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[OZ] Call to arms
Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:23am
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Bikie call to arms
EXCLUSIVE by MARNIE O'NEILL
June 12, 2005
NOMADS bike club elder Sam Ibrahim has issued an extraordinary challenge to a rival club leader to "take me on, just me and you" in a bid to end an escalating turf war.


Challenge: Inside the Nomads' Parramatta headquarters
Mr Ibrahim, 36, said he was prepared to fight Rebels president Alex Vella to the death, "guns or fists, anywhere, anytime" to avoid shedding innocent blood.

"It's going to be an ugly war. It's not going to be a war that finishes overnight," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

"But it'll only be a short war if Alex steps up to the challenge. I said: 'Me and you go to war. Just me and you'."

The Rebels-Nomads war now spans two states, and several Nomads have been wounded in shootings in recent months.

The businesses of senior members of both clubs were destroyed in arson attacks less than two weeks ago.

A Blacktown Harley-Davidson museum owned by former Nomads national president Tom Browne was razed on June 1, causing more than $1 million in damage.

The next night, a Homebush panel beating business owned by Rebels sergeant-at-arms Simon Rasic was burnt down.

When told of the challenge, NSW Gang Squad acting commander Mick Sheehy urged both sides to calm down.

"It's a really bad idea; they won't solve anything by getting physical," he said.

"We need to get Sam and Alex together for talks. I am happy to mediate but there will obviously need to be a heavy police presence.

"This conflict is not having a positive effect on their image."

Mr Ibrahim, president of the Nomads' Parramatta chapter, said that for the sake of his members, he had no choice but to take on Mr Vella.

"If he kills me, he wins against the Nomads," he said.

"If I kill him, I win against the Rebels and the war is over. No member from any club will get hurt again.

"I'm not out to be a hero, but if that's what it takes to look after my boys, I'm prepared to die."

The Sunday Telegraph was unable to contact Mr Vella.

The dispute began in Queensland about six months ago, when Rebels members formed a Gold Coast chapter without consulting local Nomads.

In the latest tit-for-tat incident, a senior Gold Coast Nomads member had his ear sliced off last Tuesday.

Detective Inspector John Hartwell, of Surfers Paradise CIB, said police were unsure who was responsible for the attack.

"We have our suspicions, but to speculate could inflame a situation that doesn't exist," Inspector Hartwell said.

But a source close to the victim told The Sunday Telegraph there was indeed "a situation".

The source said Gold Coast Rebels members had gone to the house of a "civilian friend" of the victim, tied up his family, put a gun to his head and demanded that he call the senior Nomad to the house.

"It's part of the tit-for-tat thing," the source said.

"But Nomads never went to no one's family and put a gun to his head and said: 'Call your mate so we can bash him'."

There have also been rumours of internal tension among the Nomads, but Mr Ibrahim dismissed them as "garbage".

"The Nomads are united, 100 per cent," he said.

Mr Ibrahim said he did not want to see a repeat of the 1984 Milperra massacre, which left seven bikers and a teenage girl dead.

"We haven't produced no guns yet but, if we do, hell's going to break loose," he said.

"I care about my members. I care about people getting hurt for no reason," he said.

"But why risk the public?

"I told my members there's no war between the Rebels and the Nomads, there's only war between me and Alex. So no one has to be hurt except him or me."

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