Police on high alert in deadly bikie feud between Hells Angels and Finks
POLICE across Adelaide are braced for revenge attacks in the bikie war this weekend, after a series of incidents culminated in a murder.
POLICE across Adelaide are braced for revenge attacks in the bikie war this weekend, after a series of incidents culminated in a murder.
Pooraka business owner Jason De Ieso was killed in an execution-style murder on Wednesday.
Sources said flare-ups in the gang feuds were sparked when new members with existing grudges were recruited, and they warned that the ensuing violence could not be prevented by new laws.
Sources close to the feud gave The Advertiser insight into the ongoing aggression of the bikie world.
They said the latest wave of violence was not surprising.
"People forget that, in days gone by, things like this used to happen - it just wasn't pointed out," one source said.
"There was a bikie who was beaten near to death with baseball bats 500m from his club, there were houses shot up, there were tyres shot out from under moving cars. (Former Premier Mike) Rann brought it into the spotlight with his anti-bikie laws . . . now you hear about it."
Other sources said newer, younger bikies were the cause of most problems.
Some of those members are being recruited in prison, while others are newly arrived migrants or were formerly associated with street gangs like the New Boys.
In all cases, those members bring with them existing grudges that become part of their new club's attitude and provoke new rivalries.
"Young blood comes in and stirs the pot, that's the way it happens," one source said.
"In the days gone by, before Rann's laws, the older members were able to control the new members.
"Since the Government riled them up, gangs have been recruiting and some of the people who join are less easily controlled."
Another source said the "bikies vs government" mentality was irresistible to would-be criminals.
"The government's attitude didn't just politicise the bikies, it romanticised them to a certain facet of the community," the source said.
"It turned the gangs into glorified lone wolves and gave them an outlaw mystique. "People see that and say 'I want in', and you get these uncontrollable young bikies."
Thirty officers have been assigned to the Operation Alpha taskforce, which is investigating the latest outbreak of bikie violence.
They include detectives from Major Crime, who are hunting Mr De Ieso's killers, while Crime Gangs detectives are examining the incidents leading up to the murder and trying to prevent further outbreaks of violence between the Hells Angels and the Finks.
Detectives were studying footage from security cameras at Mr De Ieso's business, Unique Custom Paint and Panel, where he was fatally shot by a group of gunmen.
Legal and criminology experts say authorities need to develop a new strategy to break the cycle of bikie crime and violence.
Adelaide University Law School advocacy and justice unit director David Caruso said a strategy of "following the money" would help to infiltrate and disband organised criminal gangs.
"Following the money and seeing these organised crimes are for profit, or for people who might not otherwise be employed or might not otherwise be able to show how the income is being gathered, is a good way of being able to build a case against people involved in criminal activity, particularly organised crime," he said.
"Those (anti-bikie) laws do relatively little for the individuals at stake and tend to be contrary to fundamental principles of justice in terms of the ability of the accused to confront the accuser. The difficulty with organised crime - and it is secretive by its very nature - is actually trying to build a case."
In the past two years, SA police have arrested or reported more than 400 bikies. The State Government hopes that laws before parliament, once in place, will encourage people to provide information to police about serious and organised crime.
Dr Lorana Bartels, senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Canberra, said there was "no real proof" that anti-bikie laws reduced their involvement in crime.
"I don't necessarily think the approach that has been taken to date in terms of stopping gang members from associating, or from wearing their colours, or from holding certain occupations, is the right way to go and there are a lot of other experts who take this view too," she said.
CHRONOLOGY TO MURDER
1 - KICKBOXING BRAWL
A fight between members of the Finks and Hells Angels at the Knees of Fury Thai kick-boxing event on Saturday night is believed to have been a catalyst for the latest deadly feud.
Two men were charged by the Crime Gangs Task Force following the fight outside the Adelaide Arena, Findon, about 7.30pm.
Fans of the sport have commented on its Facebook page that it was a night of "brutal" fights in the ring - 15 bouts in total including the return of Paul "The Sting" Slowinski to the Adelaide stage.
What sparked the fight is not known, but police pursued some of those who left the event after the brawl.
One car failed to stop when directed by police and it was pursued for a short time on Grange Rd before the chase was terminated due to safety fears.
Just before the chase ended, two men got out of the car, leaving the driver to continue on.
The pair were charged with failing to truthfully answer questions about the identity of the driver.
Following the fight, a Public Safety Order was issued for the venue.
2 - HOME FIREBOMBED
Uniformed police stood powerless as a group of furious and muscular young men converged on a Parafield Gardens home shortly after a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside about 8.45pm on Tuesday.
Minutes earlier, firefighters had doused a small blaze in the kitchen of the Rosecombe Place home after neighbours noticed smoke emerging from the house.
Nobody was home at the time, and it is unclear whether the firebombing was intended as a warning or to harm those inside.
A 25-year old Hells Angels north crew associate, who lives at the home with his mother, forced his way past police manning the front door.
Soon after, another man ran at a television cameraman, violently demanding he stop filming.
A woman who arrived in a car during the incident appeared distressed and asked that she not be filmed.
Police believe the house had been broken into and glass fragments found near the fire were believed to be from a Molotov cocktail.
Yesterday, a tradesman who went to the home was greeted by a woman who emerged from the house, where a blue Mercedes Benz sedan sat in the front yard without number plates attached.
3 - TATTOO TRASHING
Lords Of Ink tattoo studio at Salisbury North stood empty and silent yesterday - the closed doors the only clue to the brief but violent rampage that took place there 24 hours earlier.
The studio, with links to the Finks Motorcycle Club, was targeted in an attack by a group of men shortly after 1pm Wednesday.
The incident - which police were unaware of until several hours after the Pooraka shooting - also escaped the attention of business owners in the small group of shops, who were unaware anything had happened until staff emerged from the tattoo parlour.
One shop owner said staff at the tattoo studio were always friendly and there had never been any trouble at the business - until Wednesday.
Police said the intruders "extensively damaged" property inside the studio and detectives from the newly formed Operation Alpha are investigating whether the same men were responsible for the murder at Pooraka shortly afterwards.
The damage had been cleaned up by yesterday afternoon, when the interior of the studio appeared spotless with dozens of trophies adorning shelves above the counter.
4 - MURDER AT POORAKA
THE sounds of a busy industrial strip disguised the deadly nature of the loud bangs at Unique Custom Paint & Panel at Pooraka about 1.40pm on Wednesday.
Witnesses who heard the gunshots thought it was a car backfiring, or a crash of metal from one of the many auto and industrial operations in Langford St.
It was, they would learn when police swooped and cordoned off the street, much more sinister.
That loud bang served as a fatal full point to yet another chapter in Adelaide's deadly bikie feud - but almost certainly will not signal an end to the ongoing war.
A 33-year-old man had been gunned down in front of terrified witnesses in his workplace, a spray-painting business specialising in hot cars and motorcycles.
Witnesses say a white car sped from the scene.
The fatally wounded man - named last night as Jason De Ieso - was pronounced dead at Royal Adelaide Hospital after paramedics had treated him at the scene.
Finks bikies arrived at the scene soon after the shooting, with one suggesting it was one of their number, or a close associate, who had been killed.