Act III Episode 10 - The New Barbarians - The Ninety-Nine Percenters Unite

Act III Episode 10 The Ninety-Nine Percenters Unite

At first it appeared, at least to those on the federal counter-biker task force, that they were playing a multi-dimensional game of chess across the national game board against outlaw motorcycle gangs, an estimated 1500 of whom were expected to descend on Ocean City, New Jersey on Labor Day, a force to be reckoned with and one they felt they could deal with effectively. But then a completely unexpected element came into play, and garbled the works - The Ninety Nine Percenters rose from seemingly nowhere and joined the fray.

With major news stories and a Life Magazine article about the influx of college kids to Ocean City-Somers Point that summer, the extensive coverage of the explosion and chaos at 14th Street Beach when the riot squad enforced the anti-noise ordinance, the search for lost nukes offshore and the continuing special reports from the KYW TV3 News Investigative team created a plethora of media stories that got the attention of Newsweek Magazine’s new crusading liberal editor who gave serious assignments to a number of young, hungry reporters who were quickly on the scene.

Newsweek’s recent article on Bob Dylan got a lot of attention but was not complimentary, as the reporter who wrote it was promised an exclusive interview with Dylan and didn’t get one, so they published an article that alleged Dylan had plagiarized the song “The Times they Are a Changing” from a Jersey Shore high school student. But even after the story was proven false, the damage was done, and set the stage for him to be ridiculed at the Newport Folk Festival and the Forest Hills concert.

Then in late August when the Beatle’s released the song and movie “Help!” it headed off Dylan’s song “Like A Rolling Stone” that was locked in at Number 2 on the Pop Charts and kept from being Number One by "Help!" even though "Like a Rolling Stone" is now generally recognized as one of the greatest rock & roll song ever.

But Newsweek got what others missed, and verified through unnamed anonymous sources, the rumor started by Mr. Elwood Kirkman’s private maid at the Flanders Hotel that a federal multi-agency task force was preparing for an onslaught of outlaw motorcycle clubs on Labor Day, including the notorious Hells Angels, some of whom had been unceremoniously evicted from Ocean City the previous May and threatened to return to wreak havoc on the town known as “America’s Greatest Family Resort.”

And Newsweek's scoop was quickly picked up by other publications, especially the Florida supermarket tabloids. Although the source of the leak was never identified, the feds knew it was someone who was in the room at the Flanders where they held their first two meetings of the Barbarian Task Force, the name of which itself was classified.

Everyone knew all about the Hell's Angels, as they were the subjects of numerous magazine articles, books and even a few movies, but no one ever heard of the Barbarians, and wondered who they were, though the feds knew that was a name they invented for their task force, and not a real biker gang, or club as they refer to themselves.

At a garage on the Coast Highway near Los Angeles – the City of Angels, a mechanic and motorcycle enthusiast was on his lunch break and reading the Newsweek Magazine article when he folded it up, used it to swat at a fly, and began to complain loudly to a few other mechanics who were sitting around near him, but not really paying attention.

“The outrageous behavior of the so-called one-percenters gives all of us a bad name,” he said, and after ranting and raving for a few minutes, he stopped talking and decided to do something about it. It was time for action. If the Hells Angels, Barbarians and other one-percenters were going to get together to for a Labor Day run to Ocean City, New Jersey to rampage the place, then he was going to organize the Ninety-Nine Percenters and make a run to Ocean City too, and outnumber them and show the nation and the world that most bikers are good, honest, tax paying citizens who do good deeds instead of drugs, raping, robbing, pillaging and causing trouble.

With less than a week before Labor Day the Ninety Nine Percenters were getting organized and uniting in LA under the banner and patch of The New Barbarians, and heading to the Jersey Shore on a Labor Day run that they insisted would better reflect the good and honest nature of most bikers, come hell or high water.