The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club (GJMC) is a "one-percenter" motorcycle club that was originally formed in San Bernardino, California on April Fool's Day, 1956.[1] Though founded in the United States, the MC expanded successfully overseas and gained significant notoriety in Australia, the United States, and Norway.[5][6][7]
It is considered by many to be one of the most difficult clubs in which to achieve full membership, due to tough requirements and a "prospecting" time that usually takes at least two years, as pointed out in the book The Brotherhoods: Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs by Professor Arthur Veno.
Australia
In November 1969, Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Australia was founded by former members of the St Mary's Motorcycle Club who enjoyed riding Harley Davidson motorcycles. Sydney was the first chapter.
Following a friendly amalgamation with the notorious South Australian formed Mandamas MC and Gypsy Joker MC. the group has had a high profile in Australia, especially in the southern and western regions. The Gypsy Jokers are strong in Western Australia and considered to be one of Australia's most violent bikie gangs.[8]
In June 2001, the Western Australia Police Force seized the home of Leslie "Lee" Hoddy, the national president of the Gypsy Jokers, as the proceeds of crime.[9] An enraged Hoddy shouted at the policemen locking him out of his house "I know where you fuckers all live!", which led him being charged with making death threats.[10] Hoddy who had once been a millionaire died a poor man in 2004 as the Crown had seized his assets, property and bank accounts.[10] They are well known in Australia for the 2001 car bomb murder of Western Australia's former chief detective Don Hancock, known as the Hancock case. The gang had an altercation with Hancock at the hotel he owned in Ora Banda which is 60 km north of Kalgoorlie. After setting up a campsite, Gypsy Joker Billy Grierson was shot dead by a sniper and it was alleged that Hancock was the shooter.[needs update][2]
Gypsy Joker members claimed that on January 12, 2001, a member was severely beaten by police in Adelaide, South Australia for refusing to remove his motorcycle helmet and sunglasses.[11]
In February 2008, police forced the Gypsy Jokers to dismantle its clubhouse fortifications, which include a concrete front wall, surveillance cameras and modified doors, in Perth, Western Australia. The club said the security was needed in the area where the burglary rate is high.[12]
Two Gypsy Joker members were jailed on March 5, 2009 on charges of assault. On May 12, 2007, Dean Alan Adams and Peter Floyd Robinson attacked Petera Heta Haimona outside the Cactus Club in Gosnells, Western Australia and beat him with metal pipes.[13]
A Gypsy Joker was charged with unlawful possession of a large sum of cash, weapons and ammunition on August 17, 2007. Police pulled his car over and discovered a gun, an expandable baton, capsicum spray and ammunition when they searched his vehicle.[14]
A Gypsy Joker member was charged with attempted murder on March 17, 2009. He shot and wounded a member of the Newboys gang and former Hells Angel outside their clubhouse in Adelaide, South Australia.[15]
On May 19, 2009, five Gypsy Jokers were involved in a drug-related shoot-out with another gang in Perth, Western Australia. Two were wounded and taken to hospital, one of whom was Club President Leonard Mark Kirby.[16]
On April 14, 2012, Gypsy Joker Anthony Perish, his brother Andrew (a Rebels Motorcycle Club gang member) and Matthew Lawton were sentenced to eighteen, nine and fifteen years respectively for the murder of convicted drug trafficker Terry Falconer, conspiracy to commit murder and firearms and drug offences.[17]
United States
In December 1981, Donald Manuel Paradis, a leader of the Gypsy Joker, was convicted of the June 21, 1980 murder of Kimberly Anne Palmer, 19. Palmer and her boyfriend Scott Currier were murdered in Paradis's home. Paradis helped move the bodies to Post Falls, Idaho. Medical pathologist, William Brady, fostered the impression that Palmer had been killed in Idaho. This allowed Idaho to charge and convict Paradis with murder and sentenced to death. Public outcry and legal appeals managed to make it clear that the prosecution had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence, and Paradis' conviction was overturned.[18] When Paradis finally won release from prison in April, 2001, David Bond was widely credited with contribution to his case. "Dave Bond believed in me," Paradis noted. "And he got a whole bunch of people to believe in me."[19]
In 2004, the police raided the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Portland, Oregon looking for two men wanted for armed robbery one of whom went by the street name Brick. (Brick later was found dead due to an altercation with a rival gang and could not be tried for said crimes.) The men were not there, however, and the club sued the Portland Police Bureau for $50,000 because of the damage caused in the raid.[20]
On April 10, 2008, police raided the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Kennewick, Washington and arrested four men for possession of methamphetamine. Stolen property and weapons were also seized from the premises.[21]
On August 13, 2009, police in Nampa, Idaho, with assistance of the FBI, pulled over and detained approximately 60 to 70 members of the Gypsy Joker just off exit 38 on interstate 84. They were searched, interrogated, and photographed for future reference by law enforcement concerning gang affiliated activity.[citation needed][22]
As of July 2016, three people in Oregon were facing two counts of murder, one count each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and two counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping regarding the killing of Robert Huggins, once a high-ranking member of the group. Others were accused of hindering prosecution in this case. The investigation led to a raid of the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in North Portland that same year. Huggins' body was found beaten and mutilated in July 2015. His killers shot nails through his boots, carved out an ‘X’ on his body and knocked out his teeth.[23]
On January 31, 2019 six members of the Oregon Gypsy Joker were charged with multiple crimes. The U.S. Attorney's Office said five defendants face charges of murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death for the June 30 to July 2, 2015 kidnapping and murder of Huggins. Huggins was a former Gypsy Joker member and resident of southeast Portland. The five defendants are accused of killing Huggins to maintain and increase their positions in the criminal club.[24]
In April 2024, brothers Kyle Ray Campbell Cameron Earl Campbell, sons of the late President of the Kennewick, WA chapter of the Gypsy Jokers, were sentenced to 25 years and 20 years respectively, in federal penitentiary for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.[25][26]
^Veno (2003) p. 76, "The Gypsy Jokers have the highest profile in South Australia and Western Australia, and a number of violent incidents have occurred in both states, including shootings and clashes with police, putting them under the spotlight.
^Denson (2008) "Now, police identify about 80 Jokers in the [Oregon] region, half of them felons. They have been sent to prison for their roles in drug dealing, robbery, kidnapping, rape, murder and other crimes -- most of them years ago."
^Harrison (2009) "The most dangerous gangs include The Rebels with 2000 members. There are also the Gypsy Jokers, Coffin Cheaters, Bandidos, The Black Uhlans and the Finks described as the most disorganised but most violent, according to Professor Arthur Veno, author of The Brotherhoods."
Thompson, Hunter S. (1966). Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (Paperback ed.). Penguin Books. p. 164. ISBN0-14-028555-5.
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