List of Victoria’s dangerous bikie clubhouses revealed
Victoria’s bikie clubhouses have been the place of high-profile murders and bloody crimes with 2000 members across the state. See the list of their establishments.
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For decades, outlaw motorcycle gangs have made their presence felt across Victoria.
Detectives estimate there are about 2000 patched members and associates across 27 gangs.
Some of these are known to police as syndicates of the “big five”, meaning they are used by the Bandidos, Hells Angels, Comanchero, Mongols and Rebels to traffic drugs and weapons and commit violent crimes.
Senior Sergeant Alan Rumble said outlaw motorcycle gangs remain a significant national problem.
“Not just in our bigger cities but also in regional towns,” he told the Herald Sun last month.
“We know these (gangs) have traditionally been involved in violent crimes, such as shootings, assaults, arson, drug trafficking, extortion and intimidation.”
From local landmarks to nondescript industrial units, bikie clubhouses are based in every corner of the state.
These are the most prominent clubhouses across Victoria.
Hells Angels OMCG
The world’s most notorious bikie gang expanded to Melbourne in 1975 and quickly became involved in the drug trade.
Using a recipe procured from their club counterparts in California in the 1980s, the Melbourne chapter is widely credited with bringing amphetamines to Australia after they began production at a farm near Hurstbridge in Melbourne’s northeast.
By the 1990s, the Hells Angels used Victoria as a key distribution network for what was described in court as the nation’s largest amphetamines ring.
More recently, the gang is reportedly muscling up its Melbourne operations with the introduction of a new “City Chapter” by newly elected national president Angel Luke Moloney.
The Hells Angels are known to keep a lower profile than other OMCGs on this list with six chapters across Melbourne.
Hells Angels’ Headquarters – Heidelberg Road in Fairfield
Bikie clubhouses come and go but the Hells Angels HQ at Fairfield has become a Melbourne underworld institution.
The Heidelberg Road clubhouse has been the home base of Melbourne’s Hells Angels over the past four decades and, while some gangs prefer to keep their presence discrete, the group is famously proud of its prominent front gates.
Those same gates were torn down as part of a series of raids across Melbourne in 2013.
Hells Angels‘ Nomads chapter – Lipton Drive in Thomastown
Nestled in a quiet industrial estate, the Hells Angels Thomastown clubhouse has been the focus of intense law enforcement interest for more than two decades.
Arguably Victoria’s most notorious bikie clubhouse, the Lipton Drive address has dominated the news headlines over the past year as police investigate the suspected slaying of Kerry Giakoumis, 29, in June last year.
Over the years it has been the scene of torture, kidnap ordeals, vicious bashings and, police believe, the conspiracy behind the murder of Bendigo mother Vicki Jacobs in 1999.
The clubhouse was raided a month after the murder, with police using a bulldozer to crash through the fortified entrance. But no charges were laid.
Hells Angels‘ East County chapter – Dennis Street in Campbellfield
Opened in 2003, the Campbellfield clubhouse has had better luck than Thomastown in keeping out of the news.
But sergeant-at-arms Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat has been a regular at Melbourne’s courts over the years for everything from drug trafficking to theft and even punching a grandmother who demanded proof-of-ownership when he knocked on her door to collect his lost Shih tzu terrier.
Hells Angels‘ Darkside chapter – formerly in Patrick Court in Seaford
With significant fanfare in June 2013, the Hells Angels opened the Darkside Chapter based on the Mornington Peninsula, with a new clubhouse in Seaford.
The revelry was short-lived however, and in September that year the building was peppered with bullets before the club was forced out.
From there the chapter moved around the corner to an address on Milne Ave where it was evicted in 2014, moving to Peninsula Boulevard where it was again evicted in August 2015.
The same year, Darkside Chapter president Mohammed Khodr was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after selling more than $220,000 worth of ice and an automatic firearm to undercover police officers.
At the time Echo Taskforce detectives told the media the Darkside Chapter was “all but closed down”.
Mongols OMCG
The Mongols have emerged in recent years as major players in Victoria’s outlaw motorcycle gang scene after an unprecedented national “patch over‘’ of the Finks MC in 2013.
The move saw an estimated 95 per cent of members switch clubs, with police fearing gang violence would escalate as the international outfit has a “hatred of the Hells Angels”.
It’s not known how many members the club holds, but there are believed to be at least 100 members across their existing Port Melbourne, Echuca and Seaford chapters.
The gang has also begun an aggressive expansion into Melbourne’s northern suburbs and central Victoria this year, founding chapters in Coburg and Bendigo.
The expansion began under the stewardship of Victorian president and high-profile bikie strongman Toby Mitchell, who took the reins in September last year.
Mitchell was formerly a senior member of the Bandidos – an arch rival of the Mongols – but defected in 2013.
Mongols’ headquarters – Lalor Street in Port Melbourne
Formerly the Finks MC headquarters, The Mongols took control of the unassuming three-storey Lalor Street property in 2013.
The clubhouse – which features a large mural of the Joker on the garage door – was notoriously raided in 2020 over the shooting murder of fruiterer Paul Virgona on his way to work in November the year before.
Two Mongols bikies, Aaron Ong and Josh Rider have been charged over the murder and one of them was seen being escorted from the premises during the raid.
Mongol’s Ferntree Gully clubhouse – in an industrial complex (vacated 2020)
The club’s second known clubhouse in a Ferntree Gully industrial complex was vacated in early 2020 after falling foul of council regulations.
It’s understood issues were raised over insurance arrangements because of the Mongols’ alleged links to criminal activity.
At the time, a Knox Council spokesman confirmed the council had received reports that a motorcycle club was using the premises without the required permits.
The clubhouse was also raided by Echo Taskforce detectives earlier that year after the murder of Paul Virgona.
Rebels OMCG
Founded more than half a century ago in Brisbane by Clint Jacks, the Rebels MC quickly grew into an international gang under the leadership of Alex Vella in the 1970s.
Over the decades, the Rebels grew into the biggest outlaw motorcycle club in the country, with around 1100 members and 900 associates across some 70 chapters.
The gang now has eight chapters across Victoria across Melbourne, Mildura, Geelong, Bendigo and Whittlesea.
But over the past few years, the club has struggled with a power vacuum as Vella was exiled by the Department of Home Affairs which stripped his visa on character grounds in 2014 and the death of Simon Rasic, their national sergeant-at-arms, the same year.
Last year, New Zealand-born Victorian president Ray Elise, was deported amid a purge of more than 270 OMCG affiliates, after a swift rise to the top spot.
Rebels MC Sunshine West chapter – Fairbairn Road in Sunshine West
The Sunshine West Rebels chapter has been the subject of police attention for everything from liquor licensing breaches to a murder.
The Fairbairn Rd stronghold was notoriously searched over the Australia Day, 2014, killing of Michael Sleiman at Deer Park in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
The clubhouse was also the focus of one of the state’s biggest bikie gatherings in 2018, as members from all over the nation descended for a get-together which sparked a major police operation.
Rebels MC Geelong chapter – Edols Place in North Geelong
For the most part, the Rebels chapter in Geelong has seemed to coexist peacefully with rival OMCG’s Bandidos and Black Uhlans which have clubhouses in the area.
But that’s not to say the chapter hasn’t drawn the attention of police, the Edols Place clubhouse was also raided in 2014 over the murder of Michael Sleiman.
At the time, chapter president – known only as “Jonesy” – told reporters police had left empty-handed because he had “nothing to hide”.
Earlier, club associates were jailed over the 2008 shooting death of senior Geelong Bandido outside that gang’s clubhouse on the other side of town.
In 2019, the former sergeant-at-arms of the Geelong chapter, John Donnelly, was jailed after running a $2.2 million vehicle rebirthing racket his club knew nothing about.
Rebels’ Bendigo chapter – Havilah Road in Long Gully, Bendigo
The Rebels recently made a strategic push into Central Victoria with a hostile takeover of the Satan’s Soldiers gang’s clubhouse in Bendigo in 2019.
At the time, the Herald Sun was told the move was a pushback against the Rebels’ fierce rivals the Bandidos, only giving the group one week to clear out.
Rebels’ Dandenong chapter – Dandenong South – abandoned in 2016
The Rebels’ Dandenong South clubhouse was abandoned in 2016 after a firebombing gutted the place on October 21.
The fire came after police raided the Dandenong clubhouse earlier that week as a response to three violent incidents between members of the Rebels and a member of rival gang the Comancheros.
A drive-by shooting attack on Comanchero boss Mick Murray’s gymnasium is suspected to have been in retaliation to the arson attack.
Gas bottles exploded in the fire which caused extensive damage to the structure. No charges were ever laid over the incident.
Comanchero OMCG
Once holding the mantle as Victoria’s most powerful organised criminal gang, the Comanchero MC has lost influence in recent years after shutting clubhouses and losing members.
Founded in 1966 by ex-soldier William George Ross, the club was ruled with an iron first, demanding members live by the club‘s motto: “Always Comanchero, Comanchero Always.”
In recent years the outlaw bikie club has shut its original Victorian clubhouses in South Melbourne and Hallam under pressure from Victoria Police’s bikie Echo taskforce.
Sources have told the Herald Sun meetings are taking place at undisclosed locations to avoid police raids and surveillance on clubhouses.
The Comancheros have about 60 members in Victoria and 30 more who are locked up in the state’s prisons.
Comanchero national president Mick Murray, who is fighting a $14 million tax bill, heads the gang’s 500 members Australia-wide from Melbourne.
Comancheros’ Williamstown chapter – Techno Park Drive in Williamstown
Formally a fortified stronghold of the Comancheros, their nondescript Williamstown clubhouse was vacated in the mid 2010s after intense scrutiny from police.
The Herald Sun understands only the Williamstown chapter of the international gang remains active in Victoria in 2021.
Comancheros’ South Melbourne chapter – Thistlethwaite Street in South Melbourne
For more than a decade, the Comancheros had a low-profile presence in an industrial park on Thistlethwaite Street in South Melbourne, however this too was shuttered in the mid-2010s amid police actions to thwart the club.
Observers looked on as an armoured truck dramatically smashed its way into the heavily fortified South Melbourne clubhouse in 2014, as part of an investigation into a brutal attack on a man who tried to leave the gang.
Comancheros Hallam chapter – Melverton Drive in Hallam
The Comanchero MC’s Hallam clubhouse was notoriously raided in 2014 during the largest simultaneous police operation in Victoria’s history.
The operation involved more than 560 police officers acting on intelligence the Comancheros were planning explosive attacks against the Hells Angels as part of an ongoing feud.
Eighteen Comancheros were arrested as police seized power gel, detonators and detonator cord, firearms, $150,000 in cash and drugs.
Bandidos OMCG
Across Australia the Bandidos have made headlines for their violent feuds with other bikie gangs — including Australia’s most famous bikie shootout, the Milperra Massacre in 1984.
The gang left the Comancheros the year before citing a split over leadership that saw defectors torch their colours and join the international OMCG.
Since then the Bandidos’ have carved a bloody history of public shootings and brutal acts of violence to establish themselves as one of Australia’s most feared organisations.
But over the past year, the Bandidos’ have seen their influence dwindling in Melbourne as about a third of members have left, forcing the closure of their Melbourne and Bayside chapters.
In Ballarat and Geelong however, the OMCG remains strong.
Bandidos‘ Brunswick chapter – Weston Street, Brunswick
The Bandidos’ infamous Brunswick clubhouse was abandoned last year, leaving behind a bloody history of shootings, bloody deaths and police raids.
The gang vacated the prime Weston St site it called home for many years as the violent bikie gang faced intense police scrutiny and an internal split caused mayhem.
The Bandidos clubhouse was infamously the scene of the brutal bashing of Michael Strike in 2014, over an argument with a Bandido about a dog named “Trouble’’.
Mr Strike was found dead outside East Keilor Cemetery and three Bandidos were jailed – two for manslaughter and one for assisting an offender.
Three years later in April, 2017, three Bandidos were shot in a drive-by shooting as they stood outside the Weston St headquarters.
None of those wounded co-operated with police investigations.
Bandidos‘ Geelong chapter – Bayldon Court, Breakwater
The Bandidos’ clubhouse in Bayldon Court has been the scene of a member’s murder as well as drive-by shootings and a firebombing.
Ross Brand was a respected and popular Bandido when he was shot in the head outside Bayldon Court in 2008.
Rebels associates were later jailed over the killing.
In 2016, the building was firebombed in an Australia Day attack which police said was possibly linked to failed recruits looking for revenge.
Bandidos‘ Ballarat chapter – Greenbank Court, Delacombe
The Bandido stronghold in Ballarat has been no stranger to controversy, facing many police raids over the years.
Infamously, the Badidos’ Ballarat chapter was infiltrated by two police officers in the late 1990s after a series of violent events in the Central Highlands city.
As patched Bandidos members, the pair were involved in over thirty drug deals across three states.
Echuca-based former national president of the Bandidos, Jason Addison, was arrested in Ballarat after stealing a motorcycle of a member that wanted to leave the organisation.
Addison, a low-profile heavy-hitter, served as the Bandidos’ national president for about two decades before moving to the Mongols OMCG in 2020.
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