Gypsy Joker MC (Motorcycle Club)
Gypsy Joker MC is a one percenter motorcycle club founded in San Francisco, California in 1956. In Australia, the club is referred to as the “Gypsy Jokers MC”.
Gypsy Joker MC History
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club was founded on April 1, 1956, best known as being April Fools Day, in San Francisco, California. Much of the information on the early years of the motorcycle club is hard to find, as the Gypsy Joker website contains extremely limited information and is often taken down.
The motorcycle club are often referred to as the “Gypsy Jokers”, particularly in Australia.
In 1967 the Gypsy Jokers relocation to Oregon and Washington, with the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club mother chapter being located in Lincoln City, Oregon. It is believed that this relocation occurred as they had been forced out of the San Francisco area by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Around this time the Gypsy Jokers were the second largest outlaw motorcycle club in the USA, behind the Hells Angels.
In November 1969 Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Australia was founded by former members of the St Mary’s Motorcycle Club who enjoyed riding Harley Davidson motorcycles. A book was produced with the names of American Outlaw Clubs, after a discussion of club names they decided to call their club the Gypsy Jokers. Their first meeting was held on a Tuesday night at the Colyton Hotel, Colton, which was where they formed their first committee. In time they moved on to the Nammegira Hotel then to the General Burke, then on to the Vauxhall Inn at Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales. The original members from 1969 were Brownie, Ugly, John, Grahame, Wally, Stacker, Blacky, Jesse, Chris, Bran Flakes, Grease Ball, Kentucky, Noel, Laurie, Staunch, Yoyo, Fingers, Mute, Shultz, Custer, Zanny, Eddie, Mannix.
They later merged with Mandamas MC in the state of South Australia. This move raised the profile, and strength, of the club in Australia significantly.
In 1977 Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Germany was founded.
Gypsy Joker MC Patch / Motto
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club patch has three major variations. Examples of each of the logos can be seen throughout this article.
Gypsy Joker USA / Germany – An evil grinning jester/joker marching in a red, gold and blue colored outfit.
Gypsy Joker Australia – A laughing skull with an earring through the left ear.
Gypsy Joker Norway – A smiling evil jester, with an earring through the left ear.
One of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club mottos is “show some respect, get some”.
Gypsy Joker MC Chapters
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club has chapters spread in multiple countries, including:
- Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Germany
- Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Norway
- Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club South Africa
- Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club United States
- Gypsy Jokers Australia chapters
- Gypsy Jokers Adelaide chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Brisbane chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Kalgoorlie chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Mt Gambier chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Perth chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Sydney chapter
- Gypsy Jokers Wodonga chapter
Famous Gypsy Joker MC Members
There are no members of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club who would be considered “famous”, however there are several who have been in high profile media stories. Some of these stories are mentioned in the “Crime / In The Media” section below.
Gypsy Joker MC Crime / In The Media
2000 – Australia. 1 October, 2000. Gypsy Joker Kalgoorlie chapter member Billy Grierson is sitting around a campfire with fellow members at the Goldfields town of Ora Banda when he is shot, and killed, from long distance. A 2006 investigation by the Western Australia Coroner was not able to identify the killer, however the club suspect that it was Former Chief Detective Don Hancock, after they experienced issues with him. When drinking at a hotel owned by Don Hancock in the small town of Ora Banda, which is near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, the Gypsy Jokers verbally abused one of the barmaids, who happened to be his daughter.
2001 – Gypsy Jokers MC were named as one of the targets of the South Australian Police Operation Avatar, a law enforcement task force formed in 2001 and made permanent in 2002 which aimed to take down one percenter motorcycle clubs including the Descendants MC, Finks MC, Hells Angels MC, Rebels MC, Mobshitters MC and Red Devils MC. This investigation was focused on the state of South Australia.
2001 – Australia. 1 September, 2001. Former Chief Detective Don Hancock and his bookmaker friend Lawrence “Lou” Lewis are in Don Hancock’s car approaching home when it explodes. Both men die in the explosion. It is thought that this was revenge for the October 1, 2000 sniper style shooting of Gypsy Joker Kalgoorlie chapter member Billy Grierson.
2004 – Australia. Western Australia Police take the Gypsy Jokers to court to try to force the removal of fortifications at the Gypsy Joker Maddington clubhouse. These court proceedings would not be resolved until 2008.
2004 – USA. 28 July, 2004. Shortly before dawn police used armored personnel carriers, military weapons and tear gas to storm the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club clubhouse on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Portland, Oregon. There is significant damage in the raid and the club later win a lawsuit, resulting in a $50,000 damages payout.
2007 – Australia. 12 May, 2007. Gypsy Joker members Dean Alan Adams and Peter Floyd attack Petera Heta Haimona with metal pipes outside the Cactus Club in Gosnells, Western Australia. On March 5, 2009 they were jailed for assault.
2007 – Australia. August, 2007. A member of the Gypsy Jokers is charged with unlawfully possessing a large amount of cash after searching his vehicle. They later searched an industrial unit in Bellevue, Western Australia and found a stun gun, an expandable baton, capsicum spray and ammunition which resulted in further weapons charges.
2008 – USA. 10 April, 2008. Police raid the Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Kennewick, Washington. Four are arrested for possession of meth. Stolen property and weapons are also found during the raid.
2008 – Australia. August, 2008. Police force the removal of fortifications from the Gypsy Joker Tri Cities clubhouse in Maddington, Perth, Australia after the high court held up the earlier ruling that the fortifications must be removed. The clubhouse had a perimeter 10cm thick wall up to 2.8m in height, a 2.1m, high steel framed vehicle access gate, surveillance cameras, security bars and window grilles.
2009 – Australia. 17 March, 2009. Former Gypsy Joker President Michael Paul Uzzell shoots a member of the Newboys street gang in the arm in the suburb of Blair Athol, South Australia after a heated argument. The victim is believed to have once been a member of the Hells Angels MC. Around 10:30pm that night Michael Paul Uzzell is arrested and police later charged Uzzell with attempted murder and possessing a firearm without a licence.
2009 – Australia. 19 May, 2009. Five members of the Gypsy Jokers are in a shoot-out with members of a street gang in Jandakot which is located in Perth, Western Australia. Two are wounded, Gypsy Joker President Leonard Mark Kirby and Gypsy Joker Associate Alexandro Scilio. Leonard Mark Kirby was a President of the Gypsy Jokers in September 2001.
2012 – Australia. 14 April, 2012. Gypsy Joker member Anthony “Rooster” Perish, his brother Andrew (a member of the Rebels Motorcycle Club) and Matthew Lawton are sentenced to eighteen, nine and fifteen years respectively for the murder of convicted drug trafficker Terry Falconer, conspiracy to commit murder and firearms and drug offences.
2013 – USA. 12 October, 2013. Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club member Joshua Cavett murders his estranged wife in front of her two daughters and kidnaps their youngest daughter. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with possible parole in 2042. Charges were also laid for being a felon in possession of a firearm and felon in possession of body armor. On his way out of court after sentencing, Cavett was excommunicated from The Gypsy Jokers for his actions. This excommunication notice was caught on video footage of the court proceedings.
2014 – Australia. 18 June, 2014. A stolen alpaca, named Cleo, is found during a raid of a Gypsy Joker clubhouse in Sydney, Australia. The animal is later returned to the original owner.
2017 – USA. 27 May, 2017. A group of over 40 bikes travelling to the 40th Annual Fossil Motorcycle Campout, mainly containing Gypsy Joker MC members, are travelling on Highway 19 near milepost 60 in Wheeler County, Oregon, when a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction crossed to their side of the road. The vehicle plows into the group of bikes, injuring several and killing two. Aaron Michael Polsfuss and Donald Robert Pratt die at the scene. The driver of the car, 50 year old Lisa Ann Niehaus, receives a total of 16 charges including criminally negligent homicide, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, third degree assault and unlawfully and recklessly causing serious physical injury.
Gypsy Joker MC Books
Gypsy Joker Book – Phil Cross: Gypsy Joker to a Hells Angel by Phil Cross. Phil Cross was the founder of the Gypsy Joker San Jose chapter, which after years of violent battles with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was eventually patched over by the Hells Angels. This book tells his story of those violent times. View the book on Amazon (link will open in a new tab).
Book – The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club had a strong showing in the famous book by Hunter S. Thompson, Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. View the book on Amazon (link will open in a new tab).
Gypsy Joker MC Enemies and Allies
Gypsy Joker enemies:
- Hells Angels MC were enemies, at least in the early years of the club.
Gypsy Joker allies:
Read More:
- List of One Percenters Motorcycle Clubs
- Coffin Cheaters MC
- Comanchero MC
- Outlaw Motorcycle Club Books
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