A rash of biker-gang attacks in Australia has outraged citizens and spurred officials to consider new laws, Time reports. In a recent eruption, one biker bludgeoned another to death with a steel post at a crowded Sydney airport. Shootings have also rattled quiet neighborhoods and defied the biker code of keeping turf wars private. One expert says the rise of a new gang, Notorious, is to blame.
The young newcomers don't "have the traditional rules of engagement that the bikies share among themselves," said criminologist Arthur Veno. Two other gangs, the Comancheros and Hells Angels, recently held a peace summit in Melbourne, but Notorious "made an outrageous move of hitting people coming from peace talks." Now, said one official, "We have no choice but to hunt them down and deal with them." (More motorcycle gang stories.)