Comanchero OMCG establish Gold Coast chapter in rival’s territory
The feared Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang have begun patching members to a newly formed Gold Coast chapter with a shock photo showing a convicted killer is its boss.
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One of the country’s most feared and violent outlaw motorcycle gangs has established a chapter on the Gold Coast with police closely monitoring their expansion.
Sources within the Queensland Police Service’s Organised Crime Gangs Group have confirmed the notorious Comanchero motorcycle gang have begun patching members to its new chapter in recent months.
“It’s one to keep an eye on, especially with the strong presence of their (Comanchero) rivals the Mongols,” a senior police source told the Bulletin.
“Both clubs have attack on sight orders between one another. If they run into each other they are obligated by their club code to resort to violence.
“Unless there has been some financial deal done between the two, which would be unlikely, the Mongols won’t be happy about the chapter.”
A leaked police intelligence photo obtained by the Bulletin show the new Comanchero Gold Coast chapter is believed to be headed up by convicted killer Nelson Patea, as the Sergeant-at-Arms, while notorious club enforcer Paea Langioutu Talakai is the Commander. Both men are well known to police and have violent pasts.
Patea was granted parole in January 2019 just 20 months into an eight year jail term after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Gold Coast man Greg Dufty.
Talakai has been convicted over a number of violent incidents, including a brawl at a Canberra strip club in 2017, during the Comanchero gang’s annual run. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to five charges including habitual consorting with recognised offenders and obstructing police during an incident at Brisbane’s Kittens Strip Club.
Late last year the Bulletin published a leaked internal police email sent from a senior officer to staff within the organised crime gangs group which appears to discourage staff from targeting Gold Coast bikies for consorting and breaching bail.
“The logs showed that consorting offences resulted in full briefs of evidence that chewed up a lot of our time,” the senior officer writes in the email.
“There were some successful challenges (by the bikies). A similar result for breaches of bail.”
The officer then goes on to raise concern that officers have spent “a lot” of time patrolling licensed venues on weekends for “no results”.
“No arrests, street checks or intel gained,” the officer said.
Around the same time that the email surfaced, in September detectives from Taskforce Maxima South Eastern Region branch launched Operation Whiskey Rebound to investigate allegations of gang recruitment by Comanchero members and associations.
Earlier this month it resulted in 15 people arrested on more than 50 charges following a series of raids.
“We gained intelligence that both current and former Comanchero members had been actively recruiting members for a newly formed street gang known as ‘50 street crew’,” Acting Superintendent Craig Bowman said.
“This operation interfered with these efforts early and have effectively disrupted the gang’s activities regarding drug trafficking across the south east.
“Thanks to the collaboration of approximately 40 police officers from various criminal investigative branches, we were able to effectively coordinate 12 search warrants across two days, resulting in significant arrests and charges.”
During the search warrant police allege they discovered a suspected ‘safe house’ at Darra, southwest of Brisbane, and significant quantities of cocaine, methylamphetamine, and cannabis.
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