Motorcycle gangs as international crime threat Excerpted from: "International Crime Threat Assessment," December 15, 2000 <http://cryptome.org/piccs.rep.htm>http://cryptome.org/piccs.rep.htm (410K) Mexican traffickers have also come to dominate methamphetamine production and distribution in the United States, which had been controlled by outlaw elements in US motorcycle gangs. *** US Crime Groups Abroad Some US crime groups have established cells and networks in foreign countries, and are engaged in a wide range of criminal activities. In many cases, the US crime groups use their overseas networks to acquire drugs and other illicit contraband or to prey upon US businesses, as they do in the United States. Law enforcement authorities in other countries also report that US crime groups are involved in money laundering, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking, firearms smuggling, car theft, street crimes, and contract murders. The most notorious US crime groups operating overseas are outlaw elements of motorcycle gangs, according to US law enforcement agencies. Some of the approximately 900 motorcycle gangs that have been identified as having outlaw elements by US law enforcement have worldwide chapters and are expanding into other countries at a significant rate. The increasing overseas presence of US motorcycle gangs, together with their criminal members' tendency to associate with other crime groups to further their criminal ends, are causing increasing concern among law enforcement authorities around the world. Law enforcement authorities in countries where motorcycle gangs have established themselves indicate that the motorcycle gangs are extensively involved in organized crime and have particularly bad reputations for violence, property crimes, prostitution and extortion rackets, and trafficking in drugs and firearms. [The other US crime group abroad is La Cosa Nostra, second to motorcycle gangs.] "The assessment prepared by a US Government interagency working group in support of and pursuant to the President's International Crime Control Strategy. Representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; US Customs Service; US Secret Service; Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; National Drug Intelligence Center; the Departments of State, the Treasury, Justice, and Transportation; the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and the National Security Council participated in the drafting the assessment."