Wrath Chapter 20 #3
“We’ve probably all heard bits and stories about each other and our clubs over the years.
What’s true and what’s not could take days to discuss.
I won’t stand here and tell you that the Black Outlaws isn’t a one-percenter club.
We are. And we may do things you aren’t onboard with.
However, the question becomes what can you live with. ”
He paused to let it sink in. The officers listened and maintained blank faces.
Lion continued, “All of you, except the Dark Patriots, are MCs, and at one time in the past, you were all one-percenters like the Black Outlaws. Your money-making ventures might have varied slightly from ours, but you were outlaws. At some point, you made the decision that you wanted to change that. It took time and a lot of hard work to get to where you are now. All of you have highly successful and respected clubs. Overall, you’re seen as making your communities better.
“I’ve been a Black Outlaw for a long time.
I started as a young, immature punk who didn’t know shit and listened to no one.
I’ve done many things as part of the club that I might not have always agreed with, but I supported my club.
However, I wasn’t blind. My predecessor had one goal and motivation—to make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, and as easily as possible.
He didn’t care what it was or who it hurt.
That meant the club ended up in the most profitable business of human trafficking. ”
He stopped and hung his head momentarily before looking up and speaking again.
“I detested it and spoke out against it, but I was overruled. I was a chapter president, and he was national president. Many tended to agree with him due to his tendency to retaliate against those who opposed him. Suffice it to say that I wasn’t his favorite.
I was forced to lie to him and play a game of cover-up.
If it weren’t for my club, I would’ve never succeeded. It lasted for two years.”
I had to interrupt him here.
“What do you mean by a game of cover-up?” I asked.
“I mean that I pretended we were selling people to a select buyer. One who would only deal with us, and who bought enough to be our sole buyer. We didn’t participate in the pipeline shit most of the others were part of.
And as long as I made the profits equal or better than the others, the old president didn’t care. ”
“How was it pretend?” Bull asked.
“There were no people sold. We had secretly invested our money and were turning great profits for several years. We’d hidden it from the national team, or they would’ve found a way to take it.
In addition, we were doing more work in our other businesses than we reported.
We sell guns, but not to gangbangers, terrorists, or those types.
We do sell drugs, but it’s mainly weed, illegal gambling, chop shops, you name it.
We’re not angels, as I’ve told Wrath, but there are some things I won’t do, and selling human beings is one of them.
My entire chapter agreed to take the extra we were making and turn it over to the national team until we could find a way to get free of it. ”
“How did you become national president? The last guy had been doing it for years. Everyone thought he’d die in office,” Rage piped up. I’d asked him to join due to his years as president.
“I worked my ass off to find and befriend within the Outlaws other presidents and their chapters. Usually, it was by supporting them with something, lending a hand, whatever. As I did it, I discovered many of them were opposed to the trafficking and wanted nothing to do with it. It made them sick. I did it in the hope they’d band with me in the future and go to the national team to get the trafficking abolished.
“Instead, they ended up calling for an election.
There were enough of them that they demanded a referendum.
There was nothing the old president and his group could do other than agree.
However, they sure went around on the back end before the voting and issued threats to several presidents and their families.
“I was honestly shocked when my name was proposed to run against him.
There were a couple of others, but when the time came, they voted, and most ignored the threats.
He was out when the count came in, and I was in.
He was stunned and pissed. As the new president, I could keep the old VP and others, or bring in new ones.
I ousted all the old guard. From all the time spent with the various chapters, I knew the men.
I took those who most closely aligned with my ideals.
There were furious men after that, and I knew I had a target on my back, so it was no surprise that they decided to eliminate me. You see who won.
“My first edict was to do away with the trafficking. Sure, it was less money for all of us, but they’d find other ways to replace it with time.
I didn’t expect payments to the national team fund to be the same.
And let me tell you, when Ding got into the books, we were shocked at the amount of money they were demanding from chapters.
It was going into their pockets rather than paying them a reasonable amount in addition to having money for the overall MC when needed.
Since that election and forming my team, we’ve been working through the chapters that didn’t seem to mind the trafficking.
Several did as directed, but others have continued it and hid it.
A good example is the Greensboro chapter.
This whole situation with Killer and Jalisa exposed that, and let us determine it wasn’t a select few backing it.
The whole club saw nothing wrong with it.
That was clear when I called them on it two weeks ago.
I was told they’d do what they wanted in their club.
They were close to the old president. There was no one worth saving, so they were all eliminated. ”
Until this point, Lion had come across as almost nice, but when he spoke of the old national team and the Greensboro chapter moving against him, you saw in his eyes that he would make a deadly adversary, as would every man in this room.
“That brings us to the point of this meeting. The Black Outlaws are changing. No, we will never be a one-hundred-percent legal MC. We remain outlaws, but I want it to be to a lesser degree. Many of the chapters agree. We’re tired of constant wars, prison, and dying.
What you all have accomplished is nothing short of amazing.
Not many clubs could do what you’ve done.
That’s why I’d like the Outlaws to form a partnership of sorts with you.
In general, there may be times you’d be asked for advice on business ideas.
They would be legit ones. For example, Wrath, you have a classic body shop.
If one of our chapters were to start one of those, we might want to pick your brain on a few things before or after opening one.
“The other big thing I see is helping eradicate any trafficking by a Black Outlaw chapter. This team has zero tolerance for it. We want it gone and are willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. I know that some of you have had issues in the past with the Outlaws. In a couple of cases, it directly involved the human trafficking part. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that it happened.
I’d love to ensure no one else suffers that due to my club.
As a result of that, the Black Outlaws who were involved were removed from the equation.
I know this group as a whole was responsible for that. ”
None of us blinked. Lion smiled. “Good, not denying it. With that said, you can see that there has been no retaliation. That’s because you did what we would’ve done.
And we’d like it in the future, if we need backup for more of those situations, to be able to call on you to assist. That’s my offer, plain and simple. ” He retook his seat.
“You’ve presented a lot to think about, Lion.
One thing that comes to mind is you’ve told us how this partnership benefits the Outlaws.
How would it benefit us? Sure, getting rid of slime who hurt people that way is good, but it doesn’t mean it directly affects us and ours,” Diablo said first. The others all nodded their heads.
“You told us you want to change, and you don’t believe in the trafficking, but why change your types of businesses and make certain things legitimate? You’ll be in a hybrid club, and most clubs won’t know what to do with you. They’ll want to know why,” Reaper chimed in.
“What percentage of chapters do you believe will have to be persuaded or a complete crackdown?” Terror asked.
“My club saw firsthand what that dirty business does. Our brother Mace’s woman, Jessamy, lived through it.
While we want it gone across the board, we know that’s impossible.
It’s the largest business in the world. I don’t know that my club could work with yours, not after what happened to Jessamy,” Agony told him.
“We’re in a different position than our friends here.
We’re not an MC, but we deal with problems that, at times, have us closing down those trafficking and their associated businesses.
We have an advantage in that we have so many friends in MCs, and our friend and partner, who lived that life for five years.
Undertaker is very familiar with it,” Gabriel said, pointing to his Dark Patriot partner.
Anyone looking at Undertaker saw he had zero tolerance for any bullshit. His aura screamed don’t fuck with me, or I’ll bury you . There were no more questions, although there was a lot of head nodding and shifting in chairs.