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Why Melbourne's nightclubs have been targeted by a 'Fagin-like' mystery figure · The Morning Edition

• 0:04
  S1: It sounds like something from a crime drama fire bombs,
• 0:07
  S1: drive by shootings and kidnapping attempts. But this is no
• 0:11
  S1: work of fiction. Rather, it is Melbourne's nightlife industry which
• 0:16
  S1: has been beset by violent crimes for much of this year.
• 0:20
  S2: Another Melbourne nightclub has been fire bombed and badly damaged.
• 0:24
  S2: Nightclub owners in Melbourne are on edge as firebombing attacks
• 0:27
  S2: terrorize the hospitality sector.
• 0:29
  S3: The violence is escalating.
• 0:32
  S1: What were once relatively rare crimes in the city have
• 0:35
  S1: recently become regular occurrences. So just what is happening on
• 0:39
  S1: the streets of Melbourne? I'm Benjamin Price filling in for
• 0:44
  S1: Samantha Sellinger Morris, and you're listening to The Morning Edition
• 0:48
  S1: from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Today, crime
• 0:52
  S1: reporters Chris Vedelago and Karl Jager on the crime wave
• 0:56
  S1: that swept Melbourne. It's Monday, May 18th. Welcome, Carla and
• 1:04
  S1: Chris to the Morning Edition.
• 1:06
  S4: Happy to be here.
• 1:07
  S5: Thank you.
• 1:08
  S1: Can you help set the scene for us, Chris? When
• 1:10
  S1: did this series of nightclub attacks start and what has
• 1:13
  S1: been happening?
• 1:14
  S6: Well, we believe it started in February with an attempted
• 1:16
  S6: firebombing at the Emerson, a very popular nightclub in South
• 1:19
  S6: Yarra and one of our most popular kind of nightlife
• 1:21
  S6: precincts in Melbourne. Since then, there's been nearly 40 attacks,
• 1:26
  S6: and basically the most of them are people drive up
• 1:29
  S6: in the cover of night after the nightclubs are closed
• 1:32
  S6: and everyone's gone home and they ram into the front
• 1:34
  S6: of the business, or they break the the front of
• 1:37
  S6: the business and they throw Molotov cocktails into it. They
• 1:39
  S6: try to burn it down. And it's basically started as
• 1:41
  S6: a string of arson attacks against nightclubs that were closed.
• 1:44
  S6: But it's escalated into drive by shootings at venues, during
• 1:47
  S6: operating hours when people are out drinking and partying. There's
• 1:50
  S6: been home invasions, kidnappings, carjackings, drive by, shootings of other places,
• 1:57
  S6: fires at warehouses. It's nearly 40 attacks, and it's been
• 2:01
  S6: going on constantly for nearly two and a half months.
• 2:03
  S1: And normally you might expect that these might be linked
• 2:06
  S1: to control over the drug trade or nightclub security. Do
• 2:10
  S1: we have that kind of motive here?
• 2:12
  S6: This is something we haven't seen before. And you're right.
• 2:14
  S6: Normally we'd be talking about people trying to control drugs,
• 2:17
  S6: moving through clubs or the sale of alcohol, or who
• 2:20
  S6: runs security in order to control those things inside the clubs.
• 2:24
  S6: In this case, it's a motiveless crime. We just don't
• 2:27
  S6: know why they're doing this, and yet they keep doing it.
• 2:29
  S6: It's kind of paralyzed Melbourne's nightlife community because they really
• 2:33
  S6: don't understand what's going on. It's been very, very violent
• 2:36
  S6: in a very short period of time.
• 2:38
  S1: So, Carla, what has been the impact on the nightlife
• 2:41
  S1: scene in Melbourne?
• 2:42
  S4: I guess talking, you know, the physical impact there have been,
• 2:46
  S4: you know, 40 foot trucks parked out the front of
• 2:49
  S4: places in an attempt to prevent if there is a
• 2:52
  S4: drive by shooting. There have been bollards put up. You know,
• 2:56
  S4: venues have been using cast iron gates and reinforcements. Then
• 3:02
  S4: there is this second element of terror, really among venue owners,
• 3:06
  S4: people working in the industry because they have no idea
• 3:09
  S4: what's going on. But they they know that not only
• 3:13
  S4: is their venue at risk, but their lives. Too many
• 3:16
  S4: of them have been told by police to go into hiding.
• 3:19
  S4: That includes club promoters. There was three attempted kidnappings in April.
• 3:25
  S4: One of them was actually a successful kidnapping, but police
• 3:28
  S4: believe they targeted the wrong man. This man was abducted
• 3:32
  S4: from his home. He was allegedly held overnight. He was
• 3:37
  S4: allegedly assaulted. And then the accused offenders are accused of
• 3:42
  S4: dumping him outside a hospital. Police believe that the intended
• 3:46
  S4: target of that kidnapping was a club promoter. So I
• 3:50
  S4: suppose I say that to to just, you know, give
• 3:54
  S4: an example of of how extreme the level of violence
• 3:57
  S4: is and the threat to safety for for people.
• 4:01
  S1: And paint the geographical picture for us. Where are these
• 4:04
  S1: attacks actually happening? Are they widespread or confined to particular
• 4:08
  S1: nightlife spots?
• 4:10
  S4: That's what's really interesting about this. And what police have
• 4:14
  S4: said is the closest pattern that they've found in the
• 4:18
  S4: venues being targeted is that they all seem to be,
• 4:21
  S4: for the most part, constrained to three areas, and that's
• 4:26
  S4: Melbourne CBD, the Chapel Street Precinct and South Melbourne. So
• 4:30
  S4: these very, you know, city and inner city nightlife hot spots, essentially.
• 4:37
  S4: There are a couple anomalies in that when they've targeted
• 4:39
  S4: residential areas.
• 4:41
  S1: And these are areas that are very popular on weekends,
• 4:44
  S1: aren't they. So in Sydney they're comparable to Oxford Street
• 4:48
  S1: or Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. A lot of nightlife people
• 4:51
  S1: going out late into the night.
• 4:53
  S4: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they're big party venues. If you
• 4:56
  S4: think about Chapel Street, that's sort of the I guess
• 4:59
  S4: not so much now, but had kind of a more
• 5:01
  S4: of iconic nightlife feel about it. It's got revolver Love Machine,
• 5:06
  S4: which is part of this whole spate of attacks. It
• 5:08
  S4: burnt down in March. You know, the Emerson, the Osborne,
• 5:12
  S4: it's kind of a you know, a real hotspot.
• 5:14
  S1: Chris, these attacks have been highly unusual for Melbourne. What
• 5:18
  S1: do you think is driving them?
• 5:20
  S6: Well, what's interesting about this is I mean, arson has
• 5:22
  S6: become a real weapon of choice for the underworld in
• 5:25
  S6: the last 4 or 5 years. We saw it with
• 5:26
  S6: the tobacco war. There was 150 Firebombings in Melbourne and
• 5:29
  S6: Victoria alone. This is unusual because they're targeting actual venues
• 5:33
  S6: that people congregate at for fun. Right? And sometimes those
• 5:36
  S6: venues are occupied, like in a drive by shooting at
• 5:39
  S6: the Emerson. Other times they're closed. But we've never seen
• 5:43
  S6: people target places where people go for pleasure like this
• 5:47
  S6: before and in such a confined area. It's really, really intense.
• 5:51
  S6: And what's driving it is. The thing is, nobody knows.
• 5:54
  S6: Nobody really understands why this is happening. Not the venue owners,
• 5:58
  S6: not the police. There's no answer to what these people
• 6:00
  S6: want and why they keep this sustained campaign of violence going.
• 6:04
  S1: Mhm. And you've reported multiple owners received an encrypted message
• 6:08
  S1: in the lead up to some of these attacks. It
• 6:10
  S1: was from an Iraq based crime gang saying, if you
• 6:13
  S1: got this message, we're after you, your family, your business,
• 6:17
  S1: homes and souls. But they didn't list any specific demands.
• 6:21
  S1: Who is this Iraqi crime gang and what do you
• 6:23
  S1: think it wants?
• 6:25
  S6: This is the strangest thing as an extortion demand. There's
• 6:28
  S6: no payoff. There's this. It's not even an implied threat.
• 6:32
  S6: It's a serious, direct threat. But they're not saying this
• 6:35
  S6: is how you make this stop. What we've come to
• 6:37
  S6: understand is that this threat is coming from an Iraq
• 6:40
  S6: based crime group that's associated with the tobacco wars. In particular,
• 6:44
  S6: we believe there's a it's centered around one particular 23
• 6:49
  S6: year old who left the country in 2022 following a
• 6:52
  S6: shooting and is for some reason decided to use the
• 6:55
  S6: infrastructure of the tobacco war. This ability to order anonymous attacks,
• 6:59
  S6: fire bombings and shootings to wage war on Melbourne's nightlife.
• 7:03
  S1: So can you talk a little bit more about that
• 7:05
  S1: relationship between this spate of nightclub attacks and Melbourne's tobacco wars,
• 7:11
  S1: in which tobacco retailers across the city have been targeted
• 7:14
  S1: with firebombings?
• 7:16
  S6: So what we saw was an effectively an attempt to
• 7:19
  S6: control the sale of illicit tobacco in Melbourne, Victoria and
• 7:22
  S6: elsewhere in Australia. The powers that be that were doing
• 7:25
  S6: this were based overseas in Iraq. So the command structure
• 7:28
  S6: of the organised crime group lives in another country, and
• 7:31
  S6: they were directing attacks and extortion demands at local businesses
• 7:35
  S6: here through encrypted apps and diffuse networks of offenders. It
• 7:39
  S6: was kind of a transnational crime wave that we'd never
• 7:41
  S6: really seen before. And what we see now is that
• 7:44
  S6: somebody has picked up the reins of that and is
• 7:47
  S6: applying it away from tobacco shops and into the nightlife
• 7:50
  S6: scene where they're basically using street kids. Ordering street kids
• 7:54
  S6: anonymously and paying them off anonymously to conduct this war
• 7:57
  S6: of terror on on nightclubs.
• 8:04
  S1: After the break.
• 8:06
  S4: They are now able to reach kids with little to
• 8:09
  S4: no criminal links. Somehow, kids who have never been exposed
• 8:14
  S4: to crime are being contacted by people online.
• 8:28
  S1: So, Carla, can you tell us a bit more about
• 8:31
  S1: who is actually going to these venues and setting fire
• 8:34
  S1: to them, and how are these attacks ordered?
• 8:37
  S4: Yeah. Well, as Chris said earlier, that these are street
• 8:40
  S4: kids predominantly. So Victoria Police said that there have been
• 8:45
  S4: 44 arrests we know of 20 ish, and almost all
• 8:50
  S4: of them are teenagers and these sort of low level offenders.
• 8:56
  S4: I think the youngest is about 14 years old. They
• 8:58
  S4: range between 14 and 17. They get contacted on an
• 9:03
  S4: encrypted messaging app, typically signal they are then paid, you know,
• 9:08
  S4: anywhere between $1,000, $3,000 to then go. They usually get
• 9:14
  S4: given a location, they arrive that location, there's a stolen
• 9:18
  S4: car waiting for them. They'll take that car to the
• 9:21
  S4: address and they will be jerry cans of petrol in
• 9:26
  S4: the car, and then they will carry out or attempt
• 9:29
  S4: to carry out an arson. Or in some cases, there
• 9:32
  S4: have been shootings. And you know, what we see is
• 9:36
  S4: that police have not been able to get any further
• 9:41
  S4: than this, the arrests of these street kids. So they
• 9:44
  S4: they can't figure out who is actually ordering these attacks,
• 9:48
  S4: but it has sort of reached a new escalation that's
• 9:52
  S4: separate to the tobacco wars, in that they are now
• 9:55
  S4: able to reach kids with little to no criminal links. Somehow,
• 10:00
  S4: kids who have never been exposed to crime are being
• 10:04
  S4: contacted by people online and then, you know, keen to
• 10:08
  S4: make a few thousand dollars or however much money, uh,
• 10:12
  S4: go and go and do this.
• 10:13
  S1: So when I hear that one might assume that they've
• 10:16
  S1: got connections to the underworld, but is their involvement really
• 10:19
  S1: just random?
• 10:21
  S4: Yeah, I mean, that's a really fair assumption, but it's
• 10:24
  S4: the $1 million question. Police don't know how this network
• 10:27
  S4: was formed. And I think that is so befuddling for
• 10:32
  S4: everyone involved. It is really feels like a mystery figure
• 10:38
  S4: that is pulling these strings and they can't get further than,
• 10:42
  S4: than those low level ranks in their investigations.
• 10:46
  S6: I've heard it referred to as kind of one or
• 10:48
  S6: more Fagin like characters from Oliver Twist, that this person
• 10:51
  S6: who's ever receiving the orders from Iraq is somehow plugged
• 10:56
  S6: into this network of children that are encouraging them to
• 10:59
  S6: go from 0 to 100 and commit these violent crimes.
• 11:02
  S6: And these people are out there, but we just don't
• 11:05
  S6: know who they are or how they're doing this.
• 11:07
  S1: And listeners may not have seen this reported, but CCTV
• 11:10
  S1: footage has captured some of these attacks. This footage shows
• 11:14
  S1: suspects taking out mobile phones and filming themselves at the scene.
• 11:18
  S1: Why are they doing that?
• 11:20
  S4: For proof for the boss. Basically, if they don't film
• 11:23
  S4: it to prove that they did it, they don't get paid.
• 11:25
  S4: In one instance, the accused there was four alleged offenders
• 11:29
  S4: in a warehouse that was targeted, and three were allegedly
• 11:34
  S4: paid $3,000 to carry out the attack. And there was
• 11:37
  S4: one who was allegedly paid $1,000 purely to be the cameraman.
• 11:42
  S4: It's really important for the, you know, business of this
• 11:45
  S4: sort of crime task, a syndicate really.
• 11:49
  S1: Chris, can you tell us about how the venue owners
• 11:51
  S1: have responded?
• 11:53
  S6: Oh, they're terrified. They don't understand what's going on. They
• 11:56
  S6: don't know how to make it stop. There's genuine fear
• 12:00
  S6: out there because they can't work out why it's happening.
• 12:04
  S6: And they've responded by beefing up security, hiring guards, round
• 12:08
  S6: the clock guards to guard venues, putting bollards in trucks
• 12:11
  S6: and containers outside their venues. I mean, it's a bizarre
• 12:14
  S6: scene down on Chapel Street if you go and have
• 12:16
  S6: a look. And in those areas, um, they're terrified. And
• 12:20
  S6: some of them because their homes have been invaded and
• 12:22
  S6: their relatives have been beaten up or they've been carjacked,
• 12:25
  S6: they've had to go into hiding. I mean, they've had
• 12:27
  S6: to move into Airbnbs in various parts of the city
• 12:30
  S6: and on police advice because they're terrified and they don't
• 12:33
  S6: know when it's going to stop.
• 12:35
  S1: So, Carla, this goes wider than clubs though, doesn't it?
• 12:39
  S1: I mean, how is it that a French restaurant like
• 12:41
  S1: Francois has been targeted in this.
• 12:43
  S4: Yeah, that one was quite a peculiar case, I suppose,
• 12:47
  S4: of the targets. There's also been brothels and strip clubs
• 12:50
  S4: that have been targeted. I suppose Francois, for our national listeners, is,
• 12:56
  S4: you know, one of the most iconic bistros in in Melbourne.
• 12:59
  S4: And what was very peculiar about that is the the
• 13:03
  S4: owner told us that they had received calls in the
• 13:08
  S4: lead up to the attack. So the attack happened on
• 13:10
  S4: a Thursday or attempted attack in the lead up to that,
• 13:13
  S4: they had concerned customers calling them to say that they
• 13:17
  S4: had heard that a threat had been made against Francois
• 13:19
  S4: and checking in if they were right. Now, the owners
• 13:23
  S4: say that they had no idea about any of that,
• 13:26
  S4: and it was only until two people were arrested the
• 13:30
  S4: following Thursday that they had any sense of what was
• 13:34
  S4: going on. It's incredibly perplexing, you know, not only for
• 13:38
  S4: the owners, but for us as journalists to sort of
• 13:41
  S4: make sense of, you know, what exactly is the aim?
• 13:46
  S4: And as, as Chris has said, it's, um, perplexing for
• 13:50
  S4: police as well.
• 13:51
  S1: So tell us, what are police saying about these attacks
• 13:54
  S1: and what are some of their lines of investigation?
• 13:57
  S4: Well, publicly they are very adamant that they're keeping all
• 14:02
  S4: lines of investigations open. That includes looking into theories about
• 14:06
  S4: the illicit alcohol trade in conjunction with the sale of cocaine.
• 14:10
  S4: They go hand in hand with each other in those um,
• 14:14
  S4: in those trades. They're also looking at, as we mentioned,
• 14:18
  S4: the this Iraqi crime gang. They have not publicly confirmed that,
• 14:22
  S4: but we have privately, through several sources, they have established
• 14:28
  S4: a task force called Operation Eclipse. And it seems like
• 14:33
  S4: that they have narrowed down line of investigation into this
• 14:38
  S4: Iraqi crime gang, but will not confirm anything for the moment.
• 14:43
  S4: We obtained a recording of a police briefing where the
• 14:46
  S4: head of the arson squad said that it was very
• 14:49
  S4: unlikely that illicit alcohol was the the cause of of
• 14:53
  S4: all of this mayhem.
• 14:54
  S1: So just finally, do you think this has had any
• 14:57
  S1: impact on people's decisions about whether to go out or not?
• 15:01
  S4: Well, it's hard to know exactly what people are thinking. But,
• 15:04
  S4: you know, it was such an extraordinary warning that police
• 15:07
  S4: gave in mid-April, warning revellers, if you are out, look
• 15:13
  S4: out for suspicious activity. Be alert, be aware, call anything
• 15:16
  S4: into police. And that that was across for, you know,
• 15:20
  S4: any part of of inner Melbourne, which is pretty extraordinary.
• 15:25
  S6: And look the venue owners are determined to stay open.
• 15:27
  S6: The police are determined to allow them to or help
• 15:30
  S6: them stay open. They flooded the zone down in the
• 15:32
  S6: Chapel Street precinct with undercover police, a uniformed police, these
• 15:36
  S6: kind of vans with the cameras on the top so
• 15:39
  S6: people can go out and feel safe. And on top
• 15:41
  S6: of that, just this week, the state government gave basically
• 15:44
  S6: gave the industry $10 million to beef up their security
• 15:47
  S6: so people can continue to enjoy Melbourne's nightlife.
• 15:57
  S1: Kayla and Chris, thanks very much for joining us today
• 16:00
  S1: on The Morning Edition.
• 16:01
  S6: Thank you.
• 16:02
  S4: Thank you so much.
• 16:13
  S1: Today's episode was produced by Josh towers. Our executive producer
• 16:18
  S1: is Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are overseen by Lisa
• 16:22
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• 16:26
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• 16:30
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