What does the Mongol takeover of the Finks mean for Melbourne?

THEY'RE the sworn enemy of the Hells Angels, and they've just arrived in Melbourne - the Mongols MC are set to "patch over" the Finks.

Mongol Bikies president Frank Dieni and other members in their Port Melbourne clubhouse.

THEY'RE the sworn enemy of the Hells Angels, and they've just arrived in Melbourne.

In a move that could ignite outlaw bikie tensions to flash point, the Mongols MC are in the final stages of a national "patch-over'' of the Finks, including the rebadging of its Victorian chapter.

Quietly, the former Finks members have cleaned out their headquarters in Port Melbourne and decked out the inside of the clubhouse in their new colours - black and white.

Their copyrighted patch of a long-haired Mongolian warrior has replaced the Finks' emblem 'Bung' from the cartoon Wizard of Id, with members inking the words Mongols MC to various body parts.

It's a move that has Victoria Police worried after weeks of bikie gang violence that has already reached boiling point between the Hells Angels and Comancheros.

Within the walls of the Victoria Police Complex in St Kilda Rd, the anti-bikie Echo taskforce is preparing for the reaction.

Detective Inspector Ian Campbell said the Mongols' arrival could further destabilise an already knife-edge outlaw bikie scene.

"The Mongols are an international club with a hatred of the Hells Angels,'' he said.

"They (the Hells Angels) will be a bit nervous about it.''

"Why do the Finks need the patch of an international gang?

"If they're a motorcycle club, why do they need to patch over? Why do they need the international support?

"It does destabilise the scene,'' he said.

He said the Mongols are likely to see Australia as a lucrative market and, as former Finks, were expected to continue an allegiance with the Comancheros and Bandidos - both enemies of the Angels.

The Mongols origins date back to 1969 when Hispanic bikies, refused entry to the Hells Angels because of their race, decided to form their own club.

The clubs' rivalry turned deadly during a confrontation in Nevada in 2002 that left three bikies - two Angels and one Mongol - dead.

But the Mongols' new Melbourne chapter president, Frank Dieni, says the public has nothing to fear from the club and it has no beef with any other "one per cent'' club.

Specifically, he says the Mongols violent history overseas - predominantly with the Hells Angels - will not pervade the Australian chapters.

"I don't believe they're (the Hells Angels) going to be nervous about it,'' he said.

"They've known us as Finks and they've known us as who we are and there is no difference.

"We're not going to continue on any history that another country has which doesn't really concern us.

"I think if they had any problem they'd be on the phone …..like in the past if they had any problems there'd be phone calls.

"There's nothing that reasonable people can't sort out like that.''

That said, don't expect Dieni and his Mongol mates - there are about 120 of them in the Melbourne chapter - to be inviting the Angels out for a beer any time soon.

"We won't party together or sit there and have coffee together, we don't do that,'' he said.

Dieni - a former Finks Sergeant-at-Arms - says he is a 46-year-old man without a criminal conviction who feels vilified by the government and police.

(Dieni was fined without conviction this year after an incident in which he threatened police during a raid on his property.)

The Mongols' bloodless patch-over of the Finks came after the Finks were declared a criminal organisation in Queensland.

Although conceding the Mongols have a "very violent history'', Dieni claims a restructure four years ago cleaned up the club, which was a major factor in "95 per cent'' of Finks patching over.

"Sometimes you're forced into doing things,'' he said of the patch-over after the Queensland ban.

"As much as people believe it's a front, it's not a front.

"We don't want to be known as a criminal organisation.

"You'll find that we have no grief with anybody - with any club. We actually get along with everybody.

"I'm on good terms with every club in Melbourne.''

The reputation of the Mongols cannot be underestimated.

An attempt by members of the outlaw club to muscle into Melbourne two years ago was thwarted by a rival gang as it successfully set up a chapter on the NSW coast.

At least nine of 12 Finks chapters across the nation have patched over to the Mongols and they are expected to rapidly expand.

Such a large-scale "patch-over'' is unprecedented in Australia.

Their website this week announced chapters to join its original NSW central coast chapter in Melbourne, Adelaide, Harbour City (Sydney), North Shore (Sydney) and Perth.

In Australia, the Finks have historically refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies at any level.

The switch to the Mongols has sparked fears the former Finks members will be able to increase their international reach.

But Dieni said accusations it had access to contacts across the world to organise criminal activity was "a crock of s---''.

"Just because I'm wearing the Mongols patch doesn't mean I can, you know, get on the phone and ring Colombia and order two kilograms of coke,'' he said.

"That's fairytale stuff.

"That's what police want you to believe and want the public to believe and that's just a crock of sh--.

"Customs is customs no matter what patch I'm wearing.''

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