David Pye trial: Notorious bikie Mark Buddle ‘put $500k bounty on Nick Martin’s head’ two years before killing

One of Australia’s most notorious bikies put a half-a-million dollar bounty on Nick Martin’s head two years before he was publicly executed — and another had him followed by two masked gunmen for weeks. The extraordinary evidence revealing the violent scheming of WA’s gangland underbelly was exposed in the Supreme Court on Thursday in the trial of David Pye, who is accused of paying a hitman to shoot Martin dead at Perth Motorplex in 2020. A report prepared by WA Police and tendered on Wednesday revealed one-time national Comanchero president Mark Buddle had allegedly placed a $500,000 bounty on Martin in the years before his death. Martin had referred to Buddle as a “dog” — usually referring to a police informant — when talking to an East Coast gang member, the report said. In retaliation, Buddle had allegedly taken out the contract on Martin — but it was never carried out. In more bombshell evidence, an Australian Federal Police intelligence report submitted as evidence by Pye’s defence barrister David Hallowes detailed how Comanchero Raymond Cilli had targeted Martin between late 2019 and early 2020. AFP officers received information that Cilli, who was hiding out from Australian authorities in Thailand, had hired two masked gunmen to conduct surveillance on Martin. The men — who were reportedly wearing “human masks” — had followed the Rebels president for two weeks gathering information on him before he started changing his routine for unknown reasons. Mr Hallowes said the AFP report contained “extensive” information on conflict between Martin and Cilli. Cilli — who was taken into custody South East Asia in February — is a central figure in the trial. That is because as well as being accused of orchestrating the hit on Martin, Pye is also accused of offering the hitman $800,000 to kill Cilli after the successful hit on Martin. Both Buddle and Cilli were among a list more than 60 suspects in Martin’s assassination. But they were discounted before Pye was charged in 2021. Pye’s house was bugged as part of the investigation and in recordings played to the court, Pye cracked jokes about Martin’s death. “You know that fat dog c... that use to be in charge of the Rebels that I was at war with? Someone’s popped him,” Pye says during a phone call with another man. “Apparently some sniper shot him.” In another conversation a few days later, Pye could be heard talking with a woman, remarking: “I guess he (Martin) lost that round.” “Oh I’m happy, don’t worry about that. I would have rather done it myself,” he said. Pye reveals to a man in one of the conversations that he had left the Comanchero gang and patched over to Troy Mercanti’s Mongols. Pye spoke about members of the Roc City Rebels chapter in Rockingham patching over to the Mongols following Martins murder, and about “Karl,” understood to be senior Rebel Karl Labrook, taking over as the club’s State president. “Troy (Mercanti) and Karl get along,” Pye said. “Nick (Martin) was the one internally causing drama in his own club. You know what Karl said to me ‘I wish someone killed the c... earlier’. “I think Karl will do better for the club than Nick ever did. Lead by example, show them how staunch you are.” Labrook has since left the Rebels after a reported falling out with senior club officials on the East Coast, and has joined Pye’s old club as a Comanchero. Recording played to the court earlier in the trial revealed Pye fawning over Mercanti. “He’s one of the most infamous bikies around,” Pye said. “Troy Mercanti he was infamous — the biggest man going around.” Messages sent on an encrypted app called Signal were recovered from Pye’s iPhone, in which he appeared to make cryptic threats about a man with a similar name to the sniper, which cannot be published. “I wanna do bad things to certain people. I got perfect plan but I just can’t do it coz (sic) defeats the purpose then they’ll know it’s me,” Pye wrote. “First c... gets smart, one (that) disrespects (me) getting shot, same club, or not on the spot. I already know I’m gonna (sic) turn on them over this sh... It’s in my head, already happened just haven’t done it yet. “I am a man of strategy these days, they wont even know who it is doing it. Couple of c.... need to go bye bye. They will think it’s (the) enemy doing it but they be shaking the c.... hand that’s doing it.” The messaging exchange was recovered alongside a number of photos that included screenshots of media coverage relating to Martin’s murder, and images of the shooter during his volunteer missions oversees. The trial continues.