‘First time being kidnapped, kinda nervous’: Lone Wolf bikie kidnappers found guilty despite victim doing a runner

The headline-making kidnapping of a Lone Wolf bikie in 2021 has resulted in four men being found guilty, after a chaotic trial that was delayed when the victim did a runner.

The kidnapping of Lone Wolf bikie Dillon Mancuso in 2021 ended with a raid of an industrial warehouse in Revesby.

The headline-making kidnapping of a Lone Wolf bikie in 2021 has resulted in four men being found guilty, after a chaotic trial that was delayed when the victim did a runner.

Lone Wolf bikie Dillan Mancuso had promised Judge Sean Grant he would appear before the Downing Centre District Court last month to give evidence about his kidnapping.

But when the 9.30am start time rolled around on the day he was due to take the stand to give evidence, he was nowhere to be seen.

Now that the trial has come to a conclusion, The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mancuso – who has “unstoppable” tattooed around his neck – spent almost a fortnight on the run before being found by NSW Police in Tweed Heads and returned to Sydney.

Elijah Schaaf, Brandon Gillett, Vaeluagaomatagy Feilo and a juvenile – who cannot be named – were all found guilty of take and detain, and tampering with evidence last week.

An alleged ransom picture of Lone Wolf bikie Dillan Mancuso.

Mancuso’s kidnapping made headlines, largely for the fact that video of the moment police burst into a factory and freed him went viral.

A battered and bruised Mancuso, wearing only his underwear, was seen sitting in a police car moments later.

Hours earlier, millions of dollars had been demanded in ransom messages and photos that showed the bloodied bikie with duct tape tightly wrapped over his eyes and across his face. Mancuso was subpoenaed to be a Crown witness in the case, but when he finally appeared over video link, his memory of what happened that night was rather “patchy”.

Dillan Mancuso.

Dillan Mancuso was found during raid at an industrial warehouse in Revesby.

“I just remember being woken up … and my name being screamed, that’s basically all I remember from my dad’s house,” Mancuso told the court. “My next memory of the event is walking out of the factory.

“I remember walking out, being in their custody, not custody, I’m not sure what to call it, I remember them taking me to hospital, but my memory, it’s very patchy.”

The jury was shown messages allegedly sent on the encrypted AN0M platform by Mancuso’s kidnappers during his detention.

Those messages allegedly included demands for $30 million “worth of cash or product” (drugs) and contained a sinister warning: “After nightfall he’s going in the hole.”

A bizarre video filmed by Mancuso and posted on TikTok following his kidnapping was also played in court.

The social media video shows the bikie miming to audio created by popular TikToker “Read Choi”, in which he says: “Sorry, first time being kidnapped, kinda nervous … so like, why did you pick me? Do you think I’m cute?”

Mancuso captioned the video “I say you’ve got to try everything once”.

Schaaf, Gillett, Feilo and the juvenile are all due to be sentenced on September 6.

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Originally published as ‘First time being kidnapped, kinda nervous’: Lone Wolf bikie kidnappers found guilty despite victim doing a runner