Police smash Rebel bikie Matthew Bruce’s crime ring
He carried his machine gun in a guitar case and took his young daughter along to test fire his new weapon, however Rebels bikie Matthew Bruce’s major crime ring came crashing down in a large-scale police operation.
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A Rebels bikie enforcer carried a machine gun in a guitar case as he oversaw a torrent of violent crime, including drive-by shootings, drug trafficking, arson, fraud and intimidation.
Detectives have now smashed a major crime ring run by the Rebels’ feared sergeant-at-arms Matthew Bruce.
Strongman Bruce 35, has admitted to enlisting his twin sister, long-time girlfriend and mistress — who is also his girlfriend’s sister — to help perpetrate a series of crimes throughout Melbourne’s west.
Echo Taskforce detectives say Bruce used brutality, his bikie colours and an SKS assault rifle — which he hid in a guitar case — to “intimidate and instil fear in those who dealt with him”.
“Does he want me to bring my machine gun up there?” A menacing Bruce says in a conversation about one “debtor”, secretly recorded by police in a marathon operation which included covert surveillance, telephone intercepts and tracking devices.
Stunning transcripts, video footage, and documents obtained from Melbourne Magistrates’ Court by the Herald Sun, also reveal:
• Bruce and defacto partner Cursty Shields discussed bringing their one-year-old daughter along to a test-firing of the machine gun in Wombat State Forest, near Mt Macedon.
• The SKS rifle, a sawn-off shotgun, bolt-action rifle, small handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and cartridges were seized in a police raid on Bruce’s “stash house”.
• His gang discussed moving commercial quantities of ice, selling “bang bang” assault weapons and chasing up debts with threats and violence.
• Curtsy Shields, 30, was unaware Bruce — also known as “Matts Tatts” was having an affair with her sister Jessica, 23.
As Bruce and his de-facto discussed taking their daughter to a test-firing of the assault rifle, she was captured on tape asking the child: “Do you want to go play with daddy’s gun?”
The baby’s voice can be heard in the background.
The parents then discussed buying earplugs for Bruce and their daughter.
“It’s going to be loud,” Bruce said.
“I wonder what she’s going to be like hearing it,” his partner replied.
Video footage shows Bruce firing off four rounds of the machine gun while a cigarette hangs from his mouth.
He is later recorded telling his sister, Sarah, that he is surprised at how powerful the weapon is.
The footage was used in an advertisement for potential buyers of the gun, as Bruce desperately tried to make some fast cash.
“I need to f---ing sell that f---ing machine gun, did that guy want it or not?” he asked his sister in January 27.
After the raid on Bruce’s stash house — the home of associate and co-offender Matthew Bentley — the Rebel strongman was recorded telling a woman he believed he was being followed by drones.
He rejected her suggestion his phones were being tapped.
“They had to have a drone following me because I dropped it off at 1.30 in the morning (and) an hour later … a search warrant is written up. It’s a very big coincidence,” Bruce said.
Investigators swooped on Bruce on February 17, after learning he had been assaulted and had ordered Cursty Shields to go retrieve his Adler shotgun.
The weapon had been used in a drive-by shooting organised by Bruce and carried out by associates.
Detectives arrested Bruce at Sunshine Hospital where he was being treated for his injuries, amid fears he would use the gun imminently.
When Shields was intercepted, officers found a black gun case containing the Adler, hunting knives and shotgun casings.
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She later told police she “guessed” there was a shotgun in the case, but didn’t ask, saying: “I didn’t want to know, could have been an arm or a leg.”
Bruce pleaded guilty in court this week to 18 offences. He was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing next year.
Nine other people, including the Shields sisters and Sarah Bruce, have been arrested and charged over the crime ring.
All but one accused have pleaded guilty over their roles in his gang’s crime spree.