Outlaw bikers have been hounded for years by police, but Bavarian Hells Angels have recently come under attack from flying puppies as well. Fortunately the dog is fine after his airborn introduction to the bikers. No word on the current condition of the pup’s owner.

It’s interesting how different book projects tend to link up. After I wrote a book on a British spy from Victorian times called Delusion a couple of years ago, I passed on a copy to someone I wished to talk with for The Bandido Massacre: A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal.

That copy of Delusion went to Glenn Atkinson, former Canadian secretary-treasurer of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. It was Atkinson who thought up the nickname “No Surrender Crew” for the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos, a tag he borrowed from the IRA. Atkinson was known as a particularly literate sort in the biker world, and is perhaps the only outlaw biker to read the works of James Joyce inside a fortified clubhouse.

Atkinson is a surprisingly literate, soft-spoken and pleasant guy, and I often wondered how he ended up in such a group. I also often felt happy that he quit, since he could easily have been victim #9.

Atkinson is a one-time resident of Belfast and toured Britain as a rock drummer. He was in Ireland in the late 1990s as part of another outlaw motorcycle club, the Loners. The Loners had hoped to expand into Ireland, and Atkinson socialized with Irish bikers in hopes of securing tighter links with them. In the end, however, he found the Irish bikers to be pleasant hosts but far too independent to hook up with another club, especially one based in North America. Atkinson also found Ireland’s roadways a little confusing, and it was while in Ireland that he was given his biker nickname of “Wrongway.”

Toronto Bandidos had looked to Germany for support and guidance before the mass murder of four years ago. They had always been impressed by the level of organization of their German brother. After the massacre, Pierre (Carlito) Aragon, one of the few Toronto survivors, hoped again that European Bandidos, including the Germans, might somehow help. Obviously, that didn’t go far.

German Bandidos are in the news now, after reaching a truce with the Hells Angels. Interest in the Canadian debacle there means that a deal has just been reached to publish The Bandido Massacre in German. I imagine they’re shaking their heads over Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, the ridiculous Nazi sympathizer who apparently never set foot in Germany, and who slaughtered his brothers while preaching love, loyalty and respect.