A former soldier of mine is heavily involved in the Iron Order MC. I haven't done much research on them, but it would appear from his postings (and the fact that he's a currently serving Army Officer), that they just like to ride and drink. Hopefully in that order.
The iron order are full of aholes and criminals. The only difference is, they often get away with being aholes and criminals because of their associations.
Most MCs, in my experience, are chock full of scumbags with *expletive deleted*ed up priorities, psychopaths, or wannabe tough guys.
I had a couple of f *expletive deleted*faces from some small 1% support club tell me to take my CVMA vest off once. I told them if they wanted it removed, they'd have to do it. They all talked a big game , but when it came down to it they chickened out.
Later they came at me with 10 guys instead of two. Suddenly they were much more bold.
They STILL didn't do *expletive deleted*it.
anyways, as charby mentioned, most early MCs had their genesis in post-WW2. Not sure when it transitioned into criminal activity...