UNDER WATCH
Tough rookie’s courage defied size of fight
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? can be charged with “habitual consorting”.
In May, alleged Villains gang member Harley Barbaro – brother of murdered Sydney underworld boss Pasquale Barbaro – became the first person in Queensland to be charged with habitual consorting. The case is still before the courts.
The Barbaro family has a long history of violence, dating back to 1990 when Harley’s grandfather – also named Pasquale – was executed outside his home in Brisbane.
In 2003, a cousin also named Pasquale was shot dead alongside Melbourne “Underbelly” gangster Jason Moran. Harley’s brother, Pasquale, was gunned down in Sydney in November 2016.
Harley Barbaro made headlines in July when he took to Instagram to attack former Hells Angel Ben “Notorious” Geppert, calling him a “maggot dog”.
Geppert has been in and out of custody since he and “Instafamous” girlfriend Allaina Vader were booted off Hamilton Island in February.
Supt Lowe said the Villains had been “contained”’ but police were keeping watch. “We’re very proactive in policing the risk the Villains pose to the Gold Coast community by prosecuting them, targeting them with consorting notices and disrupting their criminal behaviour,” he said.
Other gangs have also surfaced on the Coast, including the Black Jackets – an immigrant gang that sprang up in Germany and the Netherlands in the mid 1980s.
The Crime and Corruption Commission last year named violent Dutch bikie gang Satudarah as having established a Gold Coast presence, along with infamous Sydney gang the Commancheros.
This year, the State Government outlawed Satudarah and notorious New Zealand street gang the Mongrel Mob, which has also established a presence on the Gold Coast and in Logan.
Supt Lowe said while police closed down 28 bikie clubhouses across the state following the Broadbeach brawl, the gangs were “absolutely” still trying to hold clandestine meetings and gatherings.
In May, officers from antibikie squad Taskforce Maxima raided a shed at Lawnton that was being used as a makeshift Rebels bikie clubhouse, seizing items including gang paraphernalia, a pool table, beer fridge and sound system SHE was the petite rookie cop who took down one of Queensland’s biggest, baddest bikies.
Constable Annelise Young (left), a police officer for just nine months, was thrust into the frontline of the Broadbeach bikie brawl, forced to taser giant Bandidos gang member Adam White (below) to bring him under control.
“We were on patrol in Surfers Paradise and a broadcast came over the police radio that approximately 15 Bandidos were walking through Broadbeach,” she recalls.
“Someone jumped on the radio and said it was more like 50 Bandidos ... we thought ‘this doesn’t sound good’ and put up our hands to go down there straight away.”
Constable Young saw the group head towards the Aura bar on Surf Parade before a “loud crash” as bikies spilt out of the venue and began brawling in front of terrified diners including families.
“I saw a massive brawl,” she said. “We were definitely concerned they may have had weapons. At that point, we were really outnumbered and calling urgently for more crew ... We felt like they were miles away but we had to keep calm. I drew my taser and deployed it.”
The 165cm, 50kg officer fired the weapon at the 200cm, 120kg White, who was at the centre of the brawl involving prize fighter Jason “JT” Trouchet. “As soon as we all deployed our tasers, the fighting stopped,” recalled Constable Young, now a trainee detective at Coolangatta. Thirteen officers and a police dog were awarded bravery certificates for their heroics.
and issuing gang members with consorting notices and Public Safety Orders which ban them from the premises.
“They (bikies) may well be meeting in licensed premises too on an ad hoc basis,” Supt Lowe said.
“But their ability to have their overt clubhouses and their parties and their tattoo shows no longer exists.”
Supt Lowe revealed Queensland police had followed bikies interstate on national “runs” which are prohibited in this state. Bikies driven out of Queensland had also fled to Southeast Asia and he and his colleagues were
working closely with police there to crack down on activities including drug trafficking.
Supt Lowe, who chairs national anti-gangs Taskforce Morpheus, said federal law enforcement authorities were also tackling bikies through strategies such as visa cancellation. About 30 Queensland bikies have had visas cancelled or refused since 2013.
Since March 2015, 1920 outlaw motorcycle gang members had been charged with 10,064 offences.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said Queensland had the nation’s “toughest, most comprehensive anti-bikie gang laws”.