The gang war between bikie gangs the Rebels and the Bandidos is being linked to as many as 13 shootings on Sydney streets in the last two weeks.
Monday, 2 February 2009
The gang war between bikie gangs the Rebels and the Bandidos is being linked to as many as 13 shootings on Sydney streets in the last two weeks.A new elite police unit, originally set up to investigate the night-time shooting of a gang member in Seven Hills last month, is widening its net to examine the outbreak of violence among the outlaw gangs.first Sydney arrests in relation to the feud occurred on Wednesday night, when police pulled over four men in a Holden Commodore for a routine check and discovered two semi-automatic rifles, one loaded.Half an hour before the road stop, a house in Sadlier, believed to be linked to the Rebels, had been shot at. The four men, aged 21 to 46, are understood to be Bandidos associates.
Codenamed Highcro and made up of gangs squad officers, the strikeforce will examine the series of shootings in western Sydney.On November 28, a 25-year-old was shot several times in the head and chest while a passenger in a car driving on the Prospect Highway. The car was hit by about 19 bullets fired from at least two high-powered rifles. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The Highcro detectives are using that incident as a springboard to look at 12 other shootings they believe may be linked to the warring bikie gangs, who have a history of enmity that often boils over into street warfare.A prominent Bandido was murdered in Melbourne in October and rumours of a planned "hit" marred the Friday extradition hearing in New Zealand of a Rebel member accused of a vicious bashing in Queensland last year.Only four days after the Seven Hills shooting, a Gypsy Joker was shot and knocked from his bike as he rode on the Great Western Highway before midnight.
In the early hours of the same day, December 2, a tattoo parlour in Belmore and a Bass Hill house were fired at. No one was injured in either shooting. Since then there have been nine shootings across Sydney's west.The NSW violence comes on the back of a flare-up between the two gangs in Victoria. On October 22, a Bandidos enforcer, 51-year-old Ross Brand, was shot dead outside the gang's Geelong clubhouse.
Two brothers, both members of the Rebels, have been charged with his murder.
The continuing gang violence has also led to high security during an extradition hearing for New Zealander and Rebel member Peter Douglas Rauhina, 37.The first Sydney arrests in relation to the feud occurred on Wednesday night, when police pulled over four men in a Holden Commodore for a routine check and discovered two semi-automatic rifles, one loaded.Half an hour before the road stop, a house in Sadlier, believed to be linked to the Rebels, had been shot at. The four men, aged 21 to 46, are understood to be Bandidos associates.
THE CLUBS REBELS MC The Rebels, with 29 chapters, are the largest outlaw motorcycle club in Australia. They are seen as a more traditional club and are run by former light-middleweight boxer and founding member, Alex Vella. GYPSY JOKER MC The Gypsy Joker MC are another Australian-formed club and are most notorious for the 2001 car-bomb murders of West Australian police senior investigator Don Hancock and Lawrence Lewis. BANDIDOS MC The Bandidos, whose motto is: "God forgives, Bandidos don't", are one of the "Big Four" gangs identified by the US FBI, and have 19 chapters across Australia. One of the clubs that has actively recruited from ethnic groups in recent years.Read more...
