2023-09-06 07:00:00
Clarksville biker gangs stir up concerns for community
After a recent shooting involving motorcycle gangs, local officials are hoping to get ahold of the situation before it increases.
Mike Fant, Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
Two men believed members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were arrested after raids across 14 New Mexico communities, in an operation resulting from a multi-year investigation into “outlaw motorcycle gang” activity throughout the state and escalating, often fatally, into violence.
The New Mexico District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the results of the raids Thursday conducted by the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Task Force.
The task force, made up of several federal, state and local agencies, was formed in the wake of the May shooting in Red River, New Mexico that killed two Bandidos members and a member of the Water Dogs Motorcycle Club. Several others were injured as a result of that incident.
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The recent searches entailed the seizure of three stolen police radios and 151 guns “of all kinds,” according to a spokesperson with the AG’s office, along with cocaine, fentanyl, ammunition and ballistic vests.
In all 25 alleged Bandidos members were targeted by the investigation.
On Friday, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said at least one residence in each of the communities, spread throughout New Mexico, was raided, and known by law enforcement to be dwellings of Bandidos members.
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The locations were acquired through surveillance and information gathered from 17 confidential informants, read an affidavit provided to the Carlsbad Current-Argus by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In Hobbs, a home in the 900 block of Lincoln Road was searched, while six homes in Alamogordo, two in Farmington and one in Ruidoso along with another in Capitan were included in the operation.
There were six residences searched in Albuquerque, and one each in Rio Rancho, Los Lunas, Belen, Tome, Grants, San Rafael, Gallup and Arabela.
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Kenneth Martinez of Gallup and Henry Mascarenas, both alleged Bandidos members, were arrested and face state charges.
Martinez was believed present at the Red River shooting, and had prior felony convictions for distributing marijuana, aggravated assault and domestic violence, read the affidavit.
A third alleged member was also arrested. His charges were pending as of Friday.
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Homes raided amid escalating tension between clubs, police say
The raids were the result of escalating tension among the clubs, and “chatter” of “future plans” to “incite violence” on the part of the Bandidos, according to the spokesperson.
The overall goal of the operation was to “interrupt any future violent actions they were planning on taking and throw a wrench in any plans they had.”
She said law enforcement was not aware of any specific violent operations planned by the club.
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Next, investigators will begin testing the guns to see if they are stolen or connected to any alleged crimes.
The Bandidos are “well established” in New Mexico, the spokesperson said, throughout both rural and urban areas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico worked alongside local law enforcement in each community where operations were conducted.
That included the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Albuquerque Police Department, Rio Rancho Police Department, Ruidoso Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, Otero County Sheriff’s Office and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
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The task force was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Mexico State Police Department, along with the New Mexico Department of Corrections.
Farmington Police Department spokesperson Shanice Gonzales said Farmington police assisted the FBI in raids at the two locations in Farmington. She did not have any details about arrests or confiscations.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office did not participate, but Capt. Kevin Burns said the department is aware of Bandidos members living in San Juan County.
Lt. Kane Wyatt with the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office said the agency aided in operations outside the county, gathering intel and surveillance both before and during the operation.
He said no one within Eddy County was targeted despite a small, local presence of Bandidos.
“There were no locations or persons targeted in Eddy County,” Wyatt said. “Our role was outside Eddy County. We’re certainly concerned with violence. People are free to live within the law, and as long as that’s the case we do not interfere.
“Whenever that criminal line is crossed, that’s when we step in to protect our citizens.”
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U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez touted cooperation between federal and local authorities in conducting the operation.
“The people of New Mexico have no more patience for violent bullies. Working together, the law enforcement agencies of New Mexico return the open road to the public who owns it,” Uballez said in a statement.
Investigation of New Mexico biker club ‘war’ began in 2020
The investigation leading to the recent raids began in 2020 when the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office contacted federal authorities for help in quelling a believed “war” between the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and the Mongols Motorcycle Club, according to the affidavit for the search warrant.
This alleged conflict stemmed from the Mongols’ expansion into New Mexico where the Bandidos were already active, the affidavit read.
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“The state of New Mexico has traditionally been dominated by the (Bandidos),” read the affidavit.
Deputies became aware that Mongols were stockpiling guns and ammunition, the affidavit read, and surveilling Bandidos with “the intention of assaulting them,” the affidavit read.
Search warrants and arrests were conducted in April 2020 of known Mongol residences, and many of the members questioned described the club as “at war” with the Bandidos, the affidavit read.
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Over the following four years, officials in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma noticed a “sharp increase” in violence associated with the clubs, read the affidavit, starting when the Mongols established a presence in Albuquerque in January 2019 in “open defiance” of the Bandidos.
“Almost immediately, the (Bandidos) told the (Mongols) to cease and desist in New Mexico or face an all-out war. (Bandidos) and (Mongols) members began collecting intelligence on one another,” read the affidavit.
The affidavit detailed a series of assaults and threats made between the two clubs in the years following, leading up to the fatal shooting at Red River in May 2023.
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The violence proved fatal on six other occasions, with 11 people killed in total since 2020, according to the affidavit.
In January 2020 a Bandido prospect shot and killed a Mongols prospect in downtown Albuquerque, and a month later a Bandido was killed in a gunfight between people believed associated with the clubs.
A Mongol member ran a Bandito off the road, killing him in Midland, Texas in March 2020.
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Three years later, the killings again escalated when a Bandido prospect was shot and killed in March 2023 in Albuquerque.
A gunfight in Oklahoma City the following month between the Bandidos and Homietos Motorcycle Club left three dead and 11 injured.
Bandidos were ambushed a month later in Montgomery and Walter counties in Texas, and three members were shot dead, read the affidavit.
In May at Red River, about 400 to 500 Bandidos were in town, confronting seven members of the Water Dogs who the Bandidos accused of aligning with the Mongols.
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Two Bandidos and one Water Dogs member were killed in the confrontation, and five people were injured.
In most cases, the motorcycle clubs refused to cooperate with law enforcement, read the affidavit, swearing to “a code of silence.”
The Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Task Force was formed the month after the Red River shooting and investigated the clubs up until the latest raids.
There were 12 Bandidos chapters identified by the Task Force, and 75 to 100 members in the state, the affidavit read, while both Bandidos and Mongols have “dozens” of regional chapters throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.
“Both clubs have a large body of members and a vast network of supporters, associates, and recruits. Members of both organizations are fiercely loyal to their respective clubs and to one another,” the affidavit read.
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, [email protected] or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
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