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Rival bikies set up in Perth
LUKE ELIOT
One of the world's oldest and biggest bikie gangs has established a Perth
chapter at a time of unprecedented underworld unrest.
The West Australian understands up to five members of the Outlaws Motorcycle
Club, who have based the local chapter in the northern Perth suburb of Balga,
have been identified.
Sources say the men deny they are patch-wearing members of the Outlaws and
instead call themselves "gang sympathisers".
But a Balga member placed a newspaper condolence notice for Gypsy Joker founding
member Les Hoddy's family and gang comrades, signed the Outlaws MC Australia.
Mr Hoddy's funeral was due today.
Messages on the gang's Australian website also indicate the WA members share
close links with long-serving members in the Eastern States.
"To Pup & the boys in WA, hope alls well. Should be your year this year 2005,
bigger & better in WA! Keep ya tyres down & shiny side up! Respect Always,
Hutchy 1%er, Shepp Slayers," an anonymous author wrote. A police spokesman
confirmed reports that the Outlaws were looking to set up a WA chapter and said
gang-response police were monitoring the situation.
"Of all the States in Australia, Western Australian and South Australian police
are the leaders in managing bikie gangs," the spokesman said.
The arrival of new bikie gangs in WA has been met with suspicion and
violence.When notorious New Zealand gang the Mongrel Mob tried to set up in WA
in 1989, their leader was shot and his business bombed by members of existing
clubs.
It is understood the Balga Outlaws approached bikies from WA's established gangs
to announce their intention to set up the local chapter.
The move was sanctioned by the clubs but it is understood that one powerful
outfit insisted the Outlaws never wear their patches in public.
The West Australian could not contact the Outlaws for a response.
The Outlaws have chapters in America, Europe, Asia and Australia. But they keep
a lower profile than other major gangs, including bitter rivals the Hells Angels
and Bandidos.
The gang's website says the Outlaws formed in Chicago in 1935. They adopted a
black and white patch with a small skull and crossed pistons - a symbol dubbed
Charlie.
The Outlaws say they are a "1 per cent" club but deny claims from law
enforcement agencies that the tag represents being above society's rules. They
say it means they are among the 1 per cent of bikies who ride hard, party hard
and are non-mainstream.
