Bikie gangs luring new members in droves thanks to social media
Bikie gangs flaunting their wealth have lured a soaring number of new recruits, but the reality for them is quite different.
Police & Courts
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Top bikies promoting their wealth has helped swell the number of gang members statewide by 75 per cent in the past seven years.
The Herald Sun can reveal Echo taskforce figures show there are 2112 outlaw motorcycle gang riders now in Victoria, compared with 1200 in 2013.
Numbers are evenly spread statewide, with 680 in the northern region, 444 in the south, 490 in the west and 498 in the east.
The Mongols, Comanchero, Rebels, Hells Angels, Finks and Bandidos remain the most influential outlaw gangs.
Senior OMCG figures use social media platforms as recruitment “marketing” tools, according to Detective Inspector Graham Banks, the head of the 80-strong Echo taskforce.
But Insp. Banks said that while those at the top lived like high-flyers, it was different for the majority at the bottom.
He said some of those who were recently served under firearms prohibition laws by his officers were still living at home with their mum.
“They’re really pawns in a game,” Insp. Banks said.
“At the end of the day, the opulence is about a recruitment drive.”
Aggressive recruiting in and outside prisons and the gangs’ relaxed entry standards have also helped boost numbers.
Fifty-five bikies have been deported, the highest number on record.
Most of those have been banished to New Zealand and Pacific island nations, with a few flown back to Europe.
Among those sent back across the Tasman was Rebels boss Ray Elise. Echo crew leader Detective Senior Sergeant Ash Ryan said Elise was recruiting members from the Melbourne arm of the New Zealand-based Black Power gang.
Firearms prohibition laws have also emerged as a key element in the fight to control the bikies. Echo has served 62 firearms prohibition orders this year, which allow recipients’ homes and cars to be searched without a warrant and impose the risk of jail for those caught with guns.
Insp. Banks said FPOs had been used in a number of cases where investigators wanted to avert imminent violent crime without showing their investigative hand.
“They’re an extremely effective tool,” Supt. Banks said.
Fourteen Mongols received FPOs in one recent “day of action” by Echo.
The Colin “Snake” Websdale case, former president of the Rebels gang, has also altered the landscape. He fought having an FPO slapped on him by police and won at VCAT. But the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Justices Chris Maxwell, Pamela Tate and Richard Niall stated: “It is plainly in the public interest that he (Websdale) not be allowed to possess, carry or use a firearm.”
Sen. Sgt. Ash Ryan said bikies were now acutely aware of the impact of the appeal decision on them.
Anti-association laws, which are still not operating, would help augment the gains from FPOs, police believe.
Detectives who have used the laws interstate have been able to restrict the activities of some major players. Victoria has anti-association laws, but they have been deemed unwieldy and remain unused years after being introduced.
GANGS CASH IN ON DEMAND FOR DRUGS
Victoria’s big six bikie gangs are a diverse bunch and in varying states of health but they have one thing in common.
Specialist anti-bikie investigators say all have a primary aim of cashing in on the nation’s multi-billion dollar narcotics market, bloated by Australians’ insatiable appetite for drugs and willingness to pay some of the world’s highest prices.
The degree of their influence in the drug market is shown by the expansion of their dealing capacity in recent decades.
“It used to be a pound of speed. Now it’s hundreds of kilos,” Echo taskforce head Detective Inspector Graham Banks said.
The taskforce’s intelligence suggests the gangs will put aside rivalries to work together if it means getting major shipments through our ports.
The ability to travel overseas, in particular to Asia, is crucial to those objectives.
Those who pull the levers like the freedom of meeting one another and overseas counterparts with a greatly diminished risk of scrutiny from authorities.
“The transnational aspect of it is all drug-related,” Echo tactical intelligence officer acting Sgt Chris Gordon said.
“The money’s in the transnational drug imports.”
Over the years, senior members’ social media pages have been littered with images from trips to exotic destinations around the world.
These jaunts are often more about business than pleasure.
Last year, police worked to block a trip to Thailand by Comanchero boss Mick Murray and Echo says bikies can expect more of the same in future.
Back home, Insp. Banks said numbers had surged because of heavy recruiting, often in jail, where members are supported inside and are committed to their club on release.
He said gangs historically looked for motorcycle enthusiasts but their entrance standards had been relaxed.
Clubs now are wanting to find members who can provide a particular criminal skill-set as required.
There has been more fluid movement between clubs in recent years with some transfers bloodless and others not so peaceful.
A number of key Bandidos have joined the Mongols in the past two years, with little overt evidence of drama.
Conversely, one valued OMCG player was shot eight times after defecting some years ago.
And the potential menace posed by their business tactics is clear.
Echo crew leader Detective Sen-Sgt Ash Ryan said the 2019 arrest of Rebel Matthew Bruce showed the reality of the threat.
Sen Sgt Ryan said the rate of non-fatal shootings in the outer western suburbs fell when he was picked up over high-level ice-trafficking, drive-by shootings and arson.
Insp. Banks said the importance of the tough prison sentences imposed by courts on Bruce and feared Comanchero Robert Ale after they were caught up in Echo operations was not lost on investigators.
“It shows an understanding of the seriousness of the ongoing threat,” he said.
Echo now boasts 80 officers — six OMCG crews, two looking at Middle Eastern Organised Crime and three on high-harm gang activity.
The taskforce was well-established and Sen-Sgt Ryan said the OMCG’s now knew it had to be taken seriously.
A gang leader recently got in touch before a club event to thrash out the police requirements to avoid action being taken.
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