Aging Bikers Bury Their `Grandpa Bob'

ODEM, Texas - Escorted by the police who once pursued them, motorcycle gang members wearing black leather and gray ponytails gathered to remember one of their elder statesmen and recall a rowdier past.

More than 150 bikers roared to a cemetery outside this small south Texas town yesterday to pay their final respects to Grandpa Bob, a founding member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang whose real name was Robert Shields.

Shields died of throat cancer a week ago at age 78 at his home in Corpus Christi, where he retired after years as a Houston ironworker.

"I've done good and I've done bad, but the good far outweighs the bad," he said in a farewell note.

About 400 mourners showed up, including aging Bandidos and members of once-rival gangs.

"Everybody loved him, and we're here to put him away right," said Benny Brulloths, president of the Bandidos chapter in nearby Corpus Christi.

In his later years, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Shields was a peaceful man who put antlers on his Harley-Davidson every Christmas and rode through town on a charity toy drive. But "the happiest years of my life were being a Bandido," he said.

The Bandidos formed in Houston in 1965. As membership grew, it attracted many Vietnam War veterans who had trouble returning to life back in the United States.

Swapping tales around his grave, Bandidos cheered when someone said Shields, in his early 70s, had used one punch to knock out a man who teased him.

They also laughed about the inscription on his key chain: "The devil don't want me. He's afraid I'll take over."

Many swilled beer outside the funeral home and at the cemetery. Their black leather jackets were adorned with patches reading "Expect No Mercy" and "God Forgives, Bandidos Don't."

Cooperation with police and lack of trouble with once-rival gangs showed how time has sanded down some of the rough edges of Bandido life.

"As they have gotten older, they just didn't want to go to jail," said Lyn Huff, an analyst in the Corpus Christi Police Department's organized crime unit.

The Bandidos emerged as one of the nation's largest motorcycle gangs, operating in 14 states - including Washington state - Australia, France and Denmark. Members became known for drug dealing, deadly clashes with rivals and abuse of women hangers-on.

In 1985, the FBI conducted a nationwide sweep with arrest warrants for more than 90 Bandidos on drug, weapons and organized crime charges.

Huff said the gang lowered its profile after 1988, when several leaders were convicted of planting bombs aimed at members of the Banshees.

Gang members credited Grandpa Bob with being one of the first gang members to recognize the need to obey the law and avoid confrontation.

"I think people are just getting older and smarter. We're not in the '60s. We're in the '90s," Brulloths said. "Things change, and you have to change with the times."