Updated: 3/6/2019 Midwest biker baron Harold ‘Harry’ Joseph ‘Taco’ Bowman died inprison, of cancer, over the weekend at 69 years of age. The legendary OutlawsMotorcycle Club International President ran his MC empire from Detroit andbrought the Outlaws to prominence internationally, presenting a formidablechallenger to Hells Angels founder Ralph (Sonny) Barger as America’s mostpowerful biker boss at the apex of his reign in the 1990s (1)(4).
Called ‘Taco’ for his dark complexion and resemblance to someone ofHispanic heritage, Bowman, was simultaneously feared, beloved, and respected. Hewasborninthetinytown ofMarysville Michigan,population 9,700 and across theborderfrom Ontario on theSt.ClairRiver (3). Taco became the International Boss in 1984, a position he wouldhold for over 13 years (1)(2)(3)(4).He wasa leading figure of the first Outlaws MCchapter outside the US, in Canada, in 1977 ashelearnedandapprenticed under hismentor Harold(Stairway Harry) Henderson (3)(4).He would move upthe ranks to become a regional president, International Vice President andultimately International President of the American Outlaws Association (4). HemovedtheNational Headquarters from the traditional sacred grounds of Chicago, where theAOA was established, to hishomeChapterofDetroit Michigan where he would expand the club toover 200 chapters worldwide; including the first chapters in France in 1993, thenin Norway in 1995, next Australia, and later, he accomplished one of thelargest expansions of any MC by bringing the English Outlaws into the AOA brotherhood(3). He also spearheaded the campaign to take over Florida and establish it asOutlaws’ territory (2).
Bowman would often shed his Outlaws cut for business three-piece suitsto build external relationships that furthered the club’s agenda. Living in a largered brick house in the upscale suburban Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, he wasoften chauffeured around town in a custom-made, bullet-proofed Cadillac (2).
His presidency coincided with the arguably the most violent periodin American motorcycling in the history of outlaw motorcycle clubs, during the late1980s and 1990s. It also coincided with the commodification of that outlawimage by Harley-Davidson and other corporations seeking to greedily garnerprofits off the backs of the 1%er MC’s reputations (4).
Bowman was eventually accused ofbeing responsible for a long list of crimes and tragedies including: the 1990beating of an Outlaw named Alan “Greaser” Wolfe; the 1991 murder of WarlocksMotorcycle Club Edgewater, Florida chapter president Raymond “Bear” Chaffin;the 1992 beating of former Outlaws probate Irwin “Hitler” Nissen; the 1993kidnapping of club member Kevin “Turbo” Talley; a “declaration of war” on theHells Angels Motorcycle Club on New Year’s Eve 1993; a succession of violentencounters in the upper Midwest between Outlaws and members of the Invaders,Hells Henchmen and Hells Angels clubs in 1994; the firebombing of a Warlocksclubhouse in October 1994; the violent dismantling of the Fifth ChapterMotorcycle Club; the murder of an Outlaw named Donald Fogg; a plot to murderHells Angels Ralph Sony Barger (who also greenlighted a hit on him) and GeorgeChristie; and numerous gun and drug offenses (4).
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Upon being indicted in 1997, Bowman went on the run, he avoidedarrest for two years, making it on to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. He waseventually apprehended by a force of 40 FBI agents in Sterling Heights, asuburb outside Detroit in June 1999 (1)(2)(3).
Bowman’sdownfall resulted from the flipping of his main enforcer Wayne “Joe Black”Hicks, who Bowman assigned the task of overseeing Outlaws activity in Floridaand getting other biker clubs in the region in line. Hicks came up through theclub’s ranks in the Toledo, Ohio chapter and began cooperating following his1996 arrest (5).
Bowman went on trial in Tampa in 2001 and was sentenced to servetwo life sentences plus 83 years. A year later he appealed his conviction onthe grounds that the court had improperly represented the AOA’s constitutionand the sufficiency of the evidence against him. The Eleventh Circuit deniedthe appeal (2).
Harold “Harry” Joseph “Taco” Bowman diedin bed, losing his battle with cancer at the Federal Medical Center, Butnernear Durham North Carolina. He was 69-years-old. His death was announcedSunday, March 3, 2019.(4)
His enemies feared him, law enforcement pursued him as publicenemy number 1 and his his brotherhood admired, loved, and respected him.
Sources:
1. Gangster Report http://gangsterreport.com/the-ultimate-outlaw-iconic-biker-boss-taco-bowman-dies-at-69-took-outlaws-mc-to-next-level/
2. The Aging Rebel https://www.agingrebel.com/17434
3. Insane Throttle Biker News https://harleyliberty.com/2019/03/04/a-giant-among-men-harry-taco-bowmen-passes-away-former-international-president-of-the-outlaws-motorcycle-club/
4. Gangster Report http://gangsterreport.com/the-legend-of-taco-bowman-beloved-outlaws-mc-leaders-biker-empire-began-crumbling-in-summer-of-97/
5. The Blade https://www.toledoblade.com/local/police-fire/2001/06/03/Toledo-s-killer-biker-turns-on-his-Outlaws-brothers/stories/200106030033
