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Secret report reveals anti-bikie laws are ‘useless’ to control gangs and recommends law abolished

 
 
 
EXCLUSIVE

A SECRET government report has found that bikie gang laws introduced following fatal outlaw gang clashes are useless and should be abolished.

The laws, introduced in different states following violent clashes between insurgent rival gangs, have been ineffective and police anti-gang squads have stopped using them.

The NSW law was brought in after the fatal March 2009 brawl at Sydney Domestic Airport between 18 bikies from rival gangs.

Comanchero gang president Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi murdered Hells Angel Anthony Zervas in a melee amid innocent travellers in the departure hall where Zervas was bludgeoned with a bollard and stabbed in the chest and abdomen.

Seven days later, Zervas’ welder brother Peter was shot eight times as he drove into his mother’s apartment block.

Peter Zervas survived, and Hawi was charged — and eventually sentenced to 28 years prison — but police feared a bikie had begun.

The NSW Government rushed in laws under a new “criminal organisations control” crimes act to curb the actions of bikies and other criminal gangs.

But as stated by the new the report, obtained exclusively by news.com.au, the laws have proven ineffectual.

Tabled quietly in NSW Parliament last week, the “Review of police use of powers under the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act 2012” was completed in November last year but has remained secret until now.

The execution of murdered Sydney gangster, mafia man and Brother for Life gang associate Pasquale Barbaro took place on a suburban Sydney street. Picture Instagram

The execution of murdered Sydney gangster, mafia man and Brother for Life gang associate Pasquale Barbaro took place on a suburban Sydney street. Picture InstagramSource:Instagram

Comanchero president Mick Hawi (above) murdered Anthony Zervas in the 2009 Sydney Airport brawl which sparked the new bikie laws now rated ‘useless’ in secret report.

Comanchero president Mick Hawi (above) murdered Anthony Zervas in the 2009 Sydney Airport brawl which sparked the new bikie laws now rated ‘useless’ in secret report.Source:Supplied

CCTV footage at Sydney Airport domestic terminal before the fatal Hells Angels and Comanchero brawl which sparked the new laws which have failed to curb gang violence. Picture: NSW Police.

CCTV footage at Sydney Airport domestic terminal before the fatal Hells Angels and Comanchero brawl which sparked the new laws which have failed to curb gang violence. Picture: NSW Police.Source:News Limited

Pasquale Barbaro (above) executed on the street near his suburban home in November 2016.

Pasquale Barbaro (above) executed on the street near his suburban home in November 2016.Source:Supplied

In it, Acting NSW State Ombudsman Professor John McMillan says that laws introduced to declare outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) illegal criminal organisations had failed.

“We have concluded that the Act does not provide police with a viable mechanism to tackle criminal organisations, and is unlikely to ever be able to be used effectively,” the report says.

The Ombudsman recommended the laws in NSW be repealed, but also outlined how they had failed in Queensland and South Australia and laid fallow in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

He said that “despite the concerted efforts of a dedicated unit within the Gangs Squad of the NSW Police Force ... no organisation has been declared to be a criminal organisation under the scheme.”

The NSW Police Gangs Squad spent three years in the attempt to have some of Australia’s most vicious and violent gangs declared illegal.

“Concern about the activities of criminal organisations, and in particular OMCGs, had been growing nationally,” the report says.

In NSW, the Gangs Squad has had to rely on other policing methods and its own skills to investigate the gang rivalry which has resulted in the public executions of rivals on Sydney streets.

Police have powers other than the new failed bikie laws to control gangs like the Rebels whose sergeant at arms Michael 'Ruthless' Davey (above) was gunned down in 2016. Picture: Facebook.

Police have powers other than the new failed bikie laws to control gangs like the Rebels whose sergeant at arms Michael 'Ruthless' Davey (above) was gunned down in 2016. Picture: Facebook.Source:Facebook

Rebels bikie gang associate Ricky Ciano lived a luxury lifestyle from drug dealing before he was found shot dead in his BMW Sports car last month.

Rebels bikie gang associate Ricky Ciano lived a luxury lifestyle from drug dealing before he was found shot dead in his BMW Sports car last month.Source:Instagram

Bikies around Australia have challenged laws to control violence and drug trafficking which are now declared ‘useless’ by government. Picture: Joe Castro/AAP

Bikies around Australia have challenged laws to control violence and drug trafficking which are now declared ‘useless’ by government. Picture: Joe Castro/AAPSource:AAP

Hundreds of guns seized, kilos of drugs destroyed, and thousands of bikies charged by Strike Force Raptor in raids like this on the Nomads in Singleton, NSW. Picture: NSW Police.

Hundreds of guns seized, kilos of drugs destroyed, and thousands of bikies charged by Strike Force Raptor in raids like this on the Nomads in Singleton, NSW. Picture: NSW Police.Source:Supplied

In the last year, Brothers for Life gang associate and mafia member Pasquale Barbaro was executed last November outside his home in suburban Earlwood, in Sydney.

A month earlier, police had surrounded the Georges Hall home of Hells Angels associate and underworld hitman Hamad Assaad and were preparing to raid him when he was shot dead in broad daylight in his driveway.

Also shot dead in his driveway was Michael “Ruthless” Davey, aka Micky D’ and sergeant at arms of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang who was executed in March last year.

Just last month, Rebels gang member Ricky Ciano — who lived a luxury lifestyle police believe due to drug dealing — was found shot in the head in his BMW sports car in the Blue Mountains, NSW.

But as the new report has concluded, control of such violent activity and investigation of the gang perpetrators was not possible or effective using the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act of 2012.

The new laws, which replaced the emergency 2009 bill brought in immediately after the Sydney airport bikie brawl, “are onerous, resource-intensive, and involve difficulties”, the report says.

The legislation aimed to target outlaw bikie gangs by declaring them criminal groups, restricting members’ association to “earn a dishonest living”.

Gangs squad have used conventional methods to investigate bikie gangsters like executed Rebels thug Ricky Ciano (above) sunning himself on the beach with his pet dog Boo Boo.

Gangs squad have used conventional methods to investigate bikie gangsters like executed Rebels thug Ricky Ciano (above) sunning himself on the beach with his pet dog Boo Boo.Source:Facebook

Gunned down in broad daylight: bikie Hamaad Asaad.

Gunned down in broad daylight: bikie Hamaad Asaad.Source:Instagram

Bashed with a bollard and stabbed to death: Anthony Zervas.

Bashed with a bollard and stabbed to death: Anthony Zervas.Source:Supplied

Bikie gang raids

This was meant to reduce the vulnerability of business at high risk “bikie and organised crime infiltration”.

But in NSW one application against an outlaw bikie gang was mounted, only to have a member of the Hells Angels successfully challenge it in the High Court.

As a result, police abandoned the legislation in 2015.

Instead, NSW Gangs Squad detectives have been targeting criminal and outlaw bikie groups with other powers to more effectively control gang crime.

The Gangs Squad employed “a modernised consorting offence, expanded powers to search for firearms, and restrictions on entry to licensed premises by people wearing OMCG ‘colours’ and insignia”.

In contrast with the failed legislation, NSW Police launched the crack Strike Force Raptor, Australia’s first specifically targeting the criminal activity and anti-social behaviour of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Police raid on Comanchero bikie headquarters in Melbourne. Picture: News Corp.

Police raid on Comanchero bikie headquarters in Melbourne. Picture: News Corp.Source:News Corp Australia

Black Uhlans and Nomads bikies riding on the Gold Coast where outlaw gangs proliferate. Picture: News Corp.

Black Uhlans and Nomads bikies riding on the Gold Coast where outlaw gangs proliferate. Picture: News Corp.Source:News Limited

Victoria Police arrest a senior Hells Angels member in 2012, seizing a handgun, cannabis and white powder, were also seized. Picture: Julian Smith.

Victoria Police arrest a senior Hells Angels member in 2012, seizing a handgun, cannabis and white powder, were also seized. Picture: Julian Smith.Source:Supplied

In five years, Raptor officers arrested almost 2,500 people, and charged them with more than 5,500 offences.

They seized 636 firearms, more than 46,000 rounds of ammunition, in excess of $15 million worth of illicit drugs, and close to $4 million worth of cash and assets from gang members and their associates.

Five other of Australia’s eight states and territories adopted similar legislation to the 2012 NSW Act.

“By restricting members of criminal organisations from associating with each other and recruiting new members, the legislation aimed to disrupt their activities and, in doing so, prevent crime,” the report says.

But the report found that “police in other states and territories have experienced similar difficulties.

“Despite high expectations ... in practice no police force in Australia has been able to

successfully utilise the legislation.”

As a result, “no declarations have been made in relation to any organisations”, meaning that the laws were useless.

NSW Police Gangs Squad members have implemented several ways of infiltrating and controlling bikie gangs, including through the establishment of a Criminal Organisation Unit.

Last year, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she would abolish her state’s Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment act, or VLAD laws.

The VLAD laws followed a massive bikie brawl at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast in 2013 between the Hells Angels and The Finks.

BIKIE GANG LAWS: STATE BY STATE

Hundreds of bikies ride through Adelaide to Parliament House in 2013 to protest anti-bikie laws. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Hundreds of bikies ride through Adelaide to Parliament House in 2013 to protest anti-bikie laws. Picture: Tait Schmaal.Source:News Corp Australia

QUEENSLAND

Queensland Police made one application with in excess of 6000 pages of evidence against the Gold Coast chapter of the Finks OMCG, but it did not proceed.

Described as “frustrating and ultimately dispiriting” for the police the failed application cost $1.9m in staff costs alone.

A review of the Queensland’s organised crime control legislation in 2015 found that it was “prohibitively expensive, slow and cumbersome to use”.

The VLAD laws will be abolished in 2017.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

In May 2009, the South Australian Commissioner of Police successfully applied to have the Finks OMCG declared as a criminal organisation.

The Commissioner then applied to have 12 Finks members prevented from associating with each other.

Two alleged Finks members challenged the law and the High Court of Australia found the rulings were constitutionally invalid.

The SA police Commissioner sought a declaration against the Rebels gang, but they were discontinued following the Finks’ win in the High Court.

Gypsy Jokers and others run through the Barossa Valley north of Adelaide. Picture: Rob Hutchison.

Gypsy Jokers and others run through the Barossa Valley north of Adelaide. Picture: Rob Hutchison.Source:AAP

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Although it has been reported that “Northern Territory Police devoted considerable effort to developing an application against the Darwin Chapter of” an outlaw gang, the NT’s

Serious Crime Control Act 2009 remains unused.

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