Meridian’s roads swelled with motorcycles Saturday, a coming together that was memorial in nature and not altogether chance.

    Members of the Bandido Motorcycle Club and other motorcycle clubs flocked in the hundreds to Meridian to attend the funeral of William Henry Harper, maybe known better as Bandido Will.

    Members of the BMC flooded the streets at Harper’s service, following the Harley Davidson hearse in which Harper was taken from James F. Webb Funeral Home to Old Marion Cemetery. Harper, a 33-year-old Marine who served in Iraq, died July 11.

    But the 350-400 motorcyclists who filled the streets with loud engines and fast rides likely didn’t know Harper personally.

    “From what I understand, anyone within 300-500 miles, and I’m not exactly sure, they’re required to attend the funeral,” said Joe Tew, managing director at James F. Webb Funeral Home. “They normally hold the body out until the next weekend or even ’til the next to allow the other members to be able to come to the funeral.”

    Tew admits he’s not an expert on the organization, but with chapters in Germany, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Indonesia, Thailand, Sweden, Italy, Costa Rica and Finland, the organization is somewhat amorphous. Still, a sense of brotherhood among BMC members is undeniably discernible.

    “Those guys stick together,” Tew said. “They are a very close-knit group.”

    Tew estimates that about 500 people, including the 350-400 motorcyclists who rode for it, attended Harper’s funeral. While the rain pounded away most of Saturday, it subsided long enough for the services to finish.

    The biker funeral is one that is quickly becoming a trend in Meridian. In June, the funeral of another BMC member, Kenneth Gardener (also known as Bandido Kenny), drew hundreds of his club’s members to pay respect to their fallen comrade.

    “Ever since we had the one last month, I’ve had more people ask about it,” Tew said. “I’ve had people call about it and say, ‘I didn’t know that you did that.'”

    Tew said that about 300-400 motorcyclists showed up for Gardener’s services.

    “Everyone that was there was extremely nice, which most of the time when people think of the bandidos or the motorcycle clubs, they’re thinking about a bunch of rough guys, and there are some of them that are rough,” Tew said. “But on the whole, everybody was very respectful.

    “They were very nice, just everyday people. That shocked me.” 

    While Tew can’t guarantee you hundreds of fellow motorcyclists at your funeral, he does have access to a motorcycle hearse.

    “What we offer a little different here than anybody else in town, is we have access to a Harley Davidson motorcycle hearse,” Tew said. “It is a pretty sweet little ride.”

    Tew also said that he’s heard from several people who are interested in using the motorcycle hearse but aren’t members of a motorcycle club. He said he has no problem with that.

    But the BMC, also known as the Bandido Nation, has a dark side. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Intelligence Service in Canada consider the BMC an outlaw motorcycle gang. Members have been implicated in crimes including money laundering, drugs and arms trafficking, prostitution and murder.

    On its website, the U.S. Department of Justice calls the BMC a “growing criminal threat to the nation,” and one of the largest motorcycle gangs in the country.

    Yet with hundreds of these members in the county over the weekend, neither the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department nor the Meridian Police Department reported any crime involving BMC members.

    “Last evening my wife and I went to supper after attending a wedding,” said Sheriff Billy Sollie. “Seven of the (BMC) visitors were eating just like any other customer.

    “They came and they paid their respects to their member. We didn’t report any problems.”

    Assistant Police Chief Jeff Lewis said the MPD reported “not a thing” concerning BMC members and criminal activity over the weekend.