SAINTS & SINNERS - Established in 2004, this is a clean and sober motorcycle club, but they made the law enforcement map in California!
SADDLEMEN - A three-piece-patch motorcycle club saddling up in Denmark.
SADDLE TRAMPS - A club that made it onto the law enforcement map in Missouri.
SALTEADORES - A Russian Bandidos support club, adding their red to the gold.
SAMARAI’S - A three-piece motorcycle club out of Thailand.
ESTABLISHED: 1904
PLACE OF ORIGIN: San Francisco, California
FOUNDER(S): Twelve original charter members, including C. C. “Daddy” Hopkins, James Tormey, George Payton, Joe Holle, Harry Rockwell, and Al Freed
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: San Francisco, California
CLAIM TO FAME: The second oldest motorcycle club in the U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO - Another of our “pioneer” clubs, and this one is for sure in that forefather category. The San Francisco Motorcycle Club (established in 1904) is the second oldest in the U.S., just behind the Yonkers MC (established in 1903). They held their first meeting at the Thor Motorcycle shop with twelve members. They weathered the infamous 1906 ’Frisco earthquake—it happened just five hours after one of their dances and destroyed their clubhouse. They rebuilt and kept going strong.
They allowed women members and gave them “the vote” before the United States government did. In 1910, their Road Captain, Volney Davis, set a new transcontinental record riding his Indian from San Francisco to New York and back.
In 1913, the true legend, Dudley Perkins, joined up. A year later he opened his own Harley-Davidson dealership, a dealership that is still putting the Bay on bikes. And this is just some of the motorcycling history that has rolled beneath the tires of the SFMC.
SARACENS - This club made the law enforcement map up in Maine and it’s a club with a history that goes back forty years in the Pine Tree State.
SATAN SAINTS - Okay, now we begin our walk with the Satans of the motorcycle club world! This one was a 1997 club that had roots back to 1968 in South Africa. It later became the core for what is now the Syndicate MC in South Africa and the UK.
SATANS BREED - A Satanic bunch out of Wales, established in early 1980s.
SATAN’S CHOICE - This is one of those cases where you had to be there to know what truly went down. The Satan’s Choice MC in Canada is mentioned in lore of all types—from mainstream media to barroom conversations and everything in between. They apparently were part of the 1977 expansion of the Outlaws MC beyond the U.S. borders, and somewhere along the line they were also part of the HAMC’s (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club) Canadian movements in the early 2000s. It’s complex and not something that makes for particularly healthy speculation.
SATANS OUTCASTS - A three-piece-patch club in New Orleans, the land of the 2011 Super Bowl champions!
SATANS OWN - This is another of those clubs that may—or may not have been—lost in history. It’s one of those clubs you’d love to meet an old member of, in some shadowed bar somewhere. Some guy who has a closet of pictures and patches and a memory full of bits and pieces that simply had to be lived to understand. Maybe someday one of us will run into an old member of Satans Own, an early 1980s club that was a part of the never-ending ’Frisco “biker scene.”
SATANS SLAVES - A “classic” club that is also a part of that ageless “lore” that is swapped around among bikers on several different continents who were “there” back in the day. Satans Slaves (no apostrophe!) today are a solid, diamond-patch 1% club throughout England, Germany, and other parts of Europe. They are all linked but some have different patches.
SATANS SOLDIERS - Satans Soldiers (again, no apostrophe!) is a diamond-patch 1% motorcycle club out of New York with chapters in New Jersey and Australia. The club made the law enforcement map in New York and New Jersey.
ESTABLISHED: Early 1990s
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Moordrecht, Netherlands
FOUNDER(S): Nine close friends mainly with a Moluccan background
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Chapters throughout the Netherlands
CLUB COLORS: Black and Gold
CENTER PATCH: Two warrior faces
MOTTO: Give respect and you’ll get respect (Lawamena Haulala).
SATUDARAH - Established in 1990, this club is diamond-patch 1%ers in the Netherlands with ten chapters throughout the country: “Our great grandfathers were Moluccan warriors and they feared nobody. Their motto was: Give respect and you’ll get respect (‘Lawamena Haulala’).”
ESTABLISHED: Mid-1960s
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Detroit, Michigan
FOUNDER(S): “Tony”
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas
CLUB COLORS: Black and White
CENTER PATCH: Yes, a scorpion!
MOTTO: Scorpion Forever, Forever Scorpion till death do we part a 100%er to the end
CLAIM TO FAME: Had a part in the 1976 major motion picture Northville Cemetery Massacre!
SCORPIONS - Established “around 1965 on the west side of the Motor City.” A “classic” club that made the law enforcement map in Illinois and Texas. Their motto is a twist on the one percent brand: “Scorpion Forever, Forever Scorpion till death do we part a 100%er to the end.”
They were another club that had a part in a major motion picture, 1976’s Northville Cemetery Massacre!
SEMANON - This motorcycle club made the law enforcement map in Florida.
ESTABLISHED: Unknown
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Southern California
FOUNDER(S): Emerged from the ministry of Phil Aguilar
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Southern California
CLUB COLORS: Black and White
CENTER PATCH: A “serious-looking” member in a German-style helmet
CLAIM TO FAME: Easily the most one percent of the Christian motorcycle clubs
SET FREE SOLDIERS - I can remember watching Phil Aguilar years ago on TBN (the Trinity Broadcasting Network) and thinking—no, knowing—just how different he was from the orthodox suit-and-tied preachers that made up the 99% of Paul and Jan Crouch’s “religious” bunch. The Set Free Soldiers that rolled out of Aguilar’s ministry are also very different. Their self-assessment: “A group of men who Love Jesus and Love to Ride Hard. We are not your normal motorcycle club. Some say we are too Good for the Bad guys, and too Bad for the Good guys. We don’t argue that.”
Pastor Phil has said that he is “a 1%er for Jesus.”
SFB - Established in 2006, this North Carolina–based Special Forces motorcycle club didn’t make it onto the law enforcement map in the Old North State, but they did make it in Wisconsin!
SHADOW CLUB - Another of the motorcycle clubs mentioned on one of the strangest (and never-ending) “anti-gang” websites in the universe, as an associate club of the HAMC in Canada.
SHARKS - Another of our “pioneer” clubs that came out of California’s post-WWII years. One of the Sharks’ survivors was Jack Jordan. A half-century or so later, Jack was in his eighties and tending bar in the El Dorado area above Sacramento, when in rode a customer wearing Boozefighters colors. The two began talking and the history poured out, along with the booze. A short time later Jack Jordan became the oldest known BFMC prospect and eventually became one of their senior (age-wise)—and most respected—brothers.
Pioneer Sharks.
SHE DEVILS - “The hottest ride in town!” Alright, just one more mention of a female club! This three-piece-patch, all-lady motorcycle club is out of Northern California. And, really, they have a nicely provocative motto: “A she-devil is a woman who is brave, loyal, trustworthy, intelligent, well spoken, accomplished, adventurous, and kindhearted, but also has a healthy appreciation for the perfect tattoo, a great set of pipes, thigh-hi stockings, a love of laughter, and the smell of leather, anytime. . .”
She Devils “P” is Big Mama. I had the opportunity to spend a significant portion of a recent NCOM (National Coalition of Motorcyclists) convention with her. Trust me, Mama’s understanding and dedication to the undeniable female factor in this lifestyle will go a long way toward establishing a permanent, non-penile club presence.
SICK BASTARDS - Established in 2002, this three-piece-patch club is out of North Dakota.
SIDEWINDERS - The Sidewinders made the law enforcement map in Massachusetts. They were also called “A violent motorcycle gang” by U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan during the 2007 trial of the Sidewinders’ Fall River chapter “P” on weapons and drug charges.
SILENT FEW - A Sons of Silence support club out of Arkansas.
SILENT REBELS - A Sons of Silence support club in Louisiana.
SILENT SKULLS - Established in 1965, an international club based in Belgium: “One earth on two wheels.”
SILENT THUNDER - Established in 2005, this Sons of Silence support club made the law enforcement map listing in North Dakota.
ESTABLISHED: 1966
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Gary, Indiana
FOUNDER(S): Unknown
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Nationwide
CLUB COLORS: Red and White on Black
CENTER PATCH: A rider on a big chopper
MOTTO: Death before Dishonor
CLAIM TO FAME: One of the longest-running and most well-known of the Black motorcycle clubs
SIN CITY DECIPLES - Established in 1966, in Gary, Indiana. This very high-profile Black motorcycle club made the law enforcement map listing in the Hoosier State, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
SINNERS - Established in 1963 this long-running motorcycle club has been transgressing across Michigan and Indiana for a couple of generations. Ten Hail Marys, brothers! There was another club called “Sinners” that used the unusual serapé-type cut shown here, but there is no information available about this club.
SINN FEIN - Another of the clubs on all the New Zealand “lists of gangs.” It was reported that in 2010 members of the Sinn Fein’s Wellington chapter patched over to the Head Hunters MC. The New Zealand motorcycle club carousel never stops turning.
SKELETON CREW - This three-piece-patch club in Northern California laid their bones on the law enforcement map there!
SKULL MUNCHERS - A legendary, now-defunct one percent motorcycle club in Texas’ DFW area.
SKULL RIDERS - A three-piece-patch motorcycle club in Germany.
Also, “a group of guys tha like to ride, drink & shoot pool together” that “aren’t an MC” in Missouri: “We ride every Thursday bitch—so don’t ask!”
SKULL SPIDER’S - Established in 1975, a three-piece-patch club out of Germany with a bitchin’ center patch (unless, of course, you’re an arachnophobe!).
SLEEPWALKERS - Established in 2000, diamond-patch 1%ers out of Galicia, Spain.
SOJOURNERS - A motorcycle club out of Illinois—they didn’t make the law enforcement map there for some reason, but there is a surveillance pic of some of their members on the Genoa, Illinois, PD’s Gang Information site!
SOLID BROTHERHOOD - Established in 2006 in Minnesota. They’re a Sons of Silence support motorcycle club with chapters there in the North Star State and in North Dakota.
ESTABLISHED: 1959
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Tijuana, Mexico
FOUNDER(S): Unknown
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Mexico and the Southwest U.S.
CLUB COLORS: Orange and Black
CENTER PATCH: A vintage chopper
CLAIM TO FAME: Their annual toy run and the “stealing” of their name by ATF agents during the feds’ infiltration of the Arizona HAMC
SOLO ANGELES - Established in 1959 in Tijuana, Mexico, the Solo Angeles are considered the first motorcycle club founded in Mexico. Their annual toy run is a solid part of the Cali-Mex biker scene. The club gained a bit of infamy in the exposé/infiltration book No Angel by ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns. Dobyns describes in the book how the ATF set up a phony nomads chapter of the Solo Angeles to try and get inner circle access to the Arizona Hells Angels. It really is a weird and complex story.
SONS OF HAWAII - A legendary club in the islands that didn’t make the law enforcement map there but did make it in California.
ESTABLISHED: 1970
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Sheffield, England
FOUNDER(S): Unknown
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Sheffield, England
CLUB COLORS: Orange and Black
CENTER PATCH: A winged skull
CLAIM TO FAME: A long-running one percent club in the UK
SONS OF HELL - Established in 1970 in Sheffield, England, this is a diamond-patch 1% motorcycle club that has “stayed true to its values. . .over the years many things have changed. . .but, Brotherhood, Motorcycles and Having a good time, all the time is still the best way to be.”
There is also a Sons of Hell Southwest three-piece-patch motorcycle club in the sometimes Hades-like temperatures of Tucson, Arizona. They are supporters of the Red and White.
SONS OF SATAN - A Pennsylvania motorcycle club that spent a lot of 2003 wrangling with city officials in Rapho Township to be able to rebuild the clubhouse that they had since 1966. The property had apparently been destroyed by a pipe bomb.
ESTABLISHED: 1966
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Niwot, Colorado
FOUNDER(S): Bruce “Dude” Richardson
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: Worldwide
CLUB COLORS: Red and White
CENTER PATCH: An eagle superimposed over an “A”
CLAIM TO FAME: The newest member of the Big Five clubs
SONS OF SILENCE - The club that expanded the Big Four into the Big Five is the SOS, founded in Niwot, Colorado, in 1966 by Bruce “Dude” Richardson. In 1998, the first chapter outside of the U.S. was founded in Munich, Germany, and the club’s international expanse has been strong ever since. They also have a wide web of support clubs both in the U.S. and beyond. Their patch is unique and differs from the traditional three-piece patches—one big center patch with a bottom rocker. Their motto is a bit more traditional, however: “donec mors non separate,” Latin for “until death separates us.”
The 2009 Gangland episode, “Silent Slaughter,” is the major media piece on the Sons to date—but with their continual growth, I expect that some hungry vicarious fans will be begging for more volume when it comes to an honest presentation of their long history.
A proud part of the Sons of Silence brotherhood is their unrestrained and active support system for their brothers behind bars.
ESTABLISHED: 1967
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Palo Alto, California
FOUNDER(S): A group of close friends
CHAPTER LOCATIONS: California, Arizona, and Nevada
CLUB COLORS: Red and Black
CENTER PATCH: Black and white arms clasped in “unity” in front of a “U”
CLAIM TO FAME: A racially mixed motorcycle club: “This club was making history. In the 1960s there were far and few racially mixed biker organizations.”
SOUL BROTHERS - Established in 1967 in East Palo Alto, in the Bay Area of Northern California. Indeed, a “classic” club! Their patch symbolizes “unity” and the importance of “brotherhood among men regardless of race.” These brothers made the law enforcement map in California and Arizona.
SOUTHERN STEELE - Established 2009, this Florida MC is a support club for the Sons of Silence. And they are definitely not to be confused with Southern Steel MC—a law enforcement club also in Florida.
SOUTHERN VIKINGS - Another motorcycle club on the various New Zealand OMG lists. The Southern Vikings are based in Dunedin.
In 2004, their clubhouse was the subject of its second police raid in as many years. The raid resulted in one arrest of a thirty-year-old man, charged with possession of cannabis.
The prior 2002 raid resulted in the arrests of four men charged with possession of methamphetamine—the charges were later withdrawn, however, because of lack of evidence.
SOUTHLAND - This Bandidos support club is certainly in the southland—the South Pacific, that is—in Indonesia.
SPARTAN RIDERS - They made the law enforcement map in Arizona. And there was quite a lively discussion about them in 2008 on a law enforcement Internet forum. Now, I know that every special group or niche of people has their own unique lingo, but some things said in that discussion seemed elusive to say the least. One conversation in particular was perplexing:
Spartans are a bitch/feeder club for HA. Not a whole lot else to tell; same rules apply as dealing with HA members. Have backup and watch your 6.
Why do they spell “bitch” as “bitch”? Is using the “1” for the “i” some sort of code or is it to disguise the use of a rough word? Like F**K! And when a cop watches his “6,” can he even see behind his F*t A**?
SPECIAL CREW - A spezielle Bandidos support club in Germany.
STAHLPAKT - Established in 1996, one of the groβe Hunde in Germany with chapters throughout the country.
STATE OF JEFFERSON - Established in the historic town of Happy Camp, California, with a “concept” that goes back to the late 1960s. Now, a lot of clubs are founded on many of the same principles and goals—brotherhood, riding, drinking, etc. But these guys are somewhat different. This motorcycle club is based “from the idea of the State of Jefferson movement from 1941, where Northern California and Southern Oregon wanted to secede from their States to form a separate State, the State of Jefferson.”
Hmmm, it’s certainly worth some thought. . .
STATESMEN - Established in 1970 by “Chop, T-Bone, Fox, Big John, and Gary” in Belleville, Illinois. They made the law enforcement map in Missouri.
STRAYS - A West Wales club that was patched over to the Outlaws MC many years ago.
SUNDOWNERS - Established “in the early 1960s” in Southern California and settled in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. A “classic” club that formed a bond with another of our classics, the Humpers MC.
The Sundowners made the law enforcement map listing in California and Utah.
There was a thought-provoking statement made in Utah’s Deseret Morning News back in 2004, in an article that mentioned a few of the issues that the Sundowners had to deal with in the Beehive State. A retired cop was quoted in his obviously experience-laden description of motorcycle clubs:
“Being in a motorcycle gang is about drugs, women, and money, and not always in that order. . .”
With all due respect, officer, I know a lot of club brothers that don’t have any of that stuff—regardless of the order you put it in!
SURVIVORS - Established in 2002, a three-piece patch HAMC supporter club in Slovakia.
SWORDSMEN - These guys fenced their way onto the law enforcement map in Ohio.
SYNDICATE - Established in 2004 with roots back to 1968, the Syndicate’s members at one time comprised the Satan Saints MC. They have chapters in South Africa and the UK. They do state that they aren’t a one percent club, but in one form or another, they have a long history of two wheels on the African continent.
