EXCLUSIVE: A HIGH-PROFILE King St strip club linked to the Hells Angels has been driven out of business by police.
Chief Commissioner Ken Lay has warned that more will go the way of Dallas Showgirls if they do not sever ties with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Mr Lay said that venue served as an unofficial city clubhouse for members.
Entry to one room in the building was restricted to Hells Angels, with patched members standing at the door to turn away anyone else.
Police had for months applied the blowtorch to the venue, taking action over even the most minor infractions.
"It was simply in-your-face policing," Mr Lay said.
"It's just being there, making sure people are aware of their obligations, holding people to account. When police are constantly visiting a premises where Hells Angels drink, they get uncomfortable.
"We didn't think it was within the spirit of the Liquor Licensing Act, them behaving how they did there," he said.
Dallas Showgirls closed last month. It regularly promoted Hells Angels events and was the starting point for a foreign tourist's nightmare bashing ordeal several years ago.
The man allegedly turned up at Showgirls claiming to be from a foreign Hells Angels chapter, but suspicion grew he was lying. He was allegedly invited to the gang's Thomastown clubhouse then bashed and tortured.
Supt Brett Guerin said an intelligence assessment compiled by the anti-bikie Echo taskforce had led to police firming up several venues' links to outlaw bikie gangs.
In the case of Dallas Showgirls, this was confirmed by covert work from members of the public order response team before the venue was regularly made the subject of checks by uniformed police.
Supt Guerin said subsequent feedback from Dallas Showgirls was that these visits were not welcomed.
"They told us that by our presence, their patronage was declining," he said.
Supt Guerin said police had made applications about the licences of two other inner-Melbourne clubs because of their operators' links to bikies.
He said police were also placing venue security under scrutiny because of its potential to operate on behalf of the gangs and dictate criminal activity inside. "He who controls the door controls the floor," he said.
Mr Lay said scrutinising licensed venues was only one element of a "brains and brawn" assault on bikie gangs.
Applying forensic accountancy methods and legal expertise was part of the "brains" factor - and the "brawn" was disrupting the bikies and dismantling their fortresses.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/hells-angels-kinghit-by-strip-club-shutdown/story-fni0fee2-1226788118383