OFF THE WIRE
BY: Michael Duffy
Source: smh.com.au
AT 3.30AM on August 3, 2001, Ian Draper finished work at Mounties. The cellarman at the big club in south-west Sydney was 37 and engaged to be married. He got into his car, drove off and was never seen again. Six weeks later, his white Ford Falcon sedan was found in Bringelly Road, Leppington, outside the Rebels Motorcycle Club headquarters.
Police have no reason to suspect Mr Draper of criminal activity and are continuing to investigate how his car came to be there.
Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin said: ''We are currently reviewing extensive forensic analysis of the car.''
Advertisement: Story continues below Inspector Jubelin heads Strike Force Tuno II, the state's biggest homicide investigation and reportedly the subject of the next series of Underbelly.
Starting with the kidnap and murder of criminal and police informer Terry Falconer in 2001, a large team of detectives and analysts has been chasing one of the most brutal groups of criminals in NSW history in relation to suspected crimes including a dozen murders and suspected murders.
''We had no idea the extent of violence we would uncover when we first commenced the investigation,'' Inspector Jubelin said.
It was these inquiries that provided a connection with Mr Draper's disappearance, although at this stage police are not prepared to be more specific.
One of Tuno II's successes was the conviction earlier this year of former army commando Sean Waygood for offences including shootings, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and seven cases of armed robbery. Waygood's criminal career was so violent and active he will apparently be the central character in the Underbelly portrayal.
Tuno got on to him initially because he was one of those who posed as police to kidnap Falconer. He helped cut up the victim's body. It was dumped, in seven plastic bags, in the Hastings River near Port Macquarie.
Despite violent crimes, Waygood was not a good hitman. Commissioned to shoot but not kill Gary Mack at the Peakhurst Inn in 2001, he aimed for his buttock from 60 metres away but struck him in the hip and caused more injury than intended.
According to the judgment by Judge Deborah Sweeney, in 2002 Waygood decided to kill Dallas Fitzgerald, a leading member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, at JB's Bar and Grill in Haymarket. It was arranged an accomplice would identify Fitzgerald to Waygood, who would carry out the hit. Waygood prepared for the job, buying mobile phones so he could communicate with the accomplice, two pistols and a van obtained under a false name.
Waygood, standing outside, fired eight bullets through the window, three of them hitting the victim. He then went to the van, changed his clothes and set fire to the vehicle with the phones and guns inside, then walked away across Hyde Park.
There were two problems. One: the victim survived. Two: he was the wrong man. His name was Raniera Puketapu. Waygood told the court earlier this year he felt ''dreadful'' about the mistake. He was sentenced to 15 years' jail, with no parole, for all his crimes. He received a 50 per cent discount for pleading guilty and assisting the police.So far Strike Force Tuno II has laid 131 charges, for murder and other serious offences including armed robbery and the large-scale manufacture of illegal drugs. Six people have been arrested in connection with Falconer's murder, four for the murder of Melbourne drug dealer Paul Elliot in 2008, two for the shooting of Raniera Puketapu, two for the shooting of Gary Mack in 2001, and two for a conspiracy to murder two senior Bandidos. Some of those responsible have been convicted.
Others have not yet been found, including those responsible for the deaths of an elderly couple, Anthony and Frances Perish, at Leppington in 1991; Gypsy Joker gang member Greg McDonald, who was shot off his bike in 1991; failed businessman Michael Davies, who was shot on the Gold Coast in 2002; Benita Forster and her three-year-old son, who were found at the foot of a waterfall on the Gold Coast in 2003, and others.
Police are keen to talk to anyone who knows how Mr Draper's car ended up outside the Rebels clubhouse in 2001.
''Since Ian went missing, life has changed for our family, it has been a living hell,'' his mother, Janet Draper, told The Sun-Herald.
''We would like anyone who has information on what happened to him to contact the police.''
