BIKER NEWS: Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO)

Sons of Anarchy logo
Founded	1967
Founder	John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston
Founding location	Charming, California, United States
Years active	1967–present
Territory	Charters throughout North America and Europe
Ethnicity	White, Hispanic, Asian, and Black
Criminal activities	Arms trafficking, assault, drug trafficking, murder, extortion,protection racketeering, witness intimidation, loan sharking,racketeering, robbery, hijackingand trafficking in stolen goods
Allies	Black Guerrilla Family, Cacuzza crime family, Devil's Tribe, Mayans,Grim Bastards, One-Niners, True IRA, Galindo Drug cartel, Byz Lats
Rivals	Aryan Brotherhood, L.O.A.N.,Nordics, Russian mafia, Lin Triad,Lobos Sonora Drug cartel

BN- The Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO), is a fictional outlaw motorcycle club and organized crime syndicate at the center of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. The club was formed by John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston, two Vietnam War veterans, in 1967 in Charming, California. Six of the original nine members were war veterans. Their logo is a Grim Reaper wielding an M-16 rifle with scythe blade in one hand, and holding a crystal ball in the other. The club's mottosinclude "Fear the Reaper" and "Ride Free or Die", their colors are blue and white. The club has 29 charters worldwide. In North America, these are located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New England, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Oregon,Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington in the United States, and Alberta and Manitoba in Canada. There are also a number of charters in the UK, Australia, Ireland and Sweden. The club's signature weapon is a knife carried on their waistbands.

The series follows the club's Mother Charter, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO). Until the end of Season 4, the charter's President was Clay Morrow, but was deposed by his stepson Jackson "Jax" Teller. SAMCRO's primary business is importing illegal weapons and selling them to drug gangs in the East Bay, along with protection runs for local businesses by protecting valuable truck shipments from hijacking. They also protect Charming from outside gangs who try to manufacture and sell drugs, mainly methamphetamine. Jackson Teller, son of club founder John Teller, is the central character and the plot rests largely on his loyalty to the club in the face of the destruction it wreaks on its members and the community. A plot focus for the past three seasons are letters written by John Teller to his Irish mistress, identifying his wife, Gemma, and his best friend, Clay, as lovers and conspirators to kill John and prevent him from getting the club out of the lucrative weapons business. The letters were given to Jax but were found by Tara, his then girlfriend, who read them, then hid them. Gemma and Clay's fear of the club learning the truth, and the MacBeth-like plot twists ensuing, have been a central dynamic in the series. Most recently, Jackson has read the letters and deposed Clay as president, forced to let him live by the Irish gun merchants who trust only Clay. Subplots have involved the town's police force being superseded by the San Joaquin Sheriffs Department because of the open loyalty between the (former) chief of police – Wayne Unser – and the SOA, a partnership based on the Sons keeping drugs out of Charming. Past episodes have shown struggles for turf and wealth with Hispanic MC the Mayans, then white supremacists cooking methamphetamine, and most recently the Sons have allied with a drug cartel, which is revealed to be protected by the CIA. An alliance for business purposes quieted the fighting between the SOA and the Mayans. Tara is a talented pediatric surgeon desperate to get Jax and their two sons out of Charming; she is repeatedly foiled. Gemma has been driven to see her son take over the presidency of the SOA, inheriting his father's seat.

Although a fictional MC a group did attempt to start a SOA MC, but having not earned the right to wear patches were subsequently stripped of their patches and disbanded by a real MC.

The club was formed in 1967 by John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston, following their return from service as paratroopers during the Vietnam War. The first charter was called "Redwood", simply because they weren't settled in any one city. They cruised the Northern California coast from Eureka to Big Sur, which is Redwood country. It wasn't until after Gemma Teller, John's wife, became pregnant with her first son, Jackson, that they decided to settle in Charming, the town where Gemma grew up. At that point, John Teller thought Charming was a little too cute for a charter name, so he called the charter the Redwood Originals. That's when the SAMCRO handle was born. The first charter was founded in Charming, California and originally had only nine members, the other seven being Wally Grazer, Thomas "Uncle Tom" Whitney, Chico Vellenueva, Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz, Clay Morrow, Keith McGee and Otto "Lil' Killer" Moran. Six of these were war veterans. Teller was the President up until his death in 1993, when Clay Morrow took over. The club was originally formed as a form of social rebellion for men who simply wanted freedom and no longer wished to live by society's rules. They also tried to protect the people of Charming from outside gangs and drug dealers, rather than exploit them.

In 1991, the Mayans attempted to expand their drug-dealing operations into the San Joaquin Valley, leading to a bloody war with SAMCRO, who retaliated by defending the territory under their control. This war ran until 1993, when the Mayans finally backed down after taking heavy casualties. In 2008, employees for the Water and Power Board working near the highway dug up three skeletons, two of which were Mayans killed by Tig Trager in 1992, when they had tried to invade Lodi. The third skeleton was that of Lowell Harland, Sr., a mechanic at Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair, who was killed by Clay Morrow for being a "junkie rat". To stop the bodies from being identified, Trager, Morrow, and Jax Teller snuck into the hospital morgue to remove the teeth from the bodies, however, Lowell Sr. had already been identified. No one was ever convicted of the killings.

SAMCRO rules the town of Charming with an iron fist, and, to a certain extent, have even more power than the police. For the most part, they try to protect the town from outside criminal influences, but also use violence to keep things the way they like it; sabotaging large companies' attempts to branch into the town for example.

When Wayne Unser, the Chief of the Charming Police Department, announced his quickly approaching retirement due to suffering from cancer, the Sons of Anarchy plotted to make him stay on. He had always got on well with SAMCRO during his time in charge, and even employed them as muscle at times. However, his successor would be David Halewho is overtly suspicious of the SOA and, given the power, would almost definitely begin an investigation into the club. To warn Unser to keep Hale off their case, the SOA hijacked one of Unser's trucks that they were supposed to protect, and threatened to hijack more. As a good will gesture, they gave the contents of the truck to the local Italian American Mafia as their guns were late to be delivered. Also, to distract the police from their activities, the SOA acquire two dead bodies from the local morgue and set them up in a fake shoot-out. The set-up shooting was made to look like a racist murder involving the Nordics.

When the 13-year-old daughter of local businessman Elliot Oswald was raped at a carnival, he went to Clay Morrow and asked if the club could hunt the rapist down and kill him, in exchange for money. Clay refused the money but insisted that if the rapist was caught, Oswald must carry out the punishment himself. When they discovered that the rapist was one of the carnies, and not a member of the Nords as first thought, they captured him (following a large brawl with the other carnies) and brought him to Oswald. He brought his own knife to castrate the carny, but could not bring himself to do so. Clay Morrow then carried out the punishment himself, but wearing gloves while doing it and keeping the knife with Oswald's finger prints. He later used this to blackmail Oswald; he threatened to frame him for the crime as he was about to sell off much of the land around Charming to big business and housing development, which would inadvertently bring a larger police force to Charming and challenge the reign of SAMCRO.

Kyle Hobart, a disgraced former SAMCRO member who left Opie Winston to be caught by the police after a bombing, returned to Charming in 2008 after being exiled years earlier. He was in town to watch his son playing with his band at a local festival, but also approached Jax Teller and asked him if the Sons wanted in on his deal selling stolen car parts. Jax accepted and invited him to the clubhouse that night. This was a set-up, however, to punish him for not having his SOA tattoo removed after being disowned by the club. At the clubhouse, they tied him up and offered him a choice of means to remove the tattoo. Tig used a blowtorch and whiskey to burn off the tattoo. The Sons then dropped him off at the St. Thomas hospital ER.
War with the Mayan-Nordic alliance

In 2008, the Mayans and Nordics began an alliance in a bid to remove the Sons of Anarchy from Charming, as SAMCRO supply the Mayans' enemies with weapons and stop the Nordics from dealing drugs in Charming. The Mayans also began providing muscle for the Nords' drug pushing in exchange for 20% of their profits. The Mayans started the war off by looting and burning down the warehouse SAMCRO used to store weapons in Charming. The Sons then retaliated by riding out to the industrial storage warehouse San Leandro where the Mayans took the guns, and doing like-wise. The raid did not go as smoothly as anticipated, however, as three Mayans and a member of the Nordics turned up while they were inside the building, and a shoot-out ensued with the Sons coming out the victors with no casualties. Almost simultaneously, the Nordics began sellingmethamphetamine in Charming, resulting in Jax's ex-wife Wendy Case od'ing on said meth and forcing her to the ER, prompting a swift and violent response from the Sons of Anarchy; Jax Teller, Chibs Telford and Bobby Munson found some drug dealers at a local bar and beat them with pool cues.

When the Sons of Anarchy decided to patch-over their brother club, the Devil's Tribe, Teller and Munson were sent to Indian Hills, Nevada to inform them. On the way there, the pair came across a group of Mayans on the road and were involved in a chase and then a shoot-out. When they eventually arrived at the Devil's Tribe clubhouse and informed them of the news, their President, Jury, was not pleased but eventually accepted that it was the best decision for both clubs. Clay then traveled to Indian Hills to perform the patch-over ceremony, and brought a number of Sons of Anarchy Washington members as protection in case the Mayans retaliated for the earlier incident. They did, and attacked the clubhouse with machine guns and shotguns. The Sons of Anarchy members, also heavily armed, fought back until the Mayans fled. During the fire fight, Jury and a few Mayans were wounded, but there appeared to be no deaths.

The Nords leader, Ernest Darby, was soon informed of SAMCRO's weapons deal with the True IRA by rogue ATF agent Josh Kohn. At a meeting with the Mayans PresidentMarcus Álvarez, Darby proposed killing Clay Morrow and afterwards, the Nords could take Charming and the Mayans could take over the gun business. Marcus then told his son,Esai, to kill both Morrow and Darby. Later, when Clay and Tig Trager were making a deal with the IRA's Cameron Hayes at a bar, the Mayans attacked but were killed before they could get to Clay. They did wound Hayes, however. They simultaneously assaulted Darby's home, but also failed to kill him, shooting only a henchman and two women. SAMCRO then called in the Sons of Anarchy State Presidents and Vice-Presidents from Washington, Utah and Nevada, in a bid to wipe out the Mayans. This operation was never put into action, however, as a peace agreement was eventually made when local police chief Wayne Unser brought Clay Morrow and Ernest Darby in for questioning in response to the shootings. Clay told Unser to bring Álvarez in also, so that the three gang leaders could hold a meeting and stop more bloodshed. Clay met with Darby first, and told him not to retaliate because it would start a war on the streets of Charming. He then met with Álvarez and the pair made a deal; the Sons of Anarchy would begin selling guns to the Mayans, and all Mayan-SOA disputes nationwide (over turf, businesses, etc.) would end in the SOA's favor. Álvarez then shot Esai in the back of the head for not properly carrying out the ordered hits on Clay and Darby forcing the agreement with the Sons. This agreement, and the dissolution of the Mayan-Nordic partnership, marked the end of the war.
War with the One-Niners

After the Mayans raided SAMCRO's storage warehouse, the Sons of Anarchy were left with no guns to sell to the One-Niners, much to the annoyance of their leader Laroy. He convinced Clay Morrow and Tig Trager to set up a meeting the Mayans for an arms deal and when they left, the Niners would eliminate the Mayans and take the guns as payment. This would satisfy both gangs, as SAMCRO's enemies would be wiped out and the Niners would receive their arms shipment. However, when Clay, Tig, Jax and Opie Winston met Marcus Álvarez and his crew at a warehouse in Oakland, the Niners tried to take out the Mayans and the SOA. The SOA group escaped, but a number of Mayans and Niners were killed in the shoot-out.

In an unrelated matter, SAMCRO's leaders (Clay Morrow and Tig Trager, specifically) suspected Opie Winston of being an ATF informant and decided to have him killed. However, they mistakenly killed his wife, Donna, instead. Opie's father, Piney, was led to believe that it was the Niners who killed his daughter-in-law (rather than SAMCRO admitting that it was them), and he decided to take revenge. He traveled to a Niners bar in Oakland, took a gang member hostage, and demanded to know who killed Donna. SAMCRO's leaders had him followed by prospect Half-Sack Epps, however, and he called Jax Teller and Chibs Telford for help. They managed to get Piney out alive, and had a talk with Laroy. He told them that it was not him or his gang who killed Donna. This came as a surprise to Jax and Chibs as they, too, had been told that it was the Niners who killed her.
War with the Triads

In addition to their conflicts with the Mayans, Nordics and One-Niners, SAMCRO also had a brief battle with the San Francisco-based Triads in 2008. Otto Delaney and a number of other imprisoned SAMCRO members were protecting Chuck Marstein from the Triads in the state prison at Stockton, as he was their accountant but stole money from them, then informed on a number of their members when he was arrested. SAMCRO also agreed to protect him on the outside when he was released, in return for information on where the Triads keep their money. Prison gate in a van and took him to their clubhouse. He told them that the Triads keep some money in a restaurant, and they intended to wait until the restaurant was closed until they raided it, but Chuck's frequent masturbation made them uneasy and they decided to raid the restaurant sooner. However, just after they stole the money (and some counterfeiting plates), they discovered it was set up. A group of Triads (including the boss, Henry Lin) then turned up in cars before the Sons could flee, and a shoot-out briefly ensued, with no casualties. Instead of starting a war, both gangs decided to make a deal then and there; SAMCRO handed over Chuck and the counterfeiting plates and the Triads paid them in real money.
Pressure from the ATF

2008 also saw the Sons of Anarchy coming under investigation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for crimes such as inter-state arms trafficking, racketeering and murder. June Stahl came to Charming to investigate the club. Before her Josh Kohn started the investigation, although this was only a cover for his true motives for being in Charming (he was actually stalking Tara Knowles). June Stahl discovered that Josh Kohn was actually there stalking Tara Knowles and sent him back to Chicago where authorities were awaiting his arrival. He escaped from custody, returned to Charming, and was eventually murdered by Jax Teller, Tara's teenage and now present boyfriend.

When Josh Kohn arrived in Charming and began his investigation, the club was forced to move their weapons cache to Indian Hills, Nevada, where their brother club the Devil's Tribe are based. To transport the guns, the Sons of Anarchy would need a truck, and Tig Trager and Juice Ortiz were tasked with stealing one from a local truck yard. This was not as simple as first assumed, however; Juice drugged the guard dog with crank (meth) before breaking in, thinking the drug would incapacitate the dogs. However, the crank only made the dogs more fierce, and Tig was pursued aggressively as he made his way to the truck. The weapons were eventually moved back to Charming after a new warehouse was acquired.

When things quieted down with the ATF, SAMCRO began selling weapons again. Piney Winston sold some AK-47s to Nate Meineke and his right-wing militia. This was sanctioned by the club because Meineke was an old war buddy of Piney and was "just playing soldier". It backfired, however, when the militia used these guns to ambush a prison convoy and free one of their members, Frank Cison. A police officer and two bystanders were killed during the assault, yet again bringing a heavy law enforcement presence to town. Meineke dropped his cell phone at the scene, and his last received call came from Piney at Teller-Morrow garage. When the ATF found the phone, they raided the clubhouse and arrested Clay. He was later released from custody because no incriminating evidence was found in the raid, and therefore no evidence linking SAMCRO to the guns used in the attack. As revenge for the militia bringing the ATF down on their heads and to make sure Meineke and his gang didn't "snitch" if they were apprehended by the authorities, SAMCRO decided to kill all of the militia. Piney and Opie Winston and Jax Teller pretended to sell them more weapons and ammunition. The boxes of guns were actually filled with explosives, however, and the militia carried the boxes off to their hideout. When the SOA were told by Meinke that only he and his men would be at their hideout (no civilians: family, etc.), they detonated the bombs, killing them all.

Shortly before the death of Kohn, and to his frustration, June Stahl took over his investigation and was more determined to bring the club down. One of her first acts was to arrestLuann Delaney, wife of respected club member Otto, and Cherry, the girlfriend of Prospect Half-Sack Epps. She threatened them with prison if they did not give up information on SAMCRO, and held them at the local police station. SAMCRO knew of Stahl's tactics, and plotted to sneak into the jail and talk to the girls. Bobby Munson, Piney Winston and Tig Trager started a brawl at a local bar so that most of the town's small police force had to go to the scene to break it up. This gave Jax Teller and Opie Winston an opportunity to break into the police station, with the help of the corrupt Chief Wayne Unser, and freed Cherry, who was facing serious jail-time in another state, and admitted to Jax she would rat. Luann stayed behind because the ATF had offered Otto a deal which would let her have a visit and approve his upcoming parole. This gave her the chance to pass the information Jax told her about Stahl trying to use RICO on the club. Cherry was then smuggled into Canada, along with Cameron Hayes (now wanted as a member of the True IRA), by Happy in one of Unser's trucks. On the pretence that Luann and Otto would give up information on a 1999 heist, they were allowed to meet at the prison. After this, they said goodbye and when Stahl entered the room, Otto assaulted her, only extending his prison term.

The club entered Half-Sack Epps into bare-knuckle boxing competition to raise money for weapons. He was supposed to take a dive in the final, but won by knocking his opponent out. This lost the club $35,000. However, Cameron Hayes offered SAMCRO a free shipment of guns in exchange for killing Brenan Hefner, an Oakland Port Commissioner who murdered his cousin Michael McKeavy. They accepted the offer and Bobby, Jax and Opie went to Hefner's motel room where he was having sex with his mistress Eviqua Michaels. It was planned out that Bobby and Jax would keep watch while Opie made the hit, however, he froze and Bobby instead shot Hefner. Michaels went to the police and successfully identified Bobby and Opie, who were both arrested. Agent Stahl tried to leverage Opie to turn on the club by playing on his family ties as well as his debts. The ATF paid off a number of his debts so that SAMCRO would think he had turned into an informant, and he would be forced to turn on them. He was offered witness protection for himself and his family if he would inform on SAMCRO's illegal activities; otherwise, he could be imprisoned or released to be killed by the Sons as a snitch. He was released after two days and returned to Charming where Clay, after finding out about the debts being paid off, became suspicious. At the clubhouse he was given a warm welcome, but Clay had Tig search Opie's truck and cell phone, where he found both to be tapped with listening devices (which were planted without Opie's knowledge). Fearing that Opie had indeed turned rat, Clay secretly ordered Tig to take Opie out. During a shoot-out with the One-Niners in Oakland, Tig attempted to kill Opie during the havoc, but found himself unable to do so. Later, at a party celebrating the homecoming of Jax's son, Abel, from the hospital, Tig stole a black SUV and followed Opie's truck and shot the driver dead. However it was Opie's wife, Donna, who was driving the truck. Just after Tig had left to kill Opie, Clay was approached by Wayne Unser and told that Opie was in fact not an informant, and that the ATF had set him up. Clay tried to phone Tig to tell him, but he had left his phone (along with his colours) with his motorcycle.

The charges against Bobby and Opie fell apart when SAMCRO stopped Eviqua Michaels from testifying. Clay blackmailed Elliot Oswald, a local businessman, into getting his friends in the US Attorney to tell him the location of Eviqua. She was being held at a safe house in San Joaquin and Chibs Telford, Happy and Tig were sent there to kill her. After knocking out the Sheriffs and ATF agent protecting her, they tied her up and were preparing to shoot her when Jax arrived and stopped Tig at gunpoint from killing her. Jax, who had recently learned of the situation with Donna's murder, told Chibs and Happy to leave, then beat Tig up for killing Donna.

Although none of SAMCRO's members were ever convicted during the ATF's investigation into the club, significant unrest was caused by it. Most notably, the decision by Clay and Tig to kill Opie and not tell any other members. Tig stole a black SUV to use during the drive-by shooting of Donna, and also used a MAC-10, which made it look like a murder by the One-Niners. When the Niners leader, Laroy, told Jax that it was not his gang who killed Donna, it became apparent that Clay was responsible.
Activities

The Sons of Anarchy participate in a number of legal and illegal activities and businesses in order to make money, such as gun-running and hijacking. They import illegal, Russian-made guns, such as AK47s, M4A1s, SIG 551s, Glocks, MP-5s, AR-15s, RPGs, KG-9s, and FN-57s from Belfast, Ireland through their connection to the True IRA. These weapons arrive on ships in Oakland in oil containers. They then sell these guns to other gangs in Northern California such as the One-Niners and, eventually, the Mayans. They have also sold to terrorist groups and militias. It is mentioned that the Russian Mafia also sell weapons in the area, meaning that they are a potential business opponent.

Unser Shipping, a local trucking company, routinely hires the Sons to protect their shipments on the way to Mexico and other places. However, SOA have been known to occasionally hijack these trucks. Also, it has been mentioned that the Sons have participated in heists and hijackings of other businesses, with the help of a number of charters.

The Sons of Anarchy also own, or partially own, a number of legal enterprises. Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair is owned by the club and is also where most of the Charming charter work during the day. After helping out the Kara Kara pornographic film studio, SOA inherited part of the company and now receive part of its profits. Loan sharking is another of the Sons' businesses, as they lend money to businesses in the area.

In Season 4, The Sons of Anarchy begin selling guns to the Galindo Drug Cartel, and also begin muling Cocaine for them.

As of the middle of Season 5 and the start of season 6 SAMCRO has been moving away from the gun business and muling coke to more legitimate sources of income including an escort service using star power from Kara Kara.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Anarchy_Motorcycle_Club