964 and is known as the "Mother Ship" among Outlaws members. During the presidency of Harry "Taco" Bowman, from 1984 until 1999, the Outlaws' leadership was based in Detroit. Bowman's successor, James "Big Frank" Wheeler, relocated the club's headquarters to Tampa, Florida. The subsequent Outlaws international president, Jack Rosga, was based in Milwaukee. In April 2021, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi alleged in court papers that the current international president of the Outlaws is John Ermin, the general manager of Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club in Cheektowaga, New York.
Support clubs
Each major Outlaws chapter maintains one to five support clubs, smaller motorcycle clubs which are within the Outlaws' sphere of influence. Members of such clubs are permitted to attend Outlaws events and wear "support" patches which identify them with the Outlaws, and are required to perform menial tasks and guard duties on the Outlaws' behalf. According to law enforcement, the Outlaws utilize support clubs to carry out retail-level drug distribution and violent crimes in order to insulate the
club from possible criminal liability.
The official, and primary, support club for the Outlaws is the Black Pistons Motorcycle Club, which is active internationally. Other support clubs range from local groups, such as the Undertakers MC in Lexington, Kentucky, to regional clubs like the Chosen Few MC, which is based in Canada and Upstate New York. In Norway, the Outlaws oversee the Black & White Crew, a "street crew" in which members are not required to own a motorcycle.
Criminal allegations and incidents
The Outlaws are classified by various law enforcement agencies in the United States as one of the "big four" motorcycle gangs, along with the Bandidos, the Hells Angels, and the Pagans. The Department of Justice contends that the club is involved in organized crime, including drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution rings, weapons trafficking, and violent acts directed at rival clubs. One recurring allegation is that the Outlaws are responsible for the production and distribution of methamphetamine. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies internationally, including the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada and Europol, also consider the Outlaws a criminal organization. A saying used by members of the club is: "Outlaws we are, RICO we're not".