9ers, H-Town, OGK: Melbourne’s tribal youth gangs running amok
Melbourne’s violent youth gangs are causing havoc on our streets as they engage in bloody battles and brag about their exploits on social media. See our map of where the gangs are based.
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Melbourne’s violent youth gangs are engaged in a bloody and deadly “postcode war” turning to hardcore “drill rap” music and social media to brag about their attacks on rival gang members.
Experts have told the Saturday Herald Sun Melbourne’s gangs — with names such as H-Town, the 9ers, Brotherhood28 and OGK — are “very tribal” and take the view that if you are not from their patch “you’re the enemy”.
More than 600 gang members are on the radar of Victoria Police as part of a major crackdown on youth gang violence and activity across Melbourne, with nearly 400 gang members arrested a combined 1432 times — more than three times each — and almost 4000 charges laid.
But it comes as a support program that helps troubled and vulnerable children steer clear of the clutches of gangs said it had its funding cut by almost $2m.
The Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) — which has helped troubled youth in Victoria for more than 25 years — lost nearly a third of its crime prevention team earlier this year.
YSAS has predicted one of its most impacted regions will be Melbourne’s western suburbs which has a waitlist of about 40 kids, with about 70 per cent of referrals coming from Victoria Police.
Reserve County Court judge Michael Bourke, who also once chaired the youth parole board, said traditional methods of the criminal justice system of arrest, punishment and then adult custody didn’t work with disadvantaged youth.
“I’m not saying this to make excuses for what they do. They commit serious crimes and it’s not a plea for sympathy nor just as a casual observation, these are established facts,” Mr Bourke said.
Criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro said the gang scene in Melbourne had become “very tribal”, describing the conflict as a “postcode war”.
“If you’re not in the postcode, you’re the enemy,” he said.
“To establish their power they resort to very violent behaviour”.
Mr Watson-Munro said social media had played a “very powerful role” in the escalation of gang violence on the streets.
“They post about what they’re doing on Instagram or TikTok and are completely oblivious to the consequences of what they’re doing,” he said.
“They’re heroes for a day or a week on TikTok and they feel no remorse about that all.
“They’re saying ‘look what we’ve done in your patch…are you going to respond to that?’ and inevitably there will be a response from another group because there’s that perception of weakness if they don’t.
“My prediction is it’s going to escalate and become more violent”.
It comes as the Herald Sun revealed one Instagram page with more than 1800 followers posted a video of 16-year-old Pasawm Lyhm’s body after he was allegedly murdered at Sunshine station last year.
One video posted to social media showed a violent tit-for-tat home invasion committed by members of notorious Tarneit gang the 9ers at the residence of an associate of rival gang Original Gangster Killers.
Court documents of the incident revealed 11 males — aged between 14 and 16 — armed with knives and machetes broke into a Brookfield house in December 2022 and stabbed a 15-year-old boy multiple times which caused an injury to a digital artery.
The court heard this attack was in retaliation after four OGK members stabbed the younger brother and mother of a 9ers boy during a previous home invasion.
One offender was convicted and handed a five-year jail sentence.
The four boys jailed for fatally stabbing 16-year-old Declan Cutler after a party in Reservoir were also associated with the 9ers gang.
According to court documents the gang attended the party to confront a boy associated with rival gang H-Town who was heard saying “f—k the 9ers” at a previous event.
The worst offender, a man, now 19, who stabbed Declan more than 50 times, was jailed for 19 years and 6 months, with a minimum 14 years and 6 months.
Many of the groups also produce their own “drill rap” music (a hip-hop subgenre) where they — in often professionally made music videos — antagonise other gangs and brag about incidents where their rivals were stabbed or assaulted.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court heard a member of the “Original Gangster Killers” involved in the vicious fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Hashim Mohamed wrote lyrics bragging about the brutal attack.
“Hashim got knocked coz he got in the mix,” he wrote.
“You will get blicked n you will get stripped. Try play me you get put in a spliff.
“He on the news now I’m the talk of the town”.
Last year hundreds of Tarneit residents staged a rally at the Baden Powell skatepark where local teen Rhyan Singh was allegedly stabbed and knocked unconscious; calling for a tougher stance on youth violence.
Rhyan told the Herald Sun he woke to “blood everywhere” and his “little finger hanging off” which required eight hours of surgery.
In 2020 Victoria Police launched “Operation Alliance” to combat the youth gang scene.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said the force “never publicly acknowledges the names of youth gangs”.
“This does nothing but provide the notoriety they crave and fuel greater conflict,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
“Victoria Police continues to relentlessly pursue, disrupt, and dismantle the state’s worst youth gangs as part of Operation Alliance”.
Support service stranded
Hundreds of vulnerable kids at risk of falling into the hands of gangs could miss out on “crucial” crime prevention programs after staff reductions due to a shortage of funds.
Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) — which has helped troubled youth in Victoria for more than 25 years — lost nearly a third of its crime prevention team earlier this year.
In 2020 the state government provided YSAS with four years of “expanded funding” but wound back the money this year.
YSAS was told this additional funding was part of a one-off pandemic payment and there were no cuts to its funding this year.
But YSAS disputes this explanation and claims its funding was withdrawn.
Eleven jobs in the YSAS Youth Support Service were lost across Melbourne this year, which acting chief executive Dom Ennis said was a result of losing $1.85m in government funding.
“We estimate that the 11 positions lost is equivalent to about 330 young people missing out on support,” he said.
“We had been advocating for quite a while (for the funding).
“We were able to successfully advocate for those four years but why we were disappointed is that it was considered to be wrapped up in Covid-related funding when we had been advocating for this well before Covid”.
YSAS has predicted one of its most impacted regions will be Melbourne’s western suburbs which has a waitlist of about 40 kids.
The organisation has prepared itself for waitlists to blow out significantly after the government increases the age of criminal responsibility to 12 later this year.
A state government spokesperson said YSAS did “extremely important work”.
“We continue to fund their work — with more than $3m to keep vulnerable young people out of trouble,” they said.
“We have delivered more than $100m for programs and initiatives that tackle the underlying causes of crime.
“This investment is continuing to support crime prevention initiatives with 69 projects currently underway — including the Youth Crime Prevention Program”.
YSAS has Youth Support Services in Gippsland, Ringwood, Dandenong, Frankston, Sunshine and Collingwood.
About 70 per cent of YSAS referrals come from Victoria Police.
According to data in the 2022-23 Youth Parole Board annual report, 64 per cent of young offenders were victims of abuse or trauma as a child.
Mr Bourke said the “starting point” to address youth crime was “understanding the demographic of serious and repeat offenders”.
“I think what people have to do is recognise the reality that this group of recidivist serious offenders are, in my view. the most damaged, disadvantaged and excluded of our children,” he said.
Mr Bourke said “early intervention” programs were one of the most effective ways to reduce youth crime.
“If I’ve learned anything it’s that I’m convinced the traditional methods of the criminal justice system of arrest, punishment and then adult custody do not work with this group, that is if the aim is to reduce serious youth crime,” he said.
“You’ve really got to try hard to keep them out of the criminal justice system.
“It may not appeal to some people but having observed it up close I don’t think there’s any other way to do it”.
It comes as the Allan government struck out plans to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 2027.
The government still, however, intends to lift the age from 10 to 12 by the end of this year.
Mr Bourke said this Youth Justice Bill — which passed the Victorian upper house on Friday — was “fundamentally good reform”.
“It recognises the very things that the way to reduce youth crime is through rehabilitation treatment ... you need to keep children away from the criminal justice system,” he said.
WHO IS WHO ON THE STREETS
9ers (Tarneit)
The 9ers have been involved in several high profile incidents in recent years.
Four associates were convicted and handed lengthy prison sentences for Declan Cutler’s murder in March 2022. The gang has also engaged in violent confrontations with the Original Gangster Killers.
Original Gangster Killers (Taylors Lakes)
Based in Melbourne’s west and a rival to the 9ers.
OGK and the 9ers members traded home invasions, where several family members of associates targeted were stabbed and left scarred across the two incidents.
In August 2023 an OGK associate was handed a 195 day jail term for violent disorder with another gang and robbing a 13-year-old boy, who was filmed being slapped as his iPhone and backpack were taken from him.
OGK infamously clashed with the 9ers at St Kilda beach in December 2022 where 18-year-old Hashim Mohamed was killed; stabbed with such force the knife protruded through his chest.
Afterwards, court documents revealed one OGK member stood over Hashim and spat on him and yelled “you f—king scum, you got what you deserved”.
Brotherhood (Werribee South)
Brotherhood, or Brotherhood28, is believed to be another prominent gang in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Up to 17 gang members, according to court documents, committed a series of aggravated home invasions in June 2022 as a result of conflicts with gangs in Dandenong and Hampton Park.
A text message from one Brotherhood member intercepted by police said “‘all the boys are together ... planning s—t ... it’s war they want it’s war they shall have” after his house was raided by a southeastern gang.
Earlier this year a Brotherhood gang associate was sentenced to two years and ten months behind bars for a series of armed robberies, theft of a motor vehicle and dangerous driving charges.
It comes after three Brotherhood members robbed the NQR supermarket in Werribee while brandishing machetes, before leading the police on a wild chase through Melbourne’s western suburbs.
In an intercepted phone call between one gang member and his sister the Brotherhood associate bragged that they “robbed the f—k outta (sic) some supermarket”.
Last year a Brotherhood associate was sentenced to two years in youth detention after pleading guilty to manslaughter for his role in the fatal stabbing of Solomone Taufeulungaki at Brimbank Shopping Centre.
It came after a group of 10 Brotherhood associates had previously asked Solomone if he was part of a rival gang called the “Vavau Brothers” — a group Brotherhood had fought the previous day.
Solomone told the group he was not part of the VB gang.
Despite this, upon seeing Solomone later in the day, the group set upon him and fatally stabbed him.
While the youth who committed the fatal blow claimed he was not a member or associate of the Brotherhood gang, Judge Mandy Fox described the “motivation for the offending was loyalty to a youth gang”.
H-Town (Northern suburbs)
H-Town, believed to be based in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, was the gang “beefing” with the 9ers at the time of Declan Cutler’s death.
Court documents revealed one of Cutler’s friends he had left the party with the night he died was a H-Town associate who had previously filmed saying “f—k the 9ers”.
ABZ-36 (Croydon)
Based in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
The gang’s alleged leader Nun Ceu was thrown in jail for three months in 2022 after he assaulted a disabled man at Croydon train station.
Court documents revealed Ceu also smashed a window at the Mooroolbark Football Club and inscribed the words “ABZ” with a weapon.
Other known gangs include:
• ‘47’ (Broadmeadows)
• Stain Gang (St Albans)
Historical gangs
• Oakleigh Wogs (Oakleigh)
• Sharpies (Thomastown, Blackburn South)
• Lebanese Tigers (Melbourne’s inner north)
• Broady Boys (Broadmeadows)
• Sandy Boys (Southland)
• Dandy Turks (Dandenong)
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