Members of the Outlaws might portay themselves as a motorcycle club, but the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have another word for them: A gang.
The Outlaws, whose DeKalb County chapter has a clubhouse in a nondescript building in Genoa, are a highly structured criminal enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The federal government says Outlaws members are "involved in production, transportation and distribution of methamphetamine, and also traffic in cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy. They engage in various criminal activities including arson, assault, explosives, extortion, fraud, homicide, intimidation, prostitution, robbery, theft and weapons violations. The Outlaws compete with the Hells Angels for both members and territory."
The nearest Hells Angels chapter is less than an hour's drive away, in Rockford. Often, when gangs compete for territory, they do so with violence, as two rival biker gangs did on May 17 in Waco, Texas. That battle ended with nine people dead and 17 injured.
Genoa city officials are aware of the gang’s presence, and earlier this year, former Police Chief Ty Lynch proposed installing a camera system near the property the Outlaws use so that police could monitor goings-on.
That idea appears to have been shelved, and new Police Chief Robert Smith sees adding cameras as unnecessary.
“Maybe the one we have here is not as bad as the other ones,” Smith said of the local Outlaws chapter. “It’s still a concern. It’s not like they’re Boy Scouts. They’re organized and connected to crime.”
It’s hard to imagine a police officer saying that local members of a Chicago street gang might not be “as bad as the other ones.” More likely, they’d be talking about using any means necessary to run gangbangers out of town.
Although Outlaws members may dress differently, like street gangs, members of the group have a history of violence and organized crime. The presence of an organization such as the Outlaws in DeKalb County poses a danger to the greater region.
Smith said the Outlaws aren’t in Genoa often, and when they are, police assign extra patrols. They’re also having officers take specialized gang training. These are prudent steps.
Of course, just because the Outlaws are keeping a low profile now doesn’t mean things will stay that way, and what doesn’t seem like a big problem now could become a greater, more entrenched public nuisance years from now.
This is America, and people are entitled to freedom of association. But they are not entitled to be members of a criminal organization.
Illinois has a number of laws targeted at gang members, some patterned off federal racketeering laws that can hold gangs as a whole accountable for crimes committed by individual members.
We hope law enforcement and other officials will use whatever means necessary to ensure that at a minimum, members walk the line when they are in town. Violence, drugs and prostitution are cancers on society, and those who profit from such enterprises – or associate with those who do – should not expect to feel welcome in our communities.