Socorro exhales as Bandidos bury biker

Red River, New Mexico is a town of about 600 souls that gambled on some 28,000 bikers but was terrorized by members of rival outlaw motorcycle gangs so the mountain hamlet will no longer advertise its Memorial Day event as a motorcycle rally destination. 

Las Vegas, New Mexico has canceled its motorcycle rally as the US Marshals Service and other federal law enforcement agencies warn of heightened, even unprecedented violence among OMGs. Motorcycle gang violence in Oklahoma City took the lives of three bikers in April.

Other than an estimated 400 Bandido motorcycle club members in town celebrating the life of Damian Breaux on June 10, life went on as usual in Socorro, New Mexico. Some of the multiagency police task force’s efforts were not so subtle, like the unmarked helicopter equipped with a large camera that repeatedly circled the Socorro County Convention Center. Anyone writing down the chopper’s “N” number for a check later would find the answer of “no return” for the aircraft from the Federal Aviation Administration. [Peaceful day in Socorro for biker funeral]

In the 1960s and 70s Deadwood, South Dakota's most famous brothel owner, Pam Holliday gave generously to charities, befriended the motorcycle gangs that came to the Black Hills and offered a safe house for gun smugglers, cocaine and "speed" or "bennies," the old names for amphetamine.

Prosecutors have dropped a murder charge stemming from a May 27 shootout at a motorcycle rally in Red River because, the district attorney said, moving forward could put the ongoing investigation into the melee at risk. Waterdogs biker gang member Jacob Castillo, 30, of Rio Rancho was charged with first-degree murder after he was accused of fatally shooting 46-year-old Damian Breaux of Socorro, one of three men killed when violence erupted at the annual Red River Memorial Day Motorcycle Rally. [DA says Red River murder charge dismissal due to ongoing investigation]

The law enforcement industry is bracing for retaliatory violence likely to wash over into the 2023 Sturgis Rally in occupied South Dakota where the Bandidos and Mongols have warred in previous years.

Photo: Bob Newland.