Rivals circle crippled Comancheros as Operation Ironside sting puts gang behind bars

The Operation Ironside police sting has brought one of SA’s worst bikie gangs to its knees, and it’s already having unprecedented effects on Adelaide’s underbelly.

The Comanchero bikie gang has been crippled in South Australia as a result of Operation Ironside.

Half the gang – 15 full members and associates – are now behind bars awaiting trial on serious charges ranging from conspiracy to murder to production and trafficking huge quantities of methamphetamines, and money laundering.

Those in custody include several of the gang’s highest ranking officeholders, along with their key “foot soldiers’’.

The Advertiser can also reveal rivals of two senior gang members have been circulating fake police affidavits in underworld circles stating the pair have “rolled over’’ and become police informants.

The unprecedented move, which could potentially place the gang members’ lives at risk – has forced police to take steps to protect their families from any possible recriminations.

The first tranche of Comanchero members were arrested in June, when police across Australia swooped on outlaw bikie gang members and other criminals using the AN0M encrypted communications platform in an audacious sting dubbed Operation Ironside.

Detective Superintendent Stephen Taylor from the Serious and Organised Crime Branch at Police Headquarters. Organised crime firearms seized. Friday September 4 2020 Pic Roy Van Der Vegt

The latest four Comanchero members were arrested a fortnight ago after a review of AN0M communications and charged with conspiracy to cause harm over a plot to lure a fellow gang member to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre and bash him.

According to police, many suspected criminals in SA were using the encrypted platform but the Comancheros were the only bikie gang using it.

Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Branch officer-in-charge detective Superintendent Steve Taylor said “a significant number’’ of the 15 individuals facing charges were full members of the Comancheros.

“It has crippled the gang, it has had a major impact on it and its negative effect on South Australia,’’ he said.

“That is certainly from not just the seizures we have seen from Ironside but the drug laboratories that have been uncovered that we can directly link to the Comancheros through Ironside intelligence.

“I would say their business model has certainly been suspended if not destroyed.

“They will try and re-establish themselves and probably will but as we trawl through the vast intelligence and conversations we have from Ironside, I would be quietly confident more arrests will follow.

“Some in custody will be recharged with numerous other offences and, to a lesser degree, others.’’

Screenshots of fake police affidavits that underworld rivals are circulating about two senior Comanchero gang members. Picture: Supplied

Screenshots of fake police affidavits that underworld rivals are circulating about two senior Comanchero gang members. Picture: Supplied

The two Comancheros named in the fake affidavits, whose identities have been suppressed in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, are awaiting trial on charges including conspiracy to murder, money laundering, trafficking drugs, manufacturing drugs and serious firearms offences.

Both were arrested on June 7 in co-ordinated police raids, which also resulted in dozens of other individuals also using the AN0M application being charged. Collectively, police have now charged 92 individuals as a direct result of Operation Ironside.

The affidavits – one adorned with “dog” stamps – state the evidence they contain will be evaluated by prosecution authorities with the intention of the author being “granted immunity from prosecution’’.

Superintendent Taylor said while the affidavits were false, they were “a good quality fake’’. “They have been crafted from genuine affidavits but I can confirm there is no truth in the content of them,’’ Superintendent Taylor said.

“We don’t know their origins. We know they have appeared on some somewhat restricted social media platforms. The motivation behind them could be wide and varied.

“It could be people who have come into contact with the gang wanting to cause trouble and angst to those currently remanded or it could be people from opposing gangs wanting to cause problems.

“And it could even be from within the Comancheros. We simply don’t know at this point. There are always internal rumblings and internal power plays.

“There are side deals done all the time within the gangs. We could never discount it is from an internal source.’’

Superintendent Taylor said those named have been warned by the Correctional Services Department about the issue and police had reached out to their families and offered them assistance.

“While we will allege they are facing serious criminal charges, we still feel a responsibility to ensure their safety and that of their families,’’ he said. “We have put some strategies in place to ensure they are looked after.’’

There are 214 Comanchero gang members nationally but police said they believe there are only 16 full members in SA and that number was fluid because “no one wants to admit they are a member’’.

The Comancheros have had a small presence in SA for many years and its history has been tumultuous.

Adelaide Comanchero's HQ. Picture: 7NEWS

In 2012, failed gang leader and petty criminal Vince Focarelli assumed leadership but he was stripped of his position when the Comancheros fell into disarray and national gang leaders travelled to Adelaide and retrieved gang colours from Focarelli’s Hindley St tattoo parlour.

Police from several areas, including Crime Gangs Task Force, are constantly monitoring and visiting individuals to determine their status with respective bikie gangs.

Like the other nine bikie gangs in SA, the Comancheros no longer have a clubhouse because of rigid anti-bikie legislation.

But police are aware gang members continue to meet covertly to avoid detection and prosecution for doing so.

“They tend to share it among members. They might have it at a house or a neutral place and keep changing the location to try and stay under the radar but, rest assured, we are constantly working to stop their activities in this state,’’ Superintendent Taylor said.

Originally published as Rivals circle crippled Comancheros as Operation Ironside sting puts gang behind bars