An earlier version of this story neglected to mention the murder of Manuel Isaac “Candy Man” Rodriguez. The Aging Rebel regrets the error.

This morning, McLennan County Texas District Attorney Barry Johnson abandoned the prosecution of 24 remaining defendants charged in connection to The Twin Peaks Mass Murder.

“This is a difficult decision which must be made based on the existing facts and evidence in accordance with the laws of this state and in the interest of justice, and not a decision that can be made based on emotions or personal feelings or preferences,” Johnson wrote in a prepared statement.

All the criminal cases associated with the mass murder are now closed. No one has ever been convicted of a crime in connection to the so-called “Biker Brawl” at the Twin Peaks.

Nine Dead

One hundred seventy-seven people were charged with organized criminal activity immediately after members of the Cossack Motorcycle Club ambushed members and supporters of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club at a Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting at the Twin Peaks restaurant in a shopping center called the Central Texas Marketplace, in an early Sunday afternoon in Waco on May 17, 2015.

Nine people died. Seven were Cossacks. One was a 65-year-old Marine veteran of Vietnam named Jesus Delgado “Jesse” “Mohawk” Rodriguez. The ninth was a Bandido named Manuel Isaac “Candy Man” Rodriguez.

Coverup

State and local authorities anticipated the ambush, The confrontation was blatantly intended to provoke Bandidos into committing crimes for which they could then be charged in a secret, ongoing investigation that later became a racketeering prosecution. Local authorities encouraged members of the Cossacks to confront the Bandidos. Five hours before the shooting started, state policeman installed a covert camera to record the bloodshed. When the confrontation turned out to be worse than expected, state and federal authorities pressured then district attorney Abel Reyna to obscure what had actually happened. At the time, Reyna himself was the subject of a federal investigation: Consequently, vulnerable to blackmail by federal authorities.

The coverup included propaganda, mass arrests and very much stalling. The coverup culminated with the murder trial of a Dallas Bandido named Christopher Jacob Carrizal in late 2017. In that case a Waco jury hung and a mistrial was declared.

Johnson, had nothing to do with the mass murder or its aftermath.

Aftermath

Members of the national chapter of the Bandidos were indicted for racketeering six months after the mass murder. The presiding judge in that case, David Ezra, refused to allow defense attorneys to present evidence about the Twin Peaks to the jury in that case. Former club president Jeffrey Pike and former club vice-president John Portillo were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Reyna lost a primary election to Johnson last March, left office this January and now works for the Houston law firm Patterson + Sheridan in Waco.

The case against Carrizal was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Michael Jarrett, Amanda Lee Dillon and Brady Burks. Burks was the first to abandon the sinking ship. In April 2018 he found a job as a criminal justice advisor to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. That same month, Jarret took a job litigating insurance claims with the Texas Farm Bureau in Waco. Reyna fired Dillon in June 2018, reportedly for disloyalty.