Regarding police surveillance photos/video. I would be amazed if there wasn’t extensive video recorded by the police. Its SOP (at least around here) to document the shit out of any 1% biker wedding, funeral, run, party etc. It quickly got to the point where we didn’t even try to hide what we were doing. Set up the tri-pods and start rolling. We knew and they knew. They were taking pictures of us taking pictures of them. Only we didn’t give them the finger when they took our pictures.
Pardon my ignorance …
“1% biker” = criminal gang as opposed to “99% biker” = enthusiast club??
I’ve never heard the term before.
Sounds about right. The vast majority of us motorcycle riders do not shoot people dead over parking spot disputes.
I wouldn’t have thought the term that rare. It stems from some motorcycle enthusiast group - AMA or one of its kin - stating around the 1970s that “99% of motorcycle riders are law-abiding citizens.” The outlaw clubs promptly seized on the inverse and began proudly calling themselves “one percenters” - look and you’ll see the occasional square [1%] patch.
I kinda fail to see the outrage when, as around here, a good part of the 99%'ers go to great lengths to look like big, bad, hairy, bearded, long-aired, patched badasses on their 2,000-pound road pounders… and not like the accountants and middle managers at Aetna I know a good number of them to be. 
They get a special patch and everything.
Hey, I saw one of those on an Armani lapel in lower Manhattan yesterday… 
The story is that after hearing the comment that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, the Hell’s Angels MC, or Boozefighters MC, declared themselves “one-percenters”. Today, the 1% patch is worn by members of clubs who considered themselves to be very hard-core, and dangerous, bikers.
*One percenter
Some outlaw motorcycle clubs can be distinguished by a 1% patch worn on the colors. This is said to refer to a comment by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last one percent were outlaws.
The alleged AMA comment, supposedly a response to the Hollister riot in 1947, is denied by the AMA, who claim to have no record of such a statement to the press, and that the story is a misquote.
According to the ATF, they are also known as outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG).*
Close. It goes back to a famous “riot” (Hollister in 1947 and pictures of some Boozefighters looking really bad) when the then-president of the American Motorcycle (now Motorcyclist) Association pronounced that “99% of the people on motorcycles are nice law-abiding citizens”. Shortly after that the riders who didn’t care for the AMA developed the 1% patch as a badge of honor and by the 1960s a lot of the famous clubs (like Hell’s Angels) had made that patch a part of their uniform.
Right now the general run-down of riding organizations in VERY simplified form is:
AMA Charter Clubs like the Sunset Riders of Butler PA - usually nice folks but sometimes criminals will end up being members. Shit happens.
Owners Clubs - Harley Owners Group, Victory Riders, and others - ditto for them
Branch Clubs - grown out of something else like the Blue Knights (LEO) or Legion Riders (American Legion) - pretty much ditto for them as well
Riding Clubs - usually small groups of friends drawn together to ride together. Some are charitable and some are basically dinner clubs but they don’t bother incorporating (as a rule) or joining the AMA. Ditto there but a better chance of one crossing the legal line here and there.
Trying-to-look-bad Clubs - often with “gang-like” names and vests, most are pretty small. They range from Christian groups outreaching to the serious outlaw element to the crap you see on television on shows like “The Devil’s Ride”. Some really nice people in them but again we’re slipping towards more of a likelihood of at least criminal knowledge.
What-you-would-recognize-from-the-name Clubs - in the case of this “riot” Bandidos and Cossacks. These are the ones Uncle Sugar likes to use RICO on. OK, the number of members totally innocent of any criminal background or involvement may not be high but it isn’t 0% either. Mileage varies greatly club to club
Toss-up Clubs. I won’t name any of these because they are real X factors. One I know was formed to give a place and fellowship for combat veterans. But lately there have been some shootings and stabbings and some turf fighting. And while the wrongdoing (so to speak) isn’t nearly RICO standard yet there is that potential.
AMA clubs almost always have a patch that is basically one piece. Same with a lot of Riders Clubs. If a Riders Club uses a multipiece patch they are wise to always use the letters “RC” and NEVER “MC” and few will ever sport a 1% patch.
Owners Clubs are usually a two piece patch - one part with the National name and symbol and another for the local chapter name; sometimes a top rocker and sometimes a bottom depending on the club. They will also avoid the “MC” patch or the 1% Here is an example with a top rocker.
http://www.hotmetalharley.com/fckimages/HOGeagle_Mon-Valley.jpg
Three piece patches; these are the more Trying-to-look-bad Clubs, Toss-up Clubs and What-you-would-recognize-from-the-name Clubs. Often with the 1% or MC patch somewhere on their colors/uniform/vests as well. You know how they tell first time campers to avoid poison ivy by “leaves of three, let it be”? The same holds true for patches. It is their way of saying to the universe in general “approach with caution”. The riskiest to an outsider/civilian is the prospective member; his vest may have the top and/or bottom rocker but not the center patch. He is still trying to prove his worth to the club which makes him a very unknown factor.
And don’t think this is strictly a white guy thing. Almost every ethnic group has an exclusive MC club somewhere. (And no – the Bandidos are not Hispanic)
Not as simple as you thought? I’ve done start-ups for the AMA and even riders are surprised how complicated it can get. One beginning club, as a lark, went against advice (and better knowledge) and used a three piece design with a little square MC built in. Their two founders got seriously stomped in a bar by some members of an actual “outlaw club” who decided to take offense. It happens. Do dumb things at your own risk.
For those more curious and bored enough to be more curious. this site will give some solid (if not universally true) information.
What happens when the suburban pretenders meet the real thing? I asked the SDMB about this two years ago in this thread. I guess I have my answer now.
I’ve warned my kids about pretend badassery. If you dress up as a dangerous thug, don’t be surprised when you’re treated as one. Whether by passersby, the cops, or worst of all, the real thing.
I’m glad the One Percenter term has been cleared up. I kept thinking these were all the wealthiest American billionaires involved in the dispute.
177 guys arrested, each one with bail set at $1 million—even the ones who ran out of the restaurant when the shooting began and tried to direct civilians to safety.
I’ve found it easiest just to eschew patches and Village People costumes completely. Maybe it’s just my innate charm, but I’ve never been hassled by people wearing colors.
I haven’t yet either but things got close a time or two with a prospect who just didn’t like me very much; extremely poor judge of character that he was. 
It’s one of those odd “YMMV” things. The shop I worked at ages ago was neutral and worked on bikes of patch-holders in all the area clubs. And doing stuff with the AMA and different charity rides, I’m still around a lot of them from here to Indiana and down to North Carolina. So its like being around my neighbor (cop) and his dog (K-9 cop) - you learn not to try to touch him when the dog is around because that’s going to get you bit. When you know you are going to be around people in the “Full Biker Regalia” you just learn how to read the signs what moves not to make.
I’m not much for the traditional costume thing; I go non-traditional and dress like some Yoder gone nuts when I go to fests and stuff. I do have a vest though with the traditional HOG and Sunset patches and a couple others (74, Snoopy on a bike, Polish Racing Drivers of America) for riding in traffic. Odd thing I’ve noticed - wear a plain back jacket and I get tailgated now and then - more now than then. Yeah, I can always blow beyond the dude in the cage but that isn’t always the best answer. Wear a vest with patches and I don’t get tailgated; period and end of discussion. Is that little old lady in the Caddy backing off because of something she saw on the History Channel? Does that lady with the screaming kid notice me more for all the color? Can’t say. But anything that gives me more breathing room on my ass going out 28 or 376 I’m in favor of.
http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Last-person-jailed-in-Waco-biker-shooting-to-be-6603484.php
Obviously just a few troublemakers.
You mean no one is being held for an incident where nine people are shot to death? Un-fuckin-believable.
They made bail. The case is with a grand jury to determine possible indictments.