Old School Tattoo parlour fire investigation looks at bikie links

Connections between outlaw motorcycle club Finks and the Frankston tattoo parlour set ablaze last week have formed part of the police investigation. It follows a number of bikie related incidents at tattoo parlours.

A man surveys the damage to the Old School Tattoo in Shaxton Circle, Frankston on February 20, 2020.

Bikie links to a tattoo parlour firebombed in Frankston last week are under police investigation.

It is understood connections between Finks members and the business have come under the scrutiny of police after the torching of Old School Tattoo parlour in Shaxton Circle last Thursday.

A woman told how she heard glass smashing before a car made a quick getaway from the shopping strip on the night of the fire.

“As I was walking out I saw a car speeding away and there was a small fire,” the lady, who asked to remain anonymous said.

“It sounded like they were smashing the windows and then they put something in the shop to cause the fire.”

A severely damaged tattoo parlour after a suspicious overnight fire, on Heatherhill Road, Frankston, Victoria, on Thursday, February 20, 2020. (AAP Image/Andrew Batch)

It’s understood management of the parlour changed hands in November last year, upsetting a number of staff and customers.

The parlour has also undergone a series of upgrades, with a Facebook post, from an Old School Tattoo page which has now been deleted, showing off the renovations.

There is no suggestion management of Old School Tattoo engaged in any wrongdoing, only that police are investigating potential links to bikies.

Firefighters respond to an explosion at Old School Tattoo in Shaxton Circle, Frankston on February 20, 2020.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs have for many years been suspected of being major players in Melbourne’s tattoo parlour industry.

There have been numerous outbreaks of violence including a destructive conflict between the Comancheros and Rebels in which a number of parlours were torched or shot up.

A Nitro parlour, which had been linked to Comanchero boss Mick Murray, was peppered with gunfire in 2018.

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His right-hand man Robert Ale was shot in the Hampton Park Nitro shop, also in 2018.

City of Ink in South Melbourne was sprayed up the same year in an attack allegedly linked to the Comancheros.

The ant-bikie Echo taskforce has looked into dozens of incidents related to tattoo industry friction over the years.