Here's a rundown of where outlaw gangs came from, what they do now, and why the Waco clash happened. The FBI's 2013 National Gang Report estimated that 88 percent of gang members are in street gangs, 9.5 percent are in prison gangs, and the remaining 2.5 percent are in motorcycle gangs.Īt the same time, motorcycle gangs tend to be disproportionately problematic for cops: in the same survey, 14 percent of law enforcement officials identified motorcycle gangs first among the most problematic gangs in their jurisdictions.ĭespite occasional appearances in pop culture, outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG) activity and culture can be opaque. Outlaw motorcycle gangs represent a small minority of gang activity in the United States. But what made the Waco shooting so different - why one expert called it unprecedented - was that it was an extreme, singular event with at least five motorcycle gangs present.

There have been past, ongoing wars between motorcycle gangs, with significant body counts. Sunday afternoon's shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas, has left at least nine people dead, at least 18 wounded, and about 170 charged with various crimes.

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