Long before the Bandidos motorcycle gang became an international headline for taking part in a fierce turf war at a Waco restaurant, authorities had been able to link the outlaw motorcycle gang with the violent Mexican cartel known as Los Zetas.
As Breitbart Texas exclusively reported, an apparent push by the Cossacks into the Bandidos territory in Texas led to an all-out war at a Waco restaurant that left 9 dead and close to 200 individuals behind bars.
While the Cossacks are hardly mentioned in law enforcement documents, the Bandidos have been in the eye of law enforcement for several years due to their violent nature and the trafficking of narcotics.
The Bandidos are involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana. The gang is also tied to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, information revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice revealed.
Because of their transnational scope, these OMGs (outlaw motorcycle gangs) are able to coordinate drug smuggling operations in partnership with major international drug-trafficking organizations (word used by federal agencies to describe Mexican Cartels), the DOJ information revealed.
OMGs develop and foster relationships with drug cartels in Mexico and Central America, the FBI’s 2013 National Gang Intelligence Center report stated.
“Although the nature of each varies by region, most are opportunistic in nature,” the report states.
One of the partnerships mentioned in the report is the Bandidos motorcycle club and the hyper violent Mexican cartel Los Zetas. As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, Los Zetas is a large Mexican cartel that has terrorized most of that country by using ruthless violence to control vast territories for drug trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping and extortion. The Zetas have also been linked to multiple executions on U.S. soil.
The case of the Bandidos, as well as other gangs in the U.S. which have ties to cartels, provides the U.S. based gang with a steady flow of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs which make up the majority of the gangs profits.
The partnership allows Los Zetas to have their drugs distributed throughout Bandidos territory without putting their operatives at risk. According to the report, gangs make up the primary source of distribution for Mexican drug cartels.