trial for six Comanchero bikies accused of murdering a man at Sydney Airport has heard their leader was provoked by the victim.

Opening the defence case for the Comancheros, Philip Dunn, the lawyer for their leader Mick Hawi, said Hawi's behaviour during the violent airport brawl was "a case of reactions - not actions".He reminded the Supreme Court jury sitting at Parramatta that his client has pleaded not guilty.Anthony Zervas, the 29-year-old brother of a Hells Angels bikie, was killed in the March 2009 fight.The crown case is that Mr Zervas was chased before being bashed with metal bollards, stabbed and kicked.The jurors have previously heard that the brawl started after a chance meeting between members of the rival clubs on a domestic flight from Melbourne.But Mr Dunn said prosecutors have "started on the wrong track" because there is evidence that Mr Zervas ran at Hawi to try to attack him first.Referring to witness...

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Posted in trial for six Comanchero bikies accused of murdering a man at Sydney Airport has heard their leader was provoked by the victim.

Victorian police say they are closing in on the gunman who shot dead a former bodyguard of convicted murderer Carl Williams 11 years ago.

They say they need one last piece of evidence to complete the jigsaw and on Sunday offered a big lure - $1 million for information leading to a conviction of the killer of career criminal Richard Mladenich.Mladenich, 37, was shot at the Esquire Motel in St Kilda on May 16, 2000, in front of three people.Advertisement: Story continues belowThe standover man's killer was a gunman who knocked on the door of room 18 before blasting Mladenich in the back of the head and strolling away.A $100,000 reward was offered in December 2002 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles, who knew Mladenich when he worked the St Kilda beat in the 1980s, said the smallest piece of information could assist in solving the case.He said there were people...

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Posted in Victorian police say they are closing in on the gunman who shot dead a former bodyguard of convicted murderer Carl Williams 11 years ago.

Six Comanchero bikies have denied murdering a man at Sydney Airport, with jurors hearing the victim was the first to attack in the fatal brawl.

Anthony Zervas, the brother of Hells Angel Peter Zervas, flicked the hood of his jacket over his face and ran towards the Comancheros. One of them then yelled "he's got a gun", defence barristers said in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.Mr Zervas, 29, then came at Comanchero president Mahmoud Hawi, stabbing him with scissors or a knife, said Hawi's lawyer Philip Dunn, QC.Advertisement: Story continues belowHe told the court the "big issue in the case" would be whether his client was entitled to defend himself."Did the Comanchero run down and attack the Hells Angels or did the Hells Angels move towards the Comanchero?" he said.Hawi is standing trial for the murder of Mr Zervas in March 2009, along with fellow club members Farres Abounader, Ishmail Eken, Zoran Kisacanin, Christian Menzies and...

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Posted in Six Comanchero bikies have denied murdering a man at Sydney Airport , with jurors hearing the victim was the first to attack in the fatal brawl.

POLICEWOMAN associated with a high-ranking figure of the Hells Angels has escaped conviction for accessing the force’s LEAP database for personal reasons.

Constable Lauren Elissa Conte, 29, formerly of Linton, was found guilty of one charge of accessing information contrary to duty, while she was a police officer at Camperdown in 2009.The Ballarat Magistrates Court heard Conte had accessed the Victoria Police Law Enforcement Assistance Program on October 2, 2009, to find out personal information, dossier and drivers licence and vehicle registration details of Kellie Jade Turner, an associate of Paul Joseph Peterson, the sergeant-at-arms of the Hells Angels’ Nomads bikie club.Three charges of accessing information contrary to duty — two of which were regarding Mr Peterson and one Ms Turner — were withdrawn after the magistrate found no proven contact between the parties at the time of the alleged offences.Sergeant analyst Ian Douglas of the ethical...

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Posted in POLICEWOMAN associated with a high-ranking figure of the Hells Angels has escaped conviction for accessing the force’s LEAP database for personal reasons.

Police have charged a 25-year-old Rock Machine bikie associate, Stefan Pahia Schmidt, with murder over the death of the New Zealand-born man, who plummeted up to eight metres out of the second-storey window of the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe,

The death of musician Andrew Marshall after he was allegedly thrown out of the window of a popular Perth pub has dealt another blow to a family already rocked by tragedy.Police have charged a 25-year-old Rock Machine bikie associate, Stefan Pahia Schmidt, with murder over the death of the New Zealand-born man, who plummeted up to eight metres out of the second-storey window of the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe, striking the pavement.Mr Marshall's cousin, New Zealand local government councillor Nikki Guy, said it was an added tragedy after the loss of her brother, who was allegedly gunned down in his driveway of his rural property, in the country's north island, on July 8 last year.The window at the Ocean Beach Hotel where the man fell to his death. Photo: Paul Entwistle.Scott Guy, a Fielding...

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Posted in The death of musician Andrew Marshall after he was allegedly thrown out of the window of a popular Perth pub has dealt another blow to a family already rocked by tragedy.

ROCK Machine bikie charged over the attempted murder of Rebels president Nick Martin has been brutally attacked in prison, stabbed in the neck with a broom.

ROCK Machine bikie charged over the attempted murder of Rebels president Nick Martin has been brutally attacked in prison, stabbed in the neck with a broom.The 30-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was seriously injured during a brawl at Casuarina Prison on Saturday afternoon.A Department of Corrective Services spokeswoman last night confirmed the man had been wounded some time between 4pm and 5pm and had been taken to hospital for surgery.It is not clear if the broom handle had been fashioned into a dagger-like weapon or if the bloody incident was captured on the jail’s closed circuit surveillance.The violent stabbing attack is the latest flashpoint in an ongoing feud between the Rebels and rival bikie gang, the Rock Machine, in which a tattoo shop has been firebombed, bikies...

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Posted in ROCK Machine bikie charged over the attempted murder of Rebels president Nick Martin has been brutally attacked in prison , stabbed in the neck with a broom.

THE son of the boss of the Hells Angels bikie gang was yesterday behind bars after he was found guilty of an elaborate criminal conspiracy.

THE son of the boss of the Hells Angels bikie gang was yesterday behind bars after he was found guilty of an elaborate criminal conspiracy.A 12-member jury in the Downing Centre District Court yesterday found that Dallas Fitzgerald, 30, supervised the laundering of $20 million through Hong Kong.The money was part of $150 million in superannuation funds stolen from JP Morgan on Christmas Eve in 2003. The jury found that Fitzgerald, the son of bikie boss Felix Lyle, was a key player in the scam, which was headed by Sydney underworld figure Tony Vincent.Fitzgerald, who could face up to three years in jail, will reappear in court for sentencing on July 1.He was refused bail because he was a flight risk and had been caught with fake identification with a different name, the prosecution s...

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Posted in THE son of the boss of the Hells Angels bikie gang was yesterday behind bars after he was found guilty of an elaborate criminal conspiracy.

The lawyer for Finks bikie gang member Troy Mercanti has argued in the Supreme Court that his client should be immediately released from prison.

Mercanti's two year and four month sentence for assault ended last month but he is still behind bars over another charge.Last year, a District Court judge sentenced Mercanti to four months jail for refusing to answer questions at an Australian Crime Commission inquiry in 2009.The judge initially ordered that Mercanti could serve the two sentences together but the decision was later changed to have them served cumulatively.Mercanti's lawyer Laurie Levy SC has argued that the decision was wrong and his client has done his time.The Court of Appeal has reserved its decisi...

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Posted in The lawyer for Finks bikie gang member Troy Mercanti has argued in the Supreme Court that his client should be immediately released from prison.

WA police are reportedly investigating whether a bikie charged over the death of a New Zealand man at a popular Perth pub was allowed inside by bouncers against the wishes of management.

Bouncers let members of the Rock Machine outlaw bikie gang into the Ocean Beach Hotel, in Cottesloe, hours before 29-year-old Andrew Marshall was thrown from a second floor window, WA Today reported.The news website reported the bouncers were allegedly "friendly" with the gang members, though management was concerned about their presence.Mr Marshall was having a drink with friends on Sunday night when he was pushed through a plate glass window.He fell 7m onto a footpath and died in hospital from head and spinal injuries.A 25-year-old Rock Machine outlaw bikie gang member has been charged over the death, in what police are saying was an unprovoked attack."This is a case of a young man, on a Sunday night, out with his friends having a beer and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time,"...

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Posted in WA police are reportedly investigating whether a bikie charged over the death of a New Zealand man at a popular Perth pub was allowed inside by bouncers against the wishes of management.