Fears for jailed Comanchero boss Mick Murray as bikies’ feud ramps up
JAILED Comanchero bikie boss Mick Murray has been isolated from other prisoners over fears he could become a target as tensions mount inside the powerful organised crime group.
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JAILED Comanchero bikie boss Mick Murray has been isolated from other prisoners amid heavy conflict in his gang.
The Herald Sun has been told authorities fear Murray could become a target as tensions mount inside the powerful organised crime group.
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Murray — the national president of the Comancheros — has been locked down for up to 23 hours a day inside a maximum-security jail because of fears for his safety.
The burly Murray is not believed to share their reservations about his welfare.
The reason for his imprisonment cannot be reported.
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Turbulence in the club can be revealed as police investigate Thursday’s ambush shooting of a 35-year-old man at a tattoo parlour linked to Murray, who is believed to be a silent partner in Nitro Ink at Hampton Park.
The victim was left fighting for life after a planned attack.
It is not clear whether that incident is linked to bad blood that has dogged the gang for some time. But it is believed much of the friction can be traced back to the shooting of two Comanchero associates in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
The pair — both linked to the gang’s Perth chapter — were ambushed in an Attwood street 18 months ago.
They had gone for an after-dark meeting in a paddock near Lavery Place but were shot at least 12 times.
There was more violence last September when rival Comancheros on their national run fought out a brutal brawl in a Canberra bar.
Murray was present but not a combatant as members — some of whom smashed glasses against their foreheads — laid into each other.
The gang’s former national head, Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi, was executed nine days ago. He was shot dead as he pulled up outside a gym in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale.
One report on the slaying stated Hawi had been at odds with a senior West Australian member of the gang.
He had reportedly been flying between Sydney and Perth before he was gunned down.
It has been a period of instability in the Comanchero leadership. Hawi was national president until the murder of Hells Angel Anthony Zervas at Sydney airport in 2009.
Mark Buddle, who reportedly still claims to hold the national presidency, has moved to Europe.
Influential Victorian president Jay Malkoun went overseas several years ago and has not returned, and Murray is now incarcerated.
Meanwhile, the risk to the public posed by the events at Hampton Park on Thursday became clear on Friday.
Bullets flew through a real estate agency next door as the victim was shot up to 10 times.
The bullets blasted through plasterboard and ricocheted around the office, bouncing off metal cabinets and glass.
A Blue Sapphire Real Estate spokesman said some of those bullets flew past staff.
“I wouldn’t call it luck. It’s a blessing,” the spokesman said.
One employee was carrying paper files when a bullet flashed through her documents, sending them flying into the air.
“She had been collecting documents and had moved out of the path of the bullet only seconds before it went flying past,” the spokesman said.