The president of the Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club has vowed to continue fighting after being hospitalised following an alleged attack on the M74 motorway near Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire. Mark "Bruni" Brown, 63, said he and fellow bikers were assaulted with "swords and bats" by "cowardly cardboard gangster puppets" on Sunday. The incident is under investigation by Police Scotland.
Recent incidents
This year has seen other episodes involving the club. Members were struck by a car outside Lorimers, a pub in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, after leaving a meeting on July 11. Police treated it as attempted murder. A fire on Edison Street, Hillington, on May 12 caused no injuries, the Daily Record reports.
Last August, violence erupted at the funeral of crash victim Gordon Luke, 71, at The Hurlet Crematorium in Barrhead, Renfrewshire. Several men wielding machetes reportedly jumped from vehicles and attacked Mad Dogs members, hospitalising a 65-year-old grandad and men aged 44 and 30.
Founder's jail term
Club founder and former president Dan Laponder is serving a nine-year jail term for blowing up a van linked to a Blue Angels rival. Laponder had been a Blue Angels leader but left to form the Mad Dogs. In June 2024, the van used by Blue Angels member David Rollo's dad was blown up near his home in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire. Fire crews found a pipe bomb underneath.
Police traced Laponder to a barge in Kirkintilloch, where he told them about a shotgun inside. His DNA and fingerprints were recovered from a bottle and duct tape used in making the pipe bomb. The High Court in Glasgow heard the bomb was planted as retaliation for Mad Dogs members' bikes being torched.
Financial contribution
In May 2024, killer John Bingham made what Laponder described as "a very generous financial contribution" to the club. Bingham, cleared of murder after admitting stabbing love rival Alister Milroy to death in 2013, had threatened a female motorcyclist in a road rage incident. He claimed he targeted her because she wore Blue Angels patches, as members had torched his Maserati. He received a Restriction of Liberty Order for 180 days and a driving ban.
