Hawi shooting destroys calm of Sydney bikie scene in past five years, says Mark Morri

SYDNEY bikies have co-existed in relative peace for the past five years since a tentative truce was called between the warring Hells Angels and Comancheros.

SYDNEY bikies have co-existed in relative peace for the past five years since a tentative truce was called between the warring Hells Angels and Comancheros, who engaged in a bloody tit for tat war in 2013.

In one nine-day period in July of that year, there were four shootings and two dead as the two clubs traded shots across the city in a power struggle for drug turf in and around Sydney. Hells Angel prospect Tyrone Lee Slemnik was shot dead at Eastlakes, with a fellow associate Ali Jammas meeting the same fate four days later at Abbotsbury in Sydney’s west.

The Comanchero Motorcycle Club was involved in a turf war with Hell’s Angels in 2013.

The next week, an 18-year-old with links to the Comancheros was shot in the neck at Bexley and survived.

There were drive-bys and beatings which brought unprecedented heat on the two clubs with bosses and major figures locked up.

TORCHED CAR FOUND CLOSE TO HAWI SHOOTING SCENE

SLAIN MICK HAWI’S MOMENT OF INFAMY

‘HAWI WAS RELAXED AND CHATTING ... THEN BANG-BANG-BANG’

The leaders figured out shooting each other brought unwanted police attention, which was not good for business, and the two clubs sorted their differences out.

But it was too late.

The then O’Farrell Government passed tough consorting laws which were used relentlessly by a beefed-up Strike Force Raptor to bust the gangs.

Comanchero prepare for a group ride.

It has all but wiped out some clubs such as the once-powerful Nomads, run by Sleiman Tajjour, who fought the consorting laws all the way to the high court.

The Rebels, once the most powerful club in the country, has been on the ropes since it lost high-profile leader Alex Vella, stuck in Malta after the government refused him a re-entry visa when he went on holiday.

Groups such as the Comancheros have come under closer scrutiny.

In Sydney the club also imploded, with a number of members murdered.

The other two strongest clubs, the Finks and the Lone Wolf, have been engaged in trying to fill the void which has led to tension between the two clubs, but it has been quickly quashed by police.

It’s to be hoped that the murder of the high-profile Mick Hawi is not going to see a return to a bloody war fought on the streets of Sydney.