After three years on the straight and narrow, former Hells Angels bikie Peter Zervas's violent past has returned to haunt him.
Mr Zervas had his nose bitten off in a savage assault in front of his Leichhardt apartment block in Sydney's inner west after answering an intercom call.
"When I say `set upon', [the offender] grabbed a hold of the victim with his teeth on the victim's nose, bit down hard and bit the nose off," Leichhardt Inspector Clive Ainley said.
Mr Zervas retrieved his severed nose and went to Royal Prince Alfred hospital.
Friends say 38-year-old Mr Zervas turned his back on his bikie links, including removing club tattoos.
Police said they were looking into his bikie links.
The attack that police have labelled "bizarre and severe" comes days after his brother's alleged killer, Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi, was granted bail.
Mr Zervas's brother, Anthony Zervas, was bashed to death when the Hells Angels and Comancheros clashed in a brawl at Sydney's domestic airport in 2009.
Hawi was jailed in 2012 for at least 21 years for the murder but his conviction was quashed in May and a re-trial ordered.
Hawi, an ex-Comancheros boss, was granted conditional bail on Monday.
He is expected to walk out of Lithgow jail on Wednesday or Thursday after posting $700,000 as surety.
Police say there is no indication of a link between the two events.
"There is no evidence to suggest that," Inspector Ainley said.
The assailant was last seen running along Norton Street.
Mr Zervas underwent reattachment surgery on Wednesday.
A friend said Mr Zervas, who was married in Thailand a year ago, had turned his life around.
"He has had his Hells Angels tattoos and things removed," he told the ABC at the crime scene on Wednesday.
The male attacker is described as Middle Eastern in appearance, of large build and with short hair.
Days after the killing of his brother in 2009, Peter Zervas was shot six times outside his mother's home in Lakemba in Sydney's west.
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