OFF THE WIRE
Josh Robertson
couriermail.com.au
A VEIL of secrecy has been lifted from the self-proclaimed rulers of the Gold Coast underworld.
Queensland's first legal bid to have a motorcycle club declared a criminal organisation gives an unprecedented account of a murky subculture of violence and drug dealing long hidden from public view by the outlaw bikies' code of silence.
At least 47 current members of the Finks Motorcycle Club's Gold Coast chapter - 45 of them convicted criminals - have been named in the first police application under the controversial Criminal Organisation Act.
It names the clubs' senior officers as well as nine select bikies who made up the "Finks Terror Team", an enforcement arm "whose major function is the extortion of money by a system known as 'Finks Fines'."
The identities of the club's members and senior officers have been a closely guarded secret, with some bikies reportedly refusing to acknowledge membership even under threat of jail for contempt in Australian Crime Commission starchamber hearings.
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There is also the violence associated with collecting on drug debts and defending the club's fearsome reputation.
Tama Lewis, aka Darren Watson, once kicked a security door out of its frame during a home invasion on a man who he claimed had "been talking about my club".
The police application details the paradox of an "outlaw" organisation that is controlled by "a set of rules" dictating the behaviour of members.
They spell out sanctions for those who don't attend rallies, the confidentiality of club meetings, use of club tattoos and the need for all members "to own and ride a British or American manufactured motorcycle with a four-stroke engine".
Finks bikies span generations and ethnic backgrounds, their ages ranging from 23 to 68.
Outlaw club apologists have long claimed that individual members, not clubs, commit crime.
But the police application alleges that Finks members "associate for the purposes of engaging in or conspiring to engage in serious criminal activity".
"The members habitually, both individually and collectively, engage in serious criminal activity," it states. "The organisation is an unacceptable risk to the safety, welfare and order of the community."
If the Supreme Court declares the Finks a criminal organisation - and the laws survive a High Court challenge - recruiting will be banned.
But existing members can continue to wear colours, hold motorcycle rallies and meet at their Molendinar clubhouse.
Police would apply to court for individual control orders against key club figures, who may then be stopped from associating with clubmates, and holding weapons licences and jobs such as in security.
The anti-association provisions have been criticised by civil libertarians, who argue family members may be captured by the orders. There are four family relationships within the Finks: three sets of brothers including Greg and Graeme Keating, and a father and son.
Bid to ban gangs 'doomed' in court
MOVES to declare the Gold Coast chapter of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang a criminal organisation are doomed to fail, according to Queensland's top bikie spokesman.
Russell "Camel" Wattie, spokesman for the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland, represents more than a dozen "outlaw" clubs and said the Finks would already be following the lead of their interstate brothers in South Australia in trying to have the new police powers overturned in the courts.
Moves similar to Queensland's new plans to declare the Finks a criminal organisation have been tried in SA and NSW, but lawyers representing the gangs have had the laws overturned in the High Court.
"I have not been in contact with anyone from the Finks in the past few days, but they will challenge these laws," he said.
"They (the Finks) have done it before (in South Australia) and they will do it again here."
The NSW challenge came from the Hells Angels after that state declared the notorious gang a criminal enterprise.
Mr Wattie said the Queensland laws would follow the same pattern.
"These changes to the laws are fundamentally no different to the ones we saw in other states which were overturned," he said. "In NSW, every aspect of the Act was repugnant to the High Court.
"What these laws would do is ensure that within a generation every Australian would be a criminal or sit at home and watch TV for fear of being arrested. It's unconstitutional."
He said publicity surrounding a wave of bikie-related violence was wide of the mark.
"There have been several drive-by shootings of bikie haunts on the Gold Coast and it is always said that the shooting is by rival gang members, but they never find the people responsible and the bikies themselves know it's not the work of other gangs," Mr Wattie said.
"The publicity is creating a war that doesn't exist."
COMMENT,
"First, they came for the Jews. I did not do anything, because I was not a Jew. I did not defend them. Then they came for the anti-socaials. I did not do anything because, as a priest, I am not anti-social. I did not defend them. Then, they came for me. There was no-one left to defend me." I paraphrase, but this is what a Catholic priest told the Nuremburg Commission in 1947. Lest we forget. Journalists - lift your game!
