Hells Angels boss and alleged drug kingpin Angelo Pandeli’s wealthy Whyalla origins revealed

A notorious Hells Angels boss was once a well-respected teenager who did not need to work because of his parents’ wealth, several sources have explained.

Angelo Pandeli with his family in Dubai. Picture: Supplied / Nine

Hells Angels boss and alleged drug kingpin Angelo Pandeli was a well-respected and well-liked teenager “who did not need to work at all because of his parents’ wealth” which included a high-profile Adelaide nightclub, multiple sources have told The Advertiser.

Angelo’s dad Kon Pandeli owned The Tonsley Hotel Motel at Clovelly Park and its legendary nightclub McMahon’s Dance Club, when it entertained a host of national and international celebrities in the late 1980s.

Angelo Pandeli was a well-respected and well-liked teenager “who did not need to work at all because of his parents’ wealth” which included a high-profile Adelaide nightclub, multiple sources have told The Advertiser. Picture: Matthew Vasilescu.

They included Belgian dance acts Technotronic and 2 Unlimited, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Comedy Company character Uncle Arthur, cricket legend Merv Hughes and actors Rik Mayall (from UK hit The Young Ones) and Magda Szubanski.

Kon Pandeli engaged John Pike, neither of whom are accused of any wrongdoing – to help run The Tonsley and McMahon’s.

Heaven Nightclub now closed on West Terrace. Pandeli was once a security guard.

Years later, in the early 2000s, Mr Pike was running Adelaide CBD nightclub Heaven on West Tce when he paid Angelo Pandeli as a security guard.

It was around this time that Pandeli is said to have become a junior member of the Hell’s Angels.

In 2006, Mr Pike was banned from operating a licensed premises because of his alleged links to bikie gangs.

In his judgment, Liquor Licensing Court Judge Paul Rice said Mr Pike, as a director of Heaven’s licensee Adelaide City Entertainment, had business links with former Gypsy Jokers president Anthony Sobey. The court said Mr Pike also admitted to paying Angelo Pandeli $3000 to provide security at Heaven.

In 2011, the Liquor Licensing Court allowed Mr Pike to be a consultant for the relaunched Heaven on Pulteney St.

Former Heaven nightclub manager director John Pike speaking to the media in 2004.

Earlier this month, Hells Angels boss Angelo Pandeli, 52, was deported by Dubai authorities to Australia. However, the national president of the Hells Angels bikie gang, who is suspected of being a major player in drug trafficking into Australia, was not arrested when he arrived in Sydney. It has since been revealed that he is living in a five-star Sydney CBD hotel.

Angelo, who is believed to have been living a lavish life in the Middle East after fleeing a luxury home in inner-Sydney’s Pyrmont, is alleged to have quietly assumed power over Australia’s billion-dollar drug trade after the capture in Turkey last year of a series of high-profile individuals.

Sources who knew him in Whyalla, where he grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, say that Mr Pandeli was a responsible and respected teenager who “was never aggressive”.

“We are all very surprised he ended up (allegedly) involved in organised crime,” the source said

“He was really decent and sensible, just an average kid.”

Sources said his parents, Kon and Mareki Pandeli, who came from Turkey and were well-liked in the Whyalla community, owned several venues both there, including the Sundowner and Westland hotels, and in Adelaide.

Angelo Pandeli was believed to be living a lavish life in the Middle East.

“They came here with nothing and they built themselves up to become one of the wealthy elite in Whyalla,” one said. “They lived in a large, beautiful home and owned several businesses. They were known for being very good employers.” There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the parents.

Another source said that Angelo was given the job of managing a hotel by his parents when he was just 18.

“He did a good job,” he said “He is certainly no idiot, that’s for sure.”

Another source claimed Angelo – who was her boss in the late 1980s when he managed the Sundowner for his parents – was always known as someone who “partied hard”.

The Advertiser understands Mr Pandeli moved to Adelaide in his late 20s in the early 2000s – when he made his alleged switch to organised crime.

“He never got into trouble, and his parents had so much money he didn’t need to work,” a source said. “I wonder if he didn’t get himself in the wrong crowd and then saw an opportunity to work his way up.

“He may have had an experience of feeling like a small fish (in Adelaide) and sought the same level of respect ... he had in small town Whyalla.”

Originally published as Hells Angels boss and alleged drug kingpin Angelo Pandeli’s wealthy Whyalla origins revealed