Labor's hapless tough talking on bikies has made it the best recruitment agent the gangs have ever had

 

COMANCHERO bikie gang member has been shot dead while his father and club president survived a fourth attempt on his life. Witnesses said they heard up to five gunshots in quick succession at 9pm last night in an Adelaide suburb. Peter Frost, a resident of Dry Creek for 13 years, said he heard a popping noise but thought it might have been fireworks. "I wasn't sure if it was gunshots or what it was," he said. "It was like pop, pop, pop, pop... I just though it was fireworks or something. "From what I gathered later on, it (happened) down the end of the street, near the intersection (of Flame Ave and Churchill Rd North)." Mr Frost said police were at the scene until about 4am and they spoke to him several times. "They said there had been a shooting, a murder," he said. Focarelli silent on SA bikie shooting Bikie shot dead, father wounded in SA "It's not good in our neighbourhood." Police at the scene confirmed that Comanchero Giovanni Focarelli's body was in the back seat of a car on Prospect Rd, just outside Adelaide's Prospect Village Shopping Centre. He was aged in his early 20s. Minutes earlier, paramedics had gathered around the rear of the blue sedan, checking the body for signs of life. The cars headlights and hazard lights remained on. A man with multiple gunshot wounds, later confirmed to be gang leader and Giovanni's father Vince Focarelli, was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital. An SA Ambulance spokesperson said he was in stable condition and walking when ambulance crews arrived at the scene. It is the fourth time he has been the target of an assassination attempt. Ten police vehicles sealed off Prospect Rd within minutes of the first reports of gunshots about 9pm. A group of people who arrived at 9.35pm had to be restrained by police from entering the crime scene. One distraught woman was tackled by three officers. Sandra Basilico said she heard four shots out the front of her house before hearing a car speed off. Her son, Steven, 15, said the ordeal was "frightening". "It sounded like four gunshots, then I heard someone scream," he said. "It was pretty scary. We just went inside and sat tight. It was pretty frightening...I didn't come outside." Resident Steve Muller vented his frustrations over the bikie crime taking over his suburb. "These bikies, let them do what they want to do but do it anywhere else but our streets, it's rubbish," he said. "They are making themselves out to be gangsters and heroes ... it's not on. "Go out in the middle of nowhere and knock each other off but don't do it in our streets, it's silly, there are kids in the street." The State Opposition has slammed escalating violence among outlaw crime gangs, saying anti-bikie moves have failed. The State Government is working on the second phase of its anti-association laws after the High Court ruled elements of its initial push unlawful. The first phase of anti-bikie laws, penned by former attorney-general Michael Atkinson, was found to undermine the independence of the courts in a split decision. Attorney-General John Rau is now working on a new package to be presented in Parliament this year. Changes include giving the court power to "declare" a gang a criminal organisation, based on evidence supplied by police. Control orders could then be issued against members, banning them from associating. Opposition justice spokesman Stephen Wade today said the Government had talked tough but failed to deliver effective measures for eradicating outlaw gangs. "Labor's hapless tough talking on bikies has made it the best recruitment agent the gangs have ever had," Mr Wade said. "Labor's fruitless tough talking has elevated outlaw leaders like Vincenzo Focarelli to rock star status. "New laws will only ever reinforce well-established laws and policing practice. We need aggressive, targeted law enforcement against known criminals."

You Might Also Like :