#Bandidos cossacks Patch

'That was saying, we're not going to be taking direction from you - we're going to be standing on our own two feet,' Edwards said. The move to wear the 'bottom rocker' by the Cossacks is not entirely unexpected, however, he said - though the Bandidos are a much larger club nationally and internationally, the two clubs are on more even footing in Texas.

#Bandidos cossacks Patch

Stronger motorcycle clubs sometimes threaten to take the 'bottom rocker' patch off the backs of weaker clubs as a sign of humiliation. The patch is the bottom of three worn on the backs of those in motorcycle clubs, and it's taken very seriously in biker culture, according to Edwards. 'They'd have to know they'd get a strong response.' 'For them to do something like this, to know how much it would enrage the Bandidos, it's really provocative,' said Edwards, who has researched and written extensively on the Bandidos and biker culture. Though the Cossacks have been in Texas since 1969, they didn't claim Texas as their territory on the patch known as a 'bottom rocker' until last year, according to Peter Edwards, a Toronto star reporter and author of 'The Bandido Massacre: A Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal,' a book about the 2006 slaying of eight Canadian members of the Bandidos. 'And they were there to kind of talk about this thing at that coalition meeting, and it led from a parking space dispute to full-fledged gun battle.' There wasn't violence that was going on, but it was kind of building up,' Queen explained.

'The Cossacks were getting tired of being pushed around and pretty much 'called it' on the Banditos. He told CBSN's Jeff Glor the dispute between two of the gangs - the much-smaller Cossacks, which has ties to the Hell's Angels, and the Bandidos, currently one of the largest biker gangs in the world - as 'David and Goliath.' Retired ATF agent William Queen went undercover for more than two years and testified against members of the gang he infiltrated, later writing about the experience in the book, ' Under and Alone.' 'Traditionally, the Bandidos have been the dominant motorcycle club in Texas, and no other club is allowed to wear the Texas bar without their consent,' the bulletin said. The DPS Joint Information Center bulletin said the tension could stem from Cossacks refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for wearing a patch on their vest that claimed Texas as their turf without the Bandidos' approval. The shootout at a Twin Peaks restaurant also left 18 injured, and about 170 bikers have been charged with engaging in organized crime. The county sheriff has said all nine people who were killed in the melee Sunday were part of those two groups.

In a memo dated May 1, the Texas Department of Public Safety cautioned authorities about increasing violence between the Bandidos and the Cossacks. WACO, Texas - The deadly lunchtime biker gang shootout at a crowded Waco restaurant Sunday was likely just the latest battle in an ongoing war between two main groups, and Texas law enforcement authorities warned weeks ago of growing animosity between them.