There’s something in the air in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

It’s the stench of oil-soaked denim, gasoline, smoke and death.

The Pagans Motorcycle Club, a group of iron horse outlaws and rivals of the Hell’s Angels, has been making some noise in the past few years.  It’s been enough to attract police attention.

Maybe you thought the one-percenters were dead, a product of the late ’60s that had long gone out of style.

But the outlaw spirit can never die.  As long as there is human nature, as long as there is an establishment, the fringe elements will be there, lurking in the shadows.

They’re loners, reactionaries, criminals and rebels, all bound by their bikes and society’s unwillingness to accept them.  Some of them, if not for the MC, would have no friends at all.  And yet, they stand by their ideals like most others cannot.

They’re marauders on smoke-belching steeds of steel and leather.  They favor big, loud and heavy American bikes with gigantic engines.  They wield wooden axe handles and motorcycle chains. 

The Pagans are outlaws even among outlaws, perhaps the most dangerous of the one-percenters.  They’re elusive and secretive, forgoing patches that might tell the cops where their chapter is located.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that two members of the Pagans, currently based in Washington County, Pennsylvania, are going to court.

Law enforcement officials have been building a case against the club for over three years.  Cops even staked out a Pagans run at the Yukon picnic area in Westmoreland County.

Several members of the club were arrested on charges that included motorcycle theft and drug trafficking.

Though the cops are getting involved, these arrests only prove the Pagans are regrouping.

Hunter Thompson would be proud.