The secret rules of an underground bikie gang – compulsory drug selling and brutal bashings

The alleged secret workings of underground wannabe bikies have been revealed, as former members speak out about its alleged ‘brutal dictatorship’.

Allegiance to the gang which was allegedly trying to earn a Rebels patch near the Queensland capital required obeying a strict code of conduct, a court has heard. 

Included in the list of demands was selling 100 pills of MDMA a week, a requirement to answer the phone when another gang member calls at all times and paying a $200,000 fee for those who wished to leave.

The gang is run by Ian Robert Crowden who reportedly doled out public bashings for members who don’t follow the rules, Brisbane Magistrates Court heard.

Crowden is charged with extortion, grievous bodily harm, assault, torture, arson, intimidation, participating in a criminal organisation, threatening violence and drug trafficking. 

The gang is allegedly run by Ian Robert Crowden who allegedly doled out public bashings for members who don’t follow the rules (not pictured, stock image)

The court heard Crowden allegedly told a man: ‘I know 1000 ways to kill someone’ before bashing him until he was ‘unrecognisable’, the Courier Mail reported.   

Matthew Grant Lambert and Robert Jamie Sorbello were also committed to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court this week over offences including alleged drug trafficking and assault.

All three men are alleged to have bashed former gang member and drug trafficker, Shannon Arnold with a hammer.

Arnold, a bouncer at a Gold Coast nightclub, had provided a statement to police about an assault where he worked.    

The gang allegedly trafficked the drug MDMA at the Glitter Strip in Surfer’s Paradise.

Sorbello was charged with grievous bodily harm, intimidating and extortion while Lambert faces charges including trafficking dangerous drugs and receiving property. 

The court heard Crowden allegedly told a man: ‘I know 1000 ways to kill someone’ before bashing him until he was ‘unrecognisable’ (stock image, not pictured)

Giving evidence, witness Jordan Brandy told the court he fled the group and recounted an alleged speech given by Crowden.  

‘These are the rules: You have to pay $100 a week at dinner to the club, you have to go out and earn for the club,’ the alleged gang boss said.

‘It (the club) is a dictatorship, you have to answer your phone. If you don’t ring back after five minutes you will get a beating.’  

Crowden allegedly claimed to be backed by former national Rebels bikie boss Alex Vella, and would be given a chapter if he pulled together 15 members.   

The group’s alleged boss, along with the other men, also are accused of offering to shake a man’s hand before punching him and hitting him with a piece of wood at a timber mill on the Sunshine Coast in December 2014.

Brandy told the court Crowden then allegedly continued the assault by using timber to hit his victim. 

Magistrates were also told Arnold and other members were allegedly bashed following them going to authorities about a nightclub incident. 

Lambert and Sorbello’s counsel said in an earlier committal hearing the two men were initially told the club was simply a group for those who were motorbike fans.  

The case has now been committed to a trial which has been listed for a later date.   

Magistrates were also told Shannon Arnold and other members were allegedly bashed following them going to authorities about a nightclub incident (stock image)