WA bikie war about 'greed and power'

A suspected bikie war brewing in Perth following a drive-by shooting and several suspicious tattoo parlour fires is about greed and power, police say.

Commissioner Chris Dawson said there were heightened concerns about tension between the Rebels and Comancheros following the shooting in Calista on Tuesday, which left a man aged in his 50s in hospital.

Five tattoo shops were also firebombed between March and August.

"These bikie clubs are simply organised criminal gangs ... they peddle in drugs, they deal with extortion and threats, they're stand-over thugs," Mr Dawson told 6PR radio on Thursday.

"There's bad blood between these two clubs at the moment.

"Now, as to what it comes down to, it'll be about greed and power."