Danish Edition Exile On Front Street

Carsten Norton, May 2021
Keep in mind this is from a Danish translation. I did my best for the English translation…George Christie

Preface for Danish Version of Exile On Front Street. This
introduction explains some of the history of the
Scandinavian Bike War. It also touches on what seems to
be the new normal, branding all exmembers “Out Bad.”
This is an effort to silence them, it’s a form of cancel
culture.

Jonke one of the most powerful and well
known Hells Angels in Europe is now in "Bad”
standing: Hells Agels can be big news in
Denmark. That was the headline on the
yellow breaking background that sounded
almost like a contradiction when it took its

2
place at the top of Ekstra Bladet's website on
the afternoon of November 18, 2020. The
ouster of the 60-year-old Hells Angels Jonke,
came after a few weeks of suspension and
countless rumors, so it wasn't because the
announcement was completely unexpected.
The paradox of the news was more about the
constellation of words. Jørn Jønke Nielsen's
name linked to the message of being kicked
out of Hells Angels. The club that he himself
had helped establish in Denmark and had
personified in public for four decades. Jonke
was the man behind the murder of the
Mackerel, club leader and arch enemies of

3
Danish Hells Angels. A controversial
bestselling author, sought-after speaker,
spokesman, co-founder of the infamous
support club AK81 and much more.

Some would ask themselves what was
Jønke without HA, but also what was HA in
Denmark without Jønke? Another question
that inevitably penetrated was: why? The
announcements were partly about an
undefined power showdown between Jønke
and the other longtime member Svend "Svin"
Erik Holst, and partly on a generational
change, where younger members were tired
of listening to the elder. But the

4
circumstances were lost in the closed and
silence that characterises the outlaw
environment and its outcasts. It was
impossible to get clear or adequate answers.

A month and a half after Jønke's
involuntary exit, I went to Spain to meet
with George Christie. As the longest-serving
president in HA's history and former number
two in the club's international hierarchy, he
should, if anyone, be able to sit in Jonkes
place and assess how he was doing. In
addition, due to his role as the organization's
long-standing peacemaker par excellence, he
had a special first-hand knowledge of the

5
Danish branch of HA and several of the
country's prominent profiles. I will come back
to that. Our meeting took place one rainy
morning in a depopulated hotel bar marked
by corona restrictions. Christie was
welcoming and not a man who wastes his
time. From the first second, he floated over
with anecdotes and named the countless
celebrities he has met and forged friendships
with over a long life on both sides of the law.
From Hells Angels icon Ralph "Sonny" Barger
to Hollywood star Mickey Rourke. The
setting, however, offered anything but
familiarity and immersion, and even after 15

6
minutes, Christie suggested that the
conversation could continue less formal
conditions in his fashionable apartment a
stone's throw away. Here he settled into a
well-upholstered sofa overlooking the sea,
asked interestedly about the current
development in Denmark in the hope of
understanding what was going on. He
repeatedly stressed that, unlike Jønke, he
had voluntarily chosen to leave his club after
35 years as president of the infamous
Ventura chapter. Nevertheless, over the next
several hours he did not hesitate to compare
his own situation with that of the Dane.

7
Christie described the breakup he had
experienced himself, and the Danish rocker
now had to live through as emotional. He
compared it to a divorce and even estimated
that after so many years in HA, symptoms of
post-traumatic stress syndrome could be
developed by being excluded from the biker
community.

George Christie's own life is inextricably
linked to HA's history. He was born in 1947,
the year before the club was founded. The
seed of the dream of putting the winged skull
on his back and cultivating free life on two

8
wheels already began to sprout in the
Californian when he was a teenager.
Specifically, one day in 1956 when he saw a
biker holding a red light on his Harley-
Davidson. When the light changed to green,
the guy put the motorcycle into gear, he
turned the throttle to the bottom and drove
to the sound of the engine roar. The sight
took Christie and almost sealed his fate.
From that moment on, he aspired to be able
to call himself an angel. Nine years later, he
was admitted as a probationary member and
began his career in the organization. This was

9
around the same time that Jønke acquired
his first moped.

Exactly where the name Hells Angels
comes from, there is disagreement. One
explanation is that it is drawn from the
eccentric playboy, flight pioneer and
Hollywood director Howard Hughes' 1930
film Hell's Angels. It was the most expensive
production of the time and was about the
British Royal Flying Corps during the First
World War. Another theory is that the
organization was inspired by an American
squadron that fought in China during World
War II and called itself "Hell's Angels". The

10
name was painted on the snout of their
planes.

Surely, on the other hand, the

promoters of the club were white veterans of
The Second World War and rode Harley-
Davidson motorcycles. Several of them had
belonged to more or less randomly
assembled groups of soldiers returning from
overseas missions. They were restless and
longed for the atmosphere of brotherhood,
excitement, and fear they had lived in during
their service. As compensation, they formed
biker communities and created a new life in

11
which they sought out or even created the
excitement on the Californian highways.
The phenomenon became known to
the public after a rally in the Californian city
of Hollister in July 1947. Behind the event
was the nonprofit American Motorcyclist
Association (AMA), but the event also
attracted hordes of adrenaline-hungry young
men who got drunk and drove up and down
the main street in a drunken state. The
commotion put the police force in overdrive,
and the trouble makers came into the media
spotlight. According to the myth, a
spokesperson for the AMA subsequently

12
distanced himself from the riots, saying that
99 percent of American motorcyclists are
law-abiding citizens. The wild bikers
embraced the idea and declared that they
were the one percent who did not respect
the rules of society. They wore the 1% patch
as an accolade, called themselves outlaw
bikers and gathered in cliques with their
own rules.
The groups evolved into gangs, of which
POBOB – Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington
– was one of the more well-known and
formed the rootstock of what, with the
creation of the so-called Mother Chapter in

13
the San Bernardino area of California on
March 17, 1948, became the Hells Angels. In
1954 and 1957, two more HA clubs opened
in San Francisco and Oakland, which were
later incorporated into the parent
organization. The latter department was
founded by Ralph "Sonny" Barger, who, by
his own admission, was not aware of the
existence of the original club – and in time
would play a crucial role in George Christie's
life.

Barger had grown upwith his grandparents in
a tough Oakland neighborhood plagued with

14
drug problems and crime. According to his
autobiography, Hell's Angel (2001), it was
only the fear of needles that saved him from
becoming an addict himself. At 16, he forged
his birth certificate and joined the Army.
Fourteen months later, the scam was
discovered and Barger was kicked out. When
he returned home, he started looking for a
motorcycle club that lived up to his
expectations. The model was the main
character Johnny Strabler in the director
László Benedek's film Wild One (1953). The
role was played by Marlon Brando, and
Barger meticulously copied the star's style of

15
clothing with Levi's jeans, white T-shirt with a
pack of Camel cigarettes stuck up his sleeve,
black boots and belt with silver buckle.

When he failed to find a suitable club,
he and some mates decided to make their
own. One of the friends, Don "Boots"
Reeves, had a mark sewn on the back of his
leather jacket. A skull with a pilot's helmet
and wings. Boots suggested that they name
themselves after the brand:

"Hells Angels". The 18-year-old Barger loved
the idea. The name and brand were a perfect
fit for them, he thought. Because that's what

16
they were: angels of hell. And it was here
that the winged skull was dubbed Death
Head.

In April 1957, the gang ordered the
club's first back brands in a local shop that
made sports trophies. It was only then that
they became aware that there were other
clubs of the same name in California. In
addition to the name, the groups shared
values and agreed to join forces. Each
department - chapter - had its hometown
added as the lower part of the brand on the
west. The spread of what would become the

17
world's best-known and infamous
motorcycle club was underway.

However, the organization only

became known to the public eight years later
when California Attorney General Thomas C.
Lynch issued a report on so-called outlaw
motorcycle gangs and their "gangster
activities". Lynch had spent six months
investigating the bikers and especially HA,
which by then had grown to have 446
members in the sunshine state. In addition,
438 other bikers were identified. They were
organized into clubs such as Satan's Slaves,
Coffin Cheaters, Outsiders, Cavaliers,

18
Comancheros, Iron Horsemen and Galloping
Goose. The latter name was adopted in the
1970s by a Danish motorcycle club, which
played a central role in the establishment of
HA in Denmark.

The Outlaw bikers were not like the
average American motorcyclist, Lynch
concluded. They appeared in droves, armed,
ravaged, raped and threatened people into
silence. As a result, the police had difficulty
obtaining witnesses when the bikers' cases
went to trial and an explanation had to be

19
given. Many times the bikers ended up
walking free. 874 arrests had led to only 300
convictions against 151 HA members. Only
85 of those convicted ended up in prison. In
the eyes of the authorities, a dispiriting
statistic, and as if it were not bad enough,
the bikers took advantage of the time behind
bars to strengthen their image by also
performing brutally there.

Barger was one of those who had been

imprisoned, and according to the book
Englenes deeds (1997) written by the late
crime reporter and editor-in-chief of Ekstra
Bladet, Ambro Kragh, the HA leader was

20
notorious for his brutality in prison. His
philosophy was that if someone does
something wrong to you, then don't make
yourself a judge. Kill him first, and then let
God be the one who judges," Kragh quotes
one of Barger's former cellmates as saying.
Thomas C. Lynch sent a list of named
gang members to California police and
shared his revelations about the biggest
clubs with the media. A strategy that would
be called spin today. The report contained
startling details and received massive
publicity. In March 1965, The New York
Times described one of the recording rituals

21
Lynch had heard of from multiple sources.
New members had to bring a woman or girl -
called a sheep (sheep) - to a meeting. The
sheep would then have to agree to have
sexual intercourse with all members.
It was not clear whether the

newspaper had sought out sources other
than the report to have the information
confirmed or denied. In August of that year,
the punchy boyhood magazine The Man's
Magazine published an article describing the
bikers with equal parts fascination and
horror: "They call themselves Hells Angels.
They ride their machines, rape and steal like

22
a cavalry on raids – and they boast that no
police force can destroy their motorcycle
club. "

Attention to bikers and their lifestyles

inspired others to investigate the
phenomenon. The year after the publication
of the Attorney General's report, author
Hunter S. Thompson made his debut with
Hell's Angels (1966). The book was a
journalistic tale in which the writer himself
found himself in the middle of events, which
was innovative at the time. The genre was
nicknamed "gonzo" and formed a school for
generations of writers worldwide. Thompson

23
had been following the HA from the San
Francisco area for 12 months and had
befriended several members from the
Oakland club in particular, including Sonny
Barger. After the release, however, the bikers
felt exploited and believed that Thompson
profited financially from their stories.
Tensions culminated at a party where
Thompson fell out of favor and was beaten
up by a member called "Junkie George". This
did not diminish the public interest, and
random house publishing spoke diligently
about the attack in further marketing. The
book became a bestseller, Barger became

24
HA's public face, and the bikers were the
subject of great fascination in the United
States.

The stories about HA helped define the
motorcycle lifestyle as one of the counter-
and subcultures of the time. It symbolized
freedom, excitement and fraternity, and it
appealed to young men -- like George
Christie, who was fascinated by the lifestyle
and women who didn't want to live in the
same predictable way as their parents with
permanent jobs, suburban houses, two
children and cars in the driveway. However,
women were excluded from being admitted

25
as equals and could at most hope of gaining
the status of so-called Old Lady by becoming
a permanent girlfriend or wife of a full
member.

In Hollywood, B-filmmakers exploited
rocker culture in a string of so-called biker
films such as director Roger Corman's The
Wild Angels (1966) starring Peter Fonda and
Nancy Sinatra as the outlaw rocker president
"Heavenly Blues" and his girlfriend, "Mike"
respectively. Today, Christie describes the
films as "out of context". They were taken
too literally by the audience of the time,he
believes, but they nevertheless helped

26
establish a connection between the film
industry and the outlaw bikers. As Christie
explains in this book, friendships emerged
between feted actors and outlaws, which
today may seem outlandish. The films also
helped spread the story of the Hells Angels
outside the borders of the United States.
Throughout the Western world, cliques
emerged in which young men imitated the
American idols, put homemade back marks
on the denim vests and – for many –
dreamed of one day joining the now
international brotherhood.

27

At the end of the 1970s, HA was in its
organization and culture so strong that it was
possible to compare the club with global
franchises such as 7-Eleven and McDonald's,
where there are strict rules on how much
each department may differ in, for
example, interior design and product range
across national borders. Members of the
organisation, for example, had to wear the
same kind of clothes, ride Harley-Davidson
motorcycles and follow the club's code of
honor, respect and fraternity. Thus also
when Denmark was going on the club's world

28
map. Here, the now discarded Jønke was also
at the forefront of the ranks.

Welcome 81, stood on a giant banner strung
out on the façade of a Swiss mountain hotel,
where he together with four other
representatives from the Copenhagen
prospec tclub MC Denmark spent the days
between Christmas and New Year 1980. In
addition to marking the coming turn of the
year, the welcome greeting with one of the
favorite abbreviations and number codes of
the environment was the eighth and first
letter of the alphabet, H and A. According to

29
Jønke's first autobiography My Life (1985),
the delegation had travelled to the Alpine
country to celebrate the 10th anniversary of
the local HA's and to attend a meeting with
an unspecic agenda. In addition, they crossed
their fingers that during the stay they would
be advancing from prospects to Full-Patch.
The hopes should turn out not to be in vain.
On New Year's Eve at 18:00, the Danes and
17 of their comrades at home were
promoted to full members of the world's
largest and most notorious biker club.
Included as division number 40 worldwide
with the right to wear the desired Death

30
Head on his back. The shooting of the 22
men was the culmination of a year-long trial.
The four High Copenhagen biker clubs

Nomads, Dirty Angels, Iron Skulls and
Galloping Goose had already joined forces in
1976. They formed the Union association to
be stronger against the two rival groups
Nøragersmindebanden and Filthy Few, which
later merged under the name Bullshit. After a
few years, the Union clubs, with the
intervention of West German HA's, were
admitted as aspirants under the name
Galloping Goose MC before advancing to
prospects.

31

The celebration of the final pass

continued with a celebration when Jønke and
his comrades returned to the clubhouse in
Titangade in Nørrebro a few days later.
Those who still had old marks on the vests
ripped them off in euphoria, although the
club did not yet have complete patches for
everyone. The broadcasters had only brought
home five vests with marks from Switzerland.
Members took turns wearing them while
they waited for the rest to show up in the
mail. All the brands were produced in the
UNITED States and, referring to the older
lady who hand-sewn them, were called 'Betty

32
patches'. However, the club's expansionary
development in Europe, among others, made
it difficult for her to keep up with demand.
However, passers-by in Titangade did

not have to be in any doubt that the
occupants of the white property were
advanced. The clubhouse in the former
workshop could now officially call itself
"Angels' Place" and was provided with a
man-high sign with a logo and name features
between the shuttered windows. Inside, the
walls were decorated with HA-related
ornaments in countless shades.

33

From the very beginning, the Hells
Angels turned out to be of an – in the Danish
context – unprecedented calibration. The
club quickly manifested itself as a
professionalised, rule-bound and hierarchical
group that was not only hostile to
competitors, but actively sought to wipe
them out. The rivals Bullshit, who conceded
defeat and disbanded in 1988, succeeded,
while in the 1990s the Great Nordic Biker
War against the Bandidos claimed the lives of
11 people and injured 96- before the parties,
after fighting each other with everything
from firearms and hand grenades to car

34
bombs and anti-tank missiles with defense
attorney Thorkild Høyer, reached a peace
agreement. Which brings me back to
George Christie and the special role that in
late summer 1997 brought him extra close
to the danish brothers at the time. Just over
23 years later, during our conversations in
the apartment in Spain, he clearly
remembered the fateful meeting with the
warring Scandinavian clubs.

It took place in Spokane, which with its then
318,000 inhabitants was the second largest
city in Washington state. It was also declared

35
HA territory. Nevertheless, the number of
back marks in the streetscape on Thursday 7
August 1997 seemed unusually high. About
100 of the club's members from both the
west and east coasts were present to attend
a major rally - including the presidents of all
the countries - to take part in a major
meeting. In addition, several representatives
from international departments as well as
people from support clubs had turned up.
However, a small group of both HA's
and Bandidos members were not only there
because of the meeting, but had an errand
that they handled with great discretion. They

36
had set each other up at a local breakfast
restaurant, which they thoroughly searched
for eavesdropping equipment, before any of
the up to eight representatives from each
club walked in the door. Among them – and
as the only Danes – was the HA profile
Blondie and the Bandidos' then Danish
president, Jim Tinndahn. Both were as
members of international biker clubs by
definition barred from entering the United
States, but with the intervention of Danish
police they had been equipped with special
visas by the American Federal Police, the FBI.
It was a prerequisite that the service was

37
informed in the early hours of departure and
flight number so that they could monitor
them.

Prior to their arrival at the venue, local

biker leaders had been provided with a
phone number for a "federal service" that
they could call if local police tried to interfere
with the event. The agenda consisted of one
item: the negotiation of a peace agreement
between the two clubs in Denmark and the
consequent unproblematic coexistence in
the Nordic countries. From the American
side, both clubs had sent their heaviest
dealers. George Christie led the HA

38
delegation. In addition to being president of
Ventura California, he was ranked only
under Sonny Barger who was conspicuously
absent.

Known for his diplomatic skills, he had

previously been the club's preferred
negotiator during disagreements with other
1% clubs such as Mongols, Pagans, Outlaws
and Bandidos. He knew that lasting solutions
to conflicts had to be found at the
negotiating table and not with firearms.
Christie was a peacemaker- and he was the
one who showed up at the negotiating table
in Spokane - sent a clear signal of how

39
seriously Hells Angels' international
organization took the conflict in Denmark.
To match Christie, the Bandidos had

sent the later world president - 'El
Presidente' - George Wegers. In addition to
having a big voice in his own organization,
Wegers swung well with Christie. They each
belonged to their own club, but had respect
for each other.

"Listen to me. There is room for
everyone, and we have the same common
enemy: the police. But because of the war,
we lose members who are imprisoned or die.

40
You have to prepare to one day put the
conflict behind you," Christie began.

They were anything but responsive.
"We're not going to give up. We're

going to kill them all," one said.

Christie, in his own words, tried to be

diplomatic:
"You're not going to kill all Bandidos
members. That's not going to happen.""
He then questioned the Danes about
their views on the conflict and the prospect
of peace. Blondie already knew him, and
Christie regarded him as intelligent, strategic
and probably the most powerful HA in

41
Europe. Tinndahn knew less about, but he
remembers him as "less sophisticated, but
very dedicated". Christie was aware that grief
and vengeance after losses and humiliations
from the conflict could play a role in the
Danes' way of acting. After all, they had big
egos. He was also aware that a sudden peace
could be a bitter pill to swallow for those
members who had fought and paid with their
freedom. Therefore, he put the situation into
perspective with an example from his own
life.

"There's a guy from my chapter who's
in jail for blowing up two Mongols. I feel torn

42
because while he's serving time for the two
killings, Mongols are visiting me in the
clubhouse to negotiate peace. You have to
realize that one day this will stop, and you're
going to have to drop that rhetoric with the
fact that it's going to last forever," Christie
explained.

As the meeting progressed, it seemed
as if the dialogue was becoming increasingly
constructive. There was talk that the two
clubs could merge, and according to Christie,
at one point Wegers suggested retaining HA's
name and incorporating the Bandidos' colors,
red and yellow. The idea was controversial,

43
because name and colors are central and
inseparable symbol elements of a club.
American bikers are happy to mention the
marks on their vests under the collective
name colors. It was also the subject of the
proposal, but the dialogue was in itself a step
forward. Still, Christie didn't dare make false
hopes.

"Right now you sound sensible, but
when you get home, hate breaks out again,"
he said.

"Yes, unless we reach an agreement,"

the Danes replied in agreement.

44

After nearly five hours of negotiations,
the company was preparing to break up.
Christie felt there was a mutual
understanding between the parties, and he
had a clear sense that they were ready to
make a peace deal on the ground.

"But then they had to talk on the

phone with Thorkild Høyer," recalls Christie,
who thought he was a politician. He didn't
have the imagination to imagine that it was a
defense attorney acting as a mediator. In his
view, this could never take place in the
United States.

45

"It seemed like he had his own agenda.
That he wanted them to wait until they got
home," Christie said.

According to Høyer, the explanation
was that it was important that a peace
agreement was communicated in such a way
that everyone in the environment listened
and understood the message. Supporters
and other sympathizers in particular were
known to be combative and unruly, and it
would be disastrous if someone acted on
their own because they had not perceived
that the conflict was over.

46
Before the parties parted ways in Spokane, it
was agreed to extend the ceasefire and hold
another meeting two weeks later, but the
day before, HA canceled. They didn't think
there was anything more to talk about. A few
days later, the club then turned up the
rhetoric further, declaring that there was no
basis for extending the ceasefire or for
further talks. HA did not believe that the
Bandidos were seriously committed to
reaching an agreement. Every hope seemed
to be out.

After Blondie and Tinndahn went
home, Christie's phone rang. It was a

47
reporter from The Washington Post
newspaper.

"Is this George Christie?"
"And ..."
The journalist asked some questions

about the war in Scandinavia.

"I don't really know anything," Christie
replied. He was surprised that someone from
the press had gotten wind of the meeting.
"Did you meet with the Bandidos from
the U.S. and Europe and HA from Europe in
Washington, D.C.?"

Christie knew that it was the straight
path to getting into trouble in HA to talk over

48
this in the media. He decided to take the
reporter at his word.

"No, I have never met with anyone in

D.C.," he said without lying, since the
meeting had taken place in Washington state
and not the capital of the United States.
Christie waited for the next question, but no
more were asked.

Back in Denmark, the situation appeared to
be deadlocked. Hells Angels had slowed
down negotiations, and within the club
people joked that Blondie had at least got a
great trip to the States. But exactly a month

49
after HA extinguished hopes for peace, a deal
still appeared to fall into place. The parties
agreed to send a representative from each
department to a meeting on Thursday 25
September 1997 at 12 noon. The meeting
took place at Karlebo Kro in North Zealand,
which for the occasion was discreetly
guarded by plainclothes agents from the
Police Intelligence Service. In total, about 20
representatives from the two clubs
participated, who over the past 18 months
had fought each other throughout
Scandinavia.

50

The men took their seats on a large
table, and as the day progressed, they
approached each other. The main points
were which cities the two clubs had to have
branches in and which were prohibited
areas. In addition, it was essential not to
record each other's members. The parties
ended up reaching an agreement, and the
mood eased from earnest to cheerful.
Everyone was relieved that the disputes
appeared to be over.

At 9 p.m. that evening, TV-Avis presented an
outstanding performance that went down in

51
Danish tv and rocker history. For rolling
camera, Blondie and Tinndahn marched into
an anonymous-looking room with eggshell
yellow walls and a yucca palm in the corner
behind a table with three microphones lined
up for the occasion. They sat down and
shook hands that a " cooperation agreement
"had now been concluded. Leaving aside
leather vests and tattoos, it looked like the
transmission of a peace process in the
Middle East or Northern Ireland. During the
interview, however, the two rocker profiles
stressed that neither of them wanted to put
the word "peace " in their mouths, as it

52
indicated that there had been a conflict. They
wouldn't acknowledge that.

"The message is that now we are

working together to avoid the confrontations
that have taken place," Tinndahn said.

'We can't give guarantees that there
will be no more incidents, but we can take an
active part in making sure that the people
who step outside that cooperation
agreement are excluded from our biker
culture. That's what we can promise,"
Blondie added.

None of them wanted to elaborate on
what the agreement entailed, but posterity

53
showed that the clubs had actually made a
geographical breakdown, so the larger cities
belonged to HA, while the Bandidos stayed
out in the countryside. Whether the parties
had actually been prepared to conclude the
agreement in Spokane, or the following
month's tug-of-war was a necessary part of
the process, peace proved long-lasting.
Christie was right that the solution should be
found at the negotiating table and that the
Danish HA's would not destroy the Bandidos.

I have been asked several times why it is
important to deal with the history of Hells

54
Angels. Aren't bikers - and for that matter
gang members - just some callous criminals
who are better off being pinned to death? I
do not think that is the case . The History also
shows that it is not possible.

Since HA and bandidos made peace in

1997, the two biker clubs have had to
tolerate the growth of new gangs such as
Loyal To Familia, Satudarah, Gremium and
NNV. To name but a few. The newer groups
are not imported from the United States, and
their identity is virtually never linked to the
use of motorcycles. But in many areas they
have copied the organisational structure and

55
expression of the bikers with backmarks,
local branches, quota payment and a strict
culture of obedience. Like the traditional
biker clubs, they offer a kind of subcultural
recognition and an ultra-mascultural
community, where it is the notion of
unconditional loyalty that determines the
value and status with which one is
surrounded. According to author and
sociologist Aydin Soei, H-1000 is a glaring
paradox:

"On the one hand, members and the
best organized gangs promote themselves
outwardly as freedom-loving outlaws and

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outcasts, which do not want to be bound by
the conformity of society. However, this
contrasts with the fact that the individual's
membership of the criminal organisation is
conditional on him being able to say 'yes' to
an internal culture of obedience, where the
club's hierarchical rules must be strictly
followed. Membership is therefore not an
expression of individual freedom," he writes
in the book Rockers and Gang Members in
Denmark (2019).

George Christie's comparison of exiting

to a divorce isn't entirely skewed either.
Rocker or gang life can best be described as

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being married to your club. It is always the
club first and the member's primary loyalty
belongs to the club. It also means that
everything else is downgraded, which
Christie himself reflects on in detail in the
depiction of his first marriage. The more he
got involved in life with his brothers, the
harder it became to maintain a relationship
or, for that matter, friendships outside the
environment. Outsiders were opting out,
because they had difficulty being familiar
with or condoning the outlaw lifestyle.
In April 2021, 1.238 people were
registered as affiliated with a biker or gang

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group with Danish police. In the first three
months of the year, they were charged with
1,916 criminal offences, the Narcotics Act or
the Firearms Act. The previous year, 16
people lost their lives as a result of clashes in
the gang scene. This was one more than the
number of fatalities during the first two biker
wars on Danish soil combined. Taleasily
breaks all previous records in a sad statistic,
and the development emphasizes that it is
more relevant than ever to take the biker
gang problem seriously. Any understanding
of the present and future begins with history.

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Carsten Norton, May 2021