The Milperra Massacre was the name of an incident which occurred on September 2 (Father's Day) 1984, in Milperra, a south-western suburb of Sydney, in which seven people were killed, including six motorcycle gang members and a fourteen year old female bystander.
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A group of Comancheros had broken away and formed the first Bandidos Motorcycle Club chapter in Australia resulting in intense rivalry between them and, to a lesser extent, other outlaw gangs for control of the cocaine trade and the manufacture and supply of speed (amphetamines) – plus car-stealing and money laundering.
An advertised "British motorcycle swap meet" was placed in a few local press releases, and the venue was the Viking Tavern, with a scheduled start at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1984.
On Sunday September 2, 1984 around 1pm, a heavily armed group of Comancheros entered the carpark of the Viking Tavern during a motorcycle part swap meet with 30 similarly armed Bandidos arriving soon after with a back-up van carrying weapons following close behind. Both sides proceeded to line up at opposite ends of the car park. William George "Jock" Ross, who had founded the Comancheros in 1968, signalled by waving a machete in the air and the two clubs charged at each other.
Police responded after receiving reports that "a man" had gone berserk with a rifle at the Viking Tavern in Milperra and "a few shots" had been fired. The first of more than 200 police began arriving but the fighting continued for another 10 minutes before they were able to stop it. Four Comancheros died from shotgun wounds while two Bandidos died from .357 magnum bullets with a 14-year-old bystander, Leanne Walters, also killed after being hit in the face by a stray .357 bullet. A further 28 people were wounded with 20 requiring hospitalisation.
Mark Pennington, one of the first policemen on the scene, was later awarded $380,000 compensation for psychological damage.
As a result of the massacre the New South Wales Firearms and Dangerous Weapons Act 1973 was subsequently amended. The court case following the "Milperra Massacre" was at the time one of the largest in Australian history. Forty-three people were charged with seven counts of murder.[1]
During the longest joint criminal trial in NSW history, armed members of the Tactical Operations Unit were stationed in the courtroom and witnesses’ required armed guards from the Witness Security Unit to escort them home. More than two years later, on June 12, 1987, the jury delivered 63 murder convictions, 147 manslaughter convictions and 31 of affray. The judge in the case named the instigator of the violence as William "Jock" Ross, the "supreme commander" of the Comancheros, saying "Ross was primarily responsible for the decision that members of his club go to Milperra in force and armed". Ross received a life sentence for his role in the violence.
Seven other members of the Comancheros gang received life sentences and 16 Bandidos served 14 years for manslaughter. Commonwealth Games gold Medallist boxer Philip McElwaine was the only motorcycle club member to be acquitted of the manslaughter and murder charges that were brought against him.[2]
In a repeat of the circumstances that led to the Milperra massacre, in early 2007 more than 60 members of the Parramatta and Granville chapters of the Nomads, previously affiliated with the Comancheros, defected to the Bandidos. The defection resulted in a new eruption of violence between the Comancheros and Bandidos involving firebombings and drive by shootings.[3] New South Wales Police set up Operation Ranmore to stop the violence escalating which has resulted in 340 people arrested on 883 charges as of January 2008.[4]
In 2002, Australian film maker Martin Brown produced a documentary titled 1% One Percenters Search For A Screenplay in an effort to raise interest for a big budget movie of the massacre. The documentary, first aired on 2 February 2003, follows Brown as he looks for screenwriters, funds and a director for his movie. It includes interviews with the police investigating officer ex superintendent Ron Stephenson, Comanchero president "Jock" Ross, Bandido vice president "Bullets" and several other Milperra survivors.[5]
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   | NSW Police History of Firearms legislation - History of Firearms Legislation in NSW - NSW Police Force |
| | Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC): information about the 1 percenters - a film about the massacre - ABC Television: Program summary - 1% One Percenters Search For A Screenplay: |
| | 1984: Seven killed in Sydney biker shootings - BBC ON THIS DAY | 2 | 1984: Seven killed in Sydney biker shootings |
| | Police fear Milperra massacre could be repeated - Police fear Milperra massacre could be repeated - National - smh.com.au |
| | Crime Inc's riders - Crime Inc's riders - National - Home - brisbanetimes.com.au |
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