Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7am. It started with a single nightclub attack and escalated into what's been dubbed Melbourne's hospitality crime war. More than 30 clubs, pubs and restaurants have now been targeted in drive-by shootings, break-ins and firebombings. And while dozens of arrests have now been made, the people behind the attacks remain a mystery.
One theory, that an international crime syndicate led by a man called The Ghost is ordering the hits from a bunker in Iraq. Today, senior reporter at The Herald Sun, Seb Costello, on the escalating attacks threatening the lives and livelihoods of Melbourne venue owners. It's Friday, May 22.
So, Seb, could you begin by just taking me back a few months to when we first started to hear about these attacks on clubs and restaurants in Melbourne and what first started to come out?
Chapter 2: What initiated the Melbourne hospitality crime war?
Yeah, I think it first happened with the Love Machine, which is a fairly notorious nightclub in the Paran area.
Thankfully, nobody was inside when this blaze broke out just after two o'clock this morning, sparking a huge response from firefighters.
That was completely gutted by arsonists towards the end of March. Love Machine has ended in flames.
Arsonists destroyed the venue in the early hours of this morning and organised crime figures are among the suspects.
But when that happened, you know, Love Machine had attracted a lot of attention. There'd been a fatal shooting there pre-COVID.
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Chapter 3: How have the attacks on Melbourne venues escalated?
Somebody had been jailed for that. You know, it was... understood to be a fairly hot drug market for police looking at that very closely.
The club has a chequered history. In 2019, a security guard and a patron were shot dead during a drive-by shooting. In August 2024, a group of young men were involved in a stabbing.
But over the course of April and into May, we basically had some sort of attack every night, be it an arson or an attempted kidnapping or a bashing.
In South Melbourne, the George Hotel was firebombed. The owners questioning why they have been caught up in the chaos.
You know, by the time there are at least a dozen attacks on bars and clubs, that's when the police started to link these. But what was clearly common between the different attacks was the way they were being carried out. So it was often, you know, in the early hours of the morning when the venues were empty, it was by young people.
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Chapter 4: Who is behind the attacks and what is the role of 'The Ghost'?
And, you know, it was generally the same sort of MO, smash open the front door, carry a jerry can, splash that around and light it on fire.
It appears arsonists have used a vehicle to ram their way through a roller door to get inside and then gone upstairs and spread accelerant. Two 20-litre jerry cans were found out the front and this was a big blaze.
It took probably three weeks before Victoria Police formally put together their Operation Eclipse task force, but it was pretty clear by the way these attacks were being carried out that there was some similarities.
We've had a real escalation that we're addressing through Operation Eclipse, an escalation of crimes that include firebombings and arsons, home invasions, kidnappings and shootings.
Right. And that task force has made some arrests. So what do we know about who police say are carrying out the attacks?
What we now know is that there is encrypted apps that I guess crime lords, if you like, are using to try and recruit teenagers to actually do their dirty work. So, you know, the teenagers are sort of told, you know, you'll be treated with lightly in the justice system. It's your first offence. You'll probably not really face any real penalty.
And they lure them in with those promises as well as the offer of cash and sometimes drugs. And so once they've got these teenagers on the hook, they give them the instruction, we want a firebombing done at this venue. And as I understand it, they're even provided with the stolen cars with clone plates in order to carry out the attack.
And often when these teenagers are told where the stolen car is, they'll get there and they'll find the materials to carry out the attack in the car. So the jerrycan and the lighter will already be there so they can earn their cash.
And so are they likely to know who's actually recruiting them?
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Chapter 5: What methods are being used in the recent attacks?
was the subject of an arson attack. So, you know, I don't think that was linked, but, you know, it was a real coincidence, that's for sure. So, look, they're asking for help from both the politicians and the police. And, you know, as I say, a lot of them are making themselves scarce. I mean, what really concerned people was when we saw not just, you know, you know, outside their homes.
You know, there was a nightclub promoter who was bashed outside his home in the eastern suburbs one evening. He was taken to hospital. The crooks then returned to his family home, kicked in the door and bashed his dad, you know, and the dad, you know, was not a nightclub figure.
So, yeah, there's some real nervousness, you know, when these incidents spill out into the suburbs and it just kind of gives a lot of people an uneasy feeling about the lawlessness of it all.
Mm-hm. And so, you know, talking to business owners and police sources, do you get the sense that there is an end in sight?
I do. From my observation, police have a really good sightline on who the kids are and whether that means they've got a, you know, they've been able to peep into the way the encrypted app works or whether they've got moles inside the criminal organisation.
Because, for example, that Templestowe bashing, I reported on it one Wednesday and by the Thursday, police had rounded up the three kids who were suspected of doing it. So they seem to be able to pick up the foot soldiers fairly quickly. Building a big case against a crime boss takes a lot longer. But for a 10-day period between last week and the week before, there were no attacks.
Then we had the one I mentioned at the bar where the opposition leader had held a secret meeting. So... I think people are nervous. You know, I saw some young people who were being interviewed on TV the other night. They decided to, you know, call off their night and go home. You know, I think the venue owners are definitely telling me that their trade is being affected.
Not all venues, but, you know, those that have been in the limelight. It's a real kick in the guts for hospitality broadly because, you know, they've just gone through COVID. They're dealing with, you know, different Tax changes in Victoria and nationally, you know, now they've got this criminal activity to deal with. So there's an industry that's really important to Melbourne, I've always felt.
You know, Melbourne is about food and wine and, you know, characters running restaurants. It's not a city that has... you know, the beauty of a harbour to point to, you know. Our bridge over the Yarra, the West Gate, it's not quite as pretty as the Harbour Bridge, I'll admit that. And so it's important to have a thriving hospitality sector in Melbourne.
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