Bloodshed erupted on the M74 near Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, on Sunday. Mad Dogs Motorcycle Club President, Mark “Bruni” Brown, said he and his fellow bikers were assaulted with "swords and bats" by “cowardly cardboard gangster puppets”.
Recent Incidents Involving Mad Dogs
Mad Dogs members have been involved with several incidents in recent years. Members were struck by a car outside Lorimers, a pub in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, after they had left a meeting on July 11. It was being treated by police as attempted murder. It followed a fire on Edison Street, Hillington, on May 12. No injuries were reported in either incident.
Police last night said a 39-year-old man had been charged in connection with both incidents and is due to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court today. A man aged 55 was arrested and released pending further enquiries over the first incident.
Violence at Funeral and Founder's Conviction
Separately, last August violence erupted at the funeral of crash victim Gordon Luke, 71, at The Hurlet Crematorium in Barrhead, Renfrewshire. Several men wielding machetes were said to have jumped from vehicles and attacked Mad Dogs members, leading to a 65-year-old grandad and men aged 44 and 30 being hospitalised.
Mad Dogs 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 leader of the Blue Angels but left and formed the Mad Dogs.
Pipe Bomb Incident and Court Details
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 the pipe bomb lying underneath. Police traced Laponder to a barge where he was living in Kirkintilloch and he told them about a shotgun he had inside. Laponder’s DNA and fingerprints were recovered from a bottle and duct tape used in the making of the pipe bomb.
The High Court in Glasgow was told that the bomb had been planted as retaliation for Mad Dogs members’ bikes being torched. Defence KC John Scullion also told the court: “A group of motorcyclists attended Mr Laponder’s home address and threatened him with violence.”
Contribution from Killer John Bingham
In May 2024, killer John Bingham made what Laponder described as “a very generous financial contribution” to the club. Bingham, who had been cleared of murder after admitting stabbing love rival Alister Milroy to death in 2013, leapt from a car before threatening a female motorcyclist in a road rage incident. He claimed he did not know she was a female and that he had targeted her because she was wearing Blue Angels patches on her clothing and that members had torched his Maserati.
He was sentenced to a Restriction of Liberty Order for 180 days and banned from the roads for three months and 26 days at Airdrie Sheriff Court.
