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Last month’s violence involving motorcycle gangs in Texas — where a brawl begat a firefight killing nine — is a sharp reminder of the unpredictable core of outlaw biker life.

The intense coverage of the incident, with the gritty, telegenic pageantry of the bikers, brought motorcycle gangs into the spotlight in the United States like little else before but it is something Canadians are grimly accustomed to.

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Canada already had its “Waco moment” — several, in fact — that roused the public, police and politicians, shifting the biker gang image from freewheeling brotherhood of rogues towards that of a criminal cult: such as a purge in 2006 that killed eight members of an Ontario club and a war in Quebec by the Hells Angels offering a staccato of Waco-like moments as bombs and bullets killed 160 people.