A man has today told how he woke up in a car with an alleged Finks bikie gang member surrounded by police before officers opened fire on them. Wayne Glover told the Melbourne Magistrates Court he had been asleep in the passenger seat of a Jeep Grand Cherokee when police smashed his side window in Sherlock Road, Croydon, before the alleged bikie, Patrick McMillan, drove off at speed...
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'Psycho bikie' gave getaway backhanders, court hears
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Hells Angels cleared over vicious brawl in City Nightclub on Hindley St
TEN Hells Angels bikie gang members have been cleared of riot charges over the vicious City Nightclub brawl in May last year. In the Adelaide Magistrates Court today, the Director of Public Prosecutions tendered no evidence for the aggravated riot charge against 10 men who are associates of the outlaw motorcycle gang. Chief Magistrate Liz...
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Shots fired in bikie battle
THREE masked men fired a dozen shots into a northern suburbs house early yesterday. It was the third such incident in eight days as tensions between Adelaide's warring bikie gangs continue to escalate. The trio - who police say are linked to one of Adelaide's motorcycle gangs - targeted a Burton house while standing on the corner of a nearby street, about 12.30am. A man living at the Shepley Crescent property was also known to have links to multiple bikie gangs, police said. Seven shots penetrated a window shutter, one smashed a window of a car parked in front of...
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Finks Motorcycle Club bikie arrested outside Adelaide Magistrates Court
CRIME Gangs Task Force officers arrested a bikie member and issued barring orders on three others outside Adelaide Magistrates Court this...
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Bikie bans dangerous to enforce, say Adelaide restaurant owners
BEFORE closing for Christmas renovations, Rigoni's Bistro kept a list of police orders banning bikies from entering the premises. But Rigoni's Bistro proprietor Tony Bailey says he's now given up trying to enforce the mounting orders. With the Leigh St restaurant due to re-open tomorrow after Christmas renovations, the number of orders has grown to almost 80 since 34 before the closure. "You look at them and think, `we're supposed to enforce this'?" Mr Bailey said....
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Finks 'not protecting' Focarelli, club members Dylan Jessen says
THE FINKS are not protecting shot bikie Vince Focarelli, a club member says. Dylan Jessen, a former member of Focarelli's street gang and now a Fink, said he still kept in contact with his "old mate" on a personal level. Last week Jessen was seen leaving the Royal Adelaide Hospital where Focarelli is recovering from an assassination...
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Finks bikie gang members and associates exposed as police flex new powers
A VEIL of secrecy has been lifted from the self-proclaimed rulers of the Gold Coast underworld. Queensland's first legal bid to have a motorcycle club declared a criminal organisation gives an unprecedented account of a murky subculture of violence and drug dealing long hidden from public view by the outlaw bikies' code of silence. At least 47 current members of the Finks Motorcycle Club's Gold Coast chapter - 45 of them convicted criminals - have been named in the first police application under the controversial Criminal Organisation Act. It names the clubs' senior officers as well as nine select bikies who made up the "Finks Terror Team", an enforcement arm "whose major...
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Outlaw bikies post $500,000 bounty for shooters of 11-year-old boy
OUTLAW bikies are believed to have put a $500,000 price on the heads of gang members. South Australian police are aware of the offer, which leaves them in no doubt club members want to handle reprisals for the shooting of the 11-year-old without their intervention. Mark Sandery's son was shot twice in the leg after armed intruders forced their way into a Semaphore house on Friday night. Police have received no co-operation from witnesses. A source told Melbourne's Herald Sun: "The Finks are offering $500,000 to bring this bloke into any clubhouse in Australia. Every crook in Australia knows about it." The Advertiser understands the Women's and Children's...
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Vince Focarelli appeals to Department of Corrections to let him attend son Giovanni's funeral
SHOT gangland figure Vince Focarelli is now relying on the Department of Corrections to allow him to attend the funeral of his eldest son. Focarelli, 37, of Wattle Park, appeared in the Supreme Court via phone link with the Royal Adelaide Hospital this morning to review a Magistrate's refusal to grant him bail. Today, Justice Ann Vanstone agreed with the Magistrate's ruling and denied Focarelli release on bail even for a few hours to attend the funeral, which is believed will be held tomorrow. "There is a risk of further offending if Mr Focarelli were to be released," Justice Vanstone said. "There is also the question of his safety and the safety of the community, these...
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SA Police want laws to make bikies talk
POLICE have called for legislation to help them break the code of silence behind outlaw motorcycle gangs as shooting victim Vince Focarelli refusing police protection. 9:30AM UPDATE SHOOTING victim Vince Focarelli is refusing police protection once he is released from hospital. Police Commissioner Mal Hyde, who described the position as remarkable, said it was quite well known that Mr Focarelli had not been co-operative. Mr Focarelli was shot and his son Giovanni killed in a shooting incident at Dry Creek on Sunday night. He is in the Royal Adelaide Hospital with a police guard but is expected to be released today. Mr Hyde told ABC radio that police had been talking to him about what sort of...
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SA Police challenge judiciary over sentencing in wake of bikie shooting
POLICE have called on the state's courts to place greater emphasis on public safety when sentencing gun offenders in the wake of the Giovanni Focarelli shooting. SA Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Harrison yesterday questioned if judges and magistrates were adequately protecting the community - or meeting its expectations of justice. "One would have to ask the question as to whether or not there is sufficient emphasis being placed upon public policy provisions, within the Sentencing Act, in relation to community safety," Mr Harrison told The Advertiser. "We would ask whether or not community expectations are being met and whether or not suspended sentences are...
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Bikies recruit drug mules on social media sites like Facebook, Crime Commission reveals
OUTLAW motorcycle gangs are using social media to recruit drug mules, Australia's top crime body has revealed. The Australian Crime Commission, investigating "high-risk" crime groups in South Australia, is monitoring a number of drug recruits groomed through websites such as Facebook and has alerted South Australian Police. Commission chief executive John Lawler told The Advertiser outlaw motorcycle gangs had used social networks to recruit...
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Man shot dead at Unique Custom Paint and Panel on Langford St at Pooraka
Several Finks bikies have turned up at a spray painting business in Adelaide's northern suburbs where a man has been fatally shot. Major Crime and Holden Hill CIB detectives are at the scene and are appealing for witnesses to the execution-style shooting, which police say was not random. Several bikies arrived at Unique...
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Bikies relax rules to recruit young thugs
OUTLAW motorcycle gangs have relaxed strict membership criteria, leading to more diverse and violent gang cultures, the country's peak crime body has warned. As police plan a strong presence at today's funeral of slain gang member Giovanni Focarelli, the Australian Crime Commission says the gangs have changed their rules in an effort to recruit and groom members from motorcycle clubs and street gangs. In an attempt to counter declining membership and strengthen their position against rival gangs, groups have evolved from a core of Caucasian males to more diverse mixes, the commission says....
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Bikie Vince Focarelli's right hand man killed in cold blood
GIOVANNI Focarelli was much more than his father's apprentice. The 22-year-old was the businessman behind his father's bravado. He worked hard to make his dad a king in Adelaide's bikie gangland - and he ran the toughest recruiting drive imaginable, drawing "soldiers" into a deadly battle where casualties were a certainty. But it was rare for Giovanni to go on the frontline, where he ultimately met his fate on Sunday night. His best work for the gang was behind the scenes - in a cyber world where he worked swiftly and smartly to win a legion of friends and tapped into Adelaide's rising street-gang culture. Despite the danger surrounding him, which included vicious attacks...
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Bikie arrested, weapons seized at Blakeview and West Lakes
OPERATION Alpha Detectives investigating last week's brutal bikie murder at Pooraka have arrested a Finks member and an associate after today seizing a gun, body armour and drugs. A 34-year-old Finks member...
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Bikies want to recruit youths
OUTLAW motorcycle gangs have relaxed strict membership criteria, leading to more diverse and violent gang cultures, the country's peak crime body has warned. As police plan a strong presence at today's funeral of slain gang member Giovanni Focarelli, the Australian Crime Commission says the gangs have changed their rules in an effort to recruit and groom members from motorcycle clubs and street gangs. In an attempt to counter declining membership and strengthen their position against rival gangs, groups have evolved from a core of Caucasian males to more diverse mixes, the commission says. Many gangs now include members with Middle...
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Shot gang leader refuses to talk to police
The leader of the Comancheros outlaw bikie gang is refusing to co-operate with police after surviving another attempt on his life, a shooting that also killed his son. Vincenzo Focarelli is in hospital with gunshot wounds and is refusing to tell police who shot him and killed his 22-year-old son, Giovanni, on Sunday night at Dry Creek, in Adelaide's northwest. It was the fourth attempt on Vincenzo...
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Adelaide bikie war escalates - Finks member hurled off Marino cliff by comrades
A SENIOR member of the Finks bikie gang has narrowly survived an attempt to kill him after being bashed and thrown off a cliff at Marino in Adelaide's southern suburbs. The violent incident, the latest in an ongoing internal dispute between Finks members, occurred on Friday night and is now the subject of an intensive...
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Bikie gang member shot dead in Adelaide
Click to play video Return to video Video settings Please Log in to update your video settings Video will begin in 5 seconds. Don't play Play now More video Recommended Click to play video Girl and grandmother killed in crash Click to play video Teen's final words: 'I love you' Click to play video CCTV from Kings Cross Click to play video ADF report 'will shock some people' Replay video Return to video Video settings Please Log in to update your video settings Bikie member shot dead A member of of the Comanchero bikie gang has been killed and his father and club president wounded in a shooting in Adelaide. Autoplay OnOff Video feedback Video settings The leader of the...
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