Should We Worry About This New Hampshire Gang Causing Violence?

Gangs are everywhere, let's be honest with ourselves.

Gangs are sometimes dramatized in movies. Not all gangs are as violent and criminal as some movies make it seem.

To that point, there are certainly gangs that inflict violence and cause serious harm to the community.

As my true crime algorithm, shows, movies, podcasts, etc., keep popping up all around me, I cannot help but be curious and dig further.

Are there gangs in New Hampshire? Violent ones?

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"Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are New Hampshire's most threatening organized gang problem," according to a National Drug Intelligence Center article.

In March 2000, the Hells Angels established a chapter in Manchester. Members came from existing Hells Angels chapters in Maine and Massachusetts to establish it. Law enforcement authorities report that members live in Derry, Hudson, Franklin, and Meredith.

The gang, by my research, has not been actively violent in years. However, their past does not paint a pretty picture.

In 2005, we saw the first attempted murder of a rival motorcycle gang member in New Hampshire, according to a Laconia Daily Sun article.

It was the:

...first of numerous violent and criminal acts the Outlaws motorcycle gang is accused of in a 12-count federal indictment unsealed this week after federal agents charged more than two dozen members in seven states, killing one during a shoot out in Maine.

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But how did a gang become organized in New Hampshire?

According to a 1999 national truce, the Hells Angels must allow the rival Outlaws to establish a chapter in the state without retaliation. In establishing its New Hampshire chapter, the Outlaws is converting members of the New Hampshire chapter of the Devils Disciples OMG into Outlaws. The rivalry that exists between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws has caused recent violent flare-ups throughout the state. This violence threatens to end the truce between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws, who often compete for control over lucrative drug markets. The Devils Disciples OMG operates from Manchester but has no reported involvement in drug sales.

In 2010, 27 Outlaws members and associates were charged in the indictment handed by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mark Myrdek, the State Police Captain at the time who headed the division's Investigative Services Bureau, said,

We constantly have intelligence and monitor what goes on with the Outlaws motorcycle gang community. We're on top of it as well as we think we can be.

Again, by my research, there is very little threat of gangs in New Hampshire, but never no threat.