The news that Stephen Dank's home was peppered with bullets in a drive-by shooting may have shocked the sporting world but it was greeted with much less surprise by the underworld.
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The brazen attack on Saturday morning saw the controversial sports scientist nearly shot in the head when six bullets were fired into his townhouse in Ascot Vale, one grazing his head.
It was only a matter of hours before law enforcement sources were flagging the investigation may probe potential links between the shooting and criminal elements, including motorcycle gangs, that have shown growing interest in the "anti-ageing" sector.
"There is a long list of people who hate him," a senior detective told Fairfax Media.
Dank has been fighting a one-man war to clear his name since he was implicated as a key figure in the AFL and NRL doping scandals in 2013.
Dank has hinted to the media he suspects he knows who targeted him, but has been told by police to keep quiet.
One radio host suggested the shooting could be an attempt to silence Dank ahead of dropping bombshell revelations during a speech at a country footy event on Saturday afternoon. Dank did not end up attending.
The people who targeted Dank appear to be well informed. Dank only moved last year from elsewhere in Ascot Vale to the townhouse where he was injured on Saturday. The address is unlisted.
Dank has frequently cast himself as a reputable anti-ageing practitioner abused by the system, launching a slew of lawsuits against media outlets and anti-doping authorities in a bid to protect his name.
Last year, he received a payout of up to $50,000 over a Herald Sun article he claimed "greatly injured" his character and professional reputation for alleging he had links to bikies and drug dealers.
But the nature of the attack on Dank – six shots fired into his residence at a time when he was almost certain to be home – suggests something more ominous than just a sporting or legal dispute.
While Dank has no criminal record he is involved in an industry that attracts plenty who do.
One line of inquiry is likely to focus on Dank's alleged financial problems.
Dank has been under pressure since the failure of a separate series of defamation claims he filed against News Ltd.
"He borrowed a lot of money to fund those lawsuits and you wouldn't say it was from a regular big four bank," a source said.
In a pyrrhic victory, Dank technically won the case but was awarded no compensation and ordered to pay costs that could be as high as $2 million.
That comes after Dank also lost an investment in a failed forestry investment scheme and was under investigation for Medicare fraud.
Police are also checking claims that Dank has substantial debts from several business ventures in Victoria and what connection, if any, there may be to his Medical Rejuvenation Clinic in Sydney.
Anti-ageing medicine and the underworld have intersected in the past.
The controversial, scientifically unproven treatments on offer – human growth hormone, peptides, steroids and stem cells – have long attracted gym junkies and criminal figures looking to bulk up and beat the clock.
Shane "Dr Ageless" Charter, the biochemist at the centre of the Essendon supplements scandal, is widely credited with bringing notorious ex-bikie Toby Mitchell back to health after he was shot six times in 2011.
Charter, who has two convictions relating to drugs and steroids, said Dank has a "serious image problem".
An associate of both Charter and Dank, Robin James Taylor, was convicted last year for possessing testosterone and oxytocin, among other performance-enhancing substances. Taylor, who runs the Melbourne Sports Medicine and Anti-Aging Clinic, has previous convictions for cocaine and steroids and is known to treat bikie club members.
Some Melbourne anti-ageing doctors have become well known as go-to sources for questionable people in search of prescription growth hormones.
In the past, this intersection has created circumstances where a medical practitioner can become dependent on the dubious people they treat.
One doctor in serious financial trouble turned to a loan shark for money to keep his ailing practice, and lavish lifestyle, afloat.
The deal went bad after the notorious standover man refused to return the diamonds he held as collateral.
Sources say it took the intervention of another of the doctor's other patients – also a feared underworld figure – to get the jewels back.
Not surprisingly, the incident was never reported to authorities.
