Weeks after the Australian Crime Commission revealed increasing links between organised crime and professional athletes, The Courier-Mail can reveal Tomic has ties to the gang's Gold Coast chapter.
Tomic is close friends with Nelson Patea, a known associate of the club.
While The Courier-Mail is not suggesting Tomic is directly associated with the club, Mr Patea has a relative in the gang and his Facebook profile picture shows him standing beside Bandido national sergeant-at-arms John Fahey.
Police yesterday confirmed Mr Patea was associated with several club members who are also listed as friends on his Facebook page.
The page also contains pictures of Mr Patea partying inside the clubhouse with members who are in full Bandido colours.
Mr Patea and Tomic communicate through the social networking site.
Friends have posted pictures of Mr Patea with Tomic's orange BMW before it was sold, and with the yellow Ferrari with "SinCity" number plates the tennis star was driving earlier this year.
Efforts to contact Tomic yesterday were unsuccessful and his manager Fraser Wright, of IMG, did not respond yesterday.
Bandido sources also refused to discuss the association, saying they "did not want to ruin his (Tomic's) career".
The link to the outlaw gang is another chapter for the controversial tennis star, who lost his driver's licence after a series of infringements, before he claimed people were "picking on him".
The connection comes days after Tomic stripped to his underpants while recording a video for YouTube at a tournament in Marseille.
Tomic was subsequently seen partying into the small hours at a players' function last week before retiring from his first-round match against Romanian Victor Hanescu at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
He retired in the opening set against Romanian Victor Hanescu, citing "a general illness".
Courier Mail.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment