Hells Angels Brutal South: Police crack down on bikies

Discover how police have turned up the heat on OMCG “peacocks” with raids and searches designed to disrupt the Hells Angels’ Brutal South, Finks, Nomads and Bandidos.

From firearm crackdowns to arresting major bikie figures, South Coast police are continuing to ramp up a campaign to dismantle organised crime across the region.

Cops have put members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal groups on notice, as they continue to arrest high-ranking bikies in a bid to smash illegal activity in the coastal community.

In the past 18 months, police have conducted more than 70 firearms prohibition searches on members of different gangs on the South Coast, including the notorious Brutal South Chapter of the Hells Angels, the Nomads, Finks and Bandidos.

Police arrested the Sergeant at Arms of the Hells Angels Brutal South Chapter earlier this year. Picture: NSW Police

According to South Coast Police District Commander, Superintendent Greg Moore, the searches have been an important intervention tactic in disrupting and dismantling organised crime.

“People are making an overt choice to go into that kind of criminal activity as a lifestyle and where we want to send the message that there is going to be consequences for that decision, and we make no apologies for that,” he said.

“If you’re going to be involved in organised crime, we’ve got an extremely high detection rate on the South Coast so there’s a fair chance if you’re going to engage in that lifestyle you will finish up before the courts.”

Dozens of charges have been laid as a result of the firearms searches, which have also uncovered drugs and consorting offences, while also taking illegal weapons off the streets. Senior-ranking members of different gangs have also been charged, including the Sergeant at Arms of the Brutal South Chapter.

Cash was allegedly seized from a senior Brutal South member following investigation into criminal activity in June 2020.

The Brutal South Chapter has made the headlines several times in the past 12 months, but South Coast Police District crime manager, Detective Inspector Scott Nelson said police intervention has delivered strong results, with fractures beginning to show in the group.

“That constant knocking on their doors, constant disruption, it makes it all too hard for them,” he said.

“We’ve seen that with some identities now actually being kicked out of clubs because there’s too much heat on them, they just realise it gets a bit too hard.”

South Coast Police District crime manager, Detective Inspector Scott Nelson said police were having great success in dismantling criminal activity on the South Coast.

He put members of the gang on notice earlier this year, telling members to change their name to the “Futile South”, however, he’s gone a step further, vowing to continue to inhibit the group’s activity even further.

“With this group, it’s all about greed and money and I know all our team, we get up at 5.30am and come to work,” Det Insp Nelson said.

“These blokes prance around on fear. They just want to lift weights and take steroids and see who can get the most amount of tattoos and look the toughest.

“But it’s just all a front. They are all peacocks. That’s all they are.”

The president of the Brutal South Chapter is Graeme McGilvray, a 33-year-old dad with ‘HELLS ANGELS’ tattooed down the side of his head.

McGilvray was dubbed a “violent offender” in court last year, after he headbutted another man during a ‘disgraceful’ brawl at a packed pub in January of 2020.

The president of the Hells Angels Brutal South Chapter Graeme Anthony McGilvray.

He was sentenced to two years in jail to be served in the community on September 11, after a combination of cocaine and alcohol led him to attack a group of ‘Middle Eastern’ men who were “staring at him” at the Huskisson Pub on January 24, 2020.

Police have zeroed in on the Bay and Basin area in recent months, where several members of the Brutal South Chapter are based, and Det Insp Nelson said the hard work of South Coast police was paying off.

“We know it’s working … (we’ve) caused a bit of a splinter there … It has an impact.

“It’s been pleasing to see as a result of our disruption there’s been active dismantling of those types of enterprises on the South Coast.”

Superintendent Moore said the Sanctuary Point area had become popular with the gang because a lot of them had grown up in the area, making the need for early intervention all the more important.

“In days gone by fell into the cracks of that sort of lifestyle,” he said.

“The first step is prevention, we’re working with services to get vulnerable youth in programs and holding barbecues and things in Sanctuary Point to try and identify those vulnerable youth.”

And while it seems bikie activity may have ramped up on the coast in recent months, Superintendent Moore said it was the opposite, and that in the past 12-months there’s been a big reduction in the type of activity.

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