Supermarket giant Woolworths and billionaire businessman Bruce Mathieson employ a security firm controlled by the Comancheros motorcycle gang at several hotels and gaming venues owned by their joint venture, Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group.

Ultimate Crowd Control Pty Ltd is owned by Comancheros vice-president Robert Morando, 41, who was charged last week with attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegedly threatening to cut open an associate.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg.

Fairfax Media can reveal Mr Morando’s security business is employed at more than nine ALH venues across Melbourne, including the St Albans Hotel, Mitcham Hotel, Bayswater Hotel, the Sands Hotel in Carrum Downs and the Hallam Hotel, near the Comancheros headquarters.

A senior police source said the security business provided the ‘‘perfect front’’ for the gang’s organised crime activities, while its lucrative contracts with ALH Group, which is 75 per cent owned by Woolworths, appear to breach the company’s own probity guidelines.