They cut an imposing figure. 

Heads turn and people tend to keep their distance when members of Bakersfield's local outlaw motorcycle gangs enter an establishment. Instantly recognizable due to their leather vests with patches proclaiming their affiliation, these groups historically have a reputation for violence. 

Some recent incidents involving the groups have only furthered that reputation. One was a deadly stabbing at a popular dive bar involving two motorcycle gang members, the other an exchange of gunshots in broad daylight during a fundraiser on Buck Owens Boulevard. 

Those who spot members of a biker gang are best advised to leave them alone. Anyone who starts trouble could quickly find himself surrounded and in extreme physical danger.

"They engage in acts of violence or drug sales as needed," said Senior Police Officer Louis James, of the Bakersfield Police Department's gang unit.

A 60-year-old member of an outlaw motorcycle club was arrested Friday on murder and gang charges in the stabbing death last month of an apparent Hells Angels affiliate in downtown Bakersfield.

Russell Vannoy was taken into custody around 4 a.m. in Bellflower in the killing of Michael Adam Morales, police said. He's currently the only suspect in the death of Morales, known as Mikey Smash. 

Police said Vannoy is a member of the Devils Diciples Motorcycle Club, a biker gang that, like the Hells Angels, was founded decades ago in California. 

Morales was stabbed the evening of Feb. 16 at Guthrie's Alley Cat, a popular dive bar located in the 1800 block of Eye Street. 

On his Facebook page, Morales' posts include a "Support 81 Bakersfield" emblem as his cover photo. That's supposedly symbolic of the eighth letter and first letter of the alphabet, signifying HA, or Hells Angels.