Ned Kelly is still a cult figure who enjoys legendary status amongst many Australians. To this day, whenever a male member of Kelly families is born, he is likely to receive the nickname of ‘Ned’.
It appears that from his boyhood days Ned Kelly made a lasting impression on those around him. At the age of 11 he rescued his neighbour Richard Shelton from drowning, but in his early teenage years the activities of the strongly built and formidable Ned, attracted the attention of police. When he was 16, Ned’s proclamations of innocence were ignored, and he received a three month sentence of hard labour for stealing a horse.
Ned’s time in custody appeared to harden his attitude towards law enforcement agencies. The simmering tensions between the Kelly family and police erupted into violent action at Stringybark Creek, near Mansfield, in October 1878. Ned’s bushranger gang was cornered by armed troopers, and in the fierce gun battle that followed, Constables Kennedy, Lonigan and Scanlon were all shot dead. By early 1879 the gang of four had plundered fortunes from successful bank robberies in Euroa and Jerilderie. Both the NSW and Victorian governments offered huge rewards for information leading to the arrest of the now infamous bushrangers.
...the gang of four had plundered fortunes from successful bank robberies in Euroa and Jerilderie.
Ned Kelly revealed some outstanding leadership qualities during this turbulent period. It is beyond doubt that all gang members were guilty of at least the charge of manslaughter in the Stringybark Creek shoot-out, but in Ned’s armed robbery escapades, violence was not evident. There appears to have been, in fact, a strong feeling of camaraderie between the bushrangers and many of their hostages. Ned’s ability to control his reckless young gang, while maintaining cordial relations with many in the public, was also impressive.
His strategies for the two major bank robberies were excellent. With the assistance of his trusted lieutenant, Joe Byrne, he meticulously devised plans that were both effective and non-violent. Communication links in the area were severed to prevent armed intervention, and escapes from the crime area were made under the light of a full moon, to facilitate a safe return journey to their base.
Ned was ever ready to engage in debate in the public domain. After Samuel Gill, the editor of the Jerilderie-Urana Gazette, expressed concern in his paper about inadequate policing in the area, Ned drafted his now famous ‘Jerilderie letter’. This comprehensive document contained approximately 7,500 words spread over 56 pages. Ned made some telling observations about the standard of policing in the letter, but the public only received a sanitised version after it was confiscated and revised by authorities.
Steve Hart
The high point of Ned’s criminal career came with the Euroa and Jerilderie bank robberies. This high profile gang leader was then only 24, and he along with Joe Byrne (22), Steve Hart (19), and Dan Kelly (17), carried out the most effective bank robberies in Australian colonial history, without any loss of life. From that point on, Ned’s judgements erred. The Stringybark Creek killings, and Ned’s act of condoning the revenge murder of Aaron Sherritt, were both flawed decisions. Ned’s leadership reached its lowest point in the siege at Glenrowan.
...carried out the most effective bank robberies in Australian colonial history, without any loss of life.
By then, the esteemed bushranger gang leader seemed to have lost the plot. Perhaps he started to believe in his own publicity, when he babbled on about how success against the establishment in this battle, would lead to the formation of an Australian republic. He certainly miscalculated when he allowed the local school teacher, Thomas Curnow, to walk out of the hostage area without supervision. Curnow utilised this golden opportunity to warn the train filled with troopers about the trap that had been set. This timely warning ultimately caused the demise of all gang members.
...he allowed the local school teacher to walk out of the hostage area without supervision.
Finally, despite the romanticism that is sometimes attached to the image of the gang’s home made armour, this inadequate defence resulted in Ned being an easy target for the troopers in the Glenrowan Inn shoot-out.
Fittingly, however, Ned made an appropriate and legendary exit from the stage of life. His spirited verbal responses to Judge Redmond Barry’s pompous attitude in court received wide support from his many supporters. To this day, Ned Kelly’s ‘Such is life’ response to the announcement of his death sentence, remains a memorable quote in the annals of Australian history.
Most of the nation’s other ‘Mr Bigs’ of crime bear no comparison to the charismatic Ned Kelly. A fast forward into the 1920s introduces us to the criminal world of Joseph Leslie Theodore ‘Squizzy’ Taylor, a nasty standover man and police informer. Taylor had a fearsome reputation in Melbourne underworld circles for over a decade. His nickname was coined because of his ulcerated, droopy left eyelid, and the ‘squizzy’ motion with which he ran.
‘Squizzy’ Taylor
Taylor’s first conviction was for assault at the age of 18, and he soon ‘graduated’ from petty crimes, such as pick pocketing, to standover tactics, armed robbery and murder.
‘Squizzy’ allegedly teamed up with John Jackson when Constable David McGrath was shot and killed in a 1915 Melbourne Trades Hall burglary. In 1916, Taylor was acquitted of the murder of taxi driver William Haines, and by 1919 he was a key figure in the ‘Fitzroy vendetta’ gang warfare. He was heavily involved in prostitution, sly grog dealing, armed robbery, cocaine trafficking and protection rackets. However, his police informant services, as well as rigged juries, mostly kept him out of prison.
He was heavily involved in prostitution, sly grog dealing, armed robbery, cocaine trafficking and protection rackets.
Taylor’s illegal activities on racecourses led to him clashing with Sydney criminal gangs. Finally, at the age of 42, ‘Squizzy’ received fatal wounds after engaging in a gun battle with standover man John ‘Snowy’ Cudmore at a home in Barkly Street Carlton, on 27 October 1927. Two months previously, Cudmore had allegedly organised the execution of Norman Leslie Bruhn. This brutal Sydney standover man was the grandfather of Keith, Les and Noel Faure junior, all of whom later became convicted killers.
‘Squizzy’ received fatal wounds after engaging in a gun battle with standover man John ‘Snowy’ Cudmore...
Abe Saffron was dubbed ‘Mr Sin’ because of his dominance over the underworld activities taking place around the red light district of Sydney’s Kings Cross. Despite ongoing evidence that pointed to his criminality, Saffron maintained he was a respectable businessman, and repeatedly denied he was a prominent crime baron.
It was claimed that Saffron controlled Sydney crime with an iron fist, and he gained enormous wealth from drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling and sly grog sales. He also had a penchant for violence, and was strongly suspected of bribing notable public figures including the then Premier, Sir Robert Askin, Police Commissioner Hanson and Deputy Commissioner Allan.
It was claimed that Saffron controlled Sydney crime with an iron fist...
Abe Saffron and associates.
One of the most contentious issues in Saffron’s life was the disappearance, and probable murder, of Sydney heiress Juanita Nielsen. In the magazine that Nielsen edited, she strongly opposed the building development plans of Frank Theeman, who had close financial links with Saffron. Abe also owned the Carousel Club from which the woman vanished, and his club manager, Eddie Trigg, was later convicted of conspiring to kidnap Nielsen. Despite being charged with numerous offences over the years, Abe Saffron’s longest prison term was 17 months, which he served for tax evasion.
...disappearance, and probable murder, of Sydney heiress Juanita Nielsen.
‘Mr Sin’ took out several defamation cases against media publications with varying success over the years, before he died in suburban Potts Point at the age of 86 in September 2006.
After Saffron’s death, allegations surfaced about his possible involvement in the infamous 1979 Ghost Train fire at Sydney’s Luna Park, which claimed eight lives. “Mr Sin’s” niece claimed that Saffron initiated the arson attack because he wanted to purchase Luna Park as a future business investment.
Lennie McPherson was obsessed with being the ‘Mr Big’ of Sydney crime. For some time his hopes were realised, but the gang leader’s powerful status in the underworld never included a high popularity vote. Tony Reeves, the author of McPherson’s biography titled ‘Mr Big’, really took the gloves off when he gave this bare knuckles obituary after Lennie died in 1996.
Leonard Arthur McPherson, who died in prison yesterday [29 August], will be glorified by some over the coming months. But for this unofficial biographer, his passing has made it a better world. McPherson was a thug. He was described in a New South Wales police document as a murderer, rapist, thief and standover man.
Lennie was born into a battling family in 1921, and by the age of 11 he had already been placed on a good behaviour bond for stealing. The boy did not reform his ways, and two years later Lennie McPherson was sent to the Mt. Penang Youth Correctional Centre in Gosford. By 1946 McPherson had become a regular police informer, and was dubbed ‘Lennie the Pig’ or ‘Lennie the Squealer’. The information which he sold placed many criminal rivals behind bars, and gave McPherson the opportunity to extend his involvements in prostitution and protection rackets. In the years ahead, Lennie and his close associates often visited the Philippines, where he frequently ‘recruited’ more prostitutes before being banned from entering the country in 1975. Lennie continued to fantasise about becoming an international criminal of note, and later—unsuccessfully—investigated overseas expansion ideas with notorious American crime barons.
By 1946 McPherson had become a regular police informer, and was dubbed ‘Lennie the Pig’...
Courtroom examinations of his finances forced McPherson to buy a Balmain motel, which he later declared was the legitimate source of his growing wealth. In reality, the motel premises usually housed criminals who were avoiding detection.
McPherson’s first known murder victim was career criminal George Joseph Hackett, whose bullet riddled body was found lying in an inner suburban gutter on 27 July 1959. It was known that Hackett had ‘fallen out’ with Lennie, but at his trial the murder charges against McPherson and one of his minders were dropped after the NSW Attorney-General Reg Downing failed to file a court bill. It is rumoured that Downing received a $10,000 bonus for this legal oversight.
...bullet riddled body was found lying in an inner suburban gutter...
The Downing incident became one of many examples demonstrating the putrid state of the NSW criminal justice system. Downing was just one of several state officials, police personnel and political figures who were allegedly partner to McPherson in lucrative and corrupt practices. Noted academic, Dr Alfred McCoy, made some scathing observations about the appalling state of the NSW criminal justice system:
‘No city in the world could rival Sydney’s toleance for organised crime...’
‘No city in the world could rival Sydney’s tolerance for organised crime… from 1965–76… the state endured a period of political corruption unparalleled in modern history.’
A year after the Hackett homicide, both McPherson and ‘Snowy’ Rayner were charged with the attempted murder of John Joseph Urwin, an illegal SP bookie, who Lennie was harassing for protection money. The case collapsed after Urwin refused to provide any evidence.
In May 1962, two young detectives arrested Lennie, and charged him with his second conviction of ‘consorting with known criminals’. Before the crime boss was charged, a message was relayed to the arresting officers on the police car radio. The alleged caller was Senior Detective Ray ‘Gunner’ Kelly who ordered them to ‘release McPherson at once’. Kelly also apparently persuaded Lennie’s first wife, Dawn, to discontinue an attempted murder charge against her estranged husband.
He allegedly excused himself from his own wedding reception in order to dispose of Walker...
It is strongly rumoured that McPherson also bribed Police Commissioner Fred Hanson, Deputy Commissioner Bill Allan, and the then state Premier, Sir Robert Askin. The relationship between McPherson and Kelly, however, was especially cooperative.
Lennie was able to provide Kelly with his career highlight after he ‘grassed’ the whereabouts of Pentridge Prison escapees Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker to his senior detective friend. The arrests that followed in Sydney resulted in Premier Askin successfully recommending Kelly to be the recipient of an MBE. Six thousand dollars was believed to be Askin’s usual fee for referencing such an esteemed honour, but the premier probably provided this perk free of charge. At Kelly’s subsequent retirement function in 1966, Askin glowingly described the departing ‘Gunner’ as ‘a close personal friend that no fictional detective could hold a candle to’.
John Maddison
The number of murders attributed to Lennie McPherson continued to increase. He allegedly excused himself from his own wedding reception (to his second wife Marlene) in order to dispose of Robert James ‘Pretty Boy’ Walker with an Owen submachine gun. The 42-year-old groom then returned to his new bride to enjoy the nuptial celebrations. Another alleged homicide followed when standover bully and gang rival Charles Bourke was slain. Robert ‘Jacky’ Steele, another self-styled ‘Mr Big’, later died from gun shot wounds he received in November 1965.
Nearly two years later, another criminal’s life was terminated. On this occasion it was ‘Ducky’ O’Connor, who was shot dead in Sydney’s Latin Quarter nightclub. McPherson was very close to the action, but not one of the numerous patrons present was willing to provide any evidence. Not long afterwards, Maurice ‘Barney’ Ryan’s life ended when he was shot dead in his home.
He allegedly excused himself from his own wedding reception…
McPherson’s alleged tally of at least six killings, two attempted murders and numerous incidents of assault may be even larger. Many other underworld figures disappeared during McPherson’s most influential years. ‘Mr Big’ himself once reportedly boasted to an associate that another five people, who were forcibly taken by boat out of Sydney harbour, never returned from their journey.
At times, the power provided to McPherson by corrupt or compliant officials was nothing short of staggering. In the mid 1960s, the then State Justice Minister, John Maddison, reportedly granted permission for Lennie to make private visits to enemies being held in custody. The prison inmates chosen were subjected to ‘kangaroo court’ proceedings, and death sentences were sometimes delivered by ‘judge’ McPherson on prisoners found ‘guilty’ of conspiring against him. Some believe that ‘Ducky’ O’Connor’s later execution in a Kings Cross nightclub, was previously decided in ‘McPherson’s court’.
Finally, after numerous unsuccessful court room appearances, the wheels began to fall off for Lenny. In 1991 the then 70 year-old gang boss was interviewed by National Crime Association (NCA) officials about his income, and it is alleged that McPherson was forced to pay a taxation bill of between $500,000 and one million dollars.
...McPherson was forced to pay a taxation bill of between $500, 000 and one million dollars.
McPherson’s standover tactics then rebounded on him at last. After his business associate Darren Burt was viciously assaulted in April 1991, incriminating evidence provided by police tapes and phone taps resulted in McPherson being charged with assault.
Lennie was sentenced to four years jail with a non parole period of 30 months.
By then the aging gangster had legally changed his name to Murray, and was domiciled on Queensland’s Gold Coast, but the end of his underworld dominance was near. “Mr Big’s” legal team managed to stall court proceedings for three years, but on 16 December 1994 Lennie was sentenced to four years jail with a non parole period of 30 months. He never served his full time, for on 28 August 1996, Leonard Murray/McPherson died in custody at the age of 75, after suffering a massive heart attack.
After a fierce battle for supremacy in the 1970s, it was Billy ‘the Texan’ Longley who ultimately gained control of Melbourne’s criminally dominated waterfront unions. ‘The Texan’, who derived his nickname from a TV Western star named Longley, also carried the nicknames of ‘Murder Incorporated’ and the ‘Godfather of Australian Crime’.
Billy Longley
Longley allegedly killed three dockers as well as his wife Patricia during the 1960s. He was not charged with the waterfront murders, but was at first found guilty of his wife’s homicide. On appeal, this charge was reduced to manslaughter, before Longley was finally acquitted.
In the early 1970s, Longley was found guilty of murdering Pat Shannon, the secretary of the Painters and Dockers Union, and he was sentenced to 13 years jail. During his time in custody, Longley’s written allegations about crime and corruption around Melbourne’s waterfront areas resulted in the formation of the Costigan Commission. During the hearings, Longley informed investigators that approximately 30–40 dockers had been murdered since 1958, in what amounted to a union civil war.
Leading Melbourne barrister, Robert Richter QC, is a staunch admirer of Longley, whom he once described as being ‘an iconic figure’. After being released from custody in 1988, Longley and former detective Brian ‘Skull’ Murphy formed a mediation team whose motto was ‘everything can be negotiated’. Their past strike rate of success in this area is outstanding.
Longley informed investigators that approximately 30—40 dockers had been murdered since 1958...
Pat Shannon
Brian Murphy
Raymond ‘Chuck’ Bennett was the mastermind of the ‘Great Bookie Robbery’ which resulted in millions of dollars of gambling proceeds being stolen in an audacious gang raid on 21 April 1976.
Raymond Bennett
Bennett’s preparation for the ambitious crime was meticulous. He hand picked six accomplices for the raid. He also utilised the planning expertise of another associate, who was then serving a sentence in Pentridge Prison. Fitness was a vital element of his training regime. Well before the raid took place, he subjected his selected team to a gruelling commando type program in a secret rural Victorian location. The break-in robbery itself was planned for the Easter holiday period, so that the discovery of the theft would be delayed.
The ‘Great Bookie Robbery’ had the potential to be the perfect crime, but the greed of a rival group doomed the Bennett gang’s hopes. The Kane brothers wanted to muscle in on the proceeds, and there were many casualties following the gang war that erupted from the dispute.
...he subjected his selected team to a gruelling commando type program in a secret rural Victorian location.
Les Kane was abducted from his home and was never seen again, Bennett himself was shot dead outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in November 1979, while Brian Kane and Laurence Prendergast were also permanently removed. Norman ‘Chops’ Lee, the only person to face charges over the ‘Great Bookie Robbery’, was later killed by police marksmen in a foiled arm robbery attempt at Tullamarine Airport in July 1992.
Les Kane
...killed by police marksmen in a foiled arm robbery attempt at Tullamarine Airport...
Ian Revel Carroll migrated from England during his childhood days. In later years he became a career criminal, and in a series of five armed robberies over a two year period, it is estimated that Carroll’s gang netted in the vicinity of 1.3 million dollars. Carroll imposed rigid discipline on his group, and he controlled operations with military type precision. The bulk of ill gotten gains were invested wisely in bank accounts and property. Raymond ‘Chuck’ Bennett was impressed with Carroll’s shrewd methods.
Russell Cox
Bennett persuaded Carroll to join his gang which successfully carried out the ‘Great Bookie Robbery’ in 1975, when millions of dollars were stolen.
...Carroll’s gang netted in the vicinity of 1.3 million dollars.
One of Carroll’s close friends was fellow fitness fanatic Russell ‘Mad Dog’ Cox, who achieved criminal stardom after he escaped from the seemingly impregnable Katingal high security jail. In 1982 Cox joined others for a barbecue at Carroll’s Mt. Martha cottage. For unknown reasons, a fierce argument broke out between Cox and Carroll, guns suddenly appeared, and they commenced firing at each other. In the shoot out Cox received a leg wound; Carroll’s injuries to the chest and stomach, later proved to be fatal.
Raymond Denning
Helen Dean, Cox’s de facto partner, had nursing aide experience. She was able to provide adequate medical care for her ‘Mad Dog’ before the couple fled, while Carroll’s life ebbed away in the back garden of his house. Police later discovered an arsenal of weapons on the property. Seventeen firearms, which included a submachine gun, pistols and shot guns were unearthed, while balaclavas, safes, bank bags with detailed notes on cash deliveries, and security guard uniforms, were also uncovered.
Five years later, on 22 July 1988, Russell Cox, and the infamous Sydney jail escapee Raymond Denning, were arrested at Doncaster Shopping Town, prior to them staging an armed robbery. Cox was found guilty of many crimes and imprisoned. He was acquitted over the Carroll homicide, as there were no reliable witnesses at the scene.
...balaclavas, safes, bank bags with detailed notes on cash deliveries, and security guard uniforms, were also uncovered.
Truong Hong Phuc was the leader of ‘The Brotherhood’, a gang of criminals with Vietnamese origins, who imported massive amounts of heroin into Australia. One shipment smuggled through customs by the group was hidden inside pottery jars, children’s clothing and statues, and was valued at $25,000,000.
By the time he reached his early 40s, Truong Hong Phuc commanded enormous power in Vietnamese communities around the country. He ruthlessly disposed of any opponents. When a wealthy Asian woman refused to cooperate with the gang’s drug importation plans, he arranged for Nguyen Hoa Ngoc and Bui Quang Tuan to fly to Australia from America.
These two contract killers kidnapped Le Anh Tuan, the recalcitrant woman’s son, and demanded a ransom of $400,000. The deadline for the payment was 3 May 1996, but by then the luckless young man had already been executed by his captors. Despite his demise, Phuc still demanded that the ransom be paid, and a rendezvous was arranged at Melbourne’s Spencer Street railway station on 4 May. By then the victim’s mother had notified police about the abduction, and three of the gang were arrested near the meeting place.
...the luckless young man had already been executed by his captors.
...DNA testing of a cigarette butt found in their Australian residence was sent to the USA...
Both hitmen escaped to Vietnam, but DNA testing of a cigarette butt found in their Australian residence was sent to the USA, and a suspect was subsequently identified from criminal records. This important break through led to a series of arrests in America, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Britain and Australia.
Later, in Melbourne’s Supreme Court, Phuc was sentenced to 25 years for kidnapping and murder. A subsequent appeal against the conviction has been rejected. The chief suspect in the murder was arrested in Vietnam, and charged with drug trafficking. In Vietnam, criminals conviction of this crime receive the death penalty, and the culprit would have been spared, if he had accepted a life sentence for murder back in Australia.
The killer knew that his American family would become elimination targets for ‘the Brotherhood’ if he gave damaging evidence against Phuc in Australia. He chose instead to be legally executed in Vietnam.
Some things in life are worth dying for.
If he wasn’t the ‘Mr Big’ of Melbourne crime, he was certainly its elder statesman. But Graham ‘The Munster’ Kinniburgh was different to most gangland figures. This quiet living, reticent man was regarded as a model citizen of the leafy Melbourne suburb of Kew. His children married partners from high society, but the source of his comfortable lifestyle was mostly veiled in secrecy.
Graham Kinniburgh
In the heyday of his criminal life, The Munster was the master safe breaker and leader of the notorious Magnetic Drill Gang. During the 1970s and ‘80s this group was responsible for at least 12 major heists, which included a five-million-dollar gold and jewellery robbery in Sydney.
...responsible for at least 12 major heists, which included a $5,000,000 gold and jewellery robbery in Sydney.
Kinniburgh later shunned the criminal limelight. His subsequent friendship with flamboyant criminal Alphonse Gangitano seems surprising. The Munster was at Gangitano’s heavily fortressed Templestowe house on the night his friend was murdered. He was finally cleared of any involvement in the killing, though coroner Iain West concluded that both Jason Moran and Kinniburgh were implicated in Gangitano’s death.
Underworld friends such as Mick Gatto, Mario Condello and other established members of the ‘Carlton Crew’, were shocked when the semi-retired Kinniburgh became a victim in Melbourne’s most recent gangland war. It was the psychopathic hitman Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin who shot The Munster dead outside his home in December 2007, on the orders of Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel.
Semi-retirement is not a viable option in gangland circles.
The Munster’s death in the twilight of his years proved a sobering reminder for all aging criminals.
Semi-retirement is not a viable option in gangland circles.
Mario Condello was one of the old style gangsters of Melbourne. He was a qualified lawyer, and his skills as a ‘money man’ were highly valued by other criminals of Italian descent who aligned themselves with the ‘Carlton Crew’. It is believed that Condello swore to avenge the killings of Gangitano and Kinniburgh, and he was also outraged by the attempted murder of his friend Mick Gatto. These reactions may explain why he became a homicide target for gangland rivals such as Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel. Growing suspicions caused willaims and Mokbel to hire their own contract killers, before Condello organised a ‘hit’ on them.
Mario Condello
Known attempts on Condello’s life began in mid-2004, when two of Williams’ ‘hitmen’ were arrested near Brighton Cemetery, where Condello regularly walked his dogs. Shane Jason Sonnet was in possession of a five-shot revolver, and a ready to fire automatic pistol, when he was apprehended.
...two of Williams’ ‘hitmen’ were arrested near Brighton Cemetery where Condello regularly walked his dogs.
At the conclusion of his trial on 28 May 2008, Justice Betty King sentenced the 39-year-old man to 20 years in jail with a non-parole period of 16 years. After hearing his fate, Sonnet screamed expletives at the presiding judge before he was controlled.
Sonnet’s violent reaction was predictable. At a previous trial in 2002, a raging Sonnet threw a bag of excrement at the jury, while his two co-accused associates exposed their buttocks. Sonnet’s defence lawyer later stated the bleeding obvious to the courtroom audience, when he declared that his client had ‘an anger management problem’!
At a previous trial in 2002, a raging Sonnet threw a bag of excrement at the jury...
Condello did not learn from his near death experience, and he soon paid the price for not changing his notorious way of life. He was shot dead near his home on 6 February 2006 by an unknown assailant. In some ways it was an appropriate exit for a vain man who always revered Mafia style execution traditions.
Lewis Moran, the father of the notorious and now deceased gangsters Mark and Jason Moran, was a longstanding friend of Kinniburgh. He was the head of his family’s crime group, and was a major player in Melbourne’s drug trafficking trade for many years. Lewis Moran knew he was on borrowed time, however, once the Williams’ faction executed his friend The Munster.
Despite police warnings, the aging crook refused to change his daily routine...
Despite police warnings, the aging crook refused to change his daily routine, and it came as little surprise when Lewis Moran was gunned down in the Brunswick Club by two armed assailants on 31 March 2004. Moran’s drinking friend, Bernie Wrout, was seriously wounded when he was also shot in the attack.
Forty-year-old Evangelos ‘Ange’ Goussis and an accomplice code named ‘JP’, both faced trial for the homicide, and on 29 May 2008, a jury found Goussis guilty of the murder of Lewis Moran. He was also found guilty of intentionally causing serious injury to Wrout. The court also found that Carl Williams ordered the contract killing.
Lewis Moran
Moran at Kinniburgh’s funeral
Moran lying dead in the Brunswick Club.
Both the ‘Carlton Crew’ and seasoned Melbourne detectives underestimated the influence of Carl Williams, and a resultant 29 lives were lost over eight years in Melbourne’s fierce gangland war. Old style criminals in their dark suits, darker sunglasses and flashy jewellery, had referred dismissively to Williams as ‘Fat Boy’, when they drank coffee or sipped chardonnay at their favourite Lygon Street cafes.
Carl Williams
To those who valued the traditional Italian criminal lifestyle, Carl Williams was only a small time drug courier for his father George; a constantly smiling, scrappily dressed nobody who preferred eating at KFC outlets, to dining in classy restaurants. Treating this ‘new boy on the block’ with disdain was a crucial mistake, which ultimately led to the slaughter of many people in the killing mayhem that followed.
Both Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel rose rapidly in status in the contemporary criminal world, because of the enormous amounts of money they generated from their drug empires. Unlike members of the Carlton Crew, Williams virtually served no criminal apprenticeship, before becoming a wealthy and ruthless crime boss.
...29 lives were lost over eight years in Melbourne’s fierce gangland war.
Quick coded phone calls to one of his reckless young drug dealers, to order the killing of a rival, further strengthened Williams’ growing power base. Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin was his regular contract killer, and he is suspected of committing at least six murders in the gangland battle. Veniamin died as he live—he was shot dead in 2004, after tussling with Mick Gatto at the back of a Carlton restaurant. Carl Williams, meanwhile, revelled in his now burgeoning reputation, and he boastfully referred to himself as ‘The Premier’, reasoning that he ran ‘this f****** state.’
Mark Moran
There is strong evidence to suggest that between May 2000 and March 2004, Williams personally murdered Mark Moran, a supposedly unemployed chef and personal trainer. Mark Moran lived well beyond his stated income, thanks to lucrative takings from his family’s drug empire. His Aberfeldie home was valued at 1.3 million dollars in the year 2000. Carl Williams allegedly organised the killings of many other criminal rivals, including Mark Mallia, Victor Peirce, Nic Radev, Mario Condello, Jason Moran, Willy Thompson, Michael Marshall, and Lewis Moran.
The long lasting feud between the Moran and Williams factions began over a disagreement over the pricing of amphetamine tablets. An arranged rendezvous between the Moran brothers and Carl Williams was expected to resolve the problems, when they met in a small park near Tullamarine Airport on 13 October 1999.
Mark Moran lived well beyond his stated income, thanks to lucrative takings from his family’s drug empire.
...he began to systematically exterminate the Morans and their associates.
It was close to Carl Williams’ 29th birthday, and he received an unwanted gift when Jason Moran produced a small revolver and shot the big man in the stomach. Jason’s half-brother Mark urged him to finish off the job, but the gunman did not proceed, as he wished to recoup money he believed was owed to his family. This error in judgement meant that a vengeful Williams soon recovered from his wound, and he began to systematically exterminate the Morans and their associates.
Williams went on to become the most dangerous gang leader in Australia, before the Purana police task force finally brought both he and several of his associates to justice. ‘The Premier’ finally confessed to three killings, in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence and regaining the right to freedom in his old age. A non parole sentence of 35 years, handed down by Justice Betty King in May 2007, appears to have dashed his hopes. He has, however, since been granted leave to appeal part of the sentence.
Carl Williams also sought leave to make a statement to the court after originally being sentenced. But ‘The Premier’ was denied his right of reply, and his term in office abruptly ended.
‘F*** you’ were Williams’ parting words to the sentencing judge—one can’t help but think his comment lacks a little in style compared to Ned Kelly’s famous response of ‘Such is life’.
Carl Williams and Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin
Antonius (Tony) Mokbel first established close links with his future co-crime boss, Carl Williams, when they were both serving jail terms at Melbourne’s Port Phillip Prison. On release, the pair often cooperated in maintaining their lucrative drug empires, but Mokbel embraced a more flamboyant lifestyle. The stocky and gregarious son of respectable Lebanese immigrants was regularly sighted at Melbourne race meetings, and he became part owner of a champion racehorse. He also purchased a Ferrari, and lived in a luxurious penthouse.
Mokbel’s exhilarating ride toward millionaire status faltered after he was charged with cocaine trafficking. He then received more serious news after he was unexpectedly granted bail over the drug charges. Along with Carl Williams, he was about to be charged with the gangland murders of Michael Marshall and Lewis Moran. In March 2006, Mokbel decided to scratch himself from his next courtroom fixture, and he absconded from bail.
...Mokbel decided to scratch himself from his next courtroom fixture, and he absconded from bail.
For nearly 15 months Tony Mokbel evaded capture, at first on a property owned by his friend George Elias near Bonnie Doon. In his rural Victorian hideout, Mokbel formulated an audacious and expensive escape plan that would transport him to the other side of the world.
His chances of success depended on his friends and his extreme wealth.
His chances of success depended on his friends and his extreme wealth. Both resources were fully utilised in the escape plan, which he hatched with his trusted ally, Byron Pantazis.
In mid 2006 Pantazis flew to Greece, where he made contact with Theodore Angelakis, and the pair recruited four Greek sailors to aid the escape bid.
By September the sailors were in Sydney, where they purchased a 1.7 metre yacht for $350,000. They then sailed the vessel from Sydney’s Point Piper to nearby Newcastle, where it was extensively renovated.
A month later the yacht was transported by road across the other side of the continent at an approximate cost of $33,000. More modifications were made en route, including the fitting of giant fuel tanks and a self-righting mast.
The wide-load vehicle took six days to travel through NSW, South Australia and Western Australia. They only travelled in daylight for the six day journey, and were accompanied by pilot cars to the front and rear of the truck. The support vehicles carried obvious signs and flashing lights, so it is surprising that the brazen plan proceeded without a hitch.
The support vehicles carried obvious signs and flashing lights, so it is surprising that the brazen plan proceeded without a hitch.
Mokbel departed from Bonnie Doon in November, using a hired Nissan Patrol vehicle to travel from Victoria to Western Australia. Between Perth and Geraldton, the fugitive met up with his future crew. On November 11th, customs cleared the vessel for departure from Fremantle, and ‘Edwena’ sailed to Greece via the Seychelles and the Suez Canal.
One of the original crew had previously flown back to Greece, so Mokbel sailed with three crewmen. From information that police made available in June 2008, it was not a comfortable voyage for the crime baron. Mokbel was constantly sea sick, and Christmas could not have come soon enough for the somewhat emaciated escapee, when he disembarked in Greek waters on 24 December 2006.
Mokbel was pleased to be back on terra firma, but his relief was tempered by sobering news from home. Some of his close Australian associates had begun making damaging statements to Purana Task Force officers, but by December he was residing safely in Athens. In public he wore an unconvincing wig, and he also carried a false passport as security. Life improved after his de facto partner Danielle McGuire and her teenage daughter flew to meet him from Australia, and Mokbel continued to successfully operate his drug empire from his overseas base.
In public he wore an unconvincing wig, and he also carried a false passport as security.
By April 2007 the extraordinarily large reward of one million dollars was offered for information leading to the re-capture of the fugitive. Mokbel needed luck on his side every day to remain free, whereas his relentless pursuers needed to be lucky on just one day.
After Greek police received an anonymous tip-off from Australia, Tony Mokbel was arrested in a trendy Athens café. For many months his lawyers fought Australian extradition requests, but in May 2008 Mokbel was transferred back to Melbourne under heavy police guard. His one million dollar escape plan had finally come unstuck.
Mokbel is now confined in a high security unit at Barwon Prison, where he awaits trial for two murders, and a charge of breaching bail conditions. While on the run, Tony Mokbel was convicted for his drug offences; he already has a nine year sentence to serve in custody.
Tony Mokbel with wig and without.
After Greek police received an anonymous tip-off from Australia, Tony Mokbel was arrested…
In June 2008 there was a Mokbel family reunion of sorts, after Tony was joined in custody by his two brothers, Milad and Horty. Milad Mokbel was placed behind bars after providing amphetamine chemicals to a drug cook, who, unfortunately for the younger Mokbel, had become a police informer.
At present, it is impossible for Milad’s wife Renate to visit him in prison. Renate Mokbel was jailed in March 2007 when she failed to pay a one million dollar surety for her brother-in-law Tony, after he skipped bail and fled overseas.
Inset: Tony Mokbel
Main picture: Danielle McGuire with their daughter.
In God many trust, but few would trust Tony Mokbel.
...she failed to pay a one million dollar surety for her brother-in-law Tony...
Dominic ‘Mick’ Gatto is a colourful and influential gangland identity with a proven track record of survival. The former heavyweight boxer has financed a comfortable lifestyle from his crane company and business protection services, but he is still best remembered for his shady past.
Mick Gatto is suspected of hiring Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin for the May 2000 killing of Frank Benvenuto, who was a major identity in Melbourne’s fruit and vegetable market. In March 2008 an underworld informer told police that Gatto also hired Veniamin to execute notorious criminal Victor Peirce.
The informer, who Gatto dismissed as ‘a renowned liar’, claimed that Peirce discovered the identities of the men who murdered his friend Benvenuto, and that Peirce was gunned down before he could enact a revenge killing. This claim is contradictory to the more accepted scenario, that it was Carl Williams who contracted Veniamin to murder Peirce.
Gatto’s financial activities have previously been investigated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), and the taint of his past impacted strongly on the career of Peter Spence, who was a senior investigator with that government body. In February 2007, Spence resigned from his post, after it was revealed that he’d been previously suspended for a ‘potential conflict of interest’ in regard to his 22-year association with Gatto.
...Peirce was gunned down before he could enact a revenge killing.
Both men have denied any wrongdoing, but well known corruption investigator, Tony Fitzgerald QC, was recently appointed to examine their relationship more closely. Spence has already admitted that he warned his friend in 2004 about rumours of $150,000 being offered in the underworld for Gatto’s execution.
...$150,000 being offered in the underworld, to have Gatto killed.
In early 2008, federal and state police began examining the leaking of sensitive information about a planned takeover by two companies listed to Gatto and his associates.
By early April, Gatto, and two other members of the Carlton Crew, made headlines following the collapse of the stockbroking firm Opus Prime. Devastated clients collectively lost approximately $500,000 when the firm folded, and an anonymous group of investors contacted Gatto to help recoup their financial losses.
Consequently, accompanied by much media fanfare, Mick Gatto and his two henchmen flew to Singapore to pursue the lost money trail. Gatto may also visit the British Virgin Islands if it is warranted, but little has been heard about progress in this dispute since he returned from his brief visit to Singapore.
Gatto’s uneasy relationship with the volatile Veniamin came to a fatal conclusion, after the pair met at a Carlton restaurant on 23 March 2004. Veniamin, who by then had killed six others, allegedly produced a gun, and in the ensueing struggle he was shot dead. It remains unclear whether Veniamin was acting on behalf of Carl Williams, or whether he accosted Gatto of his own volition.
Gatto claimed that the struggle began after ‘Benji’ admitted murdering his friend Graham ‘the Munster’ Kinniburgh, but that he only killed Veniamin in self defence. There were no witnesses at the scene, and the imposing power broker was acquitted in Melbourne’s Supreme Court in June 2005.
In his role as a business and industrial ‘negotiator’, Mick Gatto often issues blunt messages to any recalcitrant opponents of his clients. He is also fond of communicating his own versions of underworld wisdom, and one of his favourite sayings well describes the life and death struggle he experienced with Andrew Veniamin.
‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.’
‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies even close.’
Perhaps it is tempting to glamorise the characters of gangland leaders when they make occasional grand gestures to charitable organisations. On slow news days, some sections of the media provide celebrity status for them, when they focus on their flashy cars, their luxurious apartments and their often opulent life styles.
The following accounts, concerning family victims of well known gangland personalities, will alter any feelings of admiration that some readers may once have held.
In the previous chapter, Tony Reeves expressed trenchant criticism for the life and character of Sydney’s ‘Mr Big’ of crime, Lennie McPherson.
On first reading such candid comments about a dead man may appear to be unnecessary and in poor taste. The following anecdote about a true life incident involving Lennie McPherson, appears to justify Reeves’ scathing assessment of his character.
When Lennie was in his 30s, his mother, Nell McPherson, celebrated her 70th birthday in style with many family members, but Lennie was not present for the landmark occasion. Shortly after Mrs McPherson returned home, he appeared at her front doorstep, and was ushered into the house.
Lennie appeared to have arrived with a surprise gift, for he cradled a small white rabbit in his arms. However after his mother confirmed that Lennie’s criminal life had caused him to be deliberately excluded from the family gathering, her son reacted with callous rage.
He allegedly pulled off the live rabbit’s head, and left the blood stained, twitching corpse on the front door mat when he departed.
It was the last time Nell McPherson saw her tenth-born child before she died.
After Tony Mokbel was granted bail on drug dealing charges, his sister-in-law, Renate, generously provided a surety of one million dollars.
It is now well documented that he skipped bail, and that he fled from Australia wearing a ridiculous wig and carrying a false passport. For some months after, Tony enjoyed the high life in Athens with his de facto partner.
And what happened to his brother’s wife, whose loyalty and support led to him being released from custody?
Renate was unsurprisingly unable to fund the one million dollar surety. She has since been removed from her husband and young family, and she remains in custody for breaching bail conditions.
Who needs friends when you have Tony Mokbel as a brother-in-law?
