The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.Bandidos refute gang label Dane Schiller, San Antonio Express-News (July 12, 2015)Bandidos blast Tasmanian 'anti-gang' law bid, deny involvement in ice drug trade Edith Bevin and James Dunlevie, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (12 May 2018)
Australia
The Bandidos are considered an outlaw motorcycle gang by the Australian Federal Police.Bandidos threat: Police warn outlaw motorcycle gang trying to set up in Tasmania Angela Ross, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (27 May 2016) Numerous police investigations have targeted Bandidos members, and implicated them in illegal drugs supply and other crimes."Hunter drug raids: Hunter Bandidos boss Ronald Leggett among 10 arrested", Feb. 12, 2015, DAN PROUDMAN and GABRIEL WINGATE-PEARSE, Newcastle Herald"Taskforce Maxima smash drug syndicate with alleged links to Bandidos Criminal Motorcycle Gang" , Mar 6 2015, Queensland Police"Police charge 28 Bandidos members following raids" , 20th Nov 2012, Fraser Coast Chronicle Australia's first Bandidos chapter was formed in Sydney in August 1983.Outlaw Bandidos establish WA chapter - patching over Rock Machine bikies Phil Hickey, The Sunday Times (22 October 2013) The club has around 400 members and 45 chapters in the country, and has recruited members of various ethnic backgrounds.Australian Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs & their Territories Rhys McKay, Who (27 March 2019) The Australian Bandidos are allied with the Diablos, Mobshitters, and Rock Machine, while their rivals include the Comancheros, Finks, Gypsy Jokers, Hells Angels, Mongols, Notorious, Rebels and Red Devils.
Belgium The Bandidos are designated a criminal motorcycle gang by Belgium's Federal Police.Vier criminele motorbendes in België Het Laatste Nieuws (14 May 2009)
At the request of Dutch authorities, Belgian police searched a property in Borgloon in May 2015 as part of an operation against the Bandidos that also included raids carried out in the Netherlands and Germany.Politie houdt grote actie tegen motorbendes in België, Nederland en Duitsland Het Laatste Nieuws (27 May 2015)
Bandidos members were among a number of people arrested in Limburg on 28 September 2020 as part of an investigation into a large-scale drug trafficking ring, which began after a shipment of almost 3,000 kilograms of cocaine was discovered at the Port of Antwerp in late 2019. Dozens of police raids led to the seizure of millions of euros in cash, gold and luxury cars.Belgian former police chief (77) arrested for large-scale cocaine trafficking The Brussels Times (29 September 2020)
An investigation carried out by a joint task force consisting of agents from the Belgian Federal Police and the Spanish National Police Corps resulted in a total of twenty-six raids being carried out in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain on 20 October 2021 in relation to a shipment of 11,497 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a consignment of scrap metal from South America to Antwerp, which was seized upon arrival at the port. Thirteen people were arrested in Belgium, and the president of the Bandidos in Spain – a Belgian national – was apprehended in Marbella on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization after he was identified by police as the organizer of the shipment.Leader of notorious biker gang arrested in Marbella on Spain's Costa del Sol along with massive cocaine haul Elena Gocmen Rueda, theolivepress.es (2 November 2021) Four high-end vehicles valued at more than €700,000, jewelry valued at €300,000, €17,085 in cash, encrypted mobile phones and documentation were also seized.Biker gang leader arrested in Marbella on cocaine smuggling charges Natalie Williams, EuroWeekly News (1 November 2021)
Canada The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) has designated the Bandidos an outlaw motorcycle gang.2004 Annual Report - Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, cisc.gc.ca The club operated in Canada between 2000 and November 2007, with chapters in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. The Bandidos' Canadian chapters went defunct due to infighting, law enforcement efforts, and pulled status from the club's American leadership.Hells Angels under pressure as outlaw motorcycle clubs from across the globe expand into Canada Adrian Humphreys, National Post (6 June 2015)
Alberta Joseph Robert "Crazy Horse" Morin, president of the Edmonton chapter of the Rebels, contacted the Bandidos with the aim of patching over in October 2001 and the Edmonton Rebels became a Bandidos hangaround club in 2003. On 30 January 2004, Morin – by then a probationary Bandidos member – and hangaround Robert Charles Simpson were shot dead outside an Edmonton strip club.Edmonton shootings may be tied to biker turf war Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (3 February 2004) The murders have gone unsolved, although sources close to the investigation speculated at the time that Campbell and Morin were killed by a group opposed to the Bandidos' presence in the city.Unsolved homicides: Joseph Campbell Edmonton Police Service (2 March 2018) The Edmonton Bandidos chapter – made up of eighteen-to-twenty members – patched over to the Hells Angels' Red Deer-based nomads chapter in October 2004, effectively tripling the Angels' presence in the province.Patchover of Alberta Bandidos gives Hells Angels monopoly Timothy Appleby, The Globe and Mail (25 October 2004)
An attempt by the Bandidos to establish themselves in Calgary in 2007 ended after a violent assault at a bar by the Hells Angels.'Never-ending war': How Alberta is cracking down on the Hells Angels and the outlaw biker gangs that support them Juris Graney, Edmonton Journal (7 September 2018)
Manitoba On 8 February 2005, a motorist was run off the road and kidnapped by several men before being taken to an undisclosed Winnipeg address and tortured for several hours. Two members of the probationary Bandidos chapter in the city – Ronald Charles Burling and Jason Llewellyn Michel – and another two men – Josh Adam Curwin and Billy Jo Ducharm – whom police were unable to identify as connected to the club were charged with aggravated assault and abduction.Cops seek duo in Bandidos torture case Cary Castagna, Sun Media (February 2005) Michel pleaded guilty in October 2006.Biker pleads guilty Winnipeg Sun (12 October 2006)
Ontario
In response to the establishment of the Hells Angels in Ontario, the Chatham chapter of the Loners merged with the Bandidos, initially as probationary members on 22 May 2001 before becoming full members on 1 December 2001. The Loners were sponsored into the Bandidos by the Danish branch of the club, a move that was not sanctioned by the world headquarters of the Bandidos in Houston, Texas, making their extract status within the club somewhat problematic. It was agreed, however, that even though the Danish branch of the Bandidos were responsible for the Canadian branch as their sponsors, the American branch would supervise the Canadian Bandidos.
Project Amigo, a fifteen-month joint investigation into the Bandidos in Ontario and Quebec by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) culminated in a series of raids on 5 June 2002 and led to the arrests of most club members in Ontario, including national president Alain Brunette. The operation ended the criminal influence of the club in both provinces, and left the Bandidos is Ontario with only fifteen members who were consolidated into a single chapter based in Toronto, although its members were in fact scattered all over southern Ontario.
Bandidos member George "Crash" Kriarakis was assaulted by a dozen members of the Hells Angels outside a restaurant in Woodbridge in June 2003.
Four Bandidos members and prospects – Cameron Acorn, Pierre "Carlitto" Aragon, Randy Brown and Robert "Bobby" Quinn – pleaded guilty to partaking in the killing of drug dealer Shawn Douse, who was beaten to death at the apartment of Bandidos prospect Jamie "Goldberg" Flanz in Keswick on 6 December 2005. In January 2008, Brown received a life sentence for second-degree murder, Acorn and Quinn were sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for manslaughter, and Aragon was sentenced to seven years' for aggravated assault.Bikers get prison terms in '05 killing Peter Edwards, Toronto Star (8 January 2008)
On 8 April 2006, four vehicles containing the bodies of eight murdered men were discovered in a farmer's field outside of the hamlet of Shedden. Six of the men killed in what became known as the Shedden massacre were full members of the Bandidos Toronto branch, including the president of the organization in Canada; they were Luis Manny Raposo, Giovanni Muscedere, Jamie Flanz, George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli and Michael Trotta. The suspects in the case, Michael Sandham, Marcello Aravena, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Wayne Kellestine, were also full members or probationary members (also known as "prospects"), in what police described as an internal cleansing of the Bandidos organization No Surrender Crew Canada (NSCC). The victims were brought to the farm of Kellestine, where they were held captive before being systematically led out of his barn and murdered execution-style. On 30 October 2009, after eighteen hours of deliberation a jury in London found the six suspects guilty on forty-four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of manslaughter. These murders closed the chapter on the Bandidos Canada "No Surrender Crew" and ended any hopes of Bandido dominance in the country.
Hells Angels members Remond "Ray" Akleh, of the Ottawa-based Nomads chapter, and Mark Cephes Stephenson, of the Oshawa chapter, were charged on 28 September 2006 with murder conspiracy and counsel to commit murder for an alleged plot to murder Bandidos national president Frank "Cisco" Lenti. Although Hells Angels member and police informant Steven Gault testified that he was recruited to be the hitman in the plot against Lenti, Akleh and Stephenson were ultimately acquitted on 19 January 2009.Hells Angels acquitted of murder charges Peter Edwards, Toronto Star (18 January 2009) Lenti refused an offer of police protection when informed of the alleged plot, but he did start carrying around a handgun. On 2 December 2006, Lenti fatally shot Hells Angels West Toronto chapter sergeant-at-arms David "Dread" Buchanan and wounded two other club members – Dana Carnnagie and Carlos Virrili – after he was confronted at a strip club in Vaughan where he worked as a security consultant.Biker Shot To Death Outside Vaughan Strip Club CityNews (2 December 2006) Lenti pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault, and was sentenced to six years in prison in June 2008.Outlaw biker gets six years in fatal shooting at strip club Peter Edwards, Toronto Star (27 June 2008)
Quebec