OFF THE WIRE
POLICE have launched landmark legal action to have Queensland's most notorious outlaw motorcycle club declared a criminal organisation under the first use of controversial anti-bikie gxxg laws.
The move against the Surfers Paradise chapter of the Finks - whose members include by far the most prolific criminal offenders of all the state's bikie gxxgs - could stop the club from recruiting and crack down on its key figures.
The Supreme Court application lodged yesterday is likely to trigger a High Court challenge from the well-funded Finks, whose South Australian counterparts successfully fought similar laws that were also defeated in NSW by the Hells Angels.
But police are confident the additional judicial oversight under Queensland's Criminal Organisation Act - unused by the former Bligh government that passed it - will see it survive a constitutional test.
The Finks have another more immediate reason to mourn after the son of a founding member was killed along with his young daughter and wife in a horror road smash with a truck south of Mackay on Thursday. Drug precursor chemicals were found in the trunk of their car.
A Courier-Mail investigation last year revealed Finks members and associates had racked up more than 324 years of jail time for crimes from murder to manslaughter, torture and drug trafficking.
Their ranks include the accused gunman in a public shooting of a rival bikie and an bystander at a Robina shopping centre in April.
The shooting fanned public fears about bikie violence in southeast Queensland and prompted a backflip by the Newman Government that had opposed anti-bikie laws.
Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon said the Finks "pose a great risk to the community, supported by the criminal activity the members ... have been involved in over many years, such as murder, extortion, robbery burglary, stalking, deprivation of liberty, drug trafficking, unlawful use of motor vehicles, possession of firearms, intimidation and standover tactics".
Mr Condon declined to say when or whether police would target other bikie clubs but warned them to brace for future applications.
"If they've got any brains, they'll be meeting and deciding that they need to start acting in accordance with what community standards require and stop committing offences. If they don't they will be subject to an application, make no mistake."
While the Finks would be barred from recruiting if declared a criminal organisation, they would be able to continue motorcycle runs, wear colours and maintain their clubhouse.
But police could then apply for individual control orders against club kingpins.
Violating the orders, which could also apply to ex-members, could lead to up to five years' jail.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/police-bid-to-cripple-worst-bikie-gangs/story-e6freon6-1226381067506
The shooting fanned public fears about bikie violence in southeast Queensland and prompted a backflip by the Newman Government that had opposed anti-bikie laws.
Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon said the Finks "pose a great risk to the community, supported by the criminal activity the members ... have been involved in over many years, such as murder, extortion, robbery burglary, stalking, deprivation of liberty, drug trafficking, unlawful use of motor vehicles, possession of firearms, intimidation and standover tactics".
Mr Condon declined to say when or whether police would target other bikie clubs but warned them to brace for future applications.
"If they've got any brains, they'll be meeting and deciding that they need to start acting in accordance with what community standards require and stop committing offences. If they don't they will be subject to an application, make no mistake."
While the Finks would be barred from recruiting if declared a criminal organisation, they would be able to continue motorcycle runs, wear colours and maintain their clubhouse.
But police could then apply for individual control orders against club kingpins.
Violating the orders, which could also apply to ex-members, could lead to up to five years' jail.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/police-bid-to-cripple-worst-bikie-gangs/story-e6freon6-1226381067506
