Europol alerts Malta police, Australian biker gangs heading for island

Australian biker gangs have been reported to be "aggressively expanding overseas and creating havoc for international authorities who fear violent inter-group conflicts and a boost in drug and arms trafficking."

A memo circulated by Europol, said the arrival of the 'Rebels' and the 'Comancheros' was causing tension with established outlaw motorcycle gangs in Europe, Australian newspaper 'The Age' reported today.

Senior members are travelling to Malta, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and Thailand to establish chapters using  existing contacts or by "patching over" existing clubs.

"They engage and conduct their business just like any other criminal organisation - they look for whatever weaknesses exist in the law enforcement or governments and exploit those through violence and extortion," the head of Australia's national anti-bikie taskforce, Detective Superintendent John De Candia Superintendent De Candia said.

"They're not going over there to simply ride their bikes, they're going to open up opportunities to get drugs and  firearms back to Australia," he said.

The increasing concentration of gangs in Europe has  the potential to escalate into extreme violence akin to the  Nordic biker wars of the 1990s, in which 11 people were murdered  and 96 people wounded, the extensive Europol briefing warned.

"At present, the majority of violent incidents are reportedly occurring within the context of territorial disputes between different OMCGs, as well as rivalries with local  organised criminals and street gangs," it said.

A senior New South Wales police officer said police were powerless to stop the spread of gangs overseas.

"There's certainly a network that is expanding and we've got evidence of high-ranking Rebels going overseas to open club chapters then coming back home," the source said. "But we can't prevent them travelling over there unless they've done something to keep them here."

The Rebels are thought to have about 1,500 members in Australia and dozens busy establishing outposts overseas.

Maltese leader

Alessio-Emmanuel 'Alex' Vella, better known as 'The Maltese Falcon' is a Maltese-Australian businessman, former boxer and Australia's national president of the Rebels Motorcycle Club.

Despite having lived in Australia since the 1960s, he was never made a citizen of the country. This caused visa problems when he was in Tokyo, Japan with his son Adam (also a boxer) for a boxing match.

Vella was born into a strict Catholic Maltese family and was one of eleven children. He began work at the age of eight, carrying buckets of water on a building site for 30 cents a day, and is functionally illiterate.

He and his family then moved to Australia in the 1960s and established a strawberry farm near Horsley Park, New South Wales.

In his 20s, he sometimes worked two or three jobs at a time; as a bouncer, labourer and bricklayer. He also joined the Rebels Motorcycle Club while pursuing a promising career as a boxer; he eventually became the Maltese light-heavyweight champion.

After a serious road accident, he received AU$225,000 in compensation and used this money to set up a business importing and selling motorcycles. In 1990, police found a $15,000 stash of marijuana while searching his home, which they believed to be a methamphetamine factory.

He received a fairly light sentence, however; 18-months of two-nights-a-week prison, and two-days-a-week community service. He has also been arrested, but not convicted, of a number of other crimes including stabbing two men and assaulting a woman. He was freed on appeal after being given six months in jail for the latter.

On May 28, 2008, Vella won a court case against the ANZ Bank. He sued them for AU$2.7 million after his former business partner, Tony Caradonna, re-mortgaged three properties, including the Rebels' club house, for AU$2.4 million by falsifying Vella's signature. He also claimed AU$300,000 was fraudulently withdrawn from their joint bank account.

Comancheros

Comancheros have also developed strong ties in  Spain. The gang's former boss, Daux Ngakuru, relocated there in  2010 and it is believed the alleged drug smuggler Hakan Ayik,  who is closely aligned to the gang, has been hiding out in Spain  since fleeing Australia in 2010 while on bail on heroin  importation charges.

Ayik has also been accused of setting up a "super"  drug lab in India. An associate of his, Hakan Arif, reportedly  travelled to Spain this year while on bail for drugs charges.

Europol said the number of bikie gang chapters in Europe had increased at a "significant rate" in the past two  years to more than 700.

The arrival of gangs from Canada and the US has  contributed to tension with Europe's four main gangs - the Hells  Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws and Gremium MC - and growing local  groups such as Satudarah Maluku MC and Blue Angels MC in north-western Europe.

 "Merely establishing a chapter on the 'turf' of  another OMCG is interpreted as an act of provocation and is  likely to result in violent confrontations and retaliation," Europol warned.