Police investigating if shots fired at house in Doveton is linked to bikies attack
- by: Anthony Dowsley
- From: Herald Sun
- June 16, 2013
No one hurt after shots fired into house
No one hurt after shots fired into house
Shots have been fired into a house in Melbourne's southeast, but police say no one was injured.
The Hells Angels' Alphington clubhouse. Source: Herald Sun
THE target of a brazen drive-by shooting has been identified as a man with links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Mick Mantzaris - a body builder with connections to corrupt former police officer Andrew Tait - has links to the Comancheros and Rebels bikie gangs.
Mr Mantzaris’s home was blasted in the drive-by shooting in Doveton in the early hours of this morning.
His house is fortified with a large
wall with spikes, gate and window shutters and is fitted with security
cameras.
Mr Mantzaris refused to comment on the shooting.
Last year the Herald Sun reported Mr Mantzaris was clubbed by members of the Comancheros in his driveway.
Police are investigating if the shooting this morning is linked to bikies, after up to to 30 rounds were fired into the Hells Angels' newest Melbourne clubhouse on Friday.
A number of people were home when several rounds were blasted into the Doveton property.
No one was injured in the midnight shooting at the property in Conferta Crescent.
The offenders are believed to have fled in a small vehicle.
Meanwhile in a feared escalation of an emerging bikie war, a machine gun or semi-automatic weapon was used in the attack on the Angels' Nomads chapter in Seaford some time before 2.30am on Friday, just months after the clubhouse was established.
Police are investigating if anyone was inside the clubhouse, but it is believed no one was injured.
It is a sign tensions remain high between outlaw bikie gangs after the Bandidos were ambushed by Hells Angels in Melton on March 1, wounding national office bearer Toby Mitchell and another member.
A call was made to triple 0 but no official complaint was made to police by the Hells Angels about the latest attack.
Victoria Police is investigating the pre-dawn shooting and has involved its anti-bikie Echo Taskforce.
"Police are investigating after a number of shots were fired towards an OMCG (outlaw motorcycle gang) clubhouse," Victoria Police spokeswoman Melissa Seach said.
The Bandidos declared "war" on the Hells Angels days after their members were ambushed, forcing Victoria Police to establish Operation Resound.
An attempt to avenge the ambush, which occurred outside Bandidos feeder club the Diablos' chapter, was thwarted after an armed bikie allegedly stalked a Hells Angel in Melbourne's north, who is believed to have been central to the Melton incident.
One Angels member is also being investigated over a corrupt association with a police officer.
The opening of the Seaford chapter is part of a massive expansion of all major outlaw clubs.
The Angels set up a feeder club - the Red Devils - near Frankston over summer, with a gangland figure identified as a prospective member of the club.
It later opened a Nomads clubhouse in Seaford.
There have been issues with club members intimidating patrons at a pub, forcing them to vacate a beer garden.
The Mornington Peninsula has previously been free of bikie clubs, although the Outlaws have long had a chapter in Hastings, on Westernport Bay.
The Bandidos have opened up chapters in Melton and Dandenong, which are now both hotbeds for outlaw clubs.
Outlaw motorcycle club the Comancheros have a chapter in Hallam, while the nation's largest club, the Rebels, is also nearby.
The Outlaws, Immortals and Coffin Cheaters are part of the growing number of gangs in Melbourne's east.
