Indicted Leader Of Bandidos Biker Gang Free On Bond

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HOUSTON (AP) - The indicted national president of the Bandidos biker gang has been freed on bond in Texas while facing racketeering charges that could send him to prison for life.

Jeffrey Pike of Conroe was released Monday on $250,000 bond following a detention hearing in Houston.

Attorneys for the 60-year-old Pike say he's no threat to the community. Several defense witnesses testified that they did not believe Pike would flee if granted bond.

Pike was arrested last week in an investigation that prosecutors say involves racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking, murder and other violent crimes.

Officials cited a deadly "war" on the Cossacks biker gang. The accusations focus on a rivalry that came under renewed attention last May, when a fight at a meeting of bikers in Waco left nine people dead.

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