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The Milperera Massacre

It was a gunfight the likes of which Sydney had never seen before – or since. When the smoke cleared seven men and a 14-year-old girl lay dead and another 20 people were injured in the melee. One survivor had had his arm cut off with a machete.

They were all victims of a bikie gang war that erupted in a Sydney hotel car park on Father’s Day – 2 September 1984.

The events leading up to the gunfight had begun some months earlier. The two participating gangs – the Bandidos and the Comancheros – had originally been one gang, the Comancheros, led by William ‘Jock’ Ross.

But many members were unhappy with the way Ross was running things. They broke away from the main gang and under the leadership of Anthony ‘Snoddy’ Snodgrass – who later hanged himself in jail – they formed their own splinter group and called themselves the Bandidos.

There was bitter rivalry between the two gangs and for many months after the split there was fierce – though controlled – anger between opposing members. But it didn’t last. On 11 August 1984, war was officially declared between the two leaders.

In preparation for an attack on their clubhouse, the Comancheros had the building fortified with gun parapets and an around-the-clock armed sentry positioned on the roof. The Bandidos did likewise to their headquarters.

On the morning of 2 September both gangs held councils of war at the clubs and it was decided that they would fight to the death that afternoon at a motorcycle spare parts swap meeting that was being held in the car park of the Viking Hotel at nearby Milperra.

The swap was being conducted by the British Motorcycle Club and was an opportunity for enthusiasts to trade parts for some of the rarer types of motorcycles. The meeting had turned out to be a raging success and had attracted over 1000 people consisting of men, women and families making an afternoon of it.

With seemingly little regard for anyone else and intent on killing each other, in mid-afternoon, when the crowd was at its peak, the battle started and 12 minutes later when the firing stopped, the trade meet area was strewn with bodies of the dead and dying. Police arrived soon after to what they could only describe as a war zone. Bikies and civilians were huddled – screaming and sobbing – over their dead and injured friends and family members.

Seven bikies and 14-year-old Leanne Walters – who was caught in the deadly crossfire – lay fatally wounded. Paramedics tended the living casualties and ambulances ran a shuttle service to local hospitals.

Police recovered 10 firearms and 37 other weapons which included baseball bats, pick handles, chains, knives, iron bars and knuckle dusters. Post mortems revealed that all of the deceased had died from gunshot wounds. Those injured had either been shot, stabbed or battered. It seemed as though any innocent bystander who got in the way of the gangs as they challenged each other was beaten aside.

One bikie who eventually turned Crown evidence told police: ‘There was one shot and then a number of other shots together. I just hit the ground and lay there for a while.’

Sydney police acted swiftly in rounding up the perpetrators. In one dawn swoop 200 police raided 44 homes. In the months that followed 43 bikies were rounded up throughout the Sydney metropolitan area and put in jail.

All 43 were eventually charged with all of the murders under the doctrine of ‘common purpose’ in that they had all attended the Viking Tavern on 2 September with a common purpose in mind – and that purpose had ended in mass murder.

What resulted was the longest and costliest trial in Australia’s history. By the time it was over it had run for 31 months and cost more than $12 million. The trial took place behind mesh and Perspex barriers at the especially fitted out Penrith court.

Before the trial began murder charges against 11 of the defendants were dropped as it was concluded that they could not be found guilty. Of the remainder, nine were eventually found guilty of the murders while the rest were found guilty of manslaughter. Another was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter but found guilty of affray.

Their sentences varied from life imprisonment to lengthy jail terms depending on their involvement in the infamous Milperra Father’s Day Massacre.