The Milperra Massacre was a firearm battle between rival motorcycle gang members on September 2 (Father’s Day) 1984, in Milperra, a south-western suburb of Sydney. The massacre had its beginnings after a group of Comancheros broke away and formed the first Bandidos Motorcycle Club chapter in Australia resulting in intense rivalry between the two chapters. Seven people were killed: six motorcycle gang members and a fourteen year old female bystander.

Prelude

Police believe that the war began over turf or drugs, however, the clubs had a strong no drugs policy and Colin Ceasar Campbell, former Sergeant-at-Arms of the Comancheros and leader of the Bandidos until they were “patched”, points to the acrimony of the split as the sole reason. According to Campbell, in late 1983, one of his brothers and another Comanchero had called on another member and caught Comanchero president Jock Ross in a compromising position with the members wife. As Sergeant-at-Arms, he ordered Ross to face charges of breaking one of the 10 firm rules the club observed. Ross failed to appear at the first two meetings and after arriving at the third, simply announced that the club would be split into two chapters and walked out. Campbell, his four brothers, the three McElwaine brothers, Anthony Snoddy Spencer and Charlie Sciberras set up a new Comanchero chapter in Birchgrove. During the club’s annual Christmas run fighting broke out between the two groups prompting the Birchgrove chapter to break away and form a new club. Spencer contacted the president of the Bandidos’ Albuquerque chapter and within 10 days received approval to form an Australian Bandidos chapter. Clubhouse attacks and other violence continued until August when Campbell alleged that Spencer and Ross “declared war” in a phone call.

The massacre

An advertisment for a “British motorcycle swap meet” was placed in a few local press releases, to be held at the Viking Tavern, with a scheduled start at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1984.

On Sunday September 2, 1984 around 1 pm, a heavily armed group of Comancheros entered the carpark of the Viking Tavern during the motorcycle part swap meet with 30 similarly armed Bandidos arriving soon after with a back-up van carrying weapons following close behind. Both sides proceeded to line up at opposite ends of the car park. William George “Jock” Ross, who had founded the Comancheros in 1968, signalled by waving a machete in the air and the two clubs charged at each other.

Police responded after receiving reports that “a man” had gone berserk with a rifle at the Viking Tavern in Milperra and “a few shots” had been fired. The first of more than 200 police began arriving but the fighting continued for another 10 minutes before they were able to stop it. Two Comancheros died from shotgun wounds, another two Comancheros died after being shot with a Rossi .357 magnum rifle, two Bandidos died from shotgun wounds and a 14-year-old bystander, Leanne Walters, also died after being hit in the face by a stray .357 bullet. A further 28 people were wounded with 20 requiring hospitalisation.

Mark Pennington, one of the first policemen on the scene, was later awarded $380,000 compensation for psychological damage.

Aftermath

As a result of the massacre, the New South Wales Firearms and Dangerous Weapons Act 1973 was subsequently amended. The court case following the “Milperra Massacre” was at the time one of the largest in Australian history. In total forty-three people were originally charged with seven counts of murder.  Christopher Murphy, Solicitor, acted for the Bandidos’ members charged as a result of the incident. Greg James QC, as he then was, represented all but one of the Bandidos’ members during their trial, that being Colin Campbell. Greg James QC was Juniored by a number of Juniors including John Korn, Andrew Martin, and Philip Young. Mr. Campbell was represented by Mr Greg Woods QC, as he then was. Anthony Spencer, the Bandidos president, hanged himself in prison before he could stand trial.

During the longest joint criminal trial in NSW history, 58 policemen provided security including armed members of the Tactical Operations Unit who were stationed in the courtroom and witnesses required armed guards from the Witness Security Unit to escort them home. With 31 accused, each by law able to reject 20 jurors without giving a reason, 1,500 jurors were called up and housed at the Penrith Leagues Club to await selection. The first day of selection saw only five jurors accepted from 208 presented, the following day it was found that two were ineligible with justice Roden dismissing all five and ordering that jury selection begin again. Eventually some 1,000 jurors were presented before 12 were found acceptable to sit on the case. More than two years later, on June 12, 1987, the jury delivered 63 murder convictions, 147 manslaughter convictions and 31 of affray. The judge in the case named the instigator of the violence as William “Jock” Ross, the “supreme commander” of the Comancheros, saying “Ross was primarily responsible for the decision that members of his club go to Milperra in force and armed”. Ross received a life sentence for his role in the violence.

Eight other members of the Comancheros gang received life sentences and 16 Bandidos received sentences of seven years for manslaughter. Interestingly, as the Bandidos arrested were charged in regards to all the deaths, this resulted in one being found guilty of the manslaughter of his own brother. Commonwealth Games gold medallist boxer Philip McElwaine was the only motorcycle club member to be acquitted at trial of the manslaughter and murder charges that were brought against him.

2007

In a repeat of the circumstances that led to the Milperra massacre, in early 2007 more than 60 members of the Parramatta and Granville chapters of the Nomads, previously affiliated with the Comancheros, defected to the Bandidos. The defection resulted in a new eruption of violence between the Comancheros and Bandidos involving fire-bombings and drive-by shootings.  New South Wales Police set up Operation Ranmore to stop the violence escalating, which has resulted in 340 people arrested on 883 charges as of January 2008.

Movie plans

In 2002, Australian film maker Martin Brown produced a documentary titled 1% One Percenters Search For A Screenplay in an effort to raise interest for a big budget movie of the massacre. The documentary, first aired on 2 February 2003, follows Brown as he looks for screenwriters, funds and a director for his movie. It includes interviews with the police investigating officer, ex superintendent Ron Stephenson, Comanchero president “Jock” Ross, Bandido vice president “Bullets” and several other Milperra survivors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milperra_massacre

Two members of the Bandidos outlaw bikie gang have been granted watchhouse bail after being charged over the bashing of a rival gang member at a Brisbane restaurant last month.

The two 25-year-old men were arrested in early morning raids at homes in New Farm and Sunnybank today.

Their arrests followed a vicious public brawl at a restaurant in Mount Gravatt on April 17, where the pair allegedly attacked a member of a rival gang, who was having dinner with his girlfriend at the time.

Detective Superintendent John Sheppard of Task Force Hydra, the police unit tasked with investigating Queensland’s outlaw motorcycle gangs, said while no formal assault complaint had been made, police would hold OMCG members accountable for unlawful behaviour.

“The victims in this incident were the business operator and the community,” he said.

“We all deserve a sense of safety and the knowledge you can go about your day without becoming an unwitting victim to an incident involving OMCG members or their associates.”

The two men, who are reportedly members of the Bandidos Centro Chapter based in Woolloongabba, were charged with affray and were due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning.

However, the pair was granted watchhouse bail.

One man emerged from the watchhouse wearing a white hooded jumper emblazoned with the words “Bandidos MC”. He ran from a large media contingent without making comment.

His alleged accomplice, who also wore a hooded jumper, became agitated when confronted by media and lashed out at a photographer and a television reporter before fleeing.

The alleged bashing occurred one week before a string of attacks on bikie-owned businesses in Brisbane, including arson, a drive-by shooting and two daylight bashings.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/bikies-granted-bail-after-restaurant-bashing-20120518-1yuoc.html

THE Sydney chapters of the Hells Angels have trebled in size within three years as international organised crime networks co-opt the state’s bikie gangs.

Police are using “every piece of legislation available” to disrupt and suppress the gangs, in a strategy similar to that developed by New York police.

Head of the NSW Organised Crime Directorate, Arthur Katsogiannis, told The Australian foreign crime-family networks were using the bikies’ reputation to recruit new muscle and intimidate rivals, while laundering money through accountants, trucking firms and other front businesses.

Millions of dollars are thought to have been sent overseas by the gangs, he said, and a multi-agency, international approach was required to tackle the problem. “Over the years, (bikie gangs) have become a lot more business-focused. While they still have the old extortion and intimidation, they certainly have a lot more business-savvy,” Mr Katsogiannis said.

“They’re getting smarter and using their professional advisers to get the right advice on how they can invest that cash or launder it.”

At least 11 people, including two accountants and a number of alleged bikie gang members, were arrested last year in a joint operation between NSW police and the Australian Tax Office, established to investigate money laundering and tax fraud.

Mr Katsogiannis said the Hells Angels had launched a recruitment drive after being “basically flogged” in an airport brawl against rival Comancheros in 2009, in which Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas died.

“You’ve got Middle Eastern families who’ve got national and international connections and networks. We’re also now seeing certain outlaw motorcycle gangs who have a Balkan influence, Balkan organised crime. They are using the muscle,” he said.

The majority of the 150 Hells Angels, organised into six Sydney chapters, were now of Middle Eastern descent, Mr Katsogiannis said, with many of the new members more willing to engage in “bravado” and violent crime, upsetting older members.

The Comancheros had grown its membership by about 60 per cent to roughly 110 in the past 18 months, he said.

Sources close to a number of bikie gangs said many of the new members from Middle Eastern backgrounds did have family ties to criminal organisations in Australia and overseas.

“These ties are very close. It means the old image of the bikie gang is over. These are criminal gangs, first, then they are bikies,” a source said.

Mr Katsogiannis said police were using a policy of “disruption and suppression” based on the approach of New York police chief William Bratton.

Since its formation in 2009, NSW Police’s dedicated anti-bikie Strike Force Raptor has executed more than 250 search warrants and issued almost 8000 infringement notices.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/criminal-networks-co-opt-hells-angels/story-e6frg6nf-1226359364871

Police are investigating links between a bikie gang and a $6 million drug bust on the outskirts of Geelong.

Officers from the Echo Taskforce executed a warrant at Forest Road, Lara at 7am this morning and during a search of the home and three large sheds uncovered 1500 marijuana plants.

They have an estimated street value of $6 million. There were abut 1500 plants discovered, at different stages of maturity.

Detective Acting Inspector David De Francesco said the sheds and home had been packed with plants.

“It it one of the most sophisticated set-ups that I have ever seen, they were running two very large generators worth about $60,000 alone,’’ the detective said.

The home is situated on a semi-rural property.

A 33-year-old man, who was living at the house is being questioned by police.

The acting inspector said inquiries were continuing.

“But we have got intelligence that the set up is linked to an outlaw motorcycle gang,’’ he said.

The Echo Taskforce was formed two years ago to crack down on gang related crimes.

Around 1500 cannabis plants at different levels of maturity were found in several large sheds and a house on the property.

The cannabis haul is believed to have a street value of around $6 million.

A police spokesperson said investigators are exploring whether an outlaw motorcycle gang is involved however no further details on possible bikie connections could be confirmed.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/bikie-link-probed-after-cannabis-find-20120518-1yuog.html

A SENIOR bikie has been slapped with an infringement notice after allegedly riding up to a Sydney police station without a licence.

The alleged high-ranking member of the Nomads was arrested at Penrith police station about 8.15pm (AEST) on yesterday.

The 30-year-old, who was there to report to police while on bail for an unrelated matter, has also been charged with habitually consorting with convicted offenders.

A police spokeswoman says that charge stems from amendments to the NSW Crimes Act passed by Parliament last month.

The legislation is being used by the force’s Gangs Squad to crack down on bikie gangs and follow up a recent spate of drive-by shootings in Sydney.

Since the introduction of the legislation, police have issued consorting warnings to a number of outlaw motorcycle gang members and associates.

The spokeswoman said the Nomads bikie was issued with a traffic infringement notice, with officers alleging he was not carrying his rider’s licence when he arrived at the station.

He has been refused bail and will appear in Penrith Local Court today.