Donald Eugene Chambers

Not to be confused with Donald Chambers (author).
Donald Chambers
Born
Donald Eugene Chambers

(1930-11-23)November 23, 1930
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedJuly 18, 1999(1999-07-18) (aged 68)
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Other names"Mother"
Occupation(s)United States Marine, outlaw biker
Known forFounder of the Bandidos
AllegianceBandidos MC
ConvictionMurder
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment; paroled in 1983

Donald Eugene Chambers (November 23, 1930 – July 18, 1999) was an American Marine, outlaw biker, and founder of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. In 1972, Chambers was convicted of murdering two drug dealers and served a life sentence until his parole in 1983.

Biography

Chambers served in the United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. Upon returning to Texas, he was employed as a longshoreman and became a member of numerous motorcycle clubs. Chambers found these clubs too tame for his tastes and founded his own, the Bandidos, on March 4, 1966 in San Leon, Texas.[1][2][3][4] He named the club in honor of the Mexican bandits who lived by their own rules, and chose the club's colors—red and gold—after the official colors of the U.S. Marine Corps.[2] The club recruited members from biker bars in Houston, Corpus Christi, Galveston, and San Antonio. By the early 1970s, the club had over one hundred members, including many Vietnam veterans.[5]

In 1969, Chambers oversaw the kidnapping, assault, and surrender to police of a Bandidos member wanted for a murder unrelated to club business, which garnered unwanted attention from law enforcement. Chambers moved to New Mexico after he was involved in a violent gunfight with a rival gang in a bar in East End, Houston, where they had gone to negotiate a peace agreement.[6]

On December 22, 1972, Chambers and fellow Bandidos members Jesse Fain "Injun" Deal and "Crazy" Ray Vincente abducted drug dealer brothers Marley Leon Tarver and Preston LeRay Tarver in El Paso and drove them into the desert north of the city. The two dealers were forced to dig their own graves before being shot and set on fire by the bikers. The brothers had sold baking soda to the Bandidos earlier that day, claiming it was amphetamine.[7] Chambers, Deal, and Vincente were convicted of the murders, with a testimony given by Robert Munnerlyn, a club prospect and police informant who witnessed the event. The trio were sentenced to life imprisonment.[8][2]

With Chambers in prison, Ronald Jerome "Ronnie" Hodge, another former Marine, was elected the club's new national president. Hodge was known as "Mr. Prospect," because he had earned his full colors in only one month, but once elected, he went by the street name "Stepmother", in reference to Chambers' street name "Mother".[1][2]

Donald's 23-year-old son, Stephen Trammell Chambers, died at Ben Taub Hospital on November 3, 1979, after being shot in the head during a dispute in the parking lot of a Houston nightclub where his wife worked as a waitress.[9] The man charged with the murder, Leon "Stash" Dudley, allegedly fled Texas shortly afterwards and was apprehended in Euclid, Ohio in June 2016.[10][11] In 2017, the charges against Dudley were dropped after it was determined that the unidentified actual killer was using Dudley's name and stolen social security number at the time of the murder.[12]

Chambers was paroled in 1983 and later retired from his club. He settled in El Paso and resided there until his death from cancer on July 18, 1999, at the age of 68 years old. Chambers is buried at the Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston, beneath a gravestone inscribed with his name, Bandidos affiliation, and the quote, "We are the people our parents warned us about."[6][13]

References

  1. ^ a b Mallory, Stephen L. (2007), Understanding Organized Crime, Jones & Bartlett Learning, p. 156, ISBN 978-0-7637-4108-2, archived from the original on 2024-06-27, retrieved 2010-07-21
  2. ^ a b c d Schneider, Stephen (2009), Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, John Wiley and Sons, p. 420, ISBN 978-0-470-83500-5, retrieved 2010-07-21
  3. ^ Reavis, Dick (May 1979). "Never Love a Bandido". Texas Monthly. 7 (5). Emmis Communications: 102. ISSN 0148-7736. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  4. ^ Dupont, Gilles (20 July 2010). "Les Bandidos déferlent" [The Bandidos unfurl]. Le Bien Public (in French). Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010. Une organisation créée en 1966 par Don Chambers au Texas, et qui a essaimé dans le monde entier, et s'est organisée en « chapters » ou chapitres. [An organization founded in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas, and has spread worldwide, and was organized into chapters.]
  5. ^ Texas Monthly: "The Gang’s All Here" by Skip Hollansworth Archived 2015-05-20 at the Wayback Machine APRIL 2007
  6. ^ a b 'We are the people our parents warned us about' Archived 2020-11-29 at the Wayback Machine Dane Schiller, Houston Chronicle (June 6, 2015)
  7. ^ Chambers v. State of Texas Archived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Justia (March 20, 1974)
  8. ^ Dirty Dealing: Drug Smuggling on the Mexican Border & the Assassination of a Federal Judge Archived 2023-06-03 at the Wayback Machine Gary Cartwright (1984)
  9. ^ Suspect in 1979 fatal shooting in Houston caught in Euclid Archived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Cleveland.com (June 24, 2016)
  10. ^ Texas fugitive charged in 1979 murder Archived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine CBS News (June 24, 2016)
  11. ^ Questions abound in recent arrest for 1979 murder of Bandidos leader's son Dane Schiller, Houston Chronicle (June 24, 2016)
  12. ^ Euclid US Army veteran cleared of Texas murder charges that arose over a case of identify theft Archived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Mike Brookbank, News 5 Cleveland (April 28, 2017)
  13. ^ Durán, Robert J. (4 September 2018). The Gang Paradox: Inequalities and Miracles on the U.S.-Mexico Border. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-54343-9. Archived from the original on 2023-08-10. Retrieved 2023-03-13.

Further reading

  • Hanes, Allison (April 11, 2006), "Fellow bikers killed delinquent Angels", National Post, Don Mills, Ontario, p. A.6
  • Caine, Alex (2010), The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 978-1-74237-382-9
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