Deadline: Bikie Robert Ale has fired his last shot in freedom bid

Bikie and one-time execution target Robert Ale is going to have to swallow his hefty 19-year prison term after a court rejected his shot at freedom.

Robert Ale was getting a tattoo back in 2018 when gunmen burst in and opened fire. Picture: David Crosling

Mark Buttler and Andrew Rule with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.

When we were commo kings

Comanchero bikie and gangland execution target Robert Ale looks to have fired the last shot in his bid for freedom.

It’s almost a decade since Ale was running a Commo-linked outfit called the Last Kings, which were involved in the usual: ordering hits, high-level drug trafficking and arsons.

Ale told an underling to “enjoy the adrenalin rush” which would come with spraying a Melbourne home with bullets.

On another occasion, he and an associate tried to orchestrate the torching of a Kittens strip club in South Melbourne.

He was such a heavy-duty offender that the County Court hit him with an 18-year prison term back in 2019.

Ale now looks stuck with that long stretch after the recent rejection of a bid to get an appeal up and running.

The Court of Appeal ruling might have been bitter news for Ale but Lady Luck has smiled on him previously. February, 2018, he was left fighting for life after an attempted contract killing at the Nitro Ink tattoo parlour in Hampton Park.

Ale outside Melbourne County Court before he copped his massive prison term. Picture: David Crosling

Ale was lying down getting a tatt when two hooded men stormed in and opened fire.

He suffered nine gunshot wounds, including one in the head.

How the would-be assassins knew he would be there at that exact moment has always been the source of some puzzlement.

The recklessness of the attack was such that bullets which missed the target penetrated the parlour walls and ended up in adjoining businesses.

No arrests have been made and Ale probably isn’t holding his breath for that to happen.

It’s possible, though, that he’d have some ideas about who was responsible.

Ale is one of a number of key Comanchero players who have hit the skids in recent years.

The gang continues to be knocked about by the far-reaching ANOM coup in which police were able to harvest the online messaging of gang members.

Prominent Melbourne members have been convicted over the 2019 murder at Dandenong of organised crime figure Mitat Rasimi.

That was mostly because of the testimony of club insiders persuaded by homicide detectives to give evidence.

Jacked off

Some lingo used by certain sections of the community probably doesn’t belong in a courtroom.

Phrases such as “coppers”, “the fuzz” or even “po-po” might not sit well with most judges or magistrates.

So when a young woman had a slight slip of the tongue in court last week, she was mighty quick to retract her slang description of police.

When asked by the magistrate what she’d do if her mate breached his bail conditions, she said: “I’d call the jacks — I mean police!”

The magistrate was kind enough to take her word for it. But not enough to free her man.

Now cooking in the greybar motel

Renowned chef Thomas Keller once said: “A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.”

But one Melbourne man was allegedly getting so creative with his recipes that the flavours drew in federal authorities, who wanted to decipher his creations for themselves.

He went to such lengths to conceal his preferred flavours that he may have hidden his inventory inside a convection oven on board a freight shipment bound for Victoria.

Instead of finding baking powder and bi-carb soda, Border Force officials located a different sort of compressed powder. One used to make substances for consumers with stronger stomachs than the average foodie.

The 31-year-old Rowville man’s passion for cooking might be his undoing, but it’s not all bad.

He could serve his potential life sentences (for trafficking meth and coke) dishing up tray meals behind bars.

As the colloquialism for encouraging someone to be creative now goes on social media … let him cook.

The 31-year-old Rowville man was cooking up substances for consumers with stronger stomachs than the average foodie.

Big bucks in small smoke

Illicit tobacco racket operators are pushing further and further into places where locals wouldn’t know Kaz Hamad if he popped up in their homemade pumpkin soup.

The cash-only shops’ presence in towns of under a couple of thousand people is steadily increasing as the expansionists who run illicit smoke rackets rake in massive profits.

Those in charge clearly want to wring every dollar they can from smokers while they can thanks to the current tobacco tax arrangements and lack of regulation that make the racket possible.

There are obvious drawbacks.

Not too many people will weep for the big tobacco companies but businesses which sell their products in small towns already operate on tight margins now squeezed further by the cut-price outlaw sellers.

The newcomers bring the potential for volatile competitive disputes which were once the trademark of drug gangs.

There have been several firebombings in small towns since the tobacco wars started a couple of years ago.

A veteran member of the state justice system owns an excellent little shop out in country Victoria.

Unfortunately for him, new tenants have moved into the business next door.

A law degree is probably not required to see that not everything is above board with the new neighbours. But, as is the case for so many Victorians in recent years, he is virtually helpless.

On your bike!

One organised crime figure’s ongoing issues with a range of law enforcement bodies must be music to the ears of some.

This bloke has a fearsome reputation and many people have found themselves on the back foot after dealing with him.

One of those who would be happy to hear he is still on the police radar is a cop who found himself in his sights many years ago.

That investigator walked out of his front door one morning to find the said fellow sitting on a Harley-Davidson outside.

A most untidy way to get a message across and probably a bit shortsighted.