As police were aware before the shoot-out, the rivalry that boiled over into violence in Waco that day involved several different biker gangs allied against each other, but none of them were members of the Hells Angels. The L.A. Times reports that the two main rivals that day were called the Cossacks and the Bandidos. Both gangs identify “one percenters,” a biker term that means they consider themselves to be above the law. One unidentified Waco law enforcement official said that members of both gangs wear “one percent” patches on their vests to proudly display how they feel united in their lawlessness. This also means that they are considered willing participants in organized criminal activity.

Though they weren’t involved with this particular kerfuffle, the Hells Angels still consider themselves to be one percenters, and therefore, above the law, a position from which one breaks it, rather than obeys it. While this was by no means Waco’s first shoot-out or siege, Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton called the brawl “the most violent crime scene” he had ever been involved in, adding that biker gang crime and violence is an issue that extends far beyond his jurisdiction. “This is not a Waco problem,” he said, “this is a national problem.”