 | |
| Founded | 1954[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Detroit, Michigan |
| Type | Outlaw motorcycle club |
Region | Midwestern and Southern United States[1] |
The Highwaymen Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. The club was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1954.[1][2] The club has undergone a number of large-scale police and FBI investigations, most notably in 1973, 1987 and 2007.[2] In the early 1970s several members were convicted of bombings and raids of the homes and the clubhouses of rival motorcycle clubs.[3]
The club is the largest in the Detroit area, with over four hundred members,[4] and chapters in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee.[2][5] Their insignia is a winged skeleton wearing a motorcycle cap and leather jacket, and their colors are black and silver. Their motto is, "Yeah, though we ride the highways in the shadow of death, we fear no evil, as we are the evilest 'mother fuckers' on the Highway." ("H.F.F.H.").[citation needed] James Blake Miller, the "Marlboro Marine", is a member of the Kentucky Highwaymen, many of whom, like Miller, are veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.[6][7] The Highwaymen are banned from the Detroit Federation of Motorcycle Clubs, which was created in the 1970s to resolve motorcycle gang turf wars.[2]
In 1955, the Highwaymen were actually listed as an American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) sanctioned club,[8] a form of mainstream respectability which outlaw motorcycle clubs would, over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, come to reject as the very definition of 'outlaw' and 'one-percenter,' just as much as the AMA rejected outlaw clubs from their midst.[9]
- ^ a b c US Department of Justice (14 May 2009), Members of "Highwaymen Motorcycle Club" Indicted on Violent Crime, Drug, and Gun Charges; Arrests Part of Ongoing Initiative Targeting the "Highwaymen", archived from the original on 15 October 2010
- ^ a b c d e Egan, Paul (June 16, 2007), "FBI targets biker club; 40 indicted so far as FBI builds racketeering case against Highwaymen", The Detroit News, retrieved 2010-01-08
- ^ Wilkinson, Mike (13 March 2008), "4 cops indicted in Highwaymen probe; Metro officers, attorney face charges from FBI's drug investigation of motorcycle gang", Detroit News, Detroit, Michigan, p. A.1
- ^ Leaders Of The Detroit Highwaymen Found Guilty Of Racketeering, Drug And Weapons Charges, States News Service, 8 December 2010
- ^ Egan, Paul (6 April 2010), "Biker club portrayals clash; Fed racketeering trial's opening statements focus on character of accused Highwaymen", Detroit News, p. A.3
- ^ Luis Sinco, Rescue operation aims to save a wounded warrior Archived 2009-06-28 at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2007.
- ^ Eliscu, Jenny (3 April 2008), "This Is The Face Of The War In Iraq The Mind Behind It Will Never Be The Same", Rolling Stone, no. 1049, New York, NY, p. 56 (6 pages)
- ^ Assoc, American Motorcyclist (September 1955), "Another list of AMA clubs!", American Motorcyclist, vol. 9, no. 9, ISSN 0277-9358, retrieved 2011-01-03
- ^ Dulaney, William L. (November 2005), "A Brief History of "Outlaw" Motorcycle Clubs", International Journal of Motorcycle Studies
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