Outlaw motorcycle gangs make up a huge percentage of crime in the world. Most MC clubs work in the drug trade and the gun running business, as well as other more small time crimes.

Motorcycle clubs really kicked off and really became an issue after world war 2. Clubs started when war vets found themselves lost in regular society and couldn’t adapt to regular life.

The culture behind motorcycle clubs are living a nonconformist life that deviates from social norms. Most motorcycle gangs are looked at as outlaws and criminals.

Most gangs in the USA are considered Outlaws even though they might not live the outlaw lifestyle.

Clubs and Hierarchy

There are a number of clubs around the world, but unlike street gangs they are a lot more structured.

Each MC has a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary. road captian and sergeant at arms. Members receive patches to symbolize their role in the club as well. If a club is very large, there are chapters in each city. Each of these chapters has the above roles. The first established chapter of the club is called the mother chapter, and its president is the leader of the entire MC.

Known Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs

For a list of all outlaw motorcycle clubs click here.

Club Membership

To get into an given club, initiation or membership may vary, but all club members must go through different stages. These stages are usually “friends of the club” which are people who have grown up or are just what the name applies, “hang arounds” these people are loyal friends who have made a name for themselves with the clubs members, and “prospects”, prospects are selected people who have proved their loyalty and are ready to engage in club activities.

These stages vary from club to club but these are generally the rules to go by. To actually become a member, there must be a vote, and the charter the prospect is getting voted into will either pass the vote or not.

While in the prospect phase, there are countless task the prospect must do to earn the respect of the club. These tasks can range from picking up the laundry or from illegal activities. During this phase the prospect wears a cut, or vest showing they are prospecting for a certain club.

After the prospecting phase, the prospect gets voted in or patched in. Meaning this individual has proven himself, and gets to fly the MCs colors and patches.

Club Identification

Its hard to miss a member of an outlaw motorcycle. Members wear cuts or vests that have patches on them, that show which club and chapter they belong to.

Cuts usually have a patch for their club name, their club logo, their state or province, if they are a ranking officer they will have their designated patch for that as well. There are special patches that only certain members get that represent something they have done or are willing to do for their club.

One Percenter Patch (1%er)

Some club members carry and wear a 1%er patch, this patch is said to be a rebutle to the American motorcyclist association, that says 99% of motorcyclists are law abiding citizens, meaning that the 1% are outlaws.