Stephen Dank has held a secret meeting with the nation’s most powerful outlaw bikie boss
DISGRACED biochemist Stephen Dank has held a secret meeting with the nation’s most powerful outlaw bikie boss, in the wake of a near-deadly gun attack on his Melbourne home.
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DISGRACED biochemist Stephen Dank has held a secret meeting with the nation’s most powerful outlaw bikie boss, in the wake of a near-deadly gun attack on his Melbourne home.
Dank, who is fighting an AFL life ban as a result of the Essendon peptides saga, met Comancheros national president Mick Murray this week.
Murray, accompanied by a bikie associate, spoke to Dank inside a medical centre for about half an hour before they went their separate ways.
The meeting comes as Victoria Police investigates whether Murray was behind the attack in which six bullets were sprayed at Dank’s Ascot Vale home in July, wounding him.
He narrowly avoided being seriously injured. No arrests have yet been made.
Authorities have been investigating whether an alleged five-figure debt relating to Dank’s peptide business was behind the “warning”.
Murray, whom law enforcement authorities consider the most influential bikie boss in the nation, arrived for the meeting in a black SUV, dressed all in black and with a gang associate at his side.
After their summit, both men emerged from inside the AM MedCentre in Fairfield in western Sydney, and spoke on the street for several minutes before going their separate ways.
The Sunday Herald Sun understands it is not the first get-together between the Comanchero boss and the biochemist, although the reasons for their meetings are unknown.
Detectives from the armed crime squad probing the pre-dawn shooting aimed at Dank are yet to make any arrests over the incident.
Specialist anti-bikie Echo taskforce investigators have been analysing if the shooting was a warning to Dank in relation to an alleged five-figure debt to Murray relating to the biochemist’s peptide business.
It has been suggested Dank is cash-strapped after fighting high-profile legal battles on several fronts.
Murray was in Spain at the time of the drive-by attack. It is not suggested the possible debt involves any illegal activity.
Dank has previously denied owing Murray any money but has more recently baulked at questions about whether they are associates. He has previously denied any links at all to the bikie boss.
But this week’s meeting also shows that despite being wounded by one of six bullets fired into his home, leaving him with a cut nose and a black eye, Dank is associating with heavy figures.
Police have also been looking into whether Dank had contact with any other Comanchero members in the months leading up to the shooting.
Dank has hinted that the shooting was related to sports doping and that he would not be “silenced” and would “attempt to put the truth out there’’.
Dank’s links to bikies first emerged over treatment he gave to former Bandidos enforcer Toby Mitchell after he was shot five times in 2011 outside Doherty’s Gym in Brunswick.
The shooting cost Mitchell a kidney and half his liver.
Dank was barred for life from the AFL and the NRL for trying to traffic banned substances, and was the mastermind of the peptides supplement regime that caused havoc at Essendon and at the Cronulla Sharks in 2011 and 2012. Dank is appealing his AFL ban.
The 52-year-old has often threatened to expose the details of the 2012 drugs saga that threw the Bombers into disarray, but was unwilling to co-operate with the ASADA inquiries.
Danks’ association with Murray is almost certainly related to the lucrative muscle-growth industry.
Murray is the owner of gymnasiums in Hallam and Carrum Downs and also has a tattoo parlour.
He recently led his gang on its national “run” in Canberra only months after pleading guilty and paying a fine for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He is fighting the ATO over a tax bill of up to $13 million served on him several years ago. It is believed Victoria Police has been working hard on Murray’s activities and has compiled a dossier on him.
The Comancheros have attracted police attention over a series of recent shootings aimed at Kittens strip club venues in Melbourne, incidents believed related to security contracts at the clubs.
There have been reports the owner of Kittens has come to terms with Murray, handing over a six-figure sum to stop the attacks. Kittens management, however, denies having paid the Comancheros any protection money.
Although the Comancheros have a contingent of members residing in jail, there is a steady influx of wannabe recruits for the gang to choose from. It is regarded as the most active outlaw bikie club in Victoria, and is actively recruiting members, including high-profile criminals, in most jails in the state.