THE
BROTHERHOODS
Arthur Veno and Edward Gannon
The
up-to-date, definitive account of Australia's outlaw motorcycle clubs, written
by the country's foremost expert on bikie culture.
More than
fifty thousand copies sold in Australia, now fully updated and revised. Bikies
consider themselves 'the last free people in society'; unrestricted by the laws
that rule ordinary citizens. Yet they have strict joining rules and jealously
guard their privacy. The twenty-first century has seen bikie culture move from
secretive disorganised crime to far more threatening organised criminal activities
that led to the death of a Hells Angel's associate at Sydney airport in 2009,
and the gang-style killings that preceded it.
Arthur Veno's
account of bikie culture is as close to firsthand as is ever likely to be published.
Australia's leading bikie expert, Veno reveals the true picture of the brotherhoods.
Drawing on in-depth interviews, personal stories and years of meticulous research,
he explains the rules and rituals of the clubs, tells of landmark incidents and
profiles some famous bikies. In this fully revised edition of 'The Brotherhoods'
he outlines the rise of the so-called Nike bikies whose drugs and turf wars threaten
to spill onto our streets, and the attempts by governments to introduce controversial
laws to control the violence. 'The Brotherhoods' is the definitive account of
bikie culture in Australia.
ABOUT ARTHUR VENO AND EDWARD
GANNON
Professor Arthur Veno was born in the US and has
lived in Australia since 1974. Most recently director of Monash University's Centre
for Police and Justice Studies, Veno has studied the clubs for seventeen years,
but he's no ordinary academic. Married to an ex police woman, Art has worked as
a mediator between bikie groups and the police in Victoria, Western Australian
and NSW. He counts members of the Gypsy Jokers, Hell's Angels and Coffin Cheaters
as his friends (they call him the Mad Professor). Veno now grows trees on his
farm in rural Victoria, as well as being a consultant to various groups on human
rights and criminal justice issues, and, of course, the bikie clubs. He is also
the author of Biker Chicks (2009).
'The Brotherhoods'
is available now (RRP $35).
