![]() The practice of incorporating smaller OMCs was prevalent from the 1970s to the early 1990s. ![]() The Pagans have grown slowly through a natural cycle of attrition in the smaller OMCs, the practice of patching over other chapters or entire clubs. Though primarily concentrated in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the Pagans began expanding into Florida in the 1990s and west, with chapters beyond the Mississippi River. There are also chapter presidents, with the largest chapter at times located in the Philadelphia area. The Pagans' top echelon of leadership must always number 13 members. Their "Mother Club" is never in a fixed location, but it has been generally located in the northeast. Their growth under the leadership of John "Satan" Marron, saw the Pagans grow to nearly 5,000 members in the early 1970s. They were the only large OMC in that region as well as a large portion of the northeast United States. The Pagans, which “have been tied to traditional organized crime, including La Cosa Nostra, in cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York", quickly became dominant in the mid-Atlantic region. This 1%er patch was quickly adopted by most other OMCs. The Pagans claim to have invented and adopted the 1%er patch, referencing the newspaper articles of the time. ![]() It was largely a semantic gesture made after they gathered at a motorcycle race in Maryland the ensuing incident found them branded as "The 1% of motorcyclists whom caused problems" in local newspapers. A swelling mass of new members put the Pagans on the path to evolve into an OMC. They were a fairly non-violent group until 1965. In the 1960s they adopted a formal constitution and formed a governing structure, choosing a national president who was paid the same amount as the United States president, which worked out to a $100,000 salary per year and calling the gesture "a show of class." Originally they were a "brotherhood of 13 motorcyclists". The group started out wearing denim jackets with embroidered insignia instead of the more standard three-piece patches utilized by most outlaw motorcycle clubs (OMC), and riding both American and British motorcycles, Harley-Davidsons and Triumphs. The Pagans were established in Prince George's County, Maryland, by then-president Lou Dobkin, beginning in 1957 and officially organized in 1958.
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