AUSTRALIA’S largest motorcycle gang, the Rebels, is in turmoil after the Federal Government moved to stop long-serving national president Alex Vella from re-entering the country.

Sydney-based Vella – known as the Maltese Falcon – had been on vacation in Malta when authorities cancelled his visa.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the move had been taken last Friday “under character provisions of the Migration Act”.

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“I’m not prepared to make any further comment,’’ Mr Morrison said when asked if the department’s decision was based on fresh intelligence from federal and state police.

But a senior police source said: “The leadership of the Rebels – a gang with more than 1000 members throughout Australia and more than 70 chapters – has been severely compromised’’.

It is understood Vella, 60, had been trying to cut short his holiday to return to Australia so he could attend the funeral of his wife Heather’s sister.

Senior Rebels sources have told The Courier-Mail that Vella also wanted to come home for the funeral of the gang’s national Sergeant at Arms, Simon Rasic, who, according to police sources, died on Sunday night in New South Wales, from a suspected heart attack.

“The Federal Government is just trying to rattle his cage,’’ the long-term gang member said. “Authorities know he is desperate to get back home, not only to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law but that of Simon’s – who was a good mate of his.

“From what I understand, they let Alex’s wife Heather back into the country but not him. They just want to disrupt him big-time’’.

Vella, a millionaire former boxer, has been living in Australia since the 1960s but is understood to have never applied for Australian citizenship.

This caused visa problems when he tried to return to Australia after travelling to Japan to attend a boxing tournament involving one of his two sons in 2007.

He was left stranded because his resident return visa expired – forcing him to apply for a new one.

At the time, police argued against his visa based on a drug conviction, and his position of authority within the Rebels, claiming he did not pass the immigration test of good character.

The Federal Government threatened to ban him from re-entering the country, but he was allowed to return the following month.

The senior Rebel last night confirmed it was “highly likely’’ Vella would “again be engaging lawyers to fight having his visa cancelled ... because he’s been living in Australia for so long, and has been paying taxes all those years’’.

In 1995, Vella was convicted of possessing a trafficable quantity of cannabis and his property was later raided by police who seized $3 million dollars worth of his assets.

The assets were later returned to him after he paid $650,000 settlement to the NSW Crime Commission.

Earlier this year, police raided his rural property. Dozens of people were searched during the operation, which led to three other alleged gang members being charged with drug offences and a fourth with assaulting police.

Vella has previously claimed the Rebels were not a “criminal organisation’ but senior police describe the gang - which has grown nationally and internationally from its mother chapter set up in Brisbane in the late 1960s - as “one of Australia’s highest risk criminal threats’.

The multi-agency Task force Attero has charged more than 300 members with more than 500 offences.