Australia clamps down on lawless bikers

Australia is targeting outlaw bikers with anti-terror style laws amid fears of a gang war after the brother of a Hells Angel was beaten to death in front of terrified passengers at Sydney Airport.

The public nature of the March 22 attack at the nation's busiest airport, where children were among the witnesses, has stirred outrage and prompted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to declare "zero tolerance" toward biker violence.

It has also raised fears that long-simmering tensions between gangs such as the Hells Angels, Comancheros, Bandidos and Rebels will explode into a full-scale biker war.

"I think it's really likely that a state of war has been declared ... the larger clubs will take action," said Monash University's Arthur Veno, author of several books about bikers.

The last time Australia's bikers battled in public was 25 years ago, when six gang members and a teenage girl died in a shootout between the Bandidos and Comancheros in the car park of a Sydney pub.

The latest violence, says organised crime expert associate professor Andreas Schloenhardt from Queensland University, stems from turf wars over drug distribution, particularly methamphetamine or "ice".

He said the biker gangs controlled security at nightclubs, providing them with a market for their drugs but also making them a target for rivals keen to muscle in on the lucrative trade.

"Violence has always been part of the way that biker gangs operate," he said.

"What's frightening about this is that it took place in such a public space."

The airport attack followed a spate of drive-by shootings and firebombings at biker clubhouses around Sydney, where a new gang called Notorious has upset the balance between existing clubs.

Police say the death occurred after members of the Hells Angels and Comancheros found themselves on the same flight to Sydney.

After verbal exchanges they texted ahead for reinforcements to meet them when they landed and a brawl involving up to 20 bikers ensued which one witness described as a "big rolling ball of mayhem".

It culminated in the check-in area of the Qantas domestic terminal, where Anthony Zervas, 29, the brother of a senior Hells Angel, was fatally bludgeoned with steel crowd-control bollards as he lay on the ground.

Sydney Airport caters for more than 30 million passengers a year and authorities have faced tough questions about how the wild melee could continue unchecked for 15 minutes in Australia's main tourist gateway.

"This was out-of-control violence in a crowded place, with the public at maximum exposure and at considerable risk," the Sydney Morning Herald said, pointing out the airport should be one of the most secure areas in Australia.

Rudd has vowed to raise the issue at a meeting of federal and state attorneys-general later this year, advocating a national approach to curbing the gangs.

"Bikie gangs, bikie thugs and organised criminal activity, from my point of view, should have zero tolerance ... we have a problem on our hands when it comes to organised bikie gang violence across the country ... it's repugnant," he said.

But some states have pre-empted Rudd's meeting with tough laws banning specific motorcycle clubs in the same way that anti-terror laws proscribe particular extremist groups.

"If these people want to act like terrorists, we'll deal with them as terrorists," New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said.

South Australia has already introduced the laws and its ban on The Finks motorcycle club is subject to a High Court legal challenge, while New South Wales is fast-tracking similar legislation following the airport brawl.

Schloenhardt, who is mid-way through a two-year research project sponsored by the United Nations and the Australian Federal Police, believes the approach will not work.

He said outlaw biker gangs had evolved from their origins as loose collections of US World War II veterans interested in Harley-Davidsons and wild times into sophisticated criminal enterprises with a global reach.

"It will just serve to drive the phenomenon underground," he said. "They will shave their beards, put away their (club insignia) vests and keep doing what they're doing.

"At least now, they're so visible that police have an idea what they're up to."

Schloenhardt recommended adopting an approach similar to the US RICO anti-racketeering statutes, which target the proceeds of crime and have been successfully used against organisations such as the Mafia.