Jail gang spreads violence
G-FAM, the prison gang linked to the near-fatal bashing of Tony Mokbel and random attacks on officers, is an emerging force in the state’s jails.
News Corp has been told GFam, a disorganised but violent outfit, had changed the jail gangs landscape in the space of a few years.
It is said to be different to traditional prison gangs because it seemed to have almost no structure or clear objectives, such as controlling behind-bars drug distribution.
It does not have a leader, unlike the Prisoners of War prison gang headed by Matthew Charles Johnson, the man who murdered Carl Williams.
Many of those in G-Fam have come through the youth justice system together and were rated as serious violent offenders.
They must assault an officer to join G-Fam.
“They’re just a bunch of thugs,” a source said.
Belonging to G-Fam offered a degree of protection to its membership, who were often relative newcomers to maximum security life.
“You’ve got to be part of a group to survive. You can’t come in and be one-out,” the source said.
County Court Judge Liz Gaynor last week said the attack in February last year on Mokbel was carried out to reinforce the dominance of G-Fam at Barwon Prison.
Teira Bennett and Eldea Teuira, both 22, almost killed Mokbel when they bashed and stabbed him with makeshift knives.
Justice Gaynor said the pair would learn the futility of what they had done and its connection to G-Fam.
“When you’re 40, you’ll see what G-Fam and the bros do for you,” she said.
The gang was linked to the ambush stabbing of a Port Phillip Prison officer earlier this year.
One theory behind that attack — in which the victim suffered about 10 stab wounds — was that it was committed by a young inmate who wanted to join G-Fam.