The fight was allegedly over the smaller group's plans to include a reference to Texas on the lower section of its official jacket patch - called the ' bottom rocker.'
The nine bikers who died came from either of those two gangs. But biker gang experts told NBC News that the violence appeared to stem from a beef between the formidable Bandidos and the Cossacks, a regional gang with purported allegiance to the Hells Angels. There were more bikers involved in that infamous brawl than the one in Waco, but only three died.Īuthorities have not said what they believe sparked the Waco brawl, or the names of the five gangs represented there. The most comparable event is the so-called River Run Riot, a violent confrontation on April 27, 2002, between the Hells Angels and the Mongols at Harrah's Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. These violent clashes often led to deaths, but rarely anything like what happened in Waco, Texas over the weekend, when a brawl involving members of five gangs ended with nine bikers killed, 18 injured and dozens arrested. That inevitably sparked turf battles, as the gangs tried to run each other off by force.
