The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.Bandidos refute gang label Dane Schiller, San Antonio Express-News (July 12, 2015)Bandidos blast Tasmanian 'anti-gang' law bid, deny involvement in ice drug trade Edith Bevin and James Dunlevie, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (12 May 2018)
According to the National Center of Investigation, the Danish Bandidos are involved in a wide range of crimes, including drug dealing, extortion, fraud, tax evasion, robbery, weapons trafficking, money laundering, the sale of stolen goods, and violent crimes.Denmark 2019 Crime & Safety Report Overseas Security Advisory Council (19 March 2019) The Bandidos have ten chapters and approximately one-hundred-and-fifty members in Denmark,Rockere - historisk baggrund Carsten Fenger-Grøn and Malene Grøndahl, faktalink.dk (2002) and have traditionally recruited members of Danish ethnicity, although this has changed somewhat in recent years.Rigspolitiet holder vågent øje med Satudarah TV 2 (12 November 2013) The club has links to the Turkish mafia in Denmark.Les Gangs de Motards Criminalisés: Une expansion internationale Xavier Raufer, Institut de Criminologie de Paris
Nordic Biker War
The forerunner to the Bandidos in Denmark was the Morticians, a club founded in 1984. The Morticians were initially a support club of the Hells Angels but by 1988, both groups had transformed from motorcycle enthusiasts and small-time criminals into more sophisticated criminal organizations, and disputes between the groups led to a feud. After merging with other clubs rejected by or opposed to the Hells Angels, the Morticians rebranded as the Undertakers, establishing two chapters; "Northland" (based in Stenløse) and "East Coast" (in Hørsholm). In 1992, the Undertakers contacted Bandidos leadership in the United States and France – where the club's only European chapter at that point was based – seeking membership. After serving as prospective members for a short time, the Undertakers were patched over by the Bandidos on 17 December 1993. In August 1995, the Bandidos' "Northland" chapter became the club's head chapter in Europe.Hells Angels Vs. Bandidos: Bloody Battles on Nordic Streets Doug Mellgren, Associated Press (July 31, 1996) Between 1994 and 1997, there were at least 36 break-ins at Danish and Swedish Army installations; at least 16 Bofors anti-tank missiles, 10 machine guns, around 300 handguns, 67 fully automatic rifles, 205 rifles of various calibres, hundreds of hand grenades and land mines, and 17 kilograms of explosives plus detonators were stolen. Police believe the Bandidos or their support clubs were responsible for the majority of the thefts.The Mammoth Book of Bikers Arthur Veno (2007)
A turf war that began in January 1994 between the Morbids Motorcycle Club and the Hells Angels in southern Sweden would later escalate into what would be known as the Nordic Biker War when the Morbids aligned with the Bandidos, sparking a three-year-long gang war between the clubs for control over the drug trade in the Nordic countries. After incidents in Sweden, Finland and Norway, the war reached Denmark on 26 December 1995 when between five and ten Bandidos members attacked and severely beat two Hells Angels at a restaurant in Copenhagen.Issues in Global Crime Diplomatic Security Service (1998) On 10 March 1996, six Hells Angels ambushed and shot a group of Bandidos at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, killing Bandidos "Southside" chapter president Uffe Larsen and wounding another member, a prospect and a hangaround.
Six Hells Angels members and associates were convicted in connection and sentenced to a total of fifty-three years in prison, and one was given a life sentence.Hell's Angels Convicted In Denmark Slaying The New York Times (December 21, 1996) On 17 April 1996, the Hells Angels "South" chapter clubhouse in Snoldelev was hit with an anti-tank missile; the fourteen members inside were able to avoid serious injury. Morten "Træben" ("Wooden Leg") Christiansen, the imprisoned vice president of Bandidos "Southside" chapter, was left in critical condition with shrapnel wounds and burns when assailants broke into Horserød State Prison and threw a hand grenade through his cell window which exploded under his bunk on 26 April 1996.Prison hand grenade attack wounds jailed biker United Press International (April 26, 1996)Attentäter brachen in Gefängnis ein Die Welt (27 April 1996) Hells Angels Copenhagen member Brian "Bremse" Paludan Jacobsen lost a leg and two associates were also wounded when two grenades were thrown in front of his home from a moving car in Brønshøj on 7 May 1996.Hells Angels attacked in biker war United Press International (May 7, 1996)Gewalt: „Gott vergibt, Bandidos nie“ Thomas Hüetlin, Der Spiegel (22 July 1996) Bandidos member Jim Verner was found dead on 10 July 1996 in Nykøbing Falster.Englenes gerninger Ambro Kragh (2017) A bomb weighing half a kilo was found underneath his car nearby and defused by an explosive ordnance disposal unit.Rockere bag en stribe af bomber Jan Søgaard, B.T. (19 September 2003)
On 21 July 1996, a six-kilogram remote-controlled bomb hidden in a sports bag and placed in front of the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Ydre Nørrebro, Copenhagen failed to explode when the radio-controlled trigger malfunctioned, potentially saving the lives of four Hells Angels bikers in the building as well as residents of the street. The device was later detonated by police. The fingerprints of Jacob "Hip Hop" Andersen, a member of the Bandidos chapter in Dalby, were found on the sports bag by police technicians. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in 1997.Bombedømt rocker sigtet for bombe-mord Jan Søgaard, B.T. (28 April 2004) On 25 July 1996, Jørn "Jønke" Nielsen, a founding member of the Hells Angels' Copenhagen chapter, was subjected to a murder attempt while sleeping in his cell at Jyderup State Prison. Two-to-four men infiltrated the prison and, after failing to gain access to Nielsen's locked cell, fired over twenty rounds from an automatic weapon through the cell window, shooting Nielsen twice in the abdomen and once in the arm.Drabelige angreb Ekstra Bladet (20 April 2003) On 5 August 1996, a civilian was shot in a drive-by shooting in Greve; police believe the victim was mistaken for a Hells Angels member living in the same building. An associate of the Bandidos "Southside" chapter was wounded after being shot in his car as he left the clubhouse near Haslev on 14 August 1996. On 4 September 1996, a bomb planted on the car of a Hells Angels member exploded after falling from the vehicle in a parking lot; the bomb detonated three meters away, damaging several cars but causing no injuries. On 12 September 1996, a car bomb exploded outside a Hells Angels clubhouse situated in a residential neighborhood of Roskilde, causing extensive damage but no injuries. The location was attacked again in the early hours of 22 September 1996, with over two-hundred-and-fifty machine gun rounds fired at the building from an adjacent football pitch, wounding one Hells Angels member.Forslag til folketingsbeslutning om ekspropriation af rockerejendomme retsinformation.dk
On 6 October 1996, the Hells Angels were holding their annual "Viking Party", attended by around one-hundred-and-fifty people, at their fortified compound in Copenhagen when the building was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade from a Carl Gustaf M3 84 mm recoilless anti-tank rifle, which had been stolen from a Swedish Army depot during a burglary on 19 February 1994. Hells Angels prospect Louis Linde Nielsen and Janne Krohn, a twenty-nine-year-old woman who resided in the neighborhood and accepted an invitation to the event, were killed. Among the fifteen injured was Hells Angels Denmark national president Christian Middelboe.The Angels get a rocket from Hell The Independent (7 October 1996) Bandidos prospect Niels Poulsen was convicted of carrying out the attack in March 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment.Danish biker gets life for grenade attack BBC (13 March 1998) Bandidos and Hells Angels were involved in a shootout outside a Copenhagen restaurant on 1 December 1996; no one was injured. Two members of the Bandidos came under gunfire while trapped in a private yard in Valby, Copenhagen on 5 December 1996; one biker was injured.
On 9 December 1996, a member of the Bandidos' Aalborg chapter survived being shot ten times as he waited in his car. Hells Angels member Kim Thrysøe Svendsen was shot and killed while driving in Vejgaard, Aalborg when unknown perpetrators fired three rounds at his car on 10 January 1997. Around 500 Hells Angels bikers from across Europe and the United States attended Svendsen's funeral.ROCKERBEGRAVELSE ROCKERKRIGEN POLITI VEJGÅRD MC ROCKRBORG KIM THRYSØE SVENDSEN Europeana (21 January 1997) Several members of the Bandidos were charged with the killing, but due to lack of evidence, the prosecution had to give up the case, after which the suspects were released.Nul erstatning til Bandidos-rockere Nul erstatning til Bandidos-rockere B.T. (9 June 2000) The murder remains unsolved. On 2 February 1997, a prominent Bandidos member remanded in a detention center in Køge survived an attempt on his life when an anti-tank missile fired at his cell failed to explode.Rockerattentat Danske Nyheder.dk (3 February 1997) Another Bandidos member survived a murder attempt the following day on Amager after being shot while walking to his car. The shooting took place near a kindergarten.Rocker-skyderi Danske Nyheder.dk (4 February 1997) The Hells Angels again attempted to kill a jailed rival by firing an anti-tank missile into a police cellblock in Holbæk on 18 February 1997, destroying two cells but leaving a Bandido and another inmate unhurt.Rocket As Weapon in Biker Gangs`War SME (19 February 1997)