Daniel Borunda|El Paso Times
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A deadly shooting in El Paso is part of a larger conflict between the long-established Bandidos and an upstart biker club named the Kinfolk, a biker gang expert said.
Bikers roared into the border city for Saturday's funeral for Juan Martinez Jr., the 61-year-old president of an El Paso chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
Martinez was among four men shot when a gunman entered and opened fire during a brawl July 30 in Mulligan's Chopped Hog bar on George Dieter Drive.
El Paso police arrestedJavierGonzalez, 34, who was identified as amember of the Kinfolk Motorcycle Club on a charge of engaging in organized crime-murder and aggravated assault charges.
Manuel Gallegos, 58, who is linked to theKinfolk MC, was arrested Thursday on an assault charge for his role in the fight that resulted in the shooting.
Gallegos appeared earlier this year in photos with Kinfolk membersin a YouTube video titled "Kinfolk MC 1 %er El Paso Texas." The videohas since been taken down.
The bad bloodbetween the Bandidos and Kinfolkwillcontinue, saidTerry Katz, spokesman for the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association.
The association helps trains law enforcement and prosecutors about biker gangs.
Katz explained that the El Paso shootingfollowsthe slaying of a reported member of the Kinfolk Motorcycle Club in March nearAbilene. A man with ties to the Bandidoswas charged in thatkilling.
"It’s pretty safe to say that the violence will continue until law enforcement intervenes," Katz said.
More: Biker arrested in shooting of Bandidos
Man with ties to Bandidos indicted in Abilene man's murder
Bandidos president's funeral a major event, biker gang expert says
Katz wasa former commander of the organized crime unit of the Maryland State Police and worked undercover investigating biker gangs.
"It’s like any other group of gang members,it’s tit for tat. You kill one guy of mine and I kill one of yours," Katz said. "Most of the violence isn’t in the public view. It’s at locations that are bike gang friendly and locations where folks will not call police."
Kinfolk MC rivalry
The animosity between the Kinfolk and the Bandidos began with thefounding of the Kinfolk MC, Katz said.
The Kinfolk was createdas recently as last year, by bikers who used to be Bandidos, Katz said.
"In the biker gang world if you leave a club and start another club, it’s a no-no. It’s being a traitor," Katz said.
Katz said the Kinfolk were formedfollowing the indictment ofBandidosnational President Jeffrey Fay Pikeonfederal racketeeringcharges in 2015.
"The president of the Kinfolk was a Bandido and he thought that when Jeff Pike was indicted that he should be made president," Katz said. "He took other disaffected members of the Bandidos with him."
The Kinfolk logo is a cowboy holding a gun behind his back, similar totheposter ofthe 1992 Clint Eastwood Western "Unforgiven."
Membership estimates for the Kinfolk MC werenot available.
The Bandidos "consider Texas their state. Not only do they have guys leaving them but they are leaving them in Texas, which is a greater insult," Katz said.
More: Fourth arrest made in Bandidos assault case
Police: Bandidos tried to take vest during assault
Like the Bandidos, the Kinfolk MC isa "1 percenter" club and displays thediamond-shaped 1 percent patch used by what law enforcement termoutlaw motorcycle gangs.
The term "1 percenter" originated after abiker riotin Hollister, California, in 1947 when the American Motorcyclist Associationdeclared that 99 percent of motorcyclists were good, law-abiding citizens.
"Groups that wear a '1 percent' patch are advertising straight up that they live outside the law. ‘I’m an outlaw,’ they are telling people," Katz said.
It's not unusual to havetwo 1 percenter biker clubsin a citybut it can lead to trouble, Katz said.
"There is going to be conflict because each one wants to be the top dog," Katz said. "The Kinfolk are the new guys in the block. They are challenging the establishment."
The Bandidos in recent years have beenin violent confrontationswithother rivals.
The most high-profile case wasa shootout with the Cossacks biker gang resulting in nine deaths at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, in 2015.
A federal indictment accused the Bandidosof declaring"war" in 2013 onthe Cossacks, who were using a "Texas" bottom rocker on their biker vests without permission from the Bandidos.
"It’s a very violent existence being in a motorcycle gang," Katz said.
Bandidos ofEl Paso
The Bandidos have been in El Pasosince 1972, Bandidos Nntional President Clifton "Dozer" Roberts said at a recent news conference in El Paso.
"We want to make sure no one misconstrues that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club is here to harm the city," said Roberts, who is fromHouston.
"El Paso’s been our home," Roberts said. "These guys have raised families. They work here, lived here for many, many years. By no means are we planning on turning this into a war zone."
The history of the Bandidos in El Paso dates back more than 40 years.
The founder of the Bandidos, Donald Eugene Chambers, used to livein El Paso, where he died in 1999.
Chambers, known as "Mother," was a Marine who formedthe biker club after his return from Vietnam. The Bandidos usethe red and gold colors of the Marine Corps.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Clubwas founded in1966 in Houston. It is one of the largest biker organizations in the world with 1,500 to 2,000 members, about 107 chapters in the U.S., including about 42 in Texas, according to federaldocuments.
The clubmotto: "We are the people our parents warned us about."
In 1972, Chambers was convicted in El Paso in the murder of two "hippies"who had sold baking soda to the Bandidos claiming it was methamphetamine, according to El Paso newspaper archives.
"Come on, Jesus wants to meet you," Chambers told the men before blasting them with ashotgun after they were forced to dig their own graves in the Northeast El Paso desert, according to newspaper archives.
After being released from prison, Chambers lived in El Paso until his death at the age of 68. He was buried in Houston.
In the following decades, the Bandidos became a more of a familiar sight at localcharity motorcycle runs than crime news stories.
But in recent years, some Bandidos membershave been chargedwith assaults of members of other biker clubs in El Paso.
Martinez, who was buriedSaturday, wasset to go totrial in Octoberon charges of engaging in organized criminal activity in connection with an assault onAug. 3, 2016.
Martinez,twoother Bandidos and a member of the Brass Knuckle associate clubwere accused of beatingand trying to take the vests of two members of a rival biker club outside Hot Chicks Wing House onZaragoza Road.
Friends of Martinez described him a goodhearted businessman always willing to help the less fortunate. He was owner of J.Martinez and Associates, a firm that assistsclients withSocial Security benefits
The Texas Department of Public Safety ranks the Bandidosas a Tier 2 gang along withthe Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, Barrio Azteca, Bloods and Crips.
Like other major biker clubs, the Bandidoshaveseveral smaller support clubs that usually pay themmonthly "donations" to stay in good standing, according to theTexas Gang Threat Assessment report released by DPS last month.
The smaller clubs receive protection from the biggerclub and serveas a "farm clubs" for the selection ofprospective members.
The Bandidos biker club "conducts its illegal activities as covertly as possible and generally tries to avoid high profile activities," the DPS gang report stated.
"However, members are not covert about making their presence known, frequently wearing their gang colors, insignia, and riding in large groups," the report added. "They seek to turn public sentiment in their favor by organizing frequent charity runs."
Law enforcement has accused the Bandidos of being involved in violence, drug dealing, weapons trafficking and intimidation.
Despite targeting by law enforcement, outlaw biker gangs have survived overdecades even after their original members are long gone.
"What people always ask is ‘motorcycle gangs, are they still around?’ To them they are from the 1950s," Katz said.
"There is always somebody that wants to go into that lifestyle," he said. "When I was undercover, they were treated like rock stars. Women would flock to them. They were treated to drinks, treated to deals — legal and illegal. They live for the moment."
Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102, dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter. Reporter Aaron Martinez contributed to this report.
