Cossacks MC (Motorcycle Club)

Cossacks MC is an outlaw motorcycle club founded in Tyler, Texas in 1969. They are well known for their involvement in the 2015 Waco Shootout with the Bandidos MC.

We classify the Cossacks as an outlaw motorcycle club as despite claiming that they are a family club, they have been involved in multiple fights with the Bandidos MC, wear a bottom rocker and other patches similar to those used by outlaw clubs. However, they do not wear a one percenter diamond patch.

This article refers to the Cossacks Motorcycle Club based in Texas. There are also other motorcycle clubs who also go by the name of Cossacks MC who are based in the Mid-West and West states of USA.

Cossacks MC History

The Cossacks Motorcycle Club were founded in Tyler, Texas in 1969. Tyler is located approximately 100 miles East of Dallas and has a population of around 100,000.

The motorcycle club was named after the Cossack Horsemen, who the club say showed a sense of brotherhood.

Cossacks members must ride Harley Davidson motorcycles.

6 members formed the original chapter of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club:

• Earl Swift – Cossacks President (see more details about Early further down in this article)
• Charles Hanks – Cossacks Vice President
• Butch Cheatham – Cossacks Secretary
• Paul Henley – Cossacks Treasurer
• Tom Eliason
• Carl Blair

Only in more recent years have the Cossacks Motorcycle Club begun using a bottom rocker on their vests, signifying their location. The Texas rocker has been traditionally tightly held by the Bandidos. This is one of the rumoured motives behind the 2015 Waco Biker Shootout.

The change in direction of the club seems to have happened from around 2011-2013, when multiple ex-members of the club have stated that time periods for Prospect members have reduced significantly in an apparent effort to boost club numbers, some who are said to do a month or less of prospecting in particular chapters. Generally a prospect period would be one or more years. It is around this time that violence has also escalated.

A small group broke away from the club in 2017 and began a new club, however still used the name “Cossacks”. This breakaway group has a patch including a skull. They have no official ties to the club discussed in this article.

Cossacks MC Patch / Motto / Colors

The Cossacks Motorcycle Club patch consists of a traditional Cossack rider, they are holding a sword which appears to be a scimitar.

Cossacks Motorcycle Club colors are gold and black.

One of the Cossacks mottos is “We Take Care Of Our Own“, another “GFCD”, which stands for “God Forgives, Cossacks Don’t”.

The Cossacks also use the abbreviation of “CFFC”, standing for “Cossacks Forever, Forever Cossacks“, which is a very common style of abbreviation amongst outlaw motorcycle clubs.

Cossacks MC Chapters

The Cossacks Motorcycle Club have a number of chapters based around the Texas, USA area.

Some of the chapter locations are as follows:

• Cossacks Bell County chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Collins County chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Coryell County chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Eastland chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Lamar County chapter, Texas
• Cossacks McLennan County chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Mid-Cities chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Mingus chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Panola County, Texas
• Cossacks Paris chapter, Texas
• Cossacks San Angelo chapter, Texas
• Cossacks Tyler Chapter chapter, Texas (Mother Chapter)
• Cossacks Van Zandt County, Texas

Famous Cossacks MC Members

While the Cossacks Motorcycle Club don’t have any famous members in a celebrity sense, there are some who are more well known within the club.

Earl Swift – Founding Member / First Cossacks MC President

Earl Swift was one of the 6 founding members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club. He was born on 5 July, 1945 in Newport, Wales in Great Britain and died 30 December, 2012 in Tyler, Texas. He worked as  a tool and die marker and helped found the Cossacks Motorcycle Club when he was around 24 years of age.

Cossacks MC Crime / In The Media

2013 – November, 2013. Curtis Jack Lewis, the Bandidos MC Abilene Chapter President, is arrested for stabbing two members of the Cossacks, including Cossacks Mingus chapter President Timothy Satterwhite who was arrested at the Waco shooting, outside the Logan’s Roadhouse restaurant in Abilene, Texas.

2015 – 22 March, 2015. 10 members of the Cossacks MC force a single rider from the Bandidos MC to pull off Interstate 35 near the town of Lorena, which is roughly 15 miles south of Waco. The Cossacks then beat the Bandido with chains, metal pipes and batons before stealing his motorcycle.

2015 – 22 March, 2015. A group of Bandidos MC members, or possibly a Bandidos support club, confront a single Cossack member at a gas station in Palo Pinto County, which is 60 miles west of Fort Worth, The Bandidos members request the Cossacks member to remove his Texas rocker, a request which he is believed to have refused, before hitting him in the head with a hammer and stealing his vest.

2015 – 7 April, 2015. The El Paso FBI department are tipped off that 100 Bandidos members are expected to travel to Odessa, Texas to start a war with the Cossacks.

2015 – 9 April, 2015. The San Antonio FBI department are told to keep an eye out for any issues between the Bandidos and Cossacks at the biker rallies held in the Texas towns of Amarillo, Hondo, Midland and Odessa. It is estimated that between 200 and 400 Bandidos members attended the rallies, however there were no Cossacks.

2015 – 24 April, 2015. The Dallas FBI department release a report detailing 3 fights between the Cossacks and Bandidos in the Texas towns of Longview, Kilgore and Quitman.

2015 – 17 May, 2015. Waco Shootout. A fight breaks out at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas. Multiple motorcycle clubs including the Cossacks and Bandidos MC are involved and several shots are fired, including shots by multiple police. 9 die in the shooting, 7 of whom were Cossacks members.

• Charles Wayne “Dog” Russell
• Daniel Raymond “Diesel” Boyett
• Jacob Lee Rhyne
• Matthew Mark Smith (previously a member of Scimitars MC)
• Richard Matthew “Chain” Jordan III
• Richard Vincent “Bear” Kirschner Jr.
• Wayne Lee “Sidetrack” Campbell

Cossacks MC Enemies and Allies

Cossacks MC enemies:

• Bandidos MC are enemies.

Cossacks MC allies:

• TBC.

Cossacks Support Clubs:

• Scimitars MC are a support club.
• Dragoons MC are a support club.
• Sabres MC are a support club.

Read More:

• List of One Percenters Motorcycle Clubs
• Outlaw Motorcycle Club Books
• Bandidos MC
• Waco Biker Shooting

 

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