A total of 170 suspected members of opposing motorcycle gangs were arrested and accused of engaging in organized crime on May 18, after a clash between the Cossacks and Bandidos left 18 people badly injured and nine people dead in a shootout outside of the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas on Sunday afternoon.
A Waco judge set bond at $1 million for each of the biker suspects appearing before magistrates. W.H. Peterson, McLennan County Justice of the Peace, supported the high amount of the bond, mentioning the violence that rapidly stretched out in a shopping marketplace filled with a lunchtime crowd.
Peterson has also ordered autopsies on the nine deceased gang members but refused to reveal their identities until their families have been notified. Peterson said all nine bikers were residents of Texas.
The whole bunch of suspected gang members was so big that the officials unlocked a convention center for questioning before they were detained, police stated.
Police officers added that the investigation is still in its initial stage and that it is still too early to determine whether murder cases would be filed.
Authorities had reportedly issued a bulletin cautioning local law enforcement agencies of growing violence between the two motorcycle gangs involved in Sunday's brawl, the Bandidos and the Cossacks.
Local media WFAA acquired the bulletin, dated May 1, indicating that tension may have been brewing prior to the clash on Sunday. The conflict may have started when the Cossacks refused to reimburse the Bandidos tolls for its operations in Texas and for wearing a Texas patch on their vests without the Bandidos' authorization.
The Bandidos, formed in the 1960s, have been implicated in trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Bandidos conduct their undertakings as secretly as possible to avoid publicity, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. However, gang members are very open, making their presence known by wearing their insignia and colors and riding in big groups.
Sheriff Parnell McNamara of McLennan County, whose office is in charge of the investigation, confirmed the nine dead were gang members of the Cossacks and Bandidos. However, Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton has continually refused to point which gangs were involved in a fight that started with punches then with deadly weapons such as knuckles, knives, chains and then firearms.
Over 100 motorcycles lingered in the parking lots near the Twin Peaks restaurant on Monday, along with 50 to 75 vehicles that were probably owned by the gang members, Swanton stated. Officials were having the vehicles towed from the crime scene, 95 miles south of Dallas.
Swanton said authorities had received threats against law enforcement "throughout the night" from biker groups and stood prepared to meet any more violence. Law enforcers barred and interrogated motorcycle riders at checkpoints. Meanwhile, the FBI and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) of the U.S. Department of Justice were supporting state and local authorities.
