Gold Coast bikie clash between Finks, Hells Angels dates back to infamous ‘Ballroom Blitz’

A GANG feud dating back almost a decade – to the Gold Coast’s wild “Ballroom Blitz” bikie brawl – is behind a fresh eruption of bikie violence that has senior police fearing more strife on the streets of the Glitter Strip.

Two Finks gang members, including alleged president Ben Williams, faced court this week charged over the baseball bat bashing of a Hells Angels rival in front of shocked cafe diners at Varsity Lakes. The victim was allegedly forced to jump into a lake and swim to escape after being chased by the Finks .

Senior police say the bad blood between the gangs goes back to at least 2006 when former Fink Christopher Wayne Hudson “patched over” to the Hells Angels.

The defection was blamed for sparking the infamous “Ballroom Blitz” when the gangs fought a pitched battle with guns, knives and furniture at a kickboxing tournament in the ballroom of the Royal Pines Resort at Ashmore.

Hudson is serving a life sentence for a triple shooting in Melbourne’s CBD which left one person dead and two seriously injured.

Superintendent Mick Niland, head of the bikie-busting Taskforce Maxima, said Finks and Hells Angels not only despised each other but were also fierce rivals in the Gold Coast’s lucrative illicit drug trade.

“There have always been tensions between the Hells Angels and Finks going back to Hudson and the ‘Ballroom Blitz’,’’ he said.

“In the business model of outlaw motorcycle gangs, it is territory and greed which reign supreme and they’re both trying to muscle in on each other’s turf when it comes to the drug trade.”

Supt Niland said the Finks and Hells Angels were few, but intelligence suggested they were trying to recruit members.

He said the Varsity Lakes incident was concerning as there had been few, if any, public incidents between bikies since the Newman government crackdown in 2013.

He would not comment on fears the state’s tough anti-bikie laws could be wound back by the Palaszczuk Government after a review taskforce hands down its findings in March. But he said police had used the laws to successfully target the bikies – although the gangs remained an ongoing threat.

“Outlaw motorcycle gangs are still there, however we have had, in general, very little public ­violence and we haven’t seen the bikies in intimidating numbers like we did previously,” he said.

Supt Niland said Taskforce Maxima had a successful year. Major busts included Operation Lima Interlude, targeting a $100,000-a-week ice trafficking ring allegedly run by the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang. Almost 150 people were arrested on more than 380 charges.

Maxima also led Operation Mike Cloudburst, a national blitz targeting ex-Comanchero bikies in which more than $17 million worth of ice was seized.

Since October 2013, Maxima has arrested 2555 offenders on 8478 charges and seized millions of dollars worth of drugs and cash and almost 500 weapons.

Almost a quarter of the arrests have happened on the Gold Coast.

“The Gold Coast is the epicentre (of bikie activity) – it always has been,’’ Supt Niland said.

He said Maxima was planning new strategies to tackle the bikies in 2016.

“The bikies are criminal gangs – they don’t change their spots, they never will, and we will continue to be ­relentless in our pursuit of them,” he said.