Gang loses Life and Death struggle

A club with members jailed for murder and a reputation for their own brand of debt collection.

Now, they are no more.

The Lake Macquarie chapter of the Life and Death Motorcycle Club has disbanded after their Boolaroo clubhouse was torn apart by the gangs squad’s Strike Force Raptor and local detectives in February last year.

Senior members told police that it simply wasn’t worth being a member any more after they watched their colours, grog and guns be taken from the shed in Creek Reserve Road.

Some members patched over to rival gangs, including the Bandidos, where they now occupy senior roles, while others simply went into a retirement of sorts.

Gangs squad boss Superintendent Deb Wallace said there were still 25 to 30members of the Life and Death club along the eastern seaboard, but the Lake Macquarie chapter was no more.

‘‘We had the president turning over his colours saying, ‘this isn’t worth it, this is not the life for me any more’, which is an indication of the impact the raids had,’’ Superintendent Wallace said.

‘‘That was a significant turning point.

‘‘The Life and Death gang have been around for a lot of years and were a very traditional club.’’

Club members committed various atrocities over the years including two who murdered Newcastle businessman Simon McHugh in 1992 and four who were involved in the murder of a Central Coast man in 1998 when a violent debt collection turned home invasion went wrong.

The fact that some recent members had patched over to other clubs was a ‘‘concern’’, Superintendent Wallace said, but the loss of a longstanding ‘‘one per center’’ club was still a significant victory.

‘‘Some have patched over because they feel they need the benefits of being in such a club whether it’s for protection or to continue engaging in criminal activities,’’ she said.

‘‘Some have said that they feel too small and that they need to patch over to a bigger club for that protection.’’

The Life and Death raid on February 13 last year was part of a series carried out by Strike Force Raptor working with local police in the Hunter and the Central Coast.

It began at the Rebels’ Morisset clubhouse on November 8, 2013, then moved to the Life and Death compound, the Comancheros’ shed at Tea Gardens and the Rebels’ King Street, Newcastle, premises in February, 2014.

The February raids led the Bandidos to dismantle their Salamander Bay clubhouse themselves before police hit the Rebels at Woy Woy on April 11 and the Gladiators’ Maitland clubhouse on October 28.

Police have used legislation ranging from liquor laws to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to enter premises, seize alcohol, contraband and weapons and ultimately shut clubhouses down for operating as bars and clubs illegally.

At Boolaroo alone, 400bottles of beer and spirits were seized.

This month, police arrived unannounced and uninvited to a high-level meeting of the Nomads at Islington that included three senior members being charged with breaching non-association orders and all 31 attendees being warned.

‘‘We’re trying to break their resolve and we’ve had some success,’’ Superintendent Wallace said. ‘‘So we’re working very closely with the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Tuggerah Lakes local area commands.

‘‘We were up there on the weekend when we arrested 31Nomads and we were in Tamworth before that targeting the Rebels.’’

And police aren’t done yet.

Superintendent Wallace said the gangs squad would continue to target the one per centers while social motorcycle clubs have nothing to worry about.

‘‘Those that claim that they are the traditional one per centers make themselves targets because they’re basically identifying themselves as criminal gangs,’’ she said.

‘‘They’re different from the social clubs. We’re targeting the one per centers and we think we’re causing a significant disruption to them.’’