Government to ban bikie gangs

[VSSII]

They are called 1%ers for a reason. By their own admission they're the 1% that ruin it for everyone else. Since this I think they had their clubhouse forfieted to The Crown too.

May 20, 2007

POLICE have banned the Bandido bikies from drinking at their favourite Sydney hotels after a Vietnam war veteran was bashed by 10 of the outlaw gang's members.

Detectives were so appalled by the brutality of the assault, and the fact the man had no bikie affiliations, they made a pact to lock the culprits up.

Police sources said the incident was a turning point in Commissioner Ken Moroney's determination to launch a major crackdown on bikie violence, announced a fortnight ago.

"Ever since it happened, the Bandidos have had the bounce put on them," said one officer involved in the investigation.

The identity of the 59-year-old victim, who was dragged from his car and beaten unconscious for "getting in the way" at a set of traffic lights, is being kept closely guarded.

Their three local watering holes - the Ettamogah and Mean Fiddler hotels at Rouse Hill and the Bull and Bush at Baulkham Hills - have been ordered by police to close their doors to known Bandidos members.

The police can order publicans to ban the bikies under special community safety provisions in liquor laws.

Up to 50 officers from the police gangs and riot squads, as well as the Castle Hill and Quakers Hill local area commands, have repeatedly confronted the Bandidos at their Kellyville clubhouse and other venues since the bashing.

Police say the man was set upon by up to 10 Bandidos at the corner of Old Windsor and Schofields roads in the city's north-west, in late January.

Moments earlier, about 150 riders wearing Bandidos's colours had illegally blocked right-of-way traffic at the junction and roared through a red light.

The victim was said to have been so shaken he declined to press charges.

Despite difficulties in establishing the identities of those involved, police were committed to bringing charges, Castle Hill Crime Manager Detective Inspector Gary Hutchens said.

"They had their faces covered with bandannas and pulled down caps, and they also had their licence plates obscured," he said.

"A number of witnesses were spoken to at the scene but we're keen to hear from anyone who might have further information."

Gangs Squad Commander Superintendent Scott Whyte told The Sun-Herald police had used the state's Liquor Accord legislation to invoke the hotel bans.

"Firstly, we targeted these fellows on pub nights by working out where they were and indicating to them that they were not going to get away with what happened," he said.

"We then went to work with the accord and we've come to the point where a series of major hotels have barred the Bandidos completely."

It has also been revealed that members of the same Bandidos chapter were involved in a shooting at North Parramatta's Royal Oak Hotel about a month ago.

Sources claim a group of rival Rebels bikies went to the pub looking for the Kellyville chapter's president, following the bashing of a senior Rebel in Parklea prison on April 12.

They were chased off and then fired on by a number of Bandidos members, four of whom were later arrested and released.

The clash was yet another instalment in an ongoing tit-for-tat battle between the warring tribes.

Source: The Sun-Herald