Bandido leader’s trial could have domino effect
WACO, Texas — Steel barriers and sheriff ’s deputies surrounded the courthouse in Waco, Texas, in a show of heightened security as the trial began for an alleged leader of the Bandidos gang in connection to the deadliest shootout between biker groups in U.S. history.
But experts say the trial — the first stemming from the fatal May 2015 shooting — could reach far beyond the single case, as the government tries to convict other leaders and dozens of members.
It has been nearly 2½ years since a confrontation between the Bandidos and the Cossacks left nine bikers dead and 20 wounded outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. Local police arrested 177 bikers after the mayhem, and more than 150 people were eventually charged.
Federal investigators also indicted the president and vice present of the Bandidos — though not for the shooting in Waco — and are set to bring them to trial next year. Five other Bandidos have pleaded guilty to federal charges.
The first to stand trial in Waco is Christopher “Jake” Carrizal, the Bandidos’ Dallas chapter president, whose trial began last week. Experts say a conviction in the case could have a domino effect by convincing other bikers to plead guilty and testify.
“Guys who are less involved start to turn and lead prosecutors all the way to the top guys,” said Charles Falco, a law enforcement instructor and a former informant on California biker gangs for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Carrizal, 35, is charged with directing organized criminal activity that led to a violent brawl at the restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The outcome of his trial also could affect federal prosecutions of former Bandidos president Jeffrey Pike and vice president John Portillo. While the Waco shootout isn’t mentioned in the federal indictments against both men on racketeering charges, including ordering killings and assaults, government witnesses have discussed the Waco incident in pretrial hearings, court records show.
“Anything presented in state court, where the standard for getting evidence admitted in lower, can be used in the federal trial,” said Heidi Lambros, a criminal law public defender in Chicago.
Biker gangs are a small but violent criminal force in the U.S., with some 44,000 members or associates of a handful of “outlaw” gangs, according to a 2015 FBI report. The Bandidos, founded in Texas, is among the largest of the criminal gangs, along with the Hells Angels and a couple of others.
The Cossacks were considered less violent until the Waco confrontation.
Carrizal’s trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 11, but it was reset after the first presiding judge was recused over the appearance of potential bias in favor of the state. Carrizal unsuccessfully sought the removal of the replacement judge, too.