Detective Inspector Mick Sheehy said the senior members of both gangs could
expect to hear police knocking on their doors.
"We call upon those senior members [in the clubs] to try and keep their
junior membership in line," he said.
"If they can't do that, we'll be out there doing it for them."
Outlaw bikers have told The Saturday Daily Telegraph they believe the turf
war, which started in Queensland when the larger Rebels outfit encroached on
Nomad territory, will not end easily.
"A lot of people are extremely worried about this because it is going to go
right out of control – it'll be on, a real blow up," one long-time Nomad
member said.
Another biker said it was inevitable blood would be spilt.
"It's when, not if," he said.
But he said some older members of the clubs had handed in their colours
because of the war.
"They dont want to be caught in any gang war. These are older blokes with
families," he said.
Insp Sheehy said yesterday the turf war started about February.
Aside from the arson attacks, the police investigation includes other
incidents dating back to mid-March, including the shooting of a Nomad member
in Blacktown in March.
"Bikie groups have a code of silence where they refuse to speak to police,"
Insp Sheehy said.
"Obviously that's a difficulty. It is in the hands of those bikie groups to
try and conciliate the matter. If we can assist in some way, we will do
that."
Bikers are supposed to have a code of not attacking the businesses or homes
of rivals – a rule that appears to have been abandoned.
"They are very much [personal] attacks against each other," Insp Sheehy
said.
"I don't know where it could go from here."
Police offer peace
deal in turf war
By Paul Carter
03jun05
POLICE have offered to broker a peace deal between two bikie gangs at war in
Sydney.
Four months of
tit-for-tat revenge attacks between the Rebels and Nomads peaked this week
with two ram-raid fire-bombings on Sydney businesses belonging to senior
gang members.
Concerned about public
safety and a further escalation in the violence, the New South Wales Police
gangs squad has stepped in to head-off an all-out war between the gangs.
"I don't know where it
could go from here," Acting Gangs Squad Commander Detective Inspector Mick
Sheehy said today.
Police would actively
investigate the attacks, Insp Sheehy said, but he warned there was an onus
on the clubs to reach a truce.
"We are willing to meet with any senior member of the clubs that want to
speak with us," he said.
"We call upon those senior members to try and keep
their junior membership in line.
"If they can't do that, we will be out there doing
that for them."
Insp Sheehy said the troubles dating back to February
included an unsolved drive-by shooting of one gang member and a number of
assaults.
The gangs shared a code of silence that made
investigations difficult for police, but authorities were aware the dispute
was a show of strength in a criminal turf war, Insp Sheehy said.
In NSW, more than 1000 members belong to the Rebels.
About 500 people are associated with the Nomads.
The dispute appeared to be confined to NSW, but there
was a national concern and authorities in other states had been informed,
Insp Sheehy said.
An ongoing factional conflict within the Nomads over
increasing numbers of Lebanese men joining the gang was not a factor in the
feud with the Rebels, he said.
"It is apparent a number of Lebanese have joined the
Nomads bikie club, and there's no doubt it has provided some conflict," Insp
Sheedy said. On Wednesday morning, a truck was driven into a motorcycle shop
in Blacktown, in western Sydney and set alight, destroying the premises,
which had links to a Nomad club member, police said.
A similar incident occurred early on Thursday morning,
when a truck was driven into a panel beating shop operated by a member of
the Rebels group at Homebush in western Sydney.
Gang Squad to assist with alleged
bikie violence investigations
The New South Wales Police Minister says he is concerned to hear that
biker gangs may be involved in two western Sydney shop fires earlier
this week.
The State Crime Command's Gang Squad has taken
control of an investigation into the incidents in which a truck was
crashed into a panel beating shop in Homebush and a motorcycle shop in
Blacktown, before being set alight.
The Police Minister Carl Scully says it appears to
be tit-for-tat violence.
"I welcome the New South Wales police force
engaging the gang squad," Mr Scully said.
"That's the appropriate squad to deal with it, the
preliminary advice is that gangs are involved and we'll do all we can to
find the culprits and deal with them."
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