Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested two men who they say are members of a notorious motorcycle club and charged them with attempted murder and using a firearm during a violent crime.
Darvi Hinojosa and John Sblendorio each face a count of attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity and using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The first charge carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison, while the second carries a minimum penalty of ten years in prison.
An unsealed indictment accuses Hinojosa and Sblendorio of attempting to kill an unidentified person “for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing position” within the Texas-based Bandidos Motorcycle Club, which authorities consider an international crime syndicate.
Bandidos and other bike gangs — like the Pagans, Hells Angels, Vagos, Sons of Silence, Outlaws, and Mongols — are referred to by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as “outlaw motorcycle gangs” (OMGs). In its most recent gang report, from 2015, the bureau said club leadership frequently denies directing members to commit criminal acts, as alleged by authorities.
The Texas Department of Public Safety considers the Bandidos on par with the Bloods, the Crips, and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas in terms of risk.
Once considered by federal authorities to be the second-largest biker gang in the world behind the Hell’s Angels, the Bandidos was started by Vietnam veteran and Houston dockworker Donald Chambers in 1966, according to a 2007 report by Texas Monthly. It quickly grew into an international organization and has since been linked to multiple killings.
In 2015, nine people were killed and at least 20 others wounded when dozens of Bandidos and Cossacks bikers exchanged fire in a Twin Peaks parking lot in Waco. While dozens of alleged gang members were arrested and prosecuted, only one case went to trial and ended in mistrial, the Washington Post reported.
Three years later, Jeffrey Pike, the former national president of the Bandidos biker gang and Conroe resident, was given life in prison after a jury found him guilty of ordering the killing of Anthony Benesh in 2006 outside an Austin restaurant. Benesh had reportedly been trying to start a Hells Angels chapter in the city. The jury also found the club’s former national vice president, John Portillo, and others had killed Robert Lara in 2002 in Atascoas County as payback for killing Bandidos member Javier Negrete, according to a Department of Justice news release from the time.
Hinojosa and Sblendorio, whom authorities say went by the nicknames “10 Round” and “Tech9,” respectively, will be formally arraigned on the charges they face on Thursday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Yvonne Ho is also expected to decide then whether there is sufficient probable cause for the men to remain in detention.
Another alleged member of the Bandidos was recently prosecuted in the Southern District of Texas, court records show. Stephen Alms, whom authorities say went by “Cowboy,” pleaded guilty last week to racketeering conspiracy and illegally possessing a firearm. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein, Jr., is evaluating whether to accept the plea.
Byron Black of the U.S. Attorney’s Office wants Hinojosa and Sblendorio’s case to be assigned to Werlein, saying in a motion filed Tuesday that it shares “similar legal and factual issues” to Alms’.
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