One percent MCs: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I started this post before I saw the ridiculous video by Harley Quinn patching over some mental midgets in Newfoundland. Perhaps it's timely. Today I want to talk about 1%er MCs. 

When I was young I had a mentor that rode a shovel head. He used to say HD 1%. His definition was only 1% of the population ride Harley Davidsons. His definition meant cream of the crop not bottom of the barrel. 

That was long before the HAs came here. Sadly, the MC community has a very different definition of the term. 

The term 1%er was a response to a statement a cop made about motorcyclists. He said 99% of motorcyclists are law biding citizens. 1% of them are criminals. When a group of neanderthals heard that they started wearing patches that said 1%er. They were boldly declaring that they were not law biding citizens. They were bragging about being criminals and claimed to be a member of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.

Not a club of motorcycle enthusiasts, a gang of criminals bragging about committing crime. So let's start there. When a member of a motorcycle club claims they are just a group of motorcycle enthusiasts but wear a diamond 1%er patch they are lying and everyone knows it. Nobody likes a liar.

One could say that I am a motorcycle enthusiast. I ride full seasons on the west coast. Every day. Yet I am most certainly not a 1%er nor would I ever want to be. All my years of service with the Guardian Angels was devoted to law and order. 

There aren't many MCs on the West Coast like there may have been on the East coast. Like I used to say we don't have gangs in Canada we have drug trafficking networks. The New York gangs in the movie Warriors aren't here. Here we just have drug dealers selling drugs. That is all. 

I've mentioned in the past about my volunteer work with the Guardian Angels. I don't usually talk about it anymore because that was a long time ago and no one really knows or remembers what that was. Yet I think an allegory would be timely. 

I joined the Guardian Angels in Surrey and we would often take the Skytrain into Vancouver when we got bored. We didn't get involved with drugs or prostitution. We just kept the peace. 

Back then the prostitution in Vancouver was a lot different than it is now. Perhaps it was more similar to the online escorts. It was a lot higher end. That was before the HAs took over and turned it all into nasty drug addicted prostitution. We wouldn't flirt with the prostitutes but we wouldn't disrespect them either. 

I remember when I first started going downtown for late night patrol Shawn explained how things work. Late night patrol there weren't many guys. Usually you and one or two others combing thought the back allies of the DTES or Granville after 2:00 AM. 

They used to say what happens in the alley stays in the alley. That was long before cellphones. There were no cameras, no cops and no witnesses. I want to stress that I didn't survive because of my martial arts skills or because I was so tough. I wasn't. I believed in what we were doing and was always protected by a higher power. 

Sometimes when a conflict broke out late a night you'd see a big older biker type calm things down. We would always back him up. Back then the street had a code. Now it no longer does. 

Fast forward to shortly before I started this blog. Curtis Sliwa came to town and asked if I'd help David Toner restart a new chapter in Vancouver. I said sure. I liked David. His step son was murdered at Surrey Central. 

So I took a page from my New York experience with the group and started putting pressure on the crack dealers at Surrey Central. When crack became so invasion, Curtis had the group confront the crack dealers on the Deuce in a very aggressive manner. The crack problem at Surrey central was too big for two volunteers to solve. So we picked a time. 

One a week on the weekend at the same time, we'd stand beside the crack dealers and make things uncomfortable for people wanting to buy from them. We couldn't stop them so we put a dent in their market so they'd notice. Then we saw the response. We started to see big biker types in SUVs drive around and try to intimidate us. I exchanged words with a few and it was always very aggressive and confrontational. 

I asked myself WTF is going on here. 20 years ago it was the Whalley Burnouts and we chased them out easily. These weren't the Whalley Burnouts. This is big leagues.

There was a Corvette that would drive past and do burnouts. The person who I was with hung out at Gabbys and was told that guy worked for the HAs and supplies the drug dealers. 

Then it happened. We're standing beside the crack dealers at Surrey central and this guy walks up to me with a different crack dealer, shakes my hand and introduces himself. Then he starts asking who were are and what we do. So I told him. Then he's like we do that. We do that. I didn't ask who we were but said great. The more people who do that the better. 

Then he mentioned we better not get involved in their business and I didn't really have any idea what he was talking about and just shrugged it off. After he stepped aside the guy I was with said did you see his shirt?! No, I didn't see his stupid f*king shirt. Why? That's a Hells Angel he said. I was like WTF?

I walked back over to him and said if you're talking about gang violence, we don't get involved in that. We just ask everyone if they're going to do a hit not to do it in public so no innocent people get hurt. Then I walk back over to my post and start doing the math. I'm like what is he, doing here, with him?

My mentor when I was young, the one that rode a shovel head said don't believe what they say about the HAs. They're not into drugs and prostitution. They might smoke a little weed but they're into riding and camping not all that other stuff. 

I believed him but that was long before the HAs came to Vancouver. So I grew up naive. When I saw the HAs enforcing for the crack dealers at Surrey Central a light went on. I realized that I had been duped. 

Now I'm not saying all Hells Angels sell drugs. Maple Ridge has a sh*t load of HAs and they don't all sell drugs. I'm simply confirming what David Giles said on wire. Not all Hells Angels are criminals but if anyone uses the name of the club for criminal activity, they need the approval of the local executive. 

So yeah, there's good but there's also bad. If you want to talk about ugly, take a look at Piggy's Palace and the Pickton farm.