Mongols attack Warlocks during Bike Week, but tensions were already rising among clubs
The Mongols and the Warlocks are outlaw motorcycle gangs and tensions among the gangs have been on the rise nationally, an affidavit states.
Frank Fernandez Daytona Beach News-Journal July 29, 2025
https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/crime/2025/07/29/mongols-warlocks-daytona-bike-week-shooting/84531518007/
• At least 28 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang were arrested in the attack on members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang during Bike Week in March, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office stated.
• The Mongols were charged with aggravated rioting, a second-degree felony.
• A Mongol and a Warlock suffered gunshot wounds during the brawl, an affidavit stated.
Warlocks Motorcycle Club member Thomas McDaniel traveled from Virginia for Bike Week in March and was gathering with other Warlocks at a New Smyrna Beach RaceTrac when he noticed some Mongols at the other end of the parking lot.
McDaniel said he was not “alarmed,” though; he was unaware of “any issues” between the Warlocks and Mongols in Florida. He said he didn’t expect “an attack,” according to an affidavit.
He was wrong.
The Warlocks who, like the Mongols, are classified as an outlaw motorcycle gang, according to the affidavit, had gathered at the RaceTrac to ride as a group into Daytona Beach.
The Warlocks watched as Mongols kept driving into the RaceTrac at 3000 State Road 44 on March 8, 2025, the last Saturday of Daytona Beach Bike Week. The Mongols parked “tactically,” and outnumbered and surrounded the Warlocks, blocking escape routes, according to a charging affidavit from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
Clinton Walker, a Mongols leader, then walked into the group of Warlocks and soon the fighting started. Walker drew a gun and fired while others also drew firearms and blasts of gunshots cut through the air, the affidavit stated.
Mongols and Warlocks started running and ducking. Employees inside the convenience store locked the doors and called 911. Customers looked for cover.
The melee involved about 50 people, the affidavit stated. Afterward, the Mongols got on their bikes or into their vehicles and sped away.
When the shooting stopped, a Mongols Tampa member had a gunshot wound to the abdomen with the bullet lodged in his pelvis. He ended up at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
A bullet grazed a Warlock’s head. He also had a broken nose. He, too, was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center.
The presence of two rival gang members at the same facility prompted the hospital to go into lockdown.
Medical notes described the wounds to both men as being from accidental discharge from firearms. That is likely based on what the men themselves claimed to doctors.
The brawl and shooting led to an investigation which has resulted in the arrest of numerous Mongols who have been booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail. The most recent was Mario Silvestri, 42, of Miami, who was booked into the jail on July 22 and released the next day on $50,000.
Federal, local investigators launch ‘Operation Mongolian Beef’
Months after the fracas, just over 30 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang, including the one who was shot, were arrested on charges of aggravated rioting after an investigation by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office, the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office and other area law enforcement agencies. The charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Law enforcement dubbed the investigation “Operation Mongolian Beef.”
No Warlocks were charged.
McDaniel, the Warlock who traveled from Virginia, said he was hit in the back of the head with a hard object several times during the attack. The affidavit stated he may have been struck by nunchucks, a traditionally Asian weapon made from two short wooden clubs connected by a chain.
Speaking about the attack, McDaniel later told investigators that the Mongols and Warlocks did not have that “relationship” in Virginia, apparently meaning the bad blood that would lead one group to attack the other.
McDaniel said he learned after the attack that the Mongols clubhouse was only several miles away. He said maybe that may have sparked the violence.
When investigators asked, McDaniel declined to pursue charges, saying that “due to his lifestyle,” he could not cooperate with law enforcement.
Mongols, Warlocks and rising tension
That “lifestyle” features rising tension among outlaw motorcycle gangs nationwide, which includes the possibility of injury to police and civilians, according to charging affidavit.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies gather intelligence every year during Bike Week and Biketoberfest on outlaw motorcycle clubs, the affidavit states.
More than 300 outlaw motorcycle gangs are active in the United States, “ranging in size from single chapters with five or six members to hundreds of chapters with thousands of members worldwide.”
“The Mongols, Hells Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws and Sons of Silence pose a serious national domestic threat and conduct the majority of criminal activity linked to OMGs (outlaw motorcycle gangs),” in particular related to drug-trafficking and cross-border drug smuggling, according to the affidavit. The motorcycle gangs can form partnerships with major international drug-smuggling operations.
The Mongols have an estimated 800 to 900 members nationwide spread across more than 70 chapters in 28 states. That includes a Mongols Chapter at 2203 Cow Creek Road in Edgewater.
The Mongols also have a chapter in Flagler County, but the affidavit does not give an address.
Mongols: ‘A propensity for violence’
The Mongols are known “to have a propensity for violence,” the affidavit stated.
The Mongols were formed in 1969 on the West Coast, expanding to the East Coast and into Europe, Southeast Asia, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Israel.
Mongols take part in “drug trafficking; illegal firearms possession and trafficking of firearms; illegal possession of explosives or explosive devices; murder; murder for hire; attempted murder; assault; extortion; intimidation; burglary; threats of violence; motorcycle and vehicle thefts; racketeering; prostitution; and human trafficking,” according to the affidavit.
The Mongols are known to have ties to Mexican drug cartels and the Surenos, a criminal street gang, the affidavit stated.
The Mongols’ vest has a caricature of Genghis Khan wearing sunglasses and armed with a sword while riding a motorcycle. It has the letters “MC” which stands for motorcycle club. The top patch reads “Mongols” while the bottom has a state or chapter name.
Mongols will wear patches with a skull and crossbones, a black heart or RFFN (Respect Few Fear None) showing they took part in violence against members of other motorcycle gangs “in furtherance of the gang,” the affidavit states. Other patches signify attending club events. The patches have black letters on a white background.
The Warlocks started in Orlando
The Warlocks outlaw motorcycle gang started its first chapter, also called the “Mother Club,” in Orlando in 1967. The Warlocks have established chapters since then in several other states and in Canada, Germany and Great Britain.
The Warlocks have engaged in assault; illegal firearms possession; firearms trafficking; murder; malicious wounding; illegal possession of explosive devices; kidnapping; drug trafficking; and racketeering, according to the affidavit.
The Warlocks have a “peace treaty” with the Outlaws.
Warlocks primary colors are red and yellow but wear variations of red, white and green.
The vest consists of a top patch with the name “Warlocks” and a bottom patch with the state or chapter name. The center patch shows a winged harpy, a creature from Greek mythology.
Both the Warlocks and the Mongols have been found in illegal possession of National Firearms Act of 1934 weapons, according to the affidavit. The act, which according to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, was written in response to the use of such weapons in Gangland crimes of the times, like the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, regulates weapons such as short-barreled shotguns and rifles and machine guns.
Mongols involved in Bike Week shooting in NSB
The following bikers were arrested in the brawl-turned-shooting at the New Smyrna Beach RaceTrac March 8.
Kevin Koul, a Mongols member, was positively identified by a Tampa Police officer. Koul was seen holding a cellphone to his year and looking at the phone’s screen at the RaceTrac, apparently making and/or receiving calls, the affidavit stated.
Spencer Skipworth did not have a Mongols patch on the top of his vest, but he is a documented member of the Flagler County chapter, according to the affidavit.
Brandon Maness, member of the Mongols South End chapter in Edgewater. Maness was seen reaching into a saddlebag on his motorcycle to get a black mask. “After Maness was involved in shooting toward the Warlocks,” he got on his motorcycle and fled with the black mask still on, the affidavit stated. Maness is seen in a video shooting toward Warlocks.
Clinton Walker is a Mongol leader who “holds rank as one of two ‘Mother Chapter’ representatives.” According to previous stories, Walker is a former member of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club, another outlaw motorcycle gang. A video recorded Walker extending both arms outward while holding a firearm and shooting toward the east.
Armed Warlock points gun, Mongols take off
Jonathan Bump, a member of the Warlocks, stood up after fighting and “wobbled” to where a group of Mongols were punching and kicking a Warlock on the ground. Bump drew a gun and pointed toward the Mongols who ran, the affidavit states.
RaceTrac employees and customers: Lock the doors!
Store employees said Warlocks had been in the parking lot for about an hour, according to the affidavit. One employee said she noticed a woman from the Warlocks enter the store wearing a leather vest with the words “Property of” and a patch that said “Virginia.”
The employee said she was on the register when she heard shooting and yelled for the doors to be locked for everyone’s safety.
Another employee heard 10 to 15 gunshots and saw everyone outside running. He said some people ran into the store and ducked down.
A RaceTrac manager had been anxious about what he estimated to be about 60 to 70 bikers on the property. When he heard the shooting, he locked all the doors and asked an employee to call 911. The RaceTrac was closed for about five hours as law enforcement investigated. The manager said the business lost about $4,000 in inside sales and about $10,000 in gas sales. He said a normal Saturday for the station is $40,000 in gas sales, according to the affidavit.
Bikers refused to cooperate with police
Volusia Sheriff’s Office detectives determined that one of the Warlocks lived in Deltona because the man and a woman were seen on video. But when they went to their house, the woman denied knowledge of the shooting and claimed the man was not home, although his truck was in the driveway.
Detectives then went to another home in Deltona to try to speak with a Warlocks member but no one came to the door.
Detectives also visited the home of Warlock’s member Jonathan Bump in Deltona. But while cars were in the driveway, no one came to the door. The detective left a business card but no one called.
Mongols charged with aggravated rioting
Following is a list of the Mongols charged with aggravated rioting. The Mongols are members of chapters from around the state, including in Volusia, Flagler, Brevard and Hillsborough counties as well as South Florida: Anthony Trimboli; Kevin Koul; Sean Hoholik; Trevor Kopp; Jacob Velez; Mario Silvestri; Tyler Araya; Steve Patino-Rangel; Peri Butler; Daniel Macumber; Joseph Summerhill; Gaige Wilson; Chadwick Price; Kash Williams; Shawn Marshall; Matthew Limperatos; Douglas White; Max Bastuardo; Spencer Skipworth; John Bertrand; Robert Maness (also identified in the affidavit as Brandon Maness); Jarrad Cawley; Francis Gomez; Pablo Cardozo Baptista; Clinton Walker; Christopher Boyd; Michael Rodriguez; Daniel Hernandez; Gary Bedsaul; Timothy Stephens; and Justin Perry.