FULL LIST: Most outrageous bikie stories on Gold Coast as former top cop warns of crime gang return
A man once tasked with getting bikies out of the Gold Coast has revealed astonishing claims from one of the men he was running out of town.
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THE man once tasked to take out the bikies from the Gold Coast has revealed the astonishing mark-up they could make on the Glitter Strip selling illicit drugs.
Former superintendent Jim Keogh, who led the bikie-busting police team the Rapid Action Patrol (RAP) squad from 2013-15, says a criminal once told him they could import an ecstasy tab for $3 a pop and sell it in Surfers Paradise for 20 times that.
“The entertainment precinct was like Kings Cross and was a lucrative market for organised crime and bikies,” he said.
“A bikie once told me he could land an ecstasy tab on the docks at Brisbane for $3 and sell it in Surfers for $60. That’s a good mark-up in anybody’s language.”
Mr Keogh said the Gold Coast and in particular Surfers Paradise have been cleaned up but said time will tell if streets remain safe.
He advised the city’s police to plan for how to keep Surfers safe when Covid restrictions were removed.
“It's like house break-ins declining, it’s because people are home more due to Covid so the break-ins go down,” he said.
“Currently in Surfers half the venues are closed and the others are struggling for trade.
“Eventually we will come out of Covid - and Surfers and the Gold Coast needs to be sold to Australia and the wider community as a great, fun, safe holiday destination.
“We want to make sure we have exceptionally safe precincts on the Gold Coast.”
Mr Keogh said bikies ran the town before the RAP squad and the LNP Government’s Vicious Lawlessness Association Disestablishment (VLAD) laws, later replaced by the Palaszczuk Government, were brought in during 2013.
According to Mr Keogh the Finks used to have control of parts of Surfers Paradise and the Bandidos had control of parts of Broadbeach.
The former officer said the party precincts were targeted by bikies because they could grow their drug operations in those areas.
FORMER TOP COP WARNS OF CRIME GANG RETURN
August 17, 2021
THE man who led the bikie-busting police squad on the Gold Coast says the city needs to prepare for the return of organised crime trying to control the Glitter Strip.
Former superintendent Jim Keogh has a long history patrolling the Gold Coast, including dealing with the city’s crime during the 2000s before returning to lead the Rapid Action Patrol (RAP) squad.
The RAP squad ran from 2013-15 aiming to crack down on outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug traffickers and lower-level street crime across the Gold Coast following the infamous Broadbeach Brawl.
Having been retired from the force for four years, Mr Keogh said the Gold Coast needs to plan for the future before it’s too late.
↓↓↓ WHEN BIKIES MADE HEADLINES ON GOLD COAST – SEE FULL LIST BELOW ↓↓↓
The recent deaths of bikie figures Shane Bowden last year and Shane Ross in 2019 are indications to Mr Keogh that bikies are still active on the Gold Coast.
“The bikies are as prevalent now as they have ever been,” he said.
“The lucrative market of Surfers Paradise isn’t there at the moment because of Covid but it will bounce back and they will return.
“You only have to look at the death of Mr Bowden and the deaths out the back of Burleigh. You’d have to live under a rock not to realise they are flourishing.
“The motive behind it will revert back to territorial ownership.
“The key here is to see it coming and not have another Broadbeach Brawl. The signs are there for all to see.
“Their business model has changed from the open, bravado presence to a more covert presence.
“Business probably hasn’t flourished any better in terms of controlling the illicit market.
“They are driven by greed to control the market and egos the size of mass trucks.
“They’ll rise again, just look at the deaths.”
Mr Keogh was appointed days after the Broadbeach Brawl in 2013 to lead the RAP squad to crack down on bikie behaviour.
The fight between the Bandidos and Finks associates outside a Broadbeach bar also led to the Newman Government launching its VLAD laws, the toughest anti-bikie legislation seen in Australia.
“The Broadbeach Brawl happened on the Friday night and I was recalled on the next Monday to the Gold Coast,” he said.
“The bikies became very territorial. The Finks had Surfers, the Bandidos had Broadbeach and then there was also a buy-in from the Hells Angels.
“Everybody wanted a piece, particularly the entertainment industry. Not to provide entertainment but because of the drug market attached.
“When I came back the Bandidos had tried to surge on the Finks and there was territorial warfare between the clubs.”
The VLAD laws saw bikies cleared out of clubhouses across the Gold Coast and Mr Keogh said the political stance from the LNP Government was needed.
“There had to be political buy-in, they (the bikies) had cemented control,” he said.
“It needed political muscle and the government under Campbell Newman brought in the harshest bikie laws to their credit.
“They didn’t just bring in regulation but also brought in financial resources and funded organised units to take on the problem.”
The former officer said the current government needs to look at what worked in the past to plan for the future.
“It’s a battle you’ll never win but a fight you need to keep having,” he said.
“You need to work on it daily and get resources to help that.
“When you think it’s peaceful, that’s when you’ll have an assassination in the backyard on the Gold Coast or an assassination in West Burleigh. That’s what happens when your foot is off the throttle.
“As you emerge from Covid you’d want all your ducks in order.
“This is not about living on a day-by-day basis, rather starting to predict what is going to happen.”
WHEN BIKIES MADE HEADLINES ON GOLD COAST
RUGBY CLUB SHOOTING
Before a motorcycle exhibition at the Tugun Seahawks Rugby League Club in November 1996, bikie related crimes on the Gold Coast weren’t seen in the public eye.
When Black Uhlans associate Sean Jones shot fellow club members Richard McKenna and Steve ‘Bam Bam’ Zaicov McKenna at the exhibition, it put the hidden world of bikies on Gold Coast into the news.
Police set up roadblocks around the Boyd St football ground following the shooting as madness broke out.
Media attending the scene were attacked, including Channel 9 reporter Jo Shoebridge and Channel 7 reporter Sky Kinninmont, who were both chased separately in their cars by bikies.
Jones handed himself into police two days after the shooting and was charged with two counts of attempted murder and possession of a concealable weapon.
A year later a jury heard at a Brisbane Supreme Court trial that the shooting was sparked from a domestic dispute.
The court was told McKenna had been in a relationship with Jones’ former de facto.
It was alleged McKenna and Zaicov spotted Jones and called him a ‘dog’ at the bike show before the shooting.
Jones’ attempted murder charges were dropped and he was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to five years’ jail.
BALLROOM BLITZ
A decade later bikies hit the headlines again when a brawl broke out during a kickboxing tournament at the Royal Pines Resort in March 2006.
The incident is one of Australia’s worst bikie brawls and five people were either stabbed or shot.
It started when about 40 Finks members approached the Hells Angels, who were ringside at the tournament.
Nick ‘the knife’ Forbes threw a punch at Christopher Hudson, who was shot twice by Shane Bowden during the brawl.
It was believed by police to be an attempt on the life of Hudson, who was a former Fink who had “patched over” to the Hells Angels and was trying to get others to join him.
Bowden was sentenced to six and a half years jail and on release “patched over” to the Mongols.
Forbes was sentenced to 27 months in jail for grievous bodily harm related to his role in the melee, but was released on a suspended sentence after serving 18 months for the incident.
DRUG FUELLED FURY
Only a year on from the infamous brawl, Hudson found himself in the thick of a crime again.
This time Hudson was the offender and was on the run from police after a drug-fuelled rampage.
He killed lawyer Brendan Keilar and shot Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard during the incident on June 18, 2007.
Hudson handed himself into police after two days on the run with his arm heavily bandaged due to blowtorch burns he endured during punishment from the Hells Angels for his actions.
Hudson is currently serving a 35-year sentence for murder.
MALL RAMPAGE
Hudson wasn’t the only member of the Ballroom Blitz who couldn’t stay out of trouble.
In January 2009 Nick ‘the knife’ Forbes was joined by Dion Pydde during a violent rampage through Broadbeach Mall.
The pair were sentenced to jail time for the 30 minute attack that included bashing and sexually assaulting innocent bystanders – all of which was captured on CCTV.
A lady was assaulted by the men, who pulled up her shirt and exposed her breasts.
A man was knocked out and had his head stomped when he told Pydde and Forbes to “leave the ladies alone you cowards’’.
Another man required urgent surgery to insert a plate and screws to repair his fractured eye-socket.
Forbes was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for grievous bodily harm and assault over the random attacks.
Pydde pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to charges including grievous bodily harm and sexual assault.
He received four-and-a-half years jail, suspended after two years.
TOWN CENTRE SHOOTING
Another shopping centre became the scene of a violent crime in 2012 when a standoff between two bikie members spilt over into a bystander being shot.
Mongol bikie Mark Graham fired shots at then senior Bandido figure Jacques Teamo at the Robina Town Centre after a confrontation between the two.
Witnesses said they saw two muscular and heavily tattooed men with bum bags yelling and “puffing up” for a fight.
Not only was Teamo hit with two bullets but an innocent bystander was also hit.
Innocent shopper Kathy Devitt was hit in the shooting and was left with fragments of bullet in her flesh.
Amazingly she went on to play hockey for Australia.
Graham was found guilty of opening fire in late September 2014 and was convicted of attempted murder and unlawful wounding, earning him 12 years and three months jail in November the same year.
BROADBEACH BRAWL
It was the crime that played a pivotal role in the bikie wars on the Gold Coast, leading to the toughest anti-bikie laws in Australia.
In September 2013 a wild brawl erupted outside the Aura lounge bar between Bandidos and Finks associates.
Diners fled in terror as close to 70 enraged bikies threatened and yelled obscenities at police following the fight.
The brawl was allegedly over a personal grudge between Jacques Teamo and Jason Trouchet.
Teamo began dating the ex-girlfriend of Trouchet, who was a long-time friend of Finks terror team member Nick “the Knife” Forbes, and was a former pro boxer who never lost a fight.
The impact of the fight was long lasting and the LNP Government launched its controversial VLAD laws and twin task forces, Maxima and Takeback, were formed to fight the war on bikies.
In August 2015, 18 “former” Bandidos pleaded guilty to charges including riot, affray, public nuisance and assault and obstruction of police.
They were given fully suspended jail sentences, fines and in one case a good behaviour bond.
BURLEIGH DOUBLE DEATHS
Ex-Comanchero bikie Shane Ross was found dead at a Tallebudgera Park in October 2019.
According to Ross’s wife, the father-of-three had turned a new leaf and had left his bikie life behind him.
Despite his change in life, the former bikie and his friend and Monstr clothing business partner Cameron Martin were killed.
Ross was 36 when he was found dead with gunshot wounds from two different guns.
Investigations are still ongoing.
BOWDEN MURDER
The crackdown on bikie clubs by the Queensland Government from 2013 saw clubhouses shut and members flee the Gold Coast.
Feared figure Shane Bowden was one of those who headed interstate.
His involvement in the Ballroom Blitz sent him to jail for six and a half years.
On release he was ordered to surrender his membership in the Finks and warned not to associate with members of any outlaw gang by police.
He was living in a halfway house and would remain under strict parole conditions until March 2013.
By late 2013 Bowden had turned his back on the Finks and, along with other members of the Terror Team, was preparing to join the US-based Mongols.
Bowden would become a sergeant-at-arms in Melbourne but was sentenced to five years jail for a violent aggravated burglary in 2015 that he committed with former Beyonce trainer Aysen Unlu.
He got out in June 2020, was kicked out of the Mongols and returned to the Gold Coast.
Bowden was shot dead in a driveway on October 12, 2020 at a Pimpama home.
Investigations are still ongoing.
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