Clarence, with his band "The Wrecking Crew", before creative differences turned them to drugs and violent crime.
Clarence Boddicker's gang are an impetuous, violent, competant and dangerous bunch, old and young, racially diverse and loyal to Clarence without question. They begin the film as an seven-strong team:
- Clarence (The Leader)
- Bobby
- Leon Nash
- Emil M. Antonowsky
- Steve Minh
- Joe P. Cox, and
- Dougy
Well Give the Man a Hand!
For a more detailed review of each member's movements through the course of the first film, see the appropriate member's page.
They first appear when Officers Murphy and Lewis are tailing their suspicious looking silver panel van down Industrial Way after reports of a robbery. They are all armed with shotguns and are quick to engage the two officers in a running gun battle back to their hideout, during which one of their number, Bobby, is injured and, having annoyed Clarence due to his poor handling of explosives, is thrown out of the moving truck and into Lewis and Murphy's windscreen.
They are next seen in their hideout in the old steel mill, where Dougy and Emil are watching comedy on the television. Murphy bursts in and kills Dougy and compels Emil to surrender as he reaches for his shotgun, telling him "dead or alive, you're coming with me." Unfortunately, before Murphy can extricate the two of them, the rest of the gang show up. Murphy is subdued, questioned and tortured by Clarence before being handed over to his gang, who waste no time in emptying their shotguns into him, mutilating him, amputating limbs and gravely injuring him. Clarence then finishes the officer off with a shot to the head and the gang evacuates, cackling at their actions.
I know you. You're dead. We killed you. We killed you!
The next time a member of the gang is encountered, it is not by Officer Murphy, but by the former policeman's new identity: Robocop. He and Emil face off, but this time, things do not go quite so well and Emil destroys a gas station in order to escape, but is brought down when a few shots from the Auto 9 cripple his bike, sending him smashing into a parked car and landing heavily on the tarmac. Using his stored image of Emil, Robocop uses the police computer and manages to find Leon, enjoying himself in a darkened nightclub. He is quickly subdued by Robocop and dragged off screen by his hair, where he is presumerably pumped for information and arrested.
Another, more serious encounter occurs soon afterwards, as Clarence, Joe and Steve are threatening drug lord Sal into partnership with him. As business is concluded, Robocop smashes down the door and proceeds to kill or injure everyone putting up a fight. Steve catches a fatal burst to the chest from Robocop's Auto 9. During his death throes, he catches Joe in the face with his shotgun, knocking him over a walkway and incapacitating him. Joe is subsequently arrested and imprisoned. Immediately afterwards, Clarence, now the only member of his gang not either dead, injured, or in prison, tries to escape, but is tackled, beaten and almost killed by Robocop, before being cuffed and arrested.
Nothing Fancy, Just Kill Him
During his one-sided fight with Robocop, Clarence divulged vital information to him about his boss, a certain Dick Jones, the number two guy at OCP. Dick orders Clarence to destroy Robocop and offers him military grade anti-material weaponry. It is assumed, though not seen on screen, that he also uses his considerable power and resources to free the imprisoned members of Clarence's gang. They enjoy a brief, but happy and noisey reunion, during which time they familiarise themselves with the Cobra assault cannons, destroying some cars, shop fronts and infrastructure, before Clarence reigns them in and directs them to the steel mill. The gang arrives high on adrenaline, shouting and whooping, until Clarence, who understands better than anyone the risk they're taking on, quietens them down and reminds them of their priorities: "nothin' fancy, just kill 'im." The gang then proceeds on foot, except for Emil, who Clarence orders to shadow them closely in the van.
And then there were four:from left to right, Clarence, Leon, Emil and Joe.
However, all does not go according to plan. After distracting the gang, Robo first takes down Joe, putting three bursts into him and knocking him into Leon's arms, who is unable to bring his weapon to bear. Emil leans out of the cab and takes a shot, but it misses wildly, joined afterwards by Clarence and Leon's shots, which both narrowly miss. Clarence quickly orders Emil onwards to cut Robo off whilst Leon pursues on foot and Clarence gets back to his car in order to get around behind him. Emil sees him and attempts to run him down, but loses control after dodging a burst of Auto 9 fire, ploughing his van into - and through the shell of - a vat of toxic waste. Emil is carried through the rear doors of the van on a surf of furiously corrosive liquid, which melts the skin off his very bones. He staggers around in agony, bumping into Leon, who is so shocked and horrified all he can do is scream and run away, leaving Emil lurching and begging for mercy. Seconds later, Emil blunders onto the service road, which Clarence is speeding down in his 6000 SUX, with Officer Lewis close behind. Clarence barely has time to yelp before he runs him down, shattering his ruined body, showering his windscreen with giblets and juice. His vision obscured, he leaves the road, hits a mound of debris, spins the car in mid-air and comes crashing down in the reddened, rusted runoff water boardering the service road.
I'm Not Arresting You Anymore
Lewis pulls up a second later and prepares to investigate, but Clarence appears from the wreckage and immediately opens fire, putting Lewis out of action. Before he can finish her off, Robocop appears. He has the drop on Clarence, but, at this moment, Leon appears high above them. Clarence keeps him talking as Leon reaches the control room of a huge industrial crane, using the controls to manoever several tonnes of scrap metal to a position above the showdown below. In the nick of time, and with astonishing precison, Leon sends the craneload of girders and steel rods crashing down onto their target, piledriving Robocop into the water. Clarence cheers, and Leon sticks his head out of the control room window and cheers back, both drunk with triumph. Seconds later Lewis, who has been crawling towards Clarence's Cobra assault cannon (thrown out of his car during his earlier crash) fires off a shot, hitting the control room and obliterating it, and Leon. Clarence is again the soul member of his gang, permenantly this time and, in a rage, he grabs a jagged length of scrap metal and springs over to Robocop, bludgeoning him again and again, each time the cyborg furtively fights him off. Changing tactics, Clarence upends the rod and plunges it through Robocop's chest armour, weakened from his earlier fights. Sensing imminent victory, Clarence bends down close to the cyborg and delivers a victorious final line, "Sayonara, Robocop!" Getting this close to the machine was a fatal mistake however and Robocop unsheathes his data interface spike, plunging it into Clarence's neck, mortally wounding him. The unofficial crime boss of old Detroit staggers, groaning, blood spurting metres and metres into the air, before faltering and staggering, and coming to rest dead in the rusted waters of the steel mill.