Nordic boom in biker gangs

"The fact that the gangs operate in both countries is no barrier," he says. "We carry out 'Al Capone' operations on both sides of the border and look into how they are buying the cars and where they get their money. If they can't prove they earned it legitimately, we seize it."

Swedish police began recruiting specialists last month for a 200-person antigang squad, which some call "Sweden's FBI." Pressure has mounted for a tougher response following the 2001 bombing of a public prosecutor's home by a biker gang.

An estimated 50 criminal gangs, including the Bandidos and Hells Angels, as well as home-grown outfits with colorful names like Wolfpack Brotherhood and Werewolf Legion, compete for control of Sweden's narcotics, prostitution, and extortion rackets. According to official figures, extortion rackets have more than doubled over the past six years and grew by 50 percent in 2008.

Erik Lannerbäck, a former Bandidos member and youth counselor who now campaigns for gang prevention, says the recession may swell the ranks of Scandinavia's criminal gangs and lead to more turf wars. "With fewer job opportunities and the temptation of easy money," he says, "a lot of young guys will get drawn in."

Lasse Wierup, a crime reporter at Sweden's Dagens Nyheter newspaper, says that Swedish biker gangs have lost ground in recent years, often to competition from "immigrant gangs" from suburban projects.

"Hells Angels and Bandidos found it easy to get established in Sweden and Denmark because they had no organized enemies and could just walk in and take over," he says. "The biker gangs were founded on a myth that they were extremely dangerous and could get you wherever you are. That works on ordinary people – but not on the new generation of armed criminal gangs."

Sweden's justice minister, Beatrice Ask, recently said there was a need to "react very forcefully" to the threat, while her Danish counterpart, Brian Mikkelsen, announced "extraordinary steps," including doubling jail sentences for gang-related offenses.

Some activists, though, say that more should be done to prevent youths from joining gangs in the first place. Khosrow Bayat runs a crime-prevention program that provides extra tuition, sports activities, counseling, and part-time jobs for young people in one of the worst-affected projects in Nørrebro.

"The most vulnerable kids are boys in their early teens. They see gang members going around with cool clothes and girlfriends, and it affects them," Mr. Bayat says. "If you give them an opportunity early on to succeed in the mainstream, then you can close off the route to the gangs....

"We need to give them something more interesting to do," he adds, "than be lookouts for street gangs."

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