Victorian bikie bosses: Toby Mitchell, Luke Maloney, Damien Vella, Kosh Radford, Mick Murray

From the exiled “Maltese Falcon” to the strip club brawling boss trying to “live a quiet life”, these are Victoria’s bikie bosses.

No form of organised crime captures the Australian imagination like outlaw motorcycle gangs.

They may see themselves as a brotherhood of like-minded rebels, who love riding Harleys and doing a teddy-bear run to the local hospital on the weekend, but AFP Commander of the National Anti-Gangs Squad Andrew Donoghoe prefers to think of them as “disloyal thugs” and “costume-wearing gangs of criminals who don’t care about who they hurt to get what they want and profit from crime’’.

It’s been a bad year for bikies, with more than 120 Australians being charged and 25 Victorians arrested in June as part of the AN0M sting.

From the murky underworld they inhabit, six gangs emerge as the biggest threat to law-abiding Australians.

These are their Victorian bosses.

MONGOLS BIKIE GANG:Toby Mitchell

Boxing at Melbourne Pavillion

Mongols bikie boss Toby Mitchell is a relative newcomer to the gang, having joined the Mongols in 2019 after years as a member of the Bandidos.

In 2013 Mitchell was shot by a Hells Angels prospect and was lucky to survive.

Mitchell quit the Bandidos the same year, but obviously couldn’t resist the lure of the bikie life.

In September Mitchell was spared a conviction but slapped with a $2500 fine and a good behaviour bond for his involvement in two separate street attacks, including one where he was knocked out by a homeless man.

He considered this a victory and mocked the verdict on his Instagram “Just a waste of courts (sic) time, better luck next time gang squad.”

HELLS ANGELS BIKIE GANG: Luke Maloney

Former boxer Luke Maloney is believed to be national president of the Hells Angels gang, though insiders have disputed that the position even exists.

A key member of the Hells Angels Darkside crew, based in Melbourne’s north, and a close associate of the Victorian Nomads chapter, the Herald Sun was told the national president rank was created for Maloney, who opened a “City Chapter” in Melbourne to match its Mongol rivals.

Maloney’s Reservoir home was raided in early August and police allegedly located a gun and steroids.

He was arrested and denied bail on August 4.

REBELS BIKIE GANG: Alex Vella, Damien Vella, Alex Vella Jnr

Alex Vella and his son Alex Vella Jnr.

Sometimes called the “Maltese Falcon”, Rebels boss Alessio “Alex” Vella was exiled from Australia in 2014, when his residency rights were revoked by the Australian government while he was visiting Malta.

Vella had been president since 1973 and it was left to his nephew, Damien, to step into the role to fill the leadership vacuum.

Vella even took his fight to the High Court, but failed.

Damien, also known as ‘Big D’ and his cousin, Alex Jnr, were also initially stranded when an airline refused to fly them back to Sydney. No order, however, had been made against them and were allowed to return.

Damien Vella, acting national president of the Rebels.

Police sought to prohibit Big D from associating with any Rebels members or functions in 2019, a fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

The thin blue line ultimately prevailed in that legal fight, but Big D remains the Rebels’ boss while the Maltese Falcon couch surfs in his homeland.

BANDIDOS BIKIE GANG – Will Wardley

Bandidos ride along the Bass Highway at Ulverstone during their ride from East Devonport to Burnie. Picture: Chris Kidd

As Toby Mitchell was ditching the Bandidos for the Mongols in 2019, Will Wardley was doing the opposite.

This wasn’t a bad career move, as the defection ultimately resulted in him leading the gang’s Victorian branch.

Wardley, who grew up in Sandringham, has been raided on multiple occasions by the Echo task force police but has avoided charges.

FINKS BIKIE GANG: Kosh Radford

Finks outlaw motorcycle president Kosh Radford meeting up at a service station south of Wodonga with police also in force. Picture: Simon Dallinger.

Finks “world” president Koshan Rashidi, aka Kosh Radford, has been a senior figure in the gang since 2013.

Radford moved from Sydney to Melbourne in 2018, to “live a quiet life,” or so his lawyer claimed in July after Radford was slapped with a $6000 for his “thuggery” during a 2019 bikie brawl at a Melbourne strip club.

At the time, Magistrate Timothy Bourke gave Radford a lesson on fatherhood, telling him “If you are truly a family man and a good father, what are you doing out at that time of the night in the first place? Because that sort of behaviour is generally not what family men do”.

Radford’s move may have had another purpose, as the Finks re-established a foothold in Victoria that year.

Fearing that he could become the nation’s next bikie war lord, Australian law enforcement agencies turned their attentions towards Radford following Alex Vella’s 2014 visa cancellation.

In 2018 Radford was slapped with a demand to pay the ATO almost $600,000 in tax debts dating back 15 years.

The year before, Radford’s family holiday was ruined when Bali’s immigration chief barred him entry into Indonesia due to his bikie links.

COMANCHERO BIKIE GANG – Mick Murray

Comanchero Motorcycle Club President Mick Murray waits with other members to have their identification checked in Tooradin. Picture: Ian Currie

Mick Murray has been national president of the Comancheros since taking over from former bikie boss Mark Buddle, who fled to Dubai in 2016.

Buddle remains an active member and encrypted messages revealed earlier this year he is heading up a mafia-style “Commission’’ to tax all drug importations smuggled through Sydney’s docks.

Murray was jailed for most of 2018, in which time former model Hasan Topal was touted to have been in charge.

Rumours also circulated in early 2020 that Murray was stepping down from the top job due to ill health, with Topal set to replace him.

Topal has since left the country and Murray was clearly at the helm of the gang’s 2021 Easter run from Hallam to Tooradin in April.

The Comancheros have long been considered the most powerful and vicious gang in Victoria and 17 of the 25 arrests made by Operation Ironside in June were members of the notorious gang.