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Melbourne’s nightclub owners and promoters have been forced into hiding, and venues are deploying round-the-clock security following firebombings, shootings and attempted kidnappings as part of a suspected new extortion scheme.
The panic gripping the industry comes after a dozen arson attacks and an unprecedented warning from police for revellers to be on alert while on their night out.
On Thursday, the iconic South Yarra bistro France-Soir and its neighbouring bar, Le Splendide, was targeted in an extortion plot carried out by an outlaw motorcycle gang, though one of the owners said she had not received a specific demand for money.
An overnight attack on Friday destroyed a liquor distillery in Keysborough owned by nightclub industry figures George Grigoriadis and Danny Grant. The pair, who founded the liquor brand 80 Proof, declined to comment when contacted by The Age.
The Age can reveal the arson attack on 80 Proof is linked to another fire at an Epping address last week, when a bakery was accidentally torched, but the intended target was office space linked to two prominent nightclub promoters, who are in hiding.
It marked the 18th suspected incident of violence linked to the series of attacks, according to sources in the hospitality industry and underworld.
The identity and motive of the crime gang responsible for orchestrating the campaign of violence remains a mystery to police and victims nearly a month after the crime wave began.
Underworld sources say no gang or group is claiming responsibility or making any demands in order to stop the violence.
“No one can work out why it’s happening or what they want. It just keeps happening. People are in hiding,” one source said.
Those in hiding include at least two club promoters and a security industry figure, while a nightclub owner has fled to India.
Owners are scrambling to fortify their venues, even when the businesses are closed, with what one security source dubbed “tobacco shop enforcements”, adding cast-iron grilles, bollards and secondary gates.
New CCTV and fire-suppression systems have also been installed in several venues.
Victoria Police said the force had increased its “overt and covert” presence in the city’s entertainment precincts.
The underworld has been rife with speculation about the reason for the seemingly random and brazen string of attacks.
“It’s the same thing with the tobacco [shops]. They just haven’t made the demand yet,” one source said.
The illicit tobacco market has been severely disrupted by the arrest of gangland kingpin Kazem Hamad in Iraq in January, and the interruption in the importation of black-market cigarettes caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A new wave of violence has been plaguing the city’s tobacco shops as rival gangs attempt to take control and face retribution from Hamad’s gang, the 313s.
“The tobacco money is drying up,” another underworld source said.
Others have claimed that some new crime gang was attempting to push into control of security at the clubs in the hope of running the distribution and sale of drugs.
Last Friday, Arson Squad Detective Inspector Chris Murray issued a public warning about the threat the attacks posed to innocent nightlife patrons.
“Please – if you’re out in metropolitan Melbourne and particularly entertainment precincts this weekend – call Triple Zero if you see anything suspicious,” he said.
The attacks began with a ram-raid at The Emerson in February. CCTV footage obtained by The Age captures the first-known attack, which shows three hooded figures ramming through the entrance with a ute and entering the premises carrying jerry cans of fuel.
A month later, Prahran’s Love Machine – a late nightclub favoured by movers and shakers in Melbourne’s underworld – was torched to the ground.
The list of targeted venues has since grown to a who’s who of the inner-city nightlife and dining scene, including Albion Hotel, The Emerson, The Osborne, Bar Bambi, Soho and Left Bank restaurants.
Two strip clubs, Kittens and The Men’s Gallery, have also been targeted with arson attacks and a drive-by shooting.
Police also seized footage from CBD nightclub Platform One after a man was seen loitering at the rear of the Flinders Street venue.
A source with knowledge of the investigation said the same vehicle was used in the ram-raid at The Emerson and the attempted arson at Soho Restaurant on Friday morning.
On the same night as The Emerson ram-raid, two offenders were caught on CCTV dousing another South Yarra venue – The Osborne – in petrol, but vanished seconds before police arrived.
There is no suggestion the owners or others involved in the operation of the clubs are involved in any illicit activities.
The violence has also been linked to at least three attempted kidnappings and an assault targeting the homes and families of several promoters that run events at the venues that have been firebombed.
Victoria Police declined to comment on the number of incidents under investigation.
“Specialist detectives from the Arson and Explosives Squad and Armed Crime Squad are continuing to work with regional detectives in an effort to determine the motivation for the incident and who may be involved,” a spokesperson said.
The owners and promoters are refusing to comment on the attacks.
Two teenagers, 16 and 17, have been arrested for the attempted torching of Soho Restaurant and Bar and Left Bank in Docklands. Another 25-year-old has been arrested and charged for the fire at the Albion.
Police said the offenders are essentially thugs-for-hire that are being paid as little as a few hundred dollars to stage the attacks organised by an unknown mastermind.
Murray said police suspected the attacks were being organised via a kind of underworld “crimetasker” system, similar to popular odd-jobs app Airtasker.
“The one common denominator is that there is someone sitting above, who is pulling the strings. They’re the ones we’re interested in,” Murray said last week.
“These young kids are being used as cannon fodder for a few hundred dollars.”
A number of businesses are believed to have been attacked accidentally as the arsonists and shooters have targeted the wrong addresses.
Last week, a bakery in Epping was accidentally torched instead of a nearby office of one of the city’s best-known club promoter groups.
A note was left outside that said: “[Name redacted] your [sic] next.”
The man named in the threatening message is also connected to the 80 Proof business that was torched on Thursday evening, while Melbourne’s late-night hospitality industry braces for further arson attacks and underworld-linked violence.
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