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Victorian bikie bases have been the target of drive-by shootings, firebombings and many search warrants.
Some of the clubhouses have been the scene of murders and, in one recent case, a disappearance that remains unsolved.
But there are a few where the neighbours will tell you they’ve never had a minute’s trouble from their local motorcycle club stronghold.
A few remain in residential areas but, nowadays, most are in industrial areas away from the general population.
Some of those below have closed in recent years but others, like the Hell’s Angels HQ in Alphington, have become local landmarks.
FAIRFIELD
Bikie clubhouses come and go but the Hells Angels HQ at Fairfield is something of a Melbourne underworld institution.
There wouldn’t be too many suburban properties which have attracted as much law enforcement interest as the old HQ on Heidelberg Rd.
It is probably Melbourne’s best-known outlaw motorcycle club stronghold and has been raided many times over the past four decades.
It was the base of some of the pioneers of the state’s fledgling amphetamine industry and, although other chapters and feeder affiliates have been established over the years, it remains the club’s Melbourne spiritual home.
In 2013, police tore off its prominent front gates, emblazoned with the club’s logo, as part of a series of raids across Melbourne.
Although investigators said it was part of a search for two missing machineguns, it was likely there was also a degree of symbolism involved in the exercise.
PORT MELBOURNE
The Mongols’ headquarters in Port Melbourne was turned inside out over the notorious EastLink execution.
Echo Taskforce raided the Lalor St clubhouse over the shooting murder of Paul Virgona, an innocent father and fruiterer targeted on his way to work in November 2019.
The clubhouse – which features a large mural of the Joker on the garage door – was smashed open by police who also raided the Southbank home of Toby Mitchell and the City of Ink tattoo parlour owned by former Richmond player Jake King as part of the murder probe.
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Mongols bikies Aaron Ong and Josh Rider were charged over the murder and remain in custody.
One of them was inside the clubhouse when the dawn raid began and was seen by witnesses standing near naked in the street before being driven away by police.
In 2014 the club’s Bertie St clubhouse was the target of a guns raid.
Detectives seized a semiautomatic pistol and revolver as part of an illegal drugs trade investigation.
The club also vacated its Ferntree Gully clubhouse in early 2020 after falling foul of council regulations.
It’s understood issues were raised over insurance arrangements because of the Mongols’ alleged links to criminal activity.
BRUNSWICK
The Bandidos’ clubhouse in Brunswick has been linked to extreme violence, including a high-profile murder and attempted murder.
Two gunmen opened fire on former Bandidos enforcer Toby Mitchell near the Weston St clubhouse in 2011.
The shooting was far from a professional hit, with the gunmen chasing Mitchell through a car park and indiscriminately shooting at him in broad daylight in front of horrified shoppers.
He was hit three times in the hip and back and police have never charged the culprits
Mitchell – now the Melbourne president of the Mongols MC – did not co-operate with investigators assigned to the shooting and security footage from the nearby Doherty’s gym went missing.
In 2014 Dandenong man Michael Strike was killed inside the clubhouse.
A court heard Bandidos bikies Luke Maybus and John Walker brutally assaulted Mr Strike after he drunkenly stumbled across the club’s clubhouse and began harassing Mr Walker’s pit bull named Trouble.
Mr Strike was dragged inside the clubhouse where he begged for his life as he was savagely beaten, including with an iron bar.
His body was wrapped in a blanket and dumped near Keilor East cemetery, where it was discovered the next day.
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The bloodshed continued in 2017 when three men were targeted by a hail of bullets while standing outside the clubhouse.
The men – all linked to the bikie club – survived but the case remains unsolved.
YARRAVILLE
The Bros are a low-profile outfit but their Yarraville clubhouse has seen its share of action over the years.
In 2016, two members were shot as about 50 gathered to party at the Campbell St stronghold.
Four shots were blasted at the group before a volley of shots was fired in return.
The shooter was caught on CCTV bolting from the scene, leaving one member with a leg injury and the other victim with a stomach wound.
Three years earlier, the Campbell St premises peppered with shots in a drive-by attack.
Tensions rose when Echo taskforce police later arrived with a warrant and seized a gun, drugs and other controlled weapons.
In 2011, drugs and guns were seized when the clubhouse was raided by members of the special operations group.
GEELONG
Geelong has a strong motorcycle clubs presence and the Rebels are a major factor in the equation.
Their former clubhouse in an industrial area on Edols Place, North Geelong, has been at the centre of major police scrutiny on a number of occasions.
In 2014, it was raided by police investigating the killing of Michael Sleiman in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Club associates were jailed over the 2008 shooting death of senior Geelong Bandido outside that club’s clubhouse on the other side of town.
There have been other police operations connected to Edols Place, including drug and firearms investigations.
In 2007, the building was set alight amid tensions with other motorcycle club members.
The Geelong Rebels are now based in the suburb of North Shore.
The other main bikie force in Geelong are the Bandidos.
Their clubhouse in Bayldon Court, Breakwater, has been the scene of a member’s murder as well as a drive-by shooting attack and a firebombing.
Ross Brand was a respected and popular Bandido when he was shot in the head outside Bayldon Court in 2008.
Rebels associates were later jailed over the killing.
The building had been shot at earlier that year in another drive-by incident.
In 2016, the building was firebombed in an Australia Day attack which police said was possibly linked to failed recruits looking for revenge.
THOMASTOWN
The Hells Angels Nomads branch in Thomastown has a well-earned reputation as a place best avoided.
The Lipton Drive address has been the scene of torture, bashings, toe-removal by boltcutter by members or those linked to the chapter, regarded as the Angels Melbourne enforcement arm.
At least twice it has been of interest to the homicide squad.
It was raided in the aftermath of the 1999 murder at Bendigo of Vicki Jacobs, shot dead as she slept next to her young son.
More recently, it has come under scrutiny in the murder of South Australian Hells Angels associate Kerry Giakoumis.
Giakoumis was last seen alive at Lipton Drive on June 10.
CRANBOURNE WEST
The Finks’ clubhouse in Cranbourne West is well known to police.
Echo Taskforce detectives raided the Morialta Rd clubhouse in January over the attempted hit on Mongol bikie Rocco Curra in 2019.
Curra survived four bullets – including one to the brain – after being ambushed while sitting in his car waiting to pick up a woman in Bulleen.
Sione Hokafonu and Ali Hussein were both charged with attempted murder.
A court heard the shooting was an act of retribution after Hokafonu was shot in the foot weeks earlier in Fountain Gate after assaulting a man wearing a Mongols jumper.
The clubhouse, located in an industrial zone, was also firebombed in March.
AAA Supplements, owned by muscle man Zoltan Banyai, was torched the same night in the case still unsolved.
SUNSHINE WEST
The Sunshine West Rebels chapter has been the subject of police attention for everything from liquor licensing breaches to a murder.
The Fairbairn Rd stronghold, along with the club’s Geelong premises, was searched over the Australia Day, 2014, killing of Michael Sleiman at Deer Park in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
The clubhouse was also the focus of one of the state’s biggest bikie gatherings in 2018.
Members from all over the nation descended on Fairbairn Rd for a get-together which sparked a major police operation.
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