Bikers and Bodies

This is an amazing story from the AP about the assassination of eight Bandito outlaw biker gang members, whose bodies were found stuffed into cars in a rural part of Ontario.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/04/09/canada.bodies.ap
/index.html

Authorities believe the group assassination was an effort by the Hell's Angels to wipe out their competition. The Angels are tough as hell, the Canadian chapters in particular, and it's doubful the Banditos will recover.

My research into this world when I was writing Troubleshooter was fascinating and unsettling. The book deals with similar events, opening with a daring freeway escape, as my fictional biker gang, the Laughing Sinners, busts their two enforcers out of a US Marshals prison transport van. Why were they busted out? For a number of reasons, but the foremost one is to put a serious dent in their rival outlaw biker gang, the Cholos, to clear out the competetion. Once they're freed, the Laughing Sinners enforcers do more than that....

It's always odd when events from the headlines mirror events in your books, and vice versa. Especially when they're terrible events. You feel like you've anticipated a little tweak in the zeitgeist, but you're none too happy about it.