A Brief History
On September 2, 1984, Sydney, Australia was the scene of a major shoot-out between rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros. Contrary to the popular opinion that mass shootings only occur in the US, a total of 7 people were killed and 12 were wounded in the incident known as the “Milperra massacre.”
Digging Deeper
Apparently the answer to our question is that, “Yes, other countries do have motorcycle gangs.” Our previous article, Mass Shooting…in Canada??? tells the story of another such motorcycle gang related mass shooting, this time in Canada.
In fact, Wikipedia has an article about the Nordic Biker War of 1994-1997 that took place in Finland and Scandinavia. The worldwide nature of motorcycle gangs is noted in another article we found by Europol that detailed 23 European countries with motorcycle gangs and the US DOJ has reported on the worldwide MC gang phenomenon.
Do you know anyone who is a member of a motorcycle gang?
Question for students (and subscribers): Did you know motorcycle gangs existed around the world? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Caine, Alex. The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Vintage Canada, 2010.
Veno, Arthur. The Brotherhoods: Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs. Allen & Unwin, 2004.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Kjetil Ree of the Bandidos headquarters in Oslo, is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
