Articles by Mark Morri

In just 11 months a Maserati Quattroporte was hit eight times by different vehicles, causing more than $260,000 of damage. Each time the accident was the fault of the other driver, if you believe the owner, and led to payouts from six insurance companies.Police allege the prestige car is one of three at the centre of an insurance rort in which the owners claimed for damage done in staged bingles in Burwood - if they happened at all. Another Maserati, a Granturismo, and a Mercedes SLK were also used in the alleged scam, which made a total of 18 claims totalling more than $500,000 from 11 insurance companies over a similar 12-month period.NSW Police and insurance investigators joined forces in a six-month operation which resulted in the arrest of two men and a woman last week. "We believe the three are principals involved in the staging of these accidents which we will allege are fraudulent or never happened,'' Detective Inspector Ian Pryde said.The alleged scheme involves a driver running into one of the three cars, which is then towed to a smash repair business. A claim is then submitted to the company which insures the at-fault car. The drivers of the at-fault vehicles were also said to be involved in the scam.In each instance the repair work was allegedly carried out at B and T Collisions, Burwood, owned by Chris Kmet, one of the men charged. The three cars were also registered to him. Kmet was charged with 18 counts of fraud and was bailed to appear at court on January 14. A 51-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man were also arrested. Both were granted conditional bail to appear at Burwood Local Court later this month."The investigation is still ongonig and there may be further arrests,'' Insp Pryde said yesterday. "It's a fairly complex investigation and we are being assisted by the individual companies affected by the alleged fraud.''Industry sources say staged or non-existent accidents are costing insurance companies millions of dollars, driving up the policies of innocent motorists. "It is organised crime and being carried out every day in Sydney,'' a source said. "This is just one case which has possibly been uncovered."The NSW Government last month announced a parliamentary inquiry into the relationship between vehicle repairers and insurance companies. Most of the terms of reference will centre around protecting consumers and a code of conduct in respect to the work carried out by panel beaters for the insurance companies."It's a start but really there needs to be an inquiry into the links between the industry and organised crime," the source said. "Ultimately it's the customer who is paying the price through increased premiums.''Read full story at dailytelegraph.com.au 

Tow truck operators are offering drivers at crash scenes prestige cars while repairs are carried out on their vehicles as an incentive to send them to panel beating shops linked to organised crime gangs. The criminals even pay excesses on policies to sweeten the deal - and then charge insurance companies up to $200 a day for car rentals.In another scam, the gangs are buying crashed luxury cars at auction, insuring them for full worth and then claiming the insurance in bogus crashes.The underhand practises are just some of those used in an industry plagued with criminal activity, prompting the New South Wales government's announcement last week of an inquiry into the smash repair business and insurance companies.THE PRESTIGE CAR LOAN BAIT"In the trade it's referred to as having the vehicle 'captured' and in many cases held hostage by the smash repairers," an industry source said of the tow truck bait. "In one case we were given a bill for $36,000 for seven days' car hire of a luxury Porsche."THE FAKE CRASH SCAMIn an effort to tackle the bogus crash scourge, undercover police attend car auctions posing as buyers to gather intelligence and make sure genuine buyers are not intimidated out of bidding for vehicles."The auctions have cleaned up a lot but we still go there undercover to keep an eye on what is going on because we know bikies and other gangs are involved in illegal activity in some of the motor trades," NSW Crime Squad boss Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said. Most insurance companies employ former NSW police officers to investigate fraudulent claims, staged accidents and theft of vehicles.It's estimated there is at least one bogus crash every day involving an over-insured prestige vehicles. "There are multiple claimers, whose names or families pop up constantly," an insurance industry source said. "Then there is the time and location of the accident, which is invariably at night in an isolated area."Typically, a staged accident involves buying a damaged high-end car cheaply at auction, patching it up just enough to get it roadworthy and then insuring it for a lot more than has been spent. It is then involved in an "accident" and written off, allowing the policy holder to make a tidy profit of between $20,000 and $70,000.On November 29 last year, a Sydney panel beating shop on the north shore was allegedly burnt down after the insurance company decided to repair a "staged" vehicle instead of writing it off. It's claimed the damaged Mazda RX8 was on the premises on Salisbury Rd, Asquith, when a fire broke about 10.30pm. After a three-month investigation police claim the business was torched in order to destroy the car. Five people have been charged. 

Violent gang members are taunting police by driving around Sydney in expensive cars with number plates that use the initials of police squads. At the scene of a fatal shooting of a Brothers 4 Life member in Revesby Heights yesterday were two cars with the plates MEOC and MEOC 63.MEOCS is the acronym used by NSW Police for the specialist Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, which targets ethnic-based crime, particularly in southwestern Sydney. Brothers 4 Life are one of their main targets. Parked outside the unit block where Mahmoud Hamzy was shot dead early yesterday was a $150,000 Mustang with the number plate MEOC and a $100,000 Mercedes with MEOC 63.Hamzy, 25, was the cousin of Bassam Hamzy, one of Australia's most notorious gangsters and the founder of the Brothers 4 Life gang. Mahmoud Hamzy died at the scene about 12.30am when as many as three gunmen sprayed a garage with bullets. Omar Ajaj, a 24-year-old associate, suffered wounds to the stomach and leg. Initial ballistics reports indicate two weapons were used.Although the murder victim had no criminal record, police had 60 intelligence reports on his criminal activity. Inside the home when the killers opened fire was another cousin and Brothers 4 Life member Hamoudi Hamzy. Other family members, including his wife, escaped unharmed. A young man who pulled up at the crime scene in Bardo Circuit about 7am was in the silver Mustang, which is registered to the unlicensed Hamoudi."It was like fireworks and an early New Year's Eve,'' the young man said before getting back in the Mustang and driving off. Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said the group was nothing but a loose association of cowards who were "not very good at what they do''. He said gangs using police squad acronyms on number plates was an issue for the government to deal with and police were powerless to act.A check of the personalised number plate registry revealed seven registration variations using MEOC have been bought for $440 a year. They include MEOC, MEOCS, MEOC 51, MEOC 52, MEOC 56, MEOC 58 and MEOC 63. NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said: "It's insulting and stupid. There should be a no-go policy relating to people registering cars with police squad acronyms.''A neighbour at Revesby Heights said he was woken by as many as 10 gunshots outside the recently built 40-plus unit complex and then heard a car speeding off. "Maximum 10, I believe, I am not sure, - I have never used weapons in my life," the witness said. "I would say it wasn't automatic because the space between (each shot). Wasn't automatic. Of course I am concerned. I have only lived here two, three months and in two weeks I'll be out."Police have formed Strike Force Roxana to investigate the shootings. However Police Minister Michael Gallacher last night declined to comment on whether the government would move to ban the offending number plates.Read about the history of the Brothers 4 Life here

It's not Monaco, the Nurburgring or even Oran Park - this racetrack is Sydney's best-kept secret.The privately owned road in Kulnura, on the Central Coast, is a 5.1km Formula One-style track with 22 turns, described by one motorsport champion as the second-best track in the world.The track, which is said to have cost $10 million, was built by car enthusiast and former Coca-Cola Amatil boss Dean Wills after he lost his licence for speeding on the old Pacific Highway in 1996.Mr Wills wanted to enjoy his growing fleet of exotic cars - which included the only McLaren racing car ever sold privately - without having to worry about oncoming traffic.Read full story here: The Daily Telegraph