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Hells Angels and Bandidos members are currently on trial in Bern. An insight into the rocker scene.
What is a rock club? Basically, it’s a group that mandates motorcycle ownership. According to the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), internationally organized groups – such as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (MC), the Bandidos MC, the Outlaws MC and the Mongols MC – are classified as «outlaw motorcycle gangs ” designated. The German Federal Criminal Police Office defines a rocker group as an association of several people with a strict hierarchical structure, close personal ties between the group members, little willingness to cooperate with the police and strict rules they have created themselves.
What distinguishes the Hells Angels and the Bandidos? “Both rocker groups can look back on a long tradition and have branches worldwide,” says Bettina Zietlow from the Criminological Research Institute in Lower Saxony. The scientist examined the rocker scene in Germany between 2017 and 2019 and evaluated data from over 900 suspects. The Hells Angels MC was founded in the USA in 1948 and today has around 500 local clubs, so-called charters, in 58 countries. The Bandidos also have their roots in America: They were formed for the first time in 1966 and are present in 33 countries. Zietlow: “Both are pure men’s clubs with fixed rules and a clear structure.”
How big are their Swiss clubs? The Bandidos MC has been present in two branches in Switzerland since 2021. According to Fedpol, “a low double-digit number of relatives” can be assumed. The Hells Angels, on the other hand, are estimated to have around 150 to 200 members in Germany, says Berina Repesa, media spokeswoman for Fedpol.
Anyone who disregards the internal rules of the scene must expect repression from the Hells Angels or their supporters.
Those rockers would claim “a superior position” in the local rocker scene. “Anyone who ignores the internal rules of this scene must expect repression from the Hells Angels or their supporters.”
Why are the two gangs enemies? According to the Federal Office of Police, the formation of Swiss Bandidos offshoots has increased tensions between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. “Fedpol is aware of a single-digit number of incidents, some of which are criminally relevant, that are presumably attributable to this conflict,” writes Berina Repesa.
Rocker clubs can get in each other’s way when dealing with drugs or in the red light district.
In general, such groups see their unique selling point in danger, says Bettina Zietlow. “In order to strengthen the cohesion in my group, I have to set myself apart from others.” Economic competition also plays a role. As the police report, rocker clubs get in each other’s way, for example, when dealing with drugs or in the red light district.
How does Switzerland assess the criminal energy of rocker groups? According to Fedpol, members of rocker and rocker-like groups based in Germany have in the past been involved in violent and property crimes as well as violations of the weapons and narcotics laws. So far, no rocker has been convicted “for participating in or supporting a criminal organization”, according to Berina Repesa.
Basically, it can be said that in Switzerland there is “a serious potential for conflict” in the scene, but the intensity is not comparable to that in certain German federal states.
Legend:
Banned in Germany: the sign of the Hells Angels logo in public.
Reuters
In Germany there have always been violent clashes between rival rocker groups in the past. “The hurdles for a ban on such clubs are high according to the freedom of association enshrined in the Basic Law,” says Bettina Zietlow from the Criminological Research Institute in Lower Saxony, who has researched the rocker scene in Germany. “It succeeds, for example, when the purpose of the association violates the law.”
Number plates forbidden in public
Due to this problem, the authorities tightened club law in 2017: As soon as a local club of a rocker group is banned, their license plates can no longer be used in public. Because some offshoots of the Hells Angels and the Bandidos have already been banned in Germany, the members of those rocker groups are generally no longer allowed to wear leather jackets with the corresponding patch, for example. The Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the decision in 2020. From the point of view of the police, the so-called “ban on robes” has its downsides, says Bettina Zietlow: “Police work is made more difficult because rocker groups can no longer be observed so easily.”
Involved in organized crime
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, more and more investigations are being carried out in Germany against rocker clubs and their members, in which it is established that criminal rocker groups also work together with other organized crime groups. “The focus here is on violent crime and violations of the Narcotics Act (BtMG) and the Weapons Act (WaffG).”