The Ramblings of Guise Dugal

I always loved the Dreadnoks, perhaps more than any other group in GI Joe. I loved their rebellious nature, their lack of restraint towards violence and their improvisation for weaponry and tactics. The Dreadnoks were fighters to the core and were a fearsome rag-tag bunch of bikers who could be depended on to raise havoc.

This post isn’t about Dreadnoks, but it is about an Australian biker gang. This post is about the Southern Cross Cruiser Club, who became a group that if I could corrupt and influence, I would trust to be my Dreadnoks.

Biker surprise for Sydney robbers

Two armed robbers who targeted a Sydney bar that was hosting a bikers’ meeting must have “failed robber school”, said the club’s chairman.

The men stormed the bar brandishing machetes and wearing balaclavas – unaware that 50 bikers were holding a meeting in an adjoining room.

Alerted to the robbery, some of the bikers chased the men as they fled.

One was caught after trying to escape through a back door. He was later treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The other man ran off but was arrested by police in a street nearby.

Southern Cross Cruiser Club chairman “Jester” told local media that the robbers had “picked the wrong night”.

The would-be bandits had entered the bar and ordered patrons to lie on the floor while they emptied the till.

But someone managed to run into an adjoining room where the bikers were holding their monthly meeting.

“We were out there minding our own business and then these guys came to the bar here in the pokey (slot machine) area,” Jester told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“One of the guys took off… straight through a glass window, he didn’t even bother pushing the button, he just ran straight through it.”

Jester said the police were delighted when they arrived on the scene.

“They were really impressed that we caught these guys, because normally they get here and it’s all over and done. But we caught the guys, still with their weapons, still in his balaclava and everything else.

“It’s a comedy of errors, I can’t believe these guys were stupid enough to come into a club with 50 bikers having a bike meeting – just crazy.”

(Source: BBC News, 28 February 2008)

On the note about the glass window, Ananova had this to say: One of the robbers charged through a locked glass door, leapt off a 16ft balcony and ran through a bowling green to escape. (Ananova, 28 February 2008)

BBC also currently hosts a video of the CCTV footage of the robbery and the actions of the Cruiser Club, here. It plays out in a way that is strikingly reminiscent of Han Solo and the Death Star’s Stormtroopers in A New Hope. One moment, a highly confident armed intruder is waving his weapon about and screaming, the next he is bolting like a bunny with a rocket up his arse.

The following sums it up nicely: “It was very hard to see the expression on their faces because of the balaclavas, but I imagine it was something along lines of ‘Oh s***, what have we done here?’ ,” [Biker club founder Noel 'Bear' Mannix] said. (Ananova, 28 February 2008)