By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

The president and several members of the Lake of the Ozarks chapter of the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club were indicted last week and charged with drug trafficking and violent acts committed during the club’s battle for supremacy against the Mongols Motorcycle Club and the Iron Celtics Motorcycle Association.

53-year-old Tonka Way Con Ponder is the leader of the chapter, which has a clubhouse in Camdenton, Missouri. 48-year-old Tretch Lucius Lawrence, also known as “Travis Dewain Shankle;” 34-year-old Keith “Seg” Dewayne Nolen Jr.; 52-year-old Paul Leon Gardner; 41-year-old Daniel Scot Kurtzenborn; and 54-year-old Robert Russell “Russ” Warren are all full patch members of the club.

History of the Galloping Goose outlaw motorcycle club

According to its website, the Galloping Goose Outlaw Motorcycle club’s history began in California in 1942. “The original ‘Galloping Goose’ was a motorcycle owned by a man named Dick Hershberg,” the account reads. “The well-known bike had its name ‘Galloping Goose’ along with a running middle finger painted on the gas tank.”

Hershberg soon had a bunch of riders following him. They were known as the “Galloping Goose” or “GG Bunch”. The official club was founded in 1949 or 1950 at which time it had 13 members. From California, the club spread to New Orleans, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas City and Missouri.

Biker gang and “an organized criminal enterprise”

Prosecutors say the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club is “an organized criminal enterprise”. Its  “members [are] engaged in acts of violence, including assault, attempted robbery, and extortion.”

The indictment charges that the Galloping Goose bikers engaged in acts of violence “in aid of racketeering”. Tonka Ponder, Lawrence, Shankle, Nolen, Kurtzeborn and Gardner allegedly assaulted another person with a deadly weapon on December 12, 2020 as part of their campaign against the Mongols and Iron Celtics.

Tonka Ponder and Lawrence also attempted to obtain the property of the Iron Celtics Motorcycle Association by threatened use of force, violence, and fear. This earned them charges for attempted extortion.

Bike Night at the strip ends in shootout

Tensions between bikers of the Mongols and the Iron Celtics and the Galloping Goose crew flared during Bike Night at the Bagnell Dam Strip at Lake of the Ozarks on July 15, 2021. Outside the Casablanca Pub and Grill a fight broke out between the bikers.

The fight spiraled out of control. According to ABC17 News, surveillance video showed one man who was in a fight outside the bar pulling a gun on Tonka Ponder, who was fighting another person at the time. Tonka Ponder was quick to respond, drew his gun and shot the man, who died at the scene.

More shots were fired – among the alleged shooters were Tonka Ponder and Kurtzeborn – and Tonka Ponder and another person were hit and fell to the ground. The video then shows Tonka Ponder reloading as he lies wounded on the front desk of the bar and then firing at a man walking by with his hands up.

By the end of the night, one man was dead and four were injured.

When not fighting a biker war, prosecutors allege that Tonka Ponder, his wife Carolynn Ponder, and Warren trafficked methamphetamine in Camden and Miller Counties.

Tonka Ponder, Lawrence, Nolen and Kurtzeborn remain detained in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for today. Gardner and Carolynn Ponder were released on bond.

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