Mark “Bruni” Brown, president of the Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club, has quit the gang after being attacked by machete-wielding thugs on the M74 motorway near Lesmahagow on Sunday. The 63-year-old underwent reconstructive surgery on his hands in hospital this week and told the Record he fears for his family's safety.
Attack on the motorway
Brown said he was riding with fellow bikers when they stopped to help a member whose bike had broken down. “The next thing I knew, masked men were hacking at me with machetes,” he said. Twelve thugs armed with bats and swords ambushed them on the motorway.
He added: “My wife is terrified - I can't go on living like this. I have left the Mad Dogs now and need to think about my family. Enough is enough. I won't be back on the road with any motorbike club and just want to put this all behind me.”
Previous attacks
Brown revealed he has been targeted several times since leaving the rival Blue Angels Motorcycle Club three years ago. “Ever since I left Blue Angels my home has been petrol bombed, my car was torched, and now this,” he said. He and his family have been in hiding for a year due to threats on his life.
The attack occurred as Brown and other Mad Dogs members returned to Scotland from a weekend in England. The armed thugs arrived in four vehicles, leaving them to attack the bikers, who are known for wearing leathers with 1% logos. A red Mazda used in the attack was later found in Ayrshire.
Social media post denied
Earlier this week, a now-deleted post on a Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club page issued a defiant message, saying they would not be forced off the road. The post read: “We were attacked on the M74 motorway by 12 masked and heavily armed cowardly cardboard gangster puppets with swords, bats and anything they could grab as a weapon. … We have the same rights to drive on the roads as anyone else, doing what we want to do, but some people just can’t handle the fact we’re still here and growing stronger.”
Brown told the Record the post was nothing to do with him. He was released from hospital on Thursday morning and said injuries to his hands left him unable to pick up a phone. “Whoever put the message out there is just putting a target on my back,” he said. “Most of the injuries I suffered were defence wounds on my hands and I had two operations over the past week. I'm not able to hold a phone never mind post on 'defiant' messages on social media. I am waiting to find out if the surgery was successful, but if not I am facing amputation.”
Police appeal
Police are investigating the attack and have appealed for dashcam footage. Detective Sergeant Craig Wait said: “We believe this was a targeted attack on the group of motorcyclists and it’s vital we trace the people responsible. One man has been seriously injured as a result of the attack and many others, including members of the public who witnessed what happened, have been left shaken. I’m appealing to anyone with information to come forward.”
The M74 attack comes weeks after Mad Dogs members were struck by a car outside a pub in Renfrewshire, an incident police treated as attempted murder. The Mad Dogs broke away from the Blue Angels in 2023, and the two gangs have been at war since. Mad Dogs founder Dan Laponder is serving a nine-year jail term for blowing up a van linked to a Blue Angels rival. In June 2024, the van was blown up near Lennoxtown, and Laponder was traced to a barge in Kirkintilloch. Brown then took over as president, but the club has been repeatedly attacked over the past two years. Last August, violence erupted at a funeral in Barrhead, and in April this year a fire in Hillington was linked to the feud.
