Federal court records and Justice Department releases place the Outlaws (a Rock Hill clubhouse in 2008) and the Pagans (a territorial conflict with the Hells Angels recorded in a 1999 appeals opinion, and a 2021 Aiken County drug stop) in South Carolina. Sheriffs and local news document the Warlocks across the Midlands and Pee Dee, and the Outcast, Thunderguards, Wheels of Soul, Red Devils, Black Jacks and other clubs in cases from Chester to Charleston. Hells Angels are covered in a separate profile. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Origins
The U.S. Department of Justice describes the Outlaws, formally the American Outlaw Association, as a highly organized criminal enterprise with a multi-level chain of command overseen by a national president. A federal jury in Virginia convicted national president Jack Rosga of racketeering conspiracy on December 21, 2010, and he was sentenced to 20 years on April 8, 2011. [1][8]
WMBF reported on September 3, 2014, that the FBI 2013 National Gang Assessment classifies the Warlocks as an outlaw motorcycle gang. The same report cited the club's website as stating that 13 Navy sailors started the club in the 1960s. The Index-Journal reported in May 2018 that the club prides itself on outlaw roots. [5][9]
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina states that the Pagans Motorcycle Club is recognized by law enforcement as an outlaw motorcycle gang, with leaders across the United States and Puerto Rico. [10][3]
Footprint in South Carolina
A Fourth Circuit opinion filed January 8, 1999, records that a SLED motorcycle-gang expert advised Spartanburg police that the Hells Angels and the Pagans were in an ongoing conflict for territorial control of South Carolina. On that information, the Spartanburg police chief assigned 75 officers to a motorcycle rally. [2]
Federal trial evidence showed the Outlaws established a clubhouse in Rock Hill in 2008, in territory the Justice Department described as traditionally controlled by the Hells Angels. On June 22, 2020, WBTV reported that York County deputies accused six Hells Angels members and prospects of attacking an Outlaws support-club member near Clover over an Outlaws supporter t-shirt; the charges were strong-arm robbery and criminal conspiracy. [1][11]
Public sources place the Warlocks in several Midlands and Pee Dee counties: a Warlocks clubhouse memorial service in Calhoun County in October 2006, a national meeting of more than 200 people in Florence County in September 2014, a Lakelands chapter in Greenwood in May 2018, and validated members arrested in Kershaw County in 2017 and Lexington County in 2018. [12][5][9][13][4]
The Myrtle Beach Herald reported on March 24, 2016, that police encountered 131 motorcycle clubs at the 2015 Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, about 14 percent of them tied to one-percenter clubs. A Horry County Police gang investigator reported Red Devils and Carolina Rebels support clubs at the 2015 rally, and gang experts said the Thunderguard and Outcast clubs are active in the Florence area. [7]
In the Lowcountry, the Post and Courier reported a 2013 dispute between Real Kings and Wheels of Soul members that ended in gunfire outside a Cycle Gear store in North Charleston. The Charleston City Paper reported on January 16, 2018, that the Thunderguards kept a clubhouse at 525 Meeting Street for 41 years before moving to Dorchester Road in North Charleston in 2017. In Orangeburg County, the Times and Democrat reported on March 13, 2012, that the Devil's Rejects and the Bootleg Militia were two outlaw motorcycle groups in the tri-county area. [14][15][16][17]
Structure and organization
The Eastern District of North Carolina reported on February 3, 2023, that Pagans national leader Christopher Lamar Baker held the rank of "13," meaning one of thirteen national leaders. The ATF-led Operation Ice Diamond charged 20 people, and the investigation spanned into South Carolina. [10]
Local reporting describes a tier of support clubs. The Horry County Police gang investigator described the Red Devils and Carolina Rebels as support clubs, and the Post and Courier described the Band of Bruthaz of West Ashley as a Wheels of Soul support club. The State reported that the Red Devils have been widely reported as a feeder club for the Hells Angels. [7][15][18]
Identifiers and symbols
Club patches are called colors. The Justice Department described Outlaws members stealing Hells Angels patches, and the Fourth Circuit recorded information that rival members planned to "drop their colors" at the Spartanburg rally so officers could not identify them. South Carolina reports describe a rider wearing Warlocks colors in 2017, shooters wearing Outcast leather vests in Greenwood in 2021, and Facebook photos of vests and patches identifying Red Devils members and affiliates in 2022. [1][2][13][19][18]
Notable South Carolina cases
On July 11, 2017, Tommie Lee Causey Jr. of Chester was sentenced in federal court in Columbia to 110 months for possession of a stolen firearm; the court noted his membership in the Outcast Motorcycle Club. In July 2021, Aiken County officers stopped Pagans member Justin Matthew Fite on a motorcycle carrying nearly two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in a saddlebag; he was sentenced to 330 months on February 10, 2023. [6][3]
On September 18, 2018, Lexington County deputies charged Robert Glenn Hardee, 38, with trafficking cocaine; the sheriff stated Hardee is a validated Warlocks member and that the gang unit documented the group as a criminal gang under South Carolina law. WIS reported on June 27, 2017, that the Kershaw County sheriff pursued a Warlocks member from Leesville at 104 mph on I-20. On August 19, 2015, the USAO-SC reported a meth supplier whose Bamberg customers supplied members of an unnamed motorcycle gang. [4][13][20]
On November 8, 2022, Lexington County deputies charged Shane Andrzejewski, Joshua Allen Dutton, Casey Thomas Goodson and William Douglas McGathen Simpson with murder, conspiracy and seven counts of attempted murder in the October 8, 2022, shooting of Timothy Brock near South Lake Drive and I-20; the sheriff said the men and Brock were from rival motorcycle groups. The State reported that social media showed three of the men identifying as Red Devils members or affiliates. [21][18]
In October 2021, the Greenwood County sheriff described a shooting at Club 153 as a dispute among Outcast Motorcycle Club members during a meeting. WSPA reported on March 23, 2022, that a former Cherokee County 911 operator was accused of giving NCIC data to a Black Jacks Motorcycle Club member between May 2 and November 5, 2021. [19][22]
Current status
The Iron Order Motorcycle Club's own South Carolina page lists Aiken, Greenville, Jasper, Richland and Sumter county sections. Wikipedia, used here only as last-resort background, reports that the club states it is not a one-percent club; that article is largely uncited. No public South Carolina source found for this profile classifies the Iron Order as an outlaw club or documents a criminal case against it in the state. [23][24]
The most recent South Carolina-linked public records found are the 2022 Lexington County murder charges, the 2022 Cherokee County NCIC case and the February 2023 Pagans sentencing tied to the 2021 Aiken County stop. No 2024-2026 USAO-SC or SC Attorney General release naming an outlaw motorcycle club was located. [21][22][3]
