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Biker Club Chaos in Waco · 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories

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Discretion is advised. This is ten minute murder. On Sunday, the seventeenth
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of May twenty fifteen, hundreds of bikers were attending a meeting at the Twin
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Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas. Most of the bikers and attendants were from
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two rival gangs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos. They'd come together for a
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common cause routine meeting between the gangs to discuss bikers' rights in a neutral space.
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The Cossacks had arrived early, wanting to present a strong front to the
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Bandidos. By the time the rival gang arrived, they were greeted by the
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sight of the Cossacks sitting in the restaurant's patio area waiting for them. Peace
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between the two groups did not last long. It began as an argument over
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parking, which grew more and more heated as Bandido bikers supposedly used bikes to
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deliberately run over a Cossacks foot. Within minutes, several of the members had
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drawn their weapons and multiple shots were fired. Reginald Weathers, a member of
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the Bandidos, might have been the first person to be shot, but because
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he had been punched by a Cossack shortly before the shot was fired. He
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was bent over and never saw who was holding the gun. CCTV footage of
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the shooting was later leaked online, showing the other customers and waitstaff running from
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the gunfire while hundreds of bikers drew their weapons. Richard Luther, a member
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of the Cossack gang at the time, talked about the chaos later quote I
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curled up in the fetal position with three other people, he said. I
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looked up and saw another biker Ritchie hit the ground, saw him bleeding from
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the head. Started seeing people dying and falling all around me. We decided
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we needed to move, so we crawled military style on our stomachs up the
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patio stairs, through the patio, and into the restaurant until the police came.
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Really, at that point I didn't know who was shooting. The local
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police had been aware of the meeting and they were waiting nearby in case a
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fight broke out between the two gangs. Within minutes of the first shot being
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fired, police were on the scene. Although most of the forensic evidence in
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the shooting has not been released to the public, Allegedly, several of the
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bikers shot that day were shot with a two two three caliber rifle, the
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firearm used by the Waco police. According to the police who responded that day,
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the force that they used was necessary to quickly control the scene and prevent
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more people from losing their lives. After only a few minutes of shooting,
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nine people had already sustained fatal injuries and many more were seriously hurt. The
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officers detained so many bikers that the local police station was too small for processing
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the suspects. All one hundred seventy seven bikers were driven to Waco's Convention Center
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and accused of the same crime, engaging in organized criminal activity that was a
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serious charge with a potential for a life sentence if they were convicted. Their
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bonds were set at one million dollars each, a fee that most of the
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suspects could not afford. The Justice of the Peace, who set the bonds,
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justified the high fee, saying, I think it's important to send a
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message. The Twin Peaks restaurants, where the shooting had taken place, was
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criticized for allowing such a large group of bikers to meet there, and shortly
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after the chain announced that the Waco restaurant's franchise was being canceled. They gave
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the reason that the restaurant's management had ignored police warnings about the bikers and that
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they'd failed to uphold security standards designed to keep everyone in the restaurant safe in
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the shootings. Aftermath, the police discovered what they believed was overwhelming evidence that
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most of the bikers had been prepared for violence that day. They might not
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have known how the fight would start, but they made sure that they would
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be able to defend themselves when it happened. At the scene, more than
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two hundred weapons were recovered firearms, brass knuckles, knives, baseball bats,
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and chains. While waiting in jail for their bonds to be lowered, the
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bikers were unable to support their families after they got out. Many of them
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lost the jobs that they previously held before going in or watched their marriage crumble.
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Quote. When I got out of jail, cossack like a Richard Luther
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said, I called the owner of the roofing company that I worked for.
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He said, can't have gang members working for me. I couldn't do anything.
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Nobody wanted us around. Out of all one hundred and seventeen suspects,
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only one of them ended up needing to appear in court Jake Karazov, who
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was a chapter president for the Bandidos. It was an emotional trial. One
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of the officers who had responded to the scene began to cry uncontrollably on the
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stand as he relived memories of the crime scene, saying it wasn't supposed to
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go like that, It just looked like a horror movie. After six weeks,
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the jury was not able to agree on a verdict, and in November
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twenty seventeen, Jake Karazov's trial was ruled as a mistrial. One of the
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key issues with actually convicting any of the suspects was the level of chaos that
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had unfolded during the shooting. Even the people who were witnesses that day said
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they had no idea how it started. One moment things were relatively calm,
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and the next moment, the restaurant was a scene of mass murder. Since
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very shortly after the shooting, the police's response has been controversial. Many of
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the bikers argued that the police officers just arrested anyone who was at the scene,
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including people who had not drawn a weapon and were simply trying to flee
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from the shooters. The bikers believed that the police created an unfair narrative placing
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all of the gang members as being murderous criminals who had intended on doing harm
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that day. As a result of the Waco shootout, more than one hundred
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lawsuits were brought forth against Waco law enforcement. Of the bikers who chose to
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file a civil rights lawsuit was Diego Obledeaux, one of the men who insisted
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that he had not contributed to the violence. Allegedly, Diego didn't even have
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a weapon with him that day, but he was arrested still for engaging in
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organized criminal activity. In fact, according to the lawsuit, Diego had not
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been a member of either of the main gangs involved in the shooting. He
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was a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association. When he was arrested, he
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had been carrying a small bible in the pocket of his vest. When the
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new mc lennan County District Attorney, Barry Johnson took office in twenty nineteen,
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he made an announcement. Out of the one hundred seventy seven men arrested,
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one hundred fifty five had been indicted. He decided to drop the charges against
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the remaining twenty four suspects, because, in his opinion, it was useless
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to push it any further. Kharazav's trial had racked up around one point five
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million dollars in legal costs, and ultimately it had been pointless. Attorney Johnson
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was open to the possibility of charging some of the bikers for murder if they
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uncovered any new evidence, but at the moment he didn't think the prosecution had
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a chance of winning. He thought that earlier in the case there might have
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been opportunities to convict some of the bikers of other charges like unlawful weapon possession,
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attempted murder, and assault, but now the statute of limitations on some
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of those crimes has expired. For many of the bikers who had been arrested
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during the shootouts, the news was a relief. Quote for us that our
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living it is vindication. It's like the weight of the world has been lifted
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off our shoulders, said Richard Luther, who had already begun the process of
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suing Waco law enforcement. According to Richard, being arrested in the shootouts had
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cost him more than just his time. He'd paid more than forty thousand dollars
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in legal fees and therapy for post traumatic stress disorder. Clint Broden, who
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represented several of the bikers in their lawsuits, agreed that the real perpetrators could
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have been prosecuted if the investigation had been more thorough. In the United States,
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he said, we investigate first and then we charge. We don't charge
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first and then investigate. This was done completely asked backwards. If the original
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district attorney, Abel Raina just charged those who were criminally responsible, I think
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we would have had some prime insecutions and likely convictions. But because he made
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such a mess of it, this is the end result. The Waco Tribune
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Herald described the shootout as leading to a four year prosecutorial fiasco that resulted in
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zero convictions. Everyone who was there that day has a slightly different story of
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what happened, and eight years later, the identity of the person who fired
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the first shot is still unknown. That's ten Minute Murder for today, brief
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and bingeable true crime. I'm Joe the host, and thank you so much
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Joe in person, are you a talker or are you quiet? That's from
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Stacy in Hanover and Stacy, I can tell you that I'm both. There
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Sometimes there's just pure chaos. So I don't always like to verbalize that.
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