Arrested bikie veterans have long been in sights of police

STEPHEN "Stiffy'' Rogers and sergeant-at-arms Peter "Skitzo'' Hewat are among Melbourne's Hells Angels elite.

STEPHEN "Stiffy'' Rogers and sergeant-at-arms Peter "Skitzo'' Hewat are among Melbourne's Hells Angels elite.

The pair were founding members of the Campbellfield-based East County chapter of the feared outfit.

They were of interest to law enforcement in Victoria long before being taken into custody as police from Operation Redefine moved.

Hewat was hit with a raft of charges including possessing a drug of dependence after police found steroids and cannabis on his property, possession of a weapon and having proceeds of crime, alleged to be $47,000 seized at his 888 Towing business.

He was also charged with using threatening words in a public place.

The self-proclaimed outlaw is already set to face court after an embarrassing run-in with a feisty grandmother.

Earlier this year police charged Hewat with stalking, assaulting and threatening to kill a grandmother over a dispute about his Shih tzu dog.

Stephen "Stiffy" Rogers.

VicRoads and police also investigated Hewat after receiving intelligence that tow truck drivers were being intimidated by Hells Angels at crash scenes.

After more than a year investigating, VicRoads charged Hewat this year with driving tow trucks without a valid driver's licence and towing heavy haulage vehicles without a proper towing licence.

It prompted the State Government to amend a loophole that did not require an allocation system for tow truck companies outside Melbourne's metropolitan region.

Peter "Skitzo: Hewat.

Hewat's son, Beau, was also charged with perverting the course of justice this year.

Rogers, who has moved from a house in Kew to the Yarra Valley, has taken a back seat in recent years.

Along with Hewat, he was charged over attempting to cover up a crane accident in 2004.

Hewat was found guilty of approaching a Crown witness and ordering him to make no statement to police about the incident.

Rogers, however, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to impeding the accident investigation.

He also pleaded guilty to drug charges after a major police raid on his Kew home the same year. Amphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis were found on the property, with police later restraining $3.8 million in assets from Rogers.

Rogers was arrested without incident at his home in the Yarra Valley early yesterday.

Investigators searched the property and drove him to another house he owns in Simpson St, Kew.

He was then driven away, handcuffed, for questioning.

Rogers was a suspect over an attack in which a police station was peppered with bullets decades ago.

There are those who believe the old guard like Hewat and Rogers have been unhappy with some of the figures brought into the club's trust in recent years.

Their theory is that the veteran members would rather do business quietly, not courting unnecessary attention.

Lawyer John Suta, who is in talks with the Hells Angels over anti-fortification laws, said the police tactics might backfire.

"At the end of the day it's going to drive criminal activity deeper underground, like it did in Canada where street gangs became prolific,'' he said.

- with Andy Burns