OFF THE WIRE
AS Victoria's gang war raged over much of the past 10 years, another bunch of criminals was quietly taking advantage of not being in the limelight.
Flying under the radar, bikie gangs flourished as they spread their tentacles into nightclubs, prostitution, drugs, murder and a litany of other organised criminal activity.
As other states passed specific anti-bikie legislation, Victoria, under Labor, failed to act. Instead, we even saw Victoria Police giving bikies a free ride on their road trips. Intersections were blocked by police and various road offences were overlooked in some cases, all in an apparent bid not to confront these outlaw gangs.
Not surprisingly, this fertile environment saw numbers soar to its peak of 56 gangs dotted around Melbourne suburbs and Victoria's regional cities and towns.
It's believed there are more than 4000 members of these chapters.
But at last the easy-riding days for Victoria's bikies appear to be over. Today, the Sunday Herald Sun reveals a dramatic crackdown on the gangs has been launched by the police.
Detective Acting Inspector Chris Murray -- who helped run Operation Pendennis, which foiled a terror attack on Melbourne -- has been given the job of busting the bikie gangs.
As Insp Murray tells this newspaper today: "We are going to be policing them very hard. The days of blocking intersections, running red lights, burnouts, is over. We are not going to take their lawlessness."
The Sunday Herald Sun has also obtained an up-to-date list of each of the 56 bikie gang locations, some of which are fortified and decorated with logos and badged synonymous with criminality.
For the first time it reveals how these gangs have infected our suburbs and towns.
The Comancheros have built a base in Port Melbourne, around the corner from the Finks in South Melbourne.
The Coffin Cheaters are in Braeside, the Hells Angels in Campbellfield and Satan's Soldiers are in Melton.
The regions are far from immune. In fact, the list shows Hastings, Geelong, Portland, Warrnambool, Mildura and Maryborough are all home to bikie gangs. The historic goldfields city of Bendigo is home to four different gangs.
In a separate but related story today, we also revisit one of the heroes of the 2007 CBD shooting. Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard was shot by drug-fuelled Hells Angels bikie Christopher Wayne Hudson as he came to the rescue of a young woman. He almost died. Another good Samaritan, Brendan Keilar, was killed.
De Waard is back in Australia on a working holiday and is returning to Melbourne, the city in which he almost lost his life on that terrifying Monday morning.
De Waard says he loves Melbourne and hopes to live and work here during the remainder of his working holiday Down Under.
"It feels a little bit like home to me," he says of Melbourne.
De Waard also says he'll be visiting the doctors and nurses at the Royal Melbourne Hospital who saved his life and catch up with Kaera Douglas, the young woman being bashed by Hudson.
"I will see the whole family ... we've got a special connection," he said.
His return to Melbourne is a true story of good triumphing over evil.
And let's hope the new taskforce launched by Victoria Police smashes the bikie gangs once and for all.
theeditor@sundayheraldsun.com.au
