Queensland police demand bikie gang Finks break code of silence by giving members' names to court
- The Sunday Mail (Qld)
- August 04, 2013
A Queensland police move against the Finks bikie gang to provide names of its members to the Supreme Court is expected to break the code of silence gangs in other states have successfully upheld.
THE outlaw bikie code of silence is about to
be tested in a landmark Queensland court case. Lawyers for the Finks
have been asked to give up the names of gang members in preparation
for a Supreme Court bid by police to have the club declared a
criminal organisation.
Bikies, including known Finks, have previously gone to jail for contempt after refusing to answer questions, including even to confirm if they are gang members.
But in a "rules of engagement" order ahead of the trial, expected to be held in October, Justice David Boddice has asked Finks lawyers to provide a list of "concessions, including which persons it will be conceded are members of the Finks Motorcycle Club".
Police have already lodged a detailed "dirt file" on the Finks in support of their application to have the gang's notorious Gold Coast chapter and alleged "front company", Pompano Pty Ltd, declared criminal organisations.
READ MORE: Review of legal bid by Queensland Police to declare Finks a criminal organisation
The dossier includes secret prison recordings and letters exchanged between Finks members behind bars in Queensland jails.
Letters and conversations intercepted by police reveal that despite the Supreme Court action to effectively outlaw them, the Finks has allegedly been recruiting members in jail.
Documents allege the recruits include murderer Jason Nixon, who took part in a 1997 jail break with "postcard bandit" Brenden Abbott, and Aaron Scheers, the former Lone Wolf bikie jailed for kidnapping a man and cutting off his ears.
Scheers was allegedly recorded speaking contemptuously to another inmate about the Supreme Court action, telling him: "They haven't got a (expletive) leg to stand on."
Similar attempts to outlaw bikie gangs in other states have been thrown out by the High Court.
But Inspector Scott Knowles, who heads the Coast's Major and Organised Crime Squad and helped draft the Supreme Court application against the Finks, said police were "quietly confident" of success.
"So much so that we're already planning how we're going to enforce the control orders we believe will be handed down by the court,'' he said.
"We are also looking at targeting other gangs with the same legislation."
The Finks failed in a High Court challenge against Queensland's Criminal Organisation Act earlier this year.
