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Pat Matter, a former leader of Hells Angels in Minnesota, talks with Fox 9's Tom Lyden about the violence that ensues within these groups in the wake of a deadly altercation in Waco, Texas. Watch the video above to see the full interview.
Matter ran the Minnesota Hells Angels with an iron fist until the cop with him in this interview sent him to prison. Both look at the bloodshed in Waco and see a familiar obsession with respect and turf, symbolized by the club patch biker gangs wear.
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"It's not about drugs, it's about bravado. You're going to hang on to your territory, it's about respect," Matter said.
Twenty-two years ago, Matter and his Hells Angels had a similar turf war with the outlaws in Wisconsin. They even blew up his truck with C-4 explosives. Payback was always swift and brutal; a constant battle for supremacy.
Matter once even negotiated turf with the Banditos, the largest of five outlaw biker gangs recruiting and carving up turf at the Twin Peaks Bar. A combustible mix, Matter says all it took was a spark. That is, until former detective Chris Omodt busted Matter for dealing cocaine.
"Man, Tom, I was probably the biggest instigator but I wanted to be low key because that would draw attention to the business I was in," Matter said.
He testified against his Angels, had his face blacked out on the club house wall, and did nine years in prison. The two are now writing a book on the experience called "Breaking the Code," but you can still catch Matter talking in the present tense, like he was down there in Waco, still in the thick of it.
"Took me awhile to see the light, but I would've been right in there back in the day," he said.