By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The biker gang violence in Waco, Texas brought to mind an1881gunfight that resulted from a long-standing feud between two gangs in Tombstone, Arizona. One gang was made of the Clanton’s and McLaury’s, and was known as the Cowboys.
History depicts the Cowboys as rustlers, murderers, thieves and all round bad guys. The McLaury’s and Clanton’s did not consider themselves rustlers or thieves because the only cattle they stole were from ranches across the Mexican border.
The other gang was made up of the Earp brothers and a homicidal dentist known as Doc Holliday. History tells us they were the good guys who had the law on their side.
Morgan Earp was the Federal Marshal and Virgil was his deputy. Wyatt, the most famous of the Earps, was working as a bank guard. Doc Holliday, who was always armed even in Tombstone, was a professional gambler who was a friend of Wyatt’s. Wyatt and Doc were deputized for the effort to disarm the Clanton gang. The county sheriff, John Behan’s sympathy was with the Cowboys as one of the Earps was running against him in an upcoming election.
Early gun laws were the basis of the issue that brought the conflict to a head. Apparently, the city council of Tombstone, “the town too tough to die,” had passed a law against citizens, except Doc Holliday, being armed within the city limits.
Earlier in the day, Marshal Earp, had pistol-whipped one of the Clanton’s and hauled him into court for carrying a pistol in town. When the other Clantons arrived in town along with two of the McLaury brothers, they let it be known they were armed and intended to remain so.
Sheriff Behan confronted them first and assured Marshal Earp that he had taken care of the problem. Not trusting the Sheriff, who had jurisdiction over the town; the Marshal deputized his brother Wyatt and Doc Holliday and along with Virgil Earp went to see for himself.
The confrontation between the two groups lasted thirty seconds and thirty rounds were fired.
When the smoke cleared, Billy Clanton and both of the McLaury brothers were dead. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded. Only Wyatt Earp was unscathed.
Sheriff Behan told Wyatt he was under arrest for murder. Wyatt explained he was not interested in being arrested and left the Sheriff with the option of dying or forgetting about the arrest.
The Earps were later tried for murder. While some witnesses stated that the Cowboys had their hands in the air when the first shots were fired, an early “Hands up don’t shoot” allegation, others indicted that the Clanton’s fired first. The court ruled that it was justifiable homicide and all went free.
Two months later Virgil Earp was ambushed and maimed in a murder attempt by the Cowboys. In March of the next year, Morgan Earp was assassinated in a saloon as he played pool. No one was ever indicted in either case.
Wyatt Earp got himself appointed a Deputy U.S. Marshal and carried out a murderous campaign against the Cowboys. Sheriff Behan put a warrant out for the arrest of Wyatt but never had the courage to try to enforce it.
The more recent shootout in Waco left nine people dead and another 18 injured. No one is sure who killed whom.
The police have stated that they returned fire on the bikers and may have killed as many as four of them. We do know they have arrested over 170 bikers who are being held on a one million dollar bond each.
One might wonder if this does not violate the Constitutional provision against excessive bail. While most of the bikers were not involved in the actual fight they are being held on a charge of engaging in organized crime in relation to capital murder.
There were apparently five biker gangs represented in the crowd. While there is some doubt about the Bandidos, there is no doubt that the Cossacks, Scimitars, Boozefighters, and Leathernecks were there in force.
The cause of the fight is in dispute. It may have been an incident over a parking space. It may have been over the fact that Cossacks have refused to pay dues to the Bandidos. It may have been over who could or could not wear a patch indicating they were from Texas. It may have been due to too many drunks with too many guns. It may have been the weather. It may have been that a whole bunch of 20-65 year olds never grew up.
The only mistake the police made was they stopped the fight too soon. Using the confiscation provision of the organized crime law, the authorities should collect every bike there and send it to a scrap metal facility.
It also turned my thoughts to the city of Chicago. During the same weekend of the biker fight, 45 people were shot and at least eight people died in mostly gang related violence. Chicago averages 10 murders a week and most, according to the Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy can be traced to the violent drug gangs that roam the city. Maybe the city should take a page from the Texas law book and arrest gang members under the federal organized crime laws. This is not likely.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the violence isn’t about what the police do. The schools, community groups, and parents are to blame.
No, Mister Mayor, the gangs are to blame. Every major city in America is plagued by out of control gangs. It may be time to stop worrying about ISIS and attack the violence problems in America.
As long as Mayors of major cities tell their police to stand down and let looters loot, this inner-city problem will not be solved.
For many Americans as long as the violence remains in the inner city and is a black on black crime there is little to be concerned about. The problem is that when this spills out of the inner city, it may be too late to curb the gang activity.
One can only be encouraged by the fact that soon Barack Obama, who would deny the police the tools to fight these gangs, will once again be eligible to be a community organizer. Maybe he can organize the inner city of Chicago to a point that drug gangs will gather and sing Kumbaya.
Thought of the week…People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.
– Alexei Sayle
