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December, 2012

The Other 1%?

An article exploring the origins and public perception of the Hells Angels.
Fortune posted this 1992 article about the Hells Angels. In general it's a bit of a boring factual account of how the group came to be and how it makes money, but I really liked the fact they used to call them the one-percenters:
What makes the Angels and the lesser outlaws so distinctive among criminal enterprises -- and adds to the frustration of law enforcement officials -- is that many Americans celebrate them and identify with them. Back in the 1950s, the American Motorcyclist Association, the voice of legitimate riders, pronounced that ''only 1%'' of all riders were troublemakers. The outlaws gleefully accepted the label, and many still call themselves one-percenters. (The actual percentage is much smaller -- counting the hangers-on police call associates, only about 0.2% of the estimated nine million motorcyclists in the U.S.) And plenty of people -- including many who have never even sat on a motorcycle -- like their style and applaud them for defying convention and authority.
Can't imaging they're still calling themselves that ...
December 9, 2012
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Noah Brier | Thanks for reading. | Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk.