CrimCity podcast delves into Commanchero, Bandido war that led to 1984 Milperra Massacre

A 1984 shootout in southwest Sydney sent shockwaves through NSW. Listen to the CrimCity podcast, which details how the incident - which killed seven people - kicked off a bikie war that’s still being felt in the city today.

Robert Heeney, also known as JJ Heeney, convicted following the 1984 Father's Day massacre at the Viking Tavern Hotel, Milperra. Nine bikie gang members were found guilty of murder, 21 others were convicted of manslaughter. Seven people died.

A bikie involved in the deadly Milperra Massacre spent decades in witness protection after rolling on others in his gang.

The Daily Telegraph’s crime editor Mark Morri has detailed the incredible story in the return of hit podcast CrimCity alongside chief reporter Josh Hanrahan, the first episode of which focuses on the infamous bikie shootout.

Morri was a young reporter sent to the scene when the shootout occurred at the Viking Tavern in Sydney’s west between the Comanchero and Bandidos, and recalled the gory scene that confronted him, as well as the secrets of the court case that followed.

The shoot-out between rival bikie gangs sowed the seeds of the conflict raging in Sydney’s streets today.

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“I went to go out there and the taxi driver was too scared to take me right up to where we were going,” the award-winning journalist said.

“It (the gunbattle) started at like 11 o’clock in the morning, so this was 2pm or 3pm by the time I eventually got out there and it was amazing, no one had been arrested yet.

Bandidos bikie gang members acts as pallbearers at the funeral of two of their own at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney In 1984. Picture: Ian Mainsbridge.

“There was bikies driving around, you know, in their colours – there was the Commos and the Bandidos.”

The Milperra Massacre, as it became known, not only saw seven people killed – including six bikies and an innocent young girl – in September 1984, but set in motion a series of events that culminated in Sydney’s current underworld war.

William 'Jock' Ross who was found guilty of murder following the Milperra massacre in 1984. The judge named Ross the supreme commander of the Comancheros and the instigator of the violence and he received a life sentence. Picture: News Corporation Australia

Leanne Walters who was shot and killed during the 1984 Milperra bikie massacre. Leanne, 14 at the time, was caught in the crossfire and was the only non-bikie among the seven killed.

Six weeks later NSW Police would arrest dozens of bikies, including Comanchero leader and founder Jock Ross, who would serve the most time of any of the men – a little more than five years.

Caption: Three of the six dead bikies lay covered outside the Viking Tavern in the wake of the Milperra Massacre.

But Morri recalled how one of the bikies went into witness protection, after rolling on his fellow gangsters, and says he is still desperate to find out what happened to him.

“There’s one story I’m still chasing to this day,” he said.

“I know that one of the bikies went into witness protection, he rolled, and I don’t know, look I know that he was in there at least twenty years.

“I know his handler is dead now, but only recently, and I’m still wondering whether this guy, if he’s still in witness protection today?”

Front page of The Daily Telegraph with headline Bikies Bloodbath after the Milperra Bikie shootout.

Ron Stephenson, former chief superintendant of CIB Operations. He had been responsible for Operation Hard Walk, a murder operation following the Milperra Massacre.

The Milperra Massacre was the first domino that fell in Comanchero boss Jock Ross eventually being overthrown by hungry young bikie Mick Hawi.

Hawi’s stint as Comanchero president would end when he went to jail in 2009 over a deadly brawl at Sydney Airport, the culmination of a tit-for-tat feud with the rival Hells Angels.

Hanrahan explained how a direct link could be drawn from the Milperra Massacre, to the Sydney Airport brawl, and then the modern day gang war.

“It’s probably the closest thing we’ve seen in a way, you know, (to) the early days of what we’ve experienced in the last couple of years,” he said.

“We had this tit-for-tat, that was kind of the way at that time, wasn’t it?”

A similar tit-for-tat has unfolded on Sydney’s streets in recent years involving rival crime gangs, including the Alameddines, Hamzys and once again, the Comanchero bikies.

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Originally published as CrimCity podcast delves into Commanchero, Bandido war that led to 1984 Milperra Massacre