Constantine Phaulkon
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
Bikers. Violent animals, or family men? Or both? See below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18030746
6 May 2012 Last updated at 19:10 ET
Australia bike gang violence poses 'growing menace'
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney
The recent shootings have been blamed on a dispute involving the Hell's Angels and other gangs
A smouldering feud between motorcycle gangs in Australia is a step away from an all-out war, according to one of the country's most senior former police officers.
Clive Small charts the tensions back to the infamous Milperra massacre in 1984, when six bikers were shot dead in a pub car park in Sydney, while a teenage girl was killed in the crossfire.
Since then, he said, the motorcycle gangs had "really grown as a menace". Traditional criminal codes where families were never targeted had been abandoned by "nasty, violent people."
In 2009, members of the Commancheros clashed with Hells Angels at Sydney Airport, where one man was beaten and stabbed to death in front of dozens of horrified passengers.
"They (gang members) do look hard but they are generally family men - but you wouldn't want to cross them," said Macca, a long-time resident of Sydney's Kings Cross district, a hub of the city's illicit drug industry.
"They can be really dangerous. I seen a bloke get axed across the back of the neck. He died. Seen a couple of blokes get chopped up (with knives) and left in dumpsters."
But Randall "Animal" Nelson, a founding member of the Kings Cross Bikers Social and Welfare Club, which does charity work for people with disabilities, hospital patients and prisoners, believes the bikers are being unfairly castigated for the spate of shootings in Sydney.
"Propaganda is a big thing," he said. "Whatever the police say, the people believe. Most media have blown it out of proportion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18030746
6 May 2012 Last updated at 19:10 ET
Australia bike gang violence poses 'growing menace'
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney
The recent shootings have been blamed on a dispute involving the Hell's Angels and other gangs
A smouldering feud between motorcycle gangs in Australia is a step away from an all-out war, according to one of the country's most senior former police officers.
Clive Small charts the tensions back to the infamous Milperra massacre in 1984, when six bikers were shot dead in a pub car park in Sydney, while a teenage girl was killed in the crossfire.
Since then, he said, the motorcycle gangs had "really grown as a menace". Traditional criminal codes where families were never targeted had been abandoned by "nasty, violent people."
In 2009, members of the Commancheros clashed with Hells Angels at Sydney Airport, where one man was beaten and stabbed to death in front of dozens of horrified passengers.
"They (gang members) do look hard but they are generally family men - but you wouldn't want to cross them," said Macca, a long-time resident of Sydney's Kings Cross district, a hub of the city's illicit drug industry.
"They can be really dangerous. I seen a bloke get axed across the back of the neck. He died. Seen a couple of blokes get chopped up (with knives) and left in dumpsters."
But Randall "Animal" Nelson, a founding member of the Kings Cross Bikers Social and Welfare Club, which does charity work for people with disabilities, hospital patients and prisoners, believes the bikers are being unfairly castigated for the spate of shootings in Sydney.
"Propaganda is a big thing," he said. "Whatever the police say, the people believe. Most media have blown it out of proportion.
