4/30/22

Rapid City Bandido raid linked to 'Operation Say Uncle'


Somebody's talking.

In one of his last efforts before he left as US Attorney for the District of South Dakota Ron Parsons announced the indictment of 37 people including Bandido-linked Kelly Barker who has been peddling cannabis and other banned substances in the Black Hills since I moved to Deadwood in the late 70s. In February, US District Judge Jeffrey L. Viken sentenced four people in connection with that large-scale meth trafficking network bust called “Operation Say Uncle.” 

It’s important to note Thursday's raid on the Bandidos' fortified compound in Rapid Valley didn’t happen when a Trumper was the US Attorney for the District of South Dakota. Despite a massive police action that included personnel from the US Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives nobody was arrested. Computers and files were likely seized and a strong message was telegraphed to the Bandidos leadership.

Hells Angels, Bandidos and other syndicates own property in the Black Hills area to serve as bases of operation for sex and meth trafficking much of it through what appear to be legitimate businesses.  It's not unlikely the Bandidos torched the Full Throttle Saloon in 2015 that was blamed on a pinched appliance cord.

A 2015 shootout in Waco, Texas between the Bandidos and Cossacks resulted in the deaths of and injuries to several members of motorcycle clubs encouraged by a law enforcement industry that benefits from programs like Policing for Profit. Nobody was ever convicted because Texas has a "stand your ground" law.
And while the police made a show of the 151 guns recovered at the scene, bringing a firearm to Sunday brunch isn’t necessarily evidence of much in a permissive open-carry state. Steve Cook, a police gang-unit veteran from Kansas City who runs outlaw-motorcycle-culture training seminars, told me: “You don’t see the Kiwanis and the Lions Club running up on each other at Twin Peaks and getting into a gun battle, because guess what? They’re legitimate fraternal organizations that aren’t running a criminal enterprise.” [The Waco Biker Shootout Left Nine Dead. Why Was No One Convicted?]
Cops usually just turn away from the misery of forced prostitution that often plies kidnap victims to become playthings for abusive men. The same is the case during the Sturgis Rally where girls as young as ten are bought and sold like methamphetamine, Wild Turkey or souvenir t-shirts. Thanks to selective enforcement white thugs have carte blanche to commit flagrant criminal acts during the Rally. A long history of lawlessness can make the event highly virulent attracting common parasites who breed in the cesspools of human existence.

Motorcycle clubs and the South Dakota law enforcement industry use the Sturgis Rally as a sort of pyramid scheme clearinghouse. During pre-Rally meetings they exchange the names of individuals who will ultimately be targeted for arrest to place moles into the state's jails and prisons and to provide cops with the appearance of relevance.
The ex-members also said the Bandidos’ periodic motorcycle runs or rallies to places like Galveston, Red River, New Mexico, and Sturgis, South Dakota, serve, in part, to discuss the club’s criminal endeavors, from discipline of wayward members to dealing with rivals — often with violence. [El Paso Times]
That Serenity Dennard was lured away by Bandidos with help from the Children’s Home Society crossed my mind very early in her disappearance. 

An image of Breaking Bad’s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman was posted on the Faceberg page of Barker’s co-defendant, Darwin Toof. In 2019 another white biker told Faceberg he’s a meth dealer then got popped for being a meth dealer: South Dakota stupid on parade.

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