Bandidos, Finks, Mongols hiring professional film crews to glorify ‘one-percenter’ lifestyle
Bikie gangs are making slick, flashy videos to glorify their “one-percenter” tag and their brands of brotherhood and intimidation to recruit new members.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bikie gangs are using slick, professionally produced videos of their runs and clubhouses in what police believe is a recruitment vehicle.
The productions — most filmed in Victoria and costing thousands of dollars each — are increasingly showing up online.
The Herald Sun has been told the Bandidos gang had a professional film crew following their national run which centred in Ballarat on the weekend.
The nation’s major bikie gangs have held numerous runs in Victoria in recent years, seeing the state as a place where laws governing such gatherings are more relaxed than in other jurisdictions.
Police are hopeful that new legislation banning the wearing of OMCG colours in Victoria will force the runs to the ACT and Northern Territory.
Police have long viewed the get-togethers, which are open to “prospects” and feeder club members, as being partly motivated by recruitment.
One seasoned organised crime investigator said the attention of police in the run videos reinforced their outlaw “one-percenter” tag.
The officer said a lot of the gangs’ criminal brands of brotherhood, fear and intimidation comes with the colours and banning them would dissuade the mass gatherings here.
“Their identity lies in their colours. It would be a massive loss of their identity. Hopefully, this (the runs) will be a thing of the past,” he said.
A video of the Mongols MC’s national run in Melbourne emerged on the Grid Sparta crime website recently.
Members were filmed riding in formation on major Melbourne roads and congregated at their Bertie St, Port Melbourne, clubhouse, against a backdrop of prestige sports cars.
There was ground-level and drone footage and an inside view of the clubhouse.
The Finks earlier this year provided viewers with an inside look into their suburban chapter headquarters in another flashy video production.
The professionally-made film from their national run earlier this year went behind the scenes from the Mornington Peninsula and into their Cranbourne clubhouse.
They rode in numbers – up to 100 members – through Portsea, Sorrento, and Dromana, documented via drone and GoPro footage taken by the riders.
The video showed them riding through a police road testing site as they continued on toward Cranbourne West.
There was a look inside the comfortable-looking Morialta Rd headquarters, which has been the subject of numerous organised crime police raids over the years.
“Remember the fallen” was among messages displayed on the wall at the entry point near a pool table fitted with Finks branding.
A bikie vest believed to have belonged to Tamworth City chapter president Bodie “Bodes” Dwyer, who died in a high-speed crash in 2021, is framed and hung above a number of booths.
Originally published as Bandidos, Finks, Mongols hiring professional film crews to glorify ‘one-percenter’ lifestyle
Torment that will haunt Kathleen Folbigg to her grave
Kathleen Folbigg, who was wrongfully convicted of killing her four children, is preparing to celebrate Christmas with her friends and look to the future but there is one secret that still haunts her.
The last generation of Cyclone Tracy survivors
Leading up to the 50-year anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, Antony Bullock has emerged as the ‘unofficial messenger’ for survivors. When the cyclone struck, Antony was 12 and had just arrived from war-torn Zimbabwe. This is his story.