Outlaws: Inside the Violent World of Biker Gangs Read Free Page B

into what is essentially a personal conflict. Such antics are frowned upon: the rule is that if something develops while you are in the club, you will receive full backup. But anything that happens before you join is baggage that you must leave behind.
    Some hangarounds have no intention of taking things further, others are eager to become more deeply involved. In both cases the only rule they have to abide by is that you can only be a hangaround with one club at a time. It is the first hint at the level of loyalty and commitment that is required to make it into an MC.
    The hangaround stage typically lasts anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Sometimes it becomes obvious to those in the club that someone isn’t made of the right stuff to progress. At other times, the bikers themselves, having gotten a better view of what is actually involved, change their minds and withdraw.
    To reach the next stage of membership, prospect, requires the sponsorship of a full patch holder who remains responsible for the newcomer until they receive a full patch of their own. Bringing high quality recruits to the attention of the club can enhance the status of a member but if anythinggoes wrong – for example, the member turns out to be an undercover police officer – then the sponsor is likely to be severely punished. For this reason, prospects are usually subjected to stringent background checks to ensure they are exactly who they say they are.
    Occasionally there are prospects that rub some existing members up the wrong way, but this rarely happens. The truly obnoxious recruits tend to fall at the first hurdle of the hangaround stage. Those that make the cut to prospect end up adapting in order to fit in with the club, often ending up as quite different people by the time they gain their full patch. This blending in with the brotherhood is one of the things that makes the bond between members of an MC so strong.
    Some clubs distinguish prospects by only letting them wear the bottom rocker of their colours along with an MC patch, others have special ‘probationary member’ jackets for prospects to wear. Prospects have no identity other than their lowly rank. A patch holder rarely refers to a prospect by name. Instead it is ‘Get me a beer, prospect,’ or, ‘Prospect, drive my old lady home.’
    As a prospect you are basically a slave and to all intents and purposes you become the property of the club. Whenever a full patch member asks you to do something, it counts as an order that you have to obey without question. There is not much a full patch member can’t ask a prospect to do, so prospects find themselves getting involved in everything from stealing bikes and moving drugs to cleaning toilets at the clubhouse and polishing endless amounts of chrome. Some members have their prospects doing press-ups in the gutter simply to dominate them, others forcethem to take part in crazy stunts, like walking across hot coals during club parties.
    For every ten prospects that sign up, on average around three will make the cut. Like most MCs, the Pagans always believed the credo that the patch does not make the man, rather the man has to make the patch. ‘You take a good man and bring him into the club in order to make the club better, Snake Dog,’ the club president had told Boone. ‘It doesn’t work the other way around. You can’t become a prospect and then become a member and then become a better man. That’s not what we’re looking for at all.’
    Even in the case of a born natural, there is practically no way to avoid the prospect stage. Those who have been full patch members of other clubs and left in ‘good standings’ are still required to prospect for whatever new club they want to join, though in such cases they may end up getting their patches relatively quickly. One Pagan, Rabbi, had received his own patch in less than six months having been a full member of an MC called ‘The Filthy Few’ a short time before. Boone