Harry Taco Bowman 1%er died in prison of cancer.
Midwest biker baron and legend Harold ‘Harry’ Joseph ‘Taco’ Bowmandied in prison, of cancer, over the weekend at 69 years of age. The legendaryOutlaws Motorcycle Club President ran his MC empire from Detroit and broughtthe Outlaws to prominence Internationally, presenting a formidable challengerto Hells Angels founder Ralph (Sonny) Barger as America’s most powerful bikerboss at the apex of his reign in the 1990s.
Called ‘Taco 1%er’ for his dark complexion and resemblance to someoneof Hispanic heritage, Bowman, was simultaneously feared, beloved and respected.Hewasbornin thetinytown ofMarysville Michigan, population 9,700 and across theborderfrom Ontario on theSt.ClairRiver. Taco became the International Boss in 1984, a position he wouldhold for over 13 years.He wasa leading figure ofthe first Outlaws MC chapter outside the US, in Canada, in 1977 ashelearnedand apprenticed under hismentor Stairway Harry.He would move up the ranks to become a regional president, NationalVice President and ultimately International President of the American OutlawsAssociation, where he served from 1984 until 1997. After being elected InternationalBoss BowmanmovedtheNational Headquarters from the traditional sacred grounds of Chicago, where themighty MC was established, to hishome ChapterofDetroit Michigan where he would expandthe club to over 200 chapters worldwide; including the first chapters in Francein 1993, then in Norway in 1995, next Australia, and later, he accomplished oneof the largest expansions of any MC by bringing the English Outlaws into theAOA brotherhood.
Fearless in the face of adversity Taco 1%er never paled or waivered whenit came to exerting the dominance of the Outlaws MC Nation on the biker set. Asa result he spearheaded the campaign to take over all of Florida and establishit as Outlaws’ territory.
A leader of many complexities, he would often shed his long hair,beard and Outlaws “rocker” for business three-piece suits to build valuablerelationships in the white-collar world. Living in a mansion in posh GrossePointe Park, Michigan, he was often chauffeured around town in acustom-designed Rolls Royce and sent his children to an exclusive privateschool.
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His presidency coincided with the spectacularly violent andoften romanticized period in the history of outlaw motorcycle clubs of the 1980sand 1990s. It also coincided with the commodification of that outlaw image byHarley-Davidson and other corporations seeking to garner profits off of thebacks of the 1%er MC’s reputations.
Bowman was eventually accused ofbeing responsible for a long list of crimes and tragedies of which he waseventually found guilty, including: the 1990 beating of an Outlaw named Alan“Greaser” Wolfe; the 1991 murder of Warlocks Motorcycle Club Edgewater, Floridachapter president Raymond “Bear” Chaffin; the 1992 beating of former Outlawsprobate Irwin “Hitler” Nissen; the 1993 kidnapping of club member Kevin “Turbo”Talley; a “declaration of war” on the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club on NewYear’s Eve 1993; a succession of violent encounters in the upper Midwestbetween Outlaws and members of the Invaders, Hells Henchmen and Hells Angelsclubs in 1994; the firebombing of a Warlocks clubhouse in October 1994; theviolent dismantling of the Fifth Chapter Motorcycle Club; the murder of anOutlaw named Donald Fogg; a plot to murder Hells Angels Ralph Sony Barger (whoalso greenlighted a hit on him) and George Christie; and numerous gun and drugoffenses.
Upon being indicted in 1997, Bowman went on the run. With thehelp of the Detroit and Chicago mobs, he avoided arrest for two years, makingit on to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. He was eventually apprehended by aforce of 40 FBI agents in Sterling Heights, a suburb outside Detroit in June1999.
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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.
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.
Harold “Harry” Joseph “Taco” Bowman diedin bed after a long illness at the Federal Medical Center, Butner near DurhamNorth Carolina. He was 69-years-old. His death was announced Sunday, March 3.
The American Outlaws Association has lost a legendary figure known for his leadership by example and dedication to the true tenants of brotherhood. You can like him, hate him, love him or despise him his but nothing can detract from his impact on his brotherhood and where his MC stood after his reign of leadership. There’ll be none other like him. Taco Bowman 1%er, Rest in Peace.
