The son of a respected former police officer is the new leader of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang less than two years after he left a rival club and persuaded a judge he had reformed his life.

Bikie enforcer Mark Balsillie was recently appointed national president of the Finks, which could reignite tensions with the Mongols gang, where he served as national sergeant-at-arms until he was asked to leave in 2022.

Balsillie was also a former member of the Comancheros before he defected to the Mongols, who sent him to Russia to patch over members between the two gangs.

In 2017, the 39-year-old survived a murder attempt when he was shot seven times in the arms, leg and stomach by a former Comanchero associate who fled to Turkey after the attack.

Balsillie pleaded guilty to possessing and trafficking cocaine in the County Court in 2022, after claiming he had used two grams of cocaine a day to manage pain caused by the shooting.

County Court judge David Brookes accepted he had undergone “genuine reformation” since his arrest in 2020, when detectives from the Echo and Trident taskforces found 127 grams of cocaine concealed inside a cereal box, encrypted mobile phones and syringes filled with growth hormone and testosterone at Balsillie’s property.

A Lamborghini Huracan coupe worth nearly $500,000 and two other luxury cars were seized, suspected of being the proceeds of crimes between July 2019 and July 2020.

Brookes handed Balsillie a three-year community correction order after his lawyers argued he had abstained from drugs for more than two years, no longer associated with the Mongols and was supported by his partner.

The bikie boss is the son of retired police officer Andrew Balsillie, who served more than 40 years with Victoria Police.