THE Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi is in police custody and is expected to be charged shortly over the violent melee at Sydney airport.
Hawi’s solicitor, Lesly Randle, has told The Daily Telegraph she accompanied him to a secret meeting with police early this morning and remains in custody.
He is expected to face Central Local Court this afternoon, she said.
“In accordance with the undertaken given by Mr Hawi and his legal representatives, I accompanied (him) to meet with the police,” Ms Randle said.
“We will make an application for bail at 2pm today.”
Police have wanted to talk to Hawi over the brawl allegedly involving the Comanchero and Hells Angels at Sydney airport late last month that resulted in the bashing death of Anthony Zervas, 29.
Zervas was the brother of Guildford Hells Angel Peter Zervas, 32, who is in hospital after being shot outside his home.
The Daily Telegraph revealed there was a $100,000 bounty on Hawi's head last week.
Hawi presented himself to police at an undisclosed location at 8.30am today.
It is believed that location is the NSW Crime Commission's covert city premises.
He has now arrived at Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills where police expect to charge him with affray over the airport brawl.
(The Daily Telegraph)
Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Hawi in Custody * Comancheros * Comanchero Cheif * Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi * Mick Hawi * Mahmoud Hawi * Sydney Airport Brawl * Hells Angels * Bikie War * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Monday, April 6, 2009
Mick Hawi - Sydneys Most Wanted Bikie In Custody
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Hell's Angel in custody after bikie crackdown
A Hell's Angels bikie gang member remains in custody after being charged with firearm offences and driving while disqualified.
Yesterday afternoon New South Wales detectives arrested 39-year-old Christian Birch as he was riding his motorcycle through Alexandria in inner Sydney, dressed in Hell's Angels colours.
Police allege they found a loaded gun and ammunition in his possession.
He did not apply for bail in Parramatta Bail Court today, and will reappear in court on Tuesday.
(ABC News)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Christian Birch * Hells Angels * Bikie War * Bikie Crackdown * Sydney Bike Gangs * Bikie In Custody * Bikie Arrest * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Friday, April 3, 2009
The deadly shotgun gaffe that triggered tribal warfare
WHILE the criminal world is not awash with etiquette guides, it is considered very poor form to come to a "sit-down" armed.
So when Anthony Zervas barged into a peace talk in June last year brandishing a sawn-off shotgun, his breach of gangster decorum was to have deadly repercussions which culminated when he was bashed to death at Sydney Airport a fortnight ago.
The Herald has learned the "sit-down" was to iron out the differences between the Hells Angels, of which Zervas's older brother Peter was a sergeant-at-arms, and the Comanchero. The dispute started last year when Peter Zervas, freshly released from jail, had the temerity to open a tattoo parlour, Angel's Cosmetic Tattoo, in Bay Street, Brighton-le-Sands.
As an underworld figure told the Herald yesterday, while Zervas was in jail, the Comanchero had cemented their hold in the Brighton-le-Sands area.
The president of the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels, Derek Wainohu, and the Comanchero city chapter chief, Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi, had organised the sit-down to discuss the problem of Zervas's parlour.
During the meeting Anthony Zervas arrived with a sawn-off shotgun. "That is a big no-no to do that at a sit-down," said the underworld figure.
A scuffle ensued during which one of the Comanchero was hit in the head with the gun. "That's when it turned into open warfare," the crime figure said.
The next day the tattoo parlour was sprayed with bullets. Several weeks later a masked man on a motorbike fired three shots at the building.
The parlour has been closed since October after being firebombed. On that occasion a silver car disgorged three men shortly before 11.30pm. After smashing the front window, the car sped off and the parlour went up in flames.
At the time the Herald reported that since the store had its official opening in September, although it had been trading in the previous months, up to six Comanchero members had taken to circling the block on their bikes during the day on at least four separate Saturdays.
"There's five or six of them and they circle like vultures.
There's a group of the Hells Angels standing out the front of the shop with their arms folded, looking tough. They wear their colour, their branded jackets, then the police come and drive around. It's like Keystone Cops," a nearby store manager said at the time.
A police source yesterday confirmed the sit-down and the consequences of Zervas setting up the tattoo parlour in Comanchero territory. He said the move by Zervas to set up a tattoo parlour in Brighton would have been inflammatory.
"Brighton-le-Sands is right in the heartlands of [the Comanchero City Chapter's territory], it's where they go every Friday, Saturday night."
It was an overreaction to a flippant remark made to Peter Zervas while walking along a street in Brighton-le-Sands that had landed him in jail in the first place. In the early hours of New Year's Day 2005 a reveller had called out "Happy New Year" to him.
"F--- you. You think you're a legend and a clown," snapped Zervas, who returned five minutes later with a black revolver from which he fired up to six shots, wounding one man.
A travel bag with the revolver, a sawn-off shotgun and clothing was found at Anthony Zervas's neighbour's home during a police search later that night. It was never going to end well when the Hells Angel leader Derek Wainohu happened to be sharing the same flight, QF430, from Melbourne to Sydney, with five Comanchero on Sunday two weeks ago.
When he called for reinforcements to meet him at the airport, the Zervas brothers were among those who answered his call to arms. Within 10 minutes of the plane's arrival, Anthony Zervas lay dying on the floor at Terminal 3. Wearing his Hells Angels T-shirt, his older brother Peter comforted him as bystanders attempted to resuscitate him.
Meanwhile, the registration number of the taxi seen speeding from the airport with four Comanchero inside was circulated on the police radio network. Within half an hour police had pulled over the taxi and arrested the four occupants. Coincidentally, it was stopped in Brighton-le-Sands in the same street as Peter Zervas's ill-fated tattoo parlour.
Last Sunday, only a week after his brother's death, Peter Zervas survived a hail of bullets outside his mother's home.
But the bikie is following another piece of gangland etiquette - he is refusing to speak to police about either his brother's killer or the identity of his would-be assassin.
(smh.com.au)
(photo: daylife.com)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Anthony Zervas * Peter Zervas * Hells Angels * Comanchero * Sydney Airport Brawl * Angel's Cosmetic Tattoo * Bay Street, Brighton-le-Sands * Mick Hawi * Derek Wainohu * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Comanchero bikie chief Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi's home raided
Right: Mick HawiTHE southern Sydney home of Comanchero bikie chief Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi is being raided by police.
Plain clothes detectives converged on Mr Hawi's house in Connemarra Street, Bexley, about 4.30pm (AEDT).
Neighbours are watching on as they execute their search warrant. It is understood Mr Hawi is not home. The office of Hawi's lawyer Lesly Randle told AAP she was aware the premises were being raided, but Ms Randle is yet to make any comment.
Hawi is wanted for questioning over a fatal brawl at Sydney airport last month that resulted in the death of Anthony Zervas, brother of Hells Angel Peter Zervas, who himself was shot several times on Sunday and remains in hospital.
Gang Squad Commander Superintendent Mal Lanyon told reporters earlier on Thursday Mr Hawi had not been charged.
"We haven't arrested Mr Hawi," he said.
"We haven't spoken to Mr Hawi."
Meanwhile, Network Seven reported the body of a Hells Angels lawyer was found late this afternoon with a gun shot wound.
A police spokesman told AAP the body of a man had been found at Randwick, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
He said there were no suspicious circumstances in relation to the death of the man, named by Network Seven as Steven Dach.
(The Australian)
Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals: Crime Doesn't Pay Comancheros * Comanchero Cheif * Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi * Mick Hawi * Mahmoud Hawi * Hawi Raid * Sydney Airport Brawl * Hells Angels * Bikie War * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Bikies boss Mick Hawi has a $100K price on his head
BOTH the police and the bikies want him - Comanchero chief Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi may just be Sydney's most wanted man.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Hawi is said to have a $100,000 bounty on his head issued by a rival gang, possibly the Hells Angels.
Police are also seeking to find Hawi and question him over a fatal brawl with rival Hells Angels at Sydney airport.
Police have been unable to find Hawi. Instead, they have been involved in negotiations with his lawyers to have him present himself to police for questioning.
Hawi's laywer Lesly Randle said Hawi had arranged to meet gangs squad detectives at a police station yesterday but that this did not go ahead because his barrister "became unavailable". Negotiations over a meeting were continuing.
Yesterday, Hawi was not at the two properties in Sydney's south linked on the public record to the 28-year-old Comanchero national president.
His large family home in southern Sydney had mail piled up at the front gate and no one answered the door.
There was also no answer at another address, also in southern Sydney, a housing commission unit linked to one of Hawi's companies. Both bikie and law enforcement sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they have heard of the alleged bounty and that Hawi's life is at risk. "He'll be holed up in a hotel somewhere," one said.
A source said he was informed the bounty had been issued from the "cashed-up" Hells Angels, whose Guildford sergeant-at-arms Peter Zervas, 32, is in hospital after being shot on Sunday night at Punchbowl. No charges have been laid over the shooting. Zervas' brother Anthony, 29, was killed in the airport brawl allegedly between the Hells Angels and Comanchero seven days before.
The Comanchero are strongly suspected of being behind Peter Zervas' shooting, as a "pre-emptive" strike against a revenge attack over his brother's murder. "There's no doubt if the Angels found out where Hawi was, in my view, they'd go after him, whether there was a price or not," one source said.
Ms Randle told The Daily Telegraph she was unaware of a bounty on Hawi's head.
By Kara Lawrence and Lisa Davies
(The Daily Telegraph)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Comancheros * Comanchero Cheif * Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi * Mick Hawi * Mahmoud Hawi * Bounty * Sydney Airport Brawl * Hells Angels * Bikie War * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
US heat falls on fallen Aussie Hells Angels
HEAD office isn't happy. Sydney's two Hells Angels chapters are on the verge of being shut down by their American bosses in the wake of recent violence.
The closure has nothing to do with ending the bloodshed - the Hells Angels can no longer stand the damage being done to its brand.
Bosses in America want the Sydney chapters shut to prevent further embarrassment to the international reputation of the Hells Angels.
While the shutdowns appear the first real strike into Sydney's bikie wars, the truth is somewhat less satisfying.
"They (bikies) will just run with different crews and it will just keep going," a man linked to Sydney's bikie gangs said yesterday.
"They have got to smash them all at the same time, that's the only way they can end it."
And it seems the Hells Angels can't even close down its chapters without causing further drama.
Hells Angels president Derek Wainoho was returning from a meeting in Melbourne to discuss the club's possible closure when he inadvertently sparked the latest outbreak at Sydney airport.
Wainoho ran into Comanchero on the plane before calling for reinforcements to meet him on landing.
"That's why he was in Melbourne, they were on the verge of shutting down then," a source confirmed yesterday.
In a small twist, the violence that followed has resulted in the gang's stay of execution as US bosses monitor events in Sydney.
"They need to hang around a little bit longer now to save face. They have a wait-and-see attitude," the source said.
Sunday night's shooting of Hells Angel sergeant-at-arms Peter Zervas in the wake of the airport brawl that ended in the death of Zervas's brother Anthony, sparked rumours that Hells Angels from around the world were being flown in as reinforcements.
"I'm not surprised they are saying that," a man linked to the Hells Angels told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
"But how are they going to do it?
"They can't get on the plane with guns, so they have to make do with what guns they have here. On top of that it's just not practical."
The local Hells Angels are armed with machineguns and explosives, but are not believed to have enough weapons to arm large numbers.
On top of that, the logistics of housing an adequate number of bikies until the violence is resolved - from a Hells Angels point of view - is a challenge.
The Hells Angels source said it was necessary to understand there was a big difference between the Sydney chapters and its international affiliates.
"You can't compare overseas to Australia. Overseas they are hard core. Here every gang has a few hard-core guys but the Angels don't have any," he said. "Most of those guys have left."
The Hells Angels are one of the original bikie gangs and have chapters across the world, opening their first in Australia in 1969 in Melbourne.
Despite its international muscle the Hells Angels have remained relatively small in Australia.
For many years Sydney's Hells Angels survived in Sydney's tough bikie scene on their international reputation.
Until two years ago the Sydney arm never numbered more than eight members - then the gang then went on a recruitment drive.
This happened around the time the gang was set upon by The Finks, considered perhaps the toughest bikie gang in Australia.
In what has since become known as the Ballroom Blitz, both gangs engaged in a violent brawl at a Gold Coast kickboxing promotion in 2006.
Since then the Hells Angels have been drawn into a war with rival Sydney gang Comanchero, the fight moving into the public domain when the Hells Angels Petersham clubhouse was attacked and blown up in February.
By Paul Kent
(The Daily Telegraph)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Hells Angels * Hells Angels Sydney * Bikie Wars * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Suspected bomb found at bikie's home
POLICE have refused to confirm that an improvised explosive device found outside the home of a senior Bandido is linked to the escalating Sydney bikie war.
Rosehill local area commander Superintendent Garry Simms said the “homemade improvised device” was currently undergoing further examination.
He said the improvised explosive device - which contained several litres of a combustible liquid in a bottle - was not capable of detonating on its own.
He said local detectives, along with the State Crime Command, were examining the case, however the recently-formed Strike Force Raptor, set up to quell bikie crime, was yet to be called in.
He urged the anonymous male triple 0 caller who tipped police off to the location of the bomb to contact police again so that he could shed further light on the incident.
Last night, after the tip-off, bomb squad officers were rushed to the house to defuse a home-made bomb found in the garage of a senior Bandido bikie member.
Police sealed off Augustus St, Merrylands, evacuating neighbours while members of the rescue and bomb squads attended the home.
Despite requests from police to evacuate, Mostafa Jouayde, 29, president of the Parramatta chapter of the Bandidos refused to leave.
He accused those responsible for the attacks on the home he shares with his wife and 19-month-old daughter of being cowards.
"You want to see me, see me in the street. Say it like a man," he said. "Don't bring it to my door step. This is chickens . . . roaming behind my back door."
Police received a tip off about the bomb just before 8.30pm with an unidentified male saying it was located in the garage.
The heavily-fortified house, which has bullet proof front windows and a reinforced double brick rear wall, also had CCTV cameras covering the rear of the property.
Mr Jouayde said he was confident he knew who was behind the attack and believes police are unlikely to solve the ongoing feud.
"I'll solve it myself" he said. "We're stubborn c . . .s, where are they going to put us all, do they have the space in jail? The police think it's about drugs, money and turf. I guarantee it's not about that, it's more than that."
By Tim Vollmer
(The Daily Telegraph)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Mostafa Jouayde * Bikie War * Bandido * Sydney * Bomb Scare * Sydney Underworld * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
New gang laws hit Bikie Finances
HITTING bikies where it hurts - financially - will be a key aspect of new anti-gang laws being formed for NSW.
Premier Nathan Rees said State Cabinet had approved the stripping of assets from bikies, the introduction of aggressive new search warrants and the banning of bikies from security, liquor and gaming industry work, under the new laws.
The move follows a spate of bikie-related violence including a murder, an attempted murder and a series of other shootings in Sydney in the past few weeks.
Mr Rees said the unprecedented laws, which allow bikie gangs to be proscribed as criminal groups, were aimed at bringing a stop to the violence.
“These laws will give police the power to disrupt and ultimately dismantle bikie gangs,” said Mr Rees.
“To put a stop to the sickening violence we have witnessed in recent weeks, we intend to target the proceeds of these organisations.”
“We will also intend to prevent bikies from infiltrating certain high risk industries.”
Under the laws, to be reviewed in two weeks, police could seek a court order to make membership of a declared bikie gang illegal and create an offence for its members to associate together.
It would also give the NSW Crime Commission power to confiscate assets of bikies – purely because they are members of a bikie gang.
No proof of any other criminal offence would be needed.
“The Government will change the Criminal Assets and Recovery Act to allow for anyone who would be “participating in a criminal group” to come under the laws,” Mr Rees said.
“The onus will be on outlaw bikies to prove they gained their assets legally.”
People declared members of a criminal group would be banned from working in high risk industries, such as security, motor traders, tow-trucks, firearms, second hand goods, liquor and racing industries.
Mr Rees said the Government would remove the presumption in favour of bail for crime of declared bikie gang members associating with one another.
“They will have to demonstrate to a court why they should be bailed – which will be difficult given they have already disregarded a court order not to associate with each other,” Mr Rees said.
It would become easier for police to obtain search warrants against bikies, with the traditional grounds of “reasonable belief’’ of a criminal offence downgraded to “reasonable suspicion”.
“These warrants will be available by telephone 24 hours a day and will require the approval of a Supreme Court judge,’’ said Mr Rees.
By Kara Lawrence
(The Daily Telegraph)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Hells Angels * Rebels MC * Notorious * Comanchero * Finks MC * Bike Gangs * Gang Laws * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Shooting sparks gang demand for deadly retribution
IT IS now difficult to restrain club members seeking retribution for a second public attack on a Hells Angels family, a source close to the club has warned.
The victim of the latest violence, Hells Angels member Peter Zervas, who had buried his brother Anthony only last Friday, was in a stable condition in St George Hospital under police guard last night. Peter Zervas was shot at least four times in the driveway of the family home late on Sunday night. Anthony was killed in an airport brawl a week earlier.
The violence provides fertile ground to garner support for the Government's anti-bikie laws, while some in the bikie community are desperately trying to keep alive hopes for peace talks.
Police are seeking the driver of a car that nearly hit the alleged gunman who fired at Mr Zervas before running off across busy Punchbowl Road.
There were no officers of the newly formed Strike Force Raptor, or any other police, near the Zervas home before the attack on Sunday, and police confirmed they had not offered Peter Zervas any protection after the airport brawl.
The response of federal police during the airport brawl is to be reviewed this week by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's department to determine if the AFP should change its procedures. The Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, has requested a report by the end of the week.
NSW police have been given until tomorrow to provide statements from witnesses to the airport brawl to court to prevent one of the alleged participants, the Comanchero member Christian Menzies, from being granted bail.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Phil Weatherall, said witnesses had identified the five Comanchero on the flight, including Menzies, 26, of Matraville, as being directly involved in the melee.
While the airport brawl involved Hells Angels and Comanchero members, it appeared wrong to blame the shooting of Mr Zervas, a Hells Angels, on the Comanchero, Menzies' lawyer, John Korn, said outside court.
"Every person is going to think logically that the number one suspect is somebody said to be associated to with the Comanchero."
But, he said, it did not make sense that a Comanchero would be responsible for the shooting after the club's president, Mick Hawi, had called for peace.
A Hells Angels source also discounted suggestions that the Comanchero would have attacked Zervas in a pre-emptive strike. Instead, the source said, some clubs were suspecting Notorious of being behind the attack, though they had little evidence. "There's a particularly strategic game being played. They think if they draw attention to the other clubs, it'll help them," the source said.
But the ability of club leaders to restrain their members from seeking retribution was becoming more and more strained.
"If it was your family that was being systematically shot, at what stage would you say enough is enough?"
Despite the violence, senior members of almost every outlaw motorcycle club in the state were still pushing for a meeting this week. Such a meeting could provide an end to the bloody bikie conflict or could itself become a violent nadir, sources close to the clubs said.
The meeting was originally organised as part of planned opposition to the Government's threats of legislation, but as the violence continued it had also become a "peace council".
■ Police investigating a crime syndicate smuggling bulk quantities of illegal drugs to the Northern Territory have arrested a member of an outlawed motorcycle gang. The arrest of the 45-year-old man was made as the Northern Territory Government announced laws to crack down on the Darwin chapter of the Hells Angels and the Finks Motorcycle Club of Alice Springs. Police say the gangs are dominating organised crime in the territory.
The laws include a declaration process to proscribe certain clubs, membership restrictions, reform of witness intimidation laws and streamlined court orders to dismantle clubrooms.
Geesche Jacobsen, Dylan Welch and Bellinda Kontominas with Peter Hawkins and Lindsay Murdoch
(Sydney Morning Herald)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Peter Zervas * Hells Angels * Comanchero * Notorious * Finks Motorcycle Club * Anthony Zervas * Sydney Shooting * Strike Force Raptor * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Monday, March 30, 2009
Bikie Rebel Rick farewelled with Haka
About 300 bikies gathered in Canberra this morning for the funeral of Richard Roberts, the Rebels Motorcycle Club member who was shot last week.
A strong police presence accompanied the procession from a funeral parlour in Queanbeyan to the Norwood Crematorium in Canberra's north.
Several major roads were closed to allow the large procession which followed a motorcycle and sidecar bearing the coffin containing Mr Roberts' body.
The haka was chanted as the coffin was lifted from the sidecar and carried into the crematorium.
My Way, Frank Sinatra's signature song, was played following the eulogies.
Hundreds of club members from Victoria, the NSW central coast and Queensland, travelled to attend the funeral.
Roberts, 57, was a life member of the club.
He and his associate, Gregory Carrigan, were shot dead in the southern suburb of Chisholm last Tuesday.
Stephanie PeatlingWanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Richard Roberts * Rebels Motorcycle Club * Bikie War * Shooting * Gregory Carrigan * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Brother of man bashed to death in Bikie Brawl at Sydney Airport Gunned Down
The Hells Angels brother of a man bashed to death in a bikie brawl at Sydney Airport has been gunned down outside his Lakemba home.
Peter Zervas, the 32-year-old brother of Anthony, was shot as he tried to park his car in an underground car park at a Punchbowl Road apartment block about 11.45 last night.
Zervas had stopped his car in front of a mesh security gate allowing entrance to the car park when at least 10 bullets were fired into his car.
SYDNEY'S UNDERWORLD SIMMERS
Incidents since February 2009
He called his friend after he was shot, and the friend raised the alarm, Campsie Local Area Commander Superintendent Peter Lennon said.
Superintendent Lennon said when police arrived, Zervas was standing up and leaning against the car.
He had been hit in the right shoulder, right hip and right foot.
Police has started speaking to Zervas and members of his family, and inquiries were continuing.
Police were expecting him to cooperate with them, he said.
Zervas was taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition.
He was being operated on but was in a stable condition.
"A 32-year-old-man stopped his motor vehicle in the driveway of a unit block ... a number of shots were then fired, hitting the man," Superintendent Lennon said.
"Another man was seen ... running from the unit block."
That man was described as being about 175 centimetres tall, of large, muscular build, with collar-length dark hair and wearing dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved jacket.
He was seen running across Punchbowl Road after the shooting.
"A [white] motor vehicle ... had to sound its horn to avoid colliding with the gentleman running across the road."
Police want to speak to both the driver of the white car and the man who ran across Punchbowl Road.
At 6am Peter Zervas's white Hyundai Excel remained where it had stopped when he was shot.
Three bullet holes bunched together could be seen in the right hand side of the car's rear window.
Nine yellow evidence markers were placed in an arc from the rear of the car towards the driver's side front door.
The driver's door was open, the window shattered and blood could be seen spattered along the window frame.
Another bullet hole could be seen on the rear wall of the car park, about 15 metres in front of the car.
About 12 police officers searched the oval across the road from the Zervas's unit block today.
Police were also seen going through an apartment believed to be Zervas's.
Superintendent Lennon urged anyone with information about the shooting to come forward, and assured people that Sydney was still a safe place to live in.
"South-west Sydney ... is a very very safe area.''
Mother's torment
At dawn Zervas's mother, Efie, appeared at the family's apartment balcony, hysterically screaming her son's name.
"Peter, Peter, Peter. Where is my baby, my baby,'' she cried.
Her husband and daughter had to restrain her and eventually took her back inside.
About 7am she was heard screaming again and appeared to be telling someone to leave their unit.
"It's my house ... she's not my sister," she said.
Mrs Zervas was treated by paramedics at the family flat on Thursday - the day before her son's funeral - after she collapsed. She was barely able to to stand during the Friday graveside service.
She arrived home at 1.50pm today after visiting her son in hospital.
She would not comment on her son's condition as she walked, flanked by family, from the car into the unit's stairwell.
'They were terrified'
"I was outside, I came in, closed the door, I put my daughter to sleep," said one neighbour, who did not want to be named.
Two minutes later, they heard what they thought was someone beating on their balcony's metal grill security door.
"But it was actually the gun shots," the neighbour said.
"We went into the kids' bedroom and picked them up and they were terrified."
The family hid in the main bedroom.
They were shocked to learn just last night who their neighbours were.
"Last night I was reading on the internet about the bikie wars and saw about Anthony Zervas and thought 'oh my goodness, that's next door'," the neighbour said.
A pile of half-empty bottles of liquor could be seen on a long table in the Zervas's rooftop courtyard. A packet of cigarettes and three ashtrays also sat on the table.
The Zervas's had hosted a stream of mourners arriving at all hours of the day and night for the past week or so, neighbours said.
They were crying and drinking and mourning until yesterday, when the visitors and noise stopped, one said.
Another neighbour said they ran into a woman they believe was Anthony Zervas's mother in the unit block's stairwell.
"She was like 'I'm sorry it was too disturbing for you, I'm really sorry'," he said.
"She was broken. Very, very stressed."
The family put a funeral notice on the unit block's notice board following Abthony Zervas's death. It showed a photo of Zervas and the date and time of his funeral.
Other neighbours said they were woken by a police helicopter flying low over the unit block.
One man said he had lived in the block for five years but had never seen any trouble.
"We pass them, we say hello, that's it," said the man, who did not want his name published.
Other residents said they had also never had any trouble with the Zervas family and only recognised who they were from recent media coverage of Anthony Zervas's funeral.
Gang warfare
It is not yet known whether another motorcycle club is responsible for the shooting.
The shooting comes only two days after Peter Zervas, along with family and members of the Hells Angels and Bandidos, buried his brother.
It is also the latest in a string of bikie-related shootings that has swept south western and western Sydney.
Both Zervas brothers were involved in a brawl with about 10 Comanchero Motorcycle Club members at Terminal 3 of Sydney's domestic airport on March 2, along with Hells Angels Sydney Chapter president, Derek Wainohu, and other club members.
Anthony Zervas was killed after being hit with a metal bollard used in the fight.
Officers attached to Strike Force Raptor - the new squad created to combat bikie violence - are leading the investigation.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
- with Georgina Robinson and Geesche Jacobsen
Dylan Welch is The Herald's Police ReporterWanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Peter Zervas * Bikie War * Hells Angels * Sydney * Shooting * Sydney Underworld * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Monday, March 23, 2009
Man bashed to death at airport as bikie war escalates
THE bikie brother of a man killed at Sydney airport has been released from police custody as four men prepare to face court this morning over the brutal assault.
Police this morning said they still had no confirmation the dead man attacked at the domestic terminal yesterday afternoon was a Hells Angels bikie member.
But the war related to an ongoing feud between the Hells Angels, Comancheros and their associates.
Four men - a 25-year-old from Auburn, 22-year-old from Casula, 21-year-old from Pemulway and 22-year-old from Ingleburn arrested in a cab on their way from the airport - have all been charged with affray.
They are all linked to the Comancheros but only some of them are members of the gang, police said.
They are due to appear at Central Local Court this morning.
The Sydney bikie brother of the dead man had forensic testing at Maroubra police station last night after being arrested at the brawl scene. He was then released without charge.
He is a member of the Hells Angels bikie gang.
Meanwhile, Sydney's bikie community admitted the murder of a man they say was not a bikie member at the airport was a mistake.
It happened when a vicious brawl broke out involving up to 15 men.
Police have been met with a wall of silence in their investigations but believe the incident is liked to rival bikie gangs.
Police sources told The Daily Telegraph it was still unclear who had initiated the brawl but that a connection to another feud - between the Bandidos and Notorious - had been ruled out.
A source with knowledge of Sydney's bikie community told The Daily Telegraph the man's death had been a mistake.
"He was the brother of one ( Hell's Angel),'' the source said.
"It was so wrong.
"It was not meant to happen like that.''
The murder follows a series of tit-for-tat shootings involving two other rival bikie gangs - the latest just yesterday - that has left Sydney's suburban streets living in fear.
A spokesman for Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the commissioner would meet Police Minister Tony Kelly and Attorney-General John Hatzistergos today to discuss proposed gang legislation.
The laws being discussed are modelled on South Australia's controversial gang law and would allow bikie gangs to be proscribed as criminal groups.
Members of the proscribed groups could then be charged with committing the offence of being part of the gang.
Police said a group of men arrived on a flight to Sydney about 1.30pm yesterday and were unexpectedly met by what they believe to be a rival outlaw bikie group.
At the arrival area of the Qantas T3 terminal, witnesses told police a fight broke out.
The brawl then continued upstairs in the departure area, where one man was hit over the head with a portable bollard.
The victim was bashed at the e-ticket check-in area of the domestic terminal three, when he was set upon in a brawl involving up to 15 people.
The entire incident was caught on CCTV and police were last night taking 27 witnesses to the attack to Maroubra police station.
The alleged attackers fled the airport and caught a cab outside.
The cab's registration plates were caught on CCTV and police pulled over the cab with the men still aboard in the Rockdale area.
Senior police sources said the scene was one of chaos at the airport last night.
What police had been able to piece together was that either the victims or the attackers had been on a Melbourne-Sydney flight and the incident occurred shortly after the plane arrived, about 1.30pm.
Soon after the attack, police sources said they believed the bashing was the result of an ongoing gang war between the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang and rivals Notorious, based in the Kings Cross area.
However, as hours passed, that version changed - with sources saying the Comancheros may be involved in a separate war with the Hell's Angels.
The Comancheros were suspected of carrying out the firebombing of the Hell's Angels clubhouse at Petersham last month, followed days later by the kneecapping of a Comancheros member.
Passengers who arrived after the incident faced lengthy queues at the remaining check-in area.
Five crime scenes were established, including one at the check-in area inside security around gate 5, in a blood-stained lift well and at Prince of Wales hospital where one of the victims later died.
Police were interviewing up to 50 witnesses and hoped closed circuit TV footage would help with their investigations.
Botany Bay crime manager Detective Inspector Peter Williams said he believed a group of motorcycle gang members had got off a plane and been met by another group.
A fight broke out and moved through various parts of the terminal.
The incident came a little over 12 hours after the drive-by shooting of a family home linked to Mahmoud Dib, a senior member of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang at Auburn about 1am yesterday.
The fibro home, in Pine St, Auburn, was believed to have been targeted by members of Notorious, a relatively new bikie gang wrestling for power of Sydney's drug turf.
However, members of the Bandidos were said to be expecting the attack and a gun battle ensued, resulting in seven nearby houses being sprayed with bullets and two cars being crashed into.
Cartridges from automatic bullets littered Pine and intersecting Cumberland Rds. A high-powered automatic rifle was said to be one of the weapons involved. Auburn police later said they recovered two vehicles.
Two men, aged 18 and 17, presented to hospital - one with a gunshot wound to the leg and the other with a "graze".
The youth with minor injuries was questioned by police but released without charge. Dib, 27, was targeted in a drive-by at his own home early last Monday but he, his wife and children were not injured.
By Kara Lawrence
(The Daily Telegraph)Wanted Criminals: Wanted Criminals
: Crime Doesn't Pay Sydney Airport Shooting * Hells Angels * Comancheros * Bikie War * Sydney * Shooting * Wanted Criminals * thewantedblog* criminals * Crime * Murder * Robbery * Rape* Police* Detectives* Gangs
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Police shoot van driver dead
A man has died after being shot by police when he allegedly tried to run them down in a van on a street in Yeerongpilly in Queensland last night.
Two rounds were fired at the driver, who crashed through a fence and into the side of a house while trying to flee the scene. He died soon after.
A post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine his cause of death.
Officers were conducting a routine patrol in the southside suburb about 11pm when their attention was drawn to a vehicle parked in O'Loan Street.
They approached the van on foot to talk to the male driver, at which time it is alleged he drove the vehicle directly at them.
Two rounds were fired in an attempt to prevent the vehicle striking police, a spokesperson said.
One of the bullets is understood to have hit the man.
The vehicle fled out of the dead-end street and into Grosvenor Street, where it crashed through a fence and into the corner of a house.
The male driver and sole occupant of the vehicle died at the scene.
One of the police officers, a male constable, was taken to hospital for treatment to a minor injury.
A police spokesperson said he had since been released, and that the injury did not require extensive treatment.
The Ethical Standards Command is investigating the incident, to be overviewed by the Crime and Misconduct Commission. A report will also be prepared for the Coroner.
It is the second time this week police have fired shots at a vehicle that was allegedly being driven at them.
A security guard was injured when a man allegedly drove a stolen car towards him and police while trying to flee the scene of a break and enter.
He ran over the feet of the guard. Police fired one shot at the vehicle. The assailant is still at large.
SMH: Police shoot van driver dead
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Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Could this be the face of the Frankston Killer?
Pensioner may have made fatal mistake
The 69-year-old was 50 kilometres from her home in Brunswick — and about 500 metres from Frankston railway station — when her body was discovered on October 9 by CFA firefighters responding to reports of a scrub fire.
Mystery has surrounded the case, with Ms Lauria's bewildered and grief-stricken family unable to explain what she was doing in Frankston, a place she had no ties to and no reason to be in.
Sources close to the investigation have told The Age that it is likely Ms Lauria was simply lost and trying to find her way home when she was attacked about 7pm.
A witness has told police that Ms Lauria — who emigrated from Italy 35 years ago and lived next door to her sister and brother-in-law — approached them in central Frankston on the day she died and asked for help finding her way back to the city.
She had left her Inverness Street home in northern suburban Brunswick five hours earlier after telling her sister she was going shopping in Coburg — two train stations north of Brunswick.
Police believe that in a mistake that cost the woman her life, Ms Lauria got on the wrong train and ended up at Frankston.
From there, Ms Lauria somehow made her way to a path between the Kananook Creek Reserve and the beach near Frankston Life Saving Club. What happened on the foreshore is less clear.
An artist's image of a man seen fleeing the scene was released to the public in August and prompted dozens of calls to Crime Stoppers.
A number of those calls produced new leads and identified further witnesses to the events leading to Ms Lauria's death.
Police have also reviewed thousands of hours of security footage taken on the day, and are waiting for results of forensic tests taken at the scene of Ms Lauria's death.
Police believe there was a group of local people drinking alcohol on the foreshore at the time Ms Lauria was killed, and that there were also people known in Frankston as being involved in street-level drug dealing.
Police do not necessarily believe these people were involved in Ms Lauria's death, but that they might have information about how the elderly woman died.
Anybody with information about Ms Lauria's death should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The Age: Pensioner may have made fatal mistake
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Monday, October 1, 2007
Two charged with teen's murder
A 17-year-old female is expected to face a children's court, but police had last night not decided what charges she might face.
A second female was free to go after providing police with a witness statement.
The two men, aged 19 and 22, were remanded in custody to face an Adelaide court tomorrow - because of a public holiday in South Australia today.
On Friday, Assistant Commissioner Paul Evans said investigators were dealing with a refugees who had come from a culture of boy soldiers and social violence.
Homicide and Dandenong detectives yesterday flew to Adelaide to interview the trio last night. They also hoped to take a statement from a second female.
"It was a very brutal attack," homicide squad Senior Sergeant Jeff Maher said last week.
Assistant Commissioner Evans said police were planning a hard response to the packs of youths who roamed the area near the crime scene. "We've got a brawler van with large numbers of police attached to it, which we will concentrate in the Noble Park area and the railway station," he said.
He also threatened to use police dogs.
While police have not blamed the death on gang-related activity or racial tensions in the area, at least two police officers have been injured in confrontations with African groups in recent weeks.
A policewoman was bitten by an injured African man she was trying to help two weeks ago and a policeman received a broken nose in a rock-throwing incident.
References:
The Age: Two charged with teen's murder
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