Vince Focarelli tells The Felon Show podcast that gangs are ‘satanic’ and ‘disgusting’

Former bikie, heroin dealer and exiled gang leader Vince Focarelli has let fly at those he once a called a brotherhood – and is now urging kids to avoid the “satanic, cancerous” life of gangs.

A former SA bikie and drug dealer now exiled from Australia has urged young people to avoid joining gangs – describing his former friends and allies as “satanic” and a “cancer” on society.

Vince Focarelli, a former senior member of the Comanchero and founder of spin-off gang the New Boys, is now living in Malaysia after his visa was cancelled on character grounds.

Focarelli was the target of several high-profile assassination attempts and later became a devout follower of Islam and left the gang life.

Now a different man, former Adelaide gang leader and bikie Vince Focarelli.

Vince Focarelli in an undated photo.

Speaking on podcast “The Felon Show”, which features reformed criminals discussing redemption and religion, Focarelli said he hoped his story would help steer young people away from crime.

“I hope this podcast pierces the mind and the essence of the soul of young people and especially our brothers who are in gangs doing certain things,” he said.

“Muslim, non-Muslims it doesn’t matter, it’s disgusting, hurtful and putrid – it’s very satanic.

“It’s like cancer, if you don’t do something about it spreads.

“What I mean by that is that it spreads to your family, you get shot, somebody dies, you get jailed for a long time, the suffering doesn’t stop there, it spreads to your loved ones.”

Focarelli recounted his rise in the criminal world from walking Hindley St as a 14-year-old boy to an ill-fated time as a nominee with the Hells Angels before starting his own gang – The New Boys.

Vince Focarelli gestures to the media outside court. Picture: Greg Higgs

Focarelli told podcast host David Obeda, a former gang founder who was deported from Melbourne to New Zealand and has since reformed, that a 6½ year stretch in prison changed him.

“It was very dark and depressing, when you are someone who is active and loves life and wants to see the world, it’s like putting a bird in the cage.

“If you love your family and your life then jail is not the place for you.”

He was eventually patched over by the Comanchero and became the state commander.

Focarelli was the target of several assassination attempts, including a failed bombing that killed two men who tried to set a bomb outside his front window.

Focarelli adopted Islam in 2012 after the death of his stepson Giovanni “Gio” Focarelli in an ambush at Dry Creek.

On January 29, 2012, Focarelli was shot four times, but a bullet passed through Giovanni’s heart, killing him instantly.

“There was a $900k hit out on me,” he said. “No amount of money they put on your head is worth the death of your son.”

He described Giovanni as a “beautiful man”.

“He was 10 times the man I will ever be, he had an infectious smile, even my enemies loved him,” he said.

“I have never experienced a man that honoured, loved and was so polite to his mother – that’s the young man I want to explain to you.

“He would have followed me to the end of the world to protect me.”

Vincenzo Focarelli with stepson Giovanni Focarelli. Picture: Facebook

As the bullets rained down on the pair from a shooter who has never been caught, Focarelli dragged his son into the car.

“I grabbed his face, and could see he was lifeless, but a part of me wished he was still alive,” he said.

“I grabbed his chin and was trying to blow air into him.”

Eventually Focarelli pulled over and was put into an ambulance.

Days later he tried to discharge himself from hospital.

“I said take my drips out, I’m done,” he said. “I wanted to go and assassinate this devil who took the life of my stepson.”

Instead he was arrested by waiting detectives and spent 14 months in prison on drugs and firearms charges.

Vince Focarelli at Al-Khalil mosque in Woodville, visiting the Giovanni’s grave for the first time since he was released from prison. Picture: Coker Dylan

He missed Giovanni’s funeral – which still haunts him.

“The hardest thing I have ever done was not being there to remember him,” he said.

Focarelli was initially put in solitary confinement for three months, during which he said he spent much of the time crying and praying.

He emerged a devoted follower of Islam who has urged anyone part of a gang to rethink their lives.

“It is all good to wear a fat gold chain and walk with the boys with your chest pumped out and have a girlfriend who says she loves you – everyone wants to be a gangster,” he said.

“But that is until you have to do gangster things, when the shootings and the murder happens it’s not a joke, it’s a reality.”

Vince Focarelli with his father Giuseppe in 2009.

Vince Focarelli at the funeral of his father Giuseppe.

Focarelli said the traditional slogan of the bikies’ “love and respect” was a facade.

“It’s not real, this so-called love and respect and brotherhood in these organisations is not real,” he said.

“The only love and respect is for money and power.

“It is an illusion, once you step into that life it becomes dark, all kinds of evil spirits are around you and just evil.

“You do things that are not pleasant or peaceful and you have to do it. If you get caught you are done, you are finished.”