The world of outlaw motorcycle gangs is, by its very nature, pretty rough around the edges.
There's something quite symmetrical, though, about the rise and what police have heralded as the recent demise of the Canberra Nomads.
The key figures in their relatively short history have included colourful characters like a sex worker and a professional mixed martial artist.
But the overall story begins - and, police hope, ends - with the same stalwart of the ACT outlaw gang scene.
It all started back in early 2016 when a senior southside Rebel named Michael Clark led a group of defectors in "patching over" to establish a local Nomads chapter.
The Rebels had long been the dominant outlaw force in the ACT, with up to five chapters operating across the territory.
Cracks first started to appear a few years earlier, when the Comancheros established a Canberra presence in the shape of a group made up largely of former Rebels.
But it was the shift of Clark and company that really shook up the local bikie scene, as the remaining Rebels largely retreated to Yass and Clark took the reins of the newly minted Nomads chapter.
Not even the loss of joint president Mohammed Nchouki, who quit shortly before being jailed in 2017 for drug trafficking, slowed their roll.
The chapter grew steadily more powerful as Clark rose in the ranks to become national president in 2018, and the Nomads vied with the Comancheros for local supremacy.
However, sustained police pressure has in the past few years drastically weakened the capital's once powerful bikie gangs.
For the Canberra Nomads, a succession of serious blows prompted detectives to declare last week there were "none left", with the local Nomads' ranks now "completely diminished".
The fighter
One of the first significant setbacks came when high-ranking Nomad and mixed martial artist James Butt was locked up in NSW on weapons charges.
Known as "Tiger", Butt boasts a professional record of one fight for one loss.
He clashed with the Comancheros in a now infamous scuffle at the Southern Cross Club in Woden, where his nose was broken after what he described as "four f---ing cracks" landed by a rival.
His influence within the Nomads waned late last year when he was charged with eight offences and refused bail after allegedly being caught with a loaded Glock pistol in north Sydney.
While Butt was recently released on bail as he fights the charges after eight months on remand, he is extremely ill after being diagnosed with a condition that signals the early stages of bowel cancer.
The sex worker
Another senior gangster who plays a significant role in this story is Alexander Miller.
Miller was a prized recruit for the Nomads when he joined, and not only because he boosted their numbers.
He was particularly valuable to the gang's cause because he had defected from the Comancheros and therefore brought with him intricate knowledge of the Nomads' key local rivals.
Miller served for a time as the Canberra Nomads' sergeant-at-arms, a role that is effectively the chief enforcer and second-in-charge for a bikie gang chapter.
But things began to unravel for him during a three-month stint in jail for drugs and driving offences earlier this year.
It is understood that Miller was expelled from the gang after an email he wrote behind bars was intercepted by police and tendered in court, making it a matter of public record.
It was reported that in the email, the 30-year-old described the state of the Nomads' Canberra chapter as "an embarrassment" and outlined plans to "dethrone the king" and oust Clark as national president.
By this stage, Miller had already gained the sort of notoriety the gang did not want after he claimed to have become a sex worker in order to fund a drug habit he described as "debilitating".
He was released from jail in April and quickly left the ACT for Sydney, but his time there was short-lived and after just two months as a free man he was again arrested and remanded in custody on fresh charges.
The boss
With the Nomads significantly weakened by the plights of key players like Miller and Butt, police sources revealed recently that the Canberra chapter membership had waned to the point it had reached single figures.
And last week police struck what they believe to be the killer blow with the arrest of Clark at Canberra Hospital, hours after his partner gave birth, and his subsequent extradition to NSW.
Clark intends to plead not guilty to four charges laid after he was accused of supplying a shotgun and ammunition, then ordering "minions" to carry out three shootings in the Batemans Bay area last December.
The 34-year-old claims that prior to his arrest, he handed in his gang colours and resigned from the role of national president.
However, police and prosecutors refuse to accept that assertion and have said the evidence points towards Clark still being in the leadership position.
Clark failed on both sides of the ACT-NSW border to secure bail last week, and Goulburn Local Court heard he could face a year behind bars on remand before his case proceeds to trial.
While in custody he will not have access to a mobile phone, which a prosecutor told the court was just as dangerous in Mr Clark's possession as a gun in the hands of a bikie boss's "minions".
"It only takes a single text, a single phone call, to get the go-ahead for someone to commit serious violence," the prosecutor said.
Police consider Clark's apprehension and remand a major win, and they have not been shy in celebrating.
"With the arrest of this Nomads national president, the influence of this club within Canberra is now extremely limited," Detective Superintendent Scott Moller told media on Thursday last week.
"Their status today is that they are completely diminished; none left. This is a great result for the ACT."
The Nomads arrived in Canberra via Michael Clark. Now as he sits behind bars in NSW, they may have left with him, too.
