Struggle 'possible' after shooting...

Suspected hitman Andrew Veniamin could have continued fighting for up to a minute after being shot in the head and neck, a forensic pathologist told the Supreme Court yesterday.

Well, that's one way of explaining why Mick needed to give him such chronic lead poisoning...

Robert Richter QC (we prefer SC, but hey) is the right man to have in your corner for a gig like this. He's been chomping at the bit to get, as Rumpole would say "a nice little murder". Instead room service brought him up a big one:

Questioned by Robert Richter, QC, for Gatto, Dr Dodd agreed it was difficult to determine individual reactions to particular injuries and that even people shot in the brain could remain active for a brief time.

Given ol' Benji was brain dead from birth, it's a tough call to make.

The defence has claimed that the men struggled until the last of five shots was fired from the .38 revolver that Gatto claims Veniamin had with him.

As Winston Churchill might have said - "well they would say that..."*

But under re-examination by prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, Dr Dodd said that if Veniamin had struggled after his carotid artery was lacerated, then he would have expected to see more evidence of arterial blood on the walls of the passageway.

"The body was on the ground and there was an exceedingly large lake of blood under the head and shoulder area pooling back towards the back of the corridor," Dr Dodd said.

We'll call that a draw then...
* Update: Was not Winston, was in fact Mandy Rice-Davies NOT Christine Keeler and most certainly NOT Winston Chruchill.
Struggle 'possible' after shooting - National - theage.com.au

Say it ain't so...

Senior police say the unit will continue to operate into next year, although they are satisfied the underworld war - at least on Melbourne streets - is over. Senior prison officers have kept suspected warring parties separated in jail to ensure the feud does not continue behind bars.

The last known gangland-related murder was Caine's on May 8 - more than a year ago.

Some key Purana investigators have been allowed to return to other duties, while the remaining detectives prepare briefs of evidence for court appearances.

"It's important to remember that we have not had a Purana-related murder for well over a year," said Stephen Linnell, a spokesman for Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

"That's not to say Purana's work is finished. In fact, there's still a tremendous amount of work to do. You certainly haven't heard the last of Purana.

"There's already some cases before the courts and there's a number yet to come. In a sense Purana's work will never be completed. It's the start of a new way of combating organised crime and we are very much focused on continuing that fight.

"It's important for the community to understand that Victoria Police is committed to continuing the fight against organised crime."

AFL coach Mick Malthouse famously described a sporting club's fortunes being like a clock. If you win a premiership at midnight, then 1-3 is your rebuilding time, and you must begin to deliver by 9 o'clock.

The current Underworld status is about 2 o'clock. As was rightly pointed out, we haven't had a hit since Lewis Caine on May 8 2004. The main players are behind bars or dead. The vacuum we here at MU have been talking about is growing day by day and rest assured folks- the current crews are in all manner of strife, but let us say this right fucking now lest there be any confusion:

THIS IS NOT THE FUCKING END.

'e doan like porridge

Harsh prison conditions were affecting the mental state of gangland figure Carl Anthony Williams, the president of Victoria's appeal court heard today.

We've always said the fat boy was full of piss and wind, and it seems he can't cope with porridge either (jail, gaol etc).

Fuck Carl, you play with matches youse gets burned. Hit the gym, lose the puppy fat (puppy fat on a 30+ yr old!) and get on with your life. Forget Roberta, she's not given to being alone- and with the years you are facing olde bean... well let's just say Roberta Botox are gonna get well acquainted real soon.

Meanwhile on the other side of town:

Keith Faure, 53, his brother Noel Faure, 50, and Evangelos Goussis, 37, all appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court today charged with (ed: Lewis) Moran's murder and the attempted murder of Wrout.

The three stooges tried to pull off a contract killing. They knocked their prime, missed the secondary and then folded up like a dodgy old card table.

They did ok though- havinng popped Lewis Caine earlier in slightly less spectacular fashion they took out old Lewis Moran. (hey if yer name's Lewis you are not SAFE- Kate Langbroek- I'm looking at you!)

Link
Three charged with Moran murder

We are ONE- but we are many

All Telstra advertising bullshit aside- Melbourne Underworld Insider Blog turned one recently (we were reminded of this fact by a reader- thank you Brownie!).

Te celebrate we're going to do 10 lines of speed, a gram of hash, three foils of smack and then do a drive-by on the competition blog some interesting facts 'n figures this week.

Stay tuned!!

Gangsters targeted by new squads - Crime & Corruption - Features - In Depth

The Vic Police have called in the consultants- no they will not recommend outsourcing everyone and then hiring themselves on higher rates- that's the Workcover and the TAC version of a revamp. No, this is the mighty Victoria Police and the result will be efficiency and better communication.

..right.

The proposals include:

- Incompetent and lazy detectives to be sacked if their performance remains unacceptable.

MU says: Well good thing the Drug squad was disbanded when it was or the lot of them would be looking for guard work.

- Psychological and personality testing to identify police susceptible to corruption.
Well that's going to reduce the intake rather severly one might suggest.

- Rewarding elite investigators with study opportunities, overseas trips and career advancement.
WTF is "elite"? Lots of dodgy arrests? Lemme get this straight- if you verbal some stooge and fit him up for a non existent crime- you could get a "study tour" to Las Vegas. Yeah. Right. That ought to stop corruption.

-Establishing a 24-hour crime desk to assign resources to breaking crimes around Victoria.
"Your crime is important to us- press one for murder, two for break and enter, 3 for rape or say your crime after the tone"

- Regular reviews to stop police continuing "dead-end" investigations into crimes that are unlikely to be solved.
If this happened 5 years ago, the Silk/Miller muders would not have been solved.
- A mentoring system for specialist detectives to pass on expertise throughout the force.
Sounds a lot like "you get brown paper bag A from crim B and go to crown to achieve C- laundering"

- Less emphasis on crime types and more on tackling major crime identities.
Celebrity crooks with celebrity cops. We've called for this for sometime. Like Big Brother, but with guns.

All bullshit aside, this does look like a better strategy than MU Insider had expected. The lack of Vic Police input- is a bloody good thing. We naturally await Paul Mullet of the Police Assoc. to bleat like one of the sheep from 1984- "All Cops are honest! All Cops are honest! All Cops are honest!" Honestly, he's a fucking dinosaur who has allowed the bad eggs to rule the roost. Don't get us started on the issue of dismissing dodgy cops. In short unless you are caught red handed, convicted, shot and cremated- Mullet reckons you are ok by him. Moron.

But there is one gaping hole in the strategy:

Some murders where the offender is known will be handled by local detectives, while more complex killings and long term "cold-cases" will be investigated by the homicide squad.

Oh dear. Does the Colin Winchester case ring any bells out there folks? The AFP version


Paul Mullet telling us how great all the cops are...
Gangsters targeted by new squads - Crime & Corruption - Features - In Depth

Five shots that ended a life

The Mick Gatto trial will soon be getting underway- he's pleading not guilty by way of self defense- which makes sense.

Here's why he might be ok:
1/ Gatto may have been tooled up- but he'd not done a whole lotta shooting in a looong time. If Benji was to be knocked by the Carlton Crew, it certainly would not be Gatto in a fucking restaurant, in front of so many witnesses. No fucking way.
2/ Gatto is not fond of the sponsor's product while our ol' mate Benji was a dancin' shakin', two-lines-before-brekky kinda bloke:

Mr Horgan said the conversations showed the change in their relationship, from one of friendship to one where Gatto was wary of Veniamin.

That's mostly due to Benji becoming a button-down-psycho in his final months. He was a paranoid, aggro, tooled up little upstart who was on borrowed time from the moment he met Carl and Tony Mokbel. If I was Gatto, I'd have been fucking wary of the pocket rocket too. We here at MU reckon that if Gatto hadn't nailed him, someone would have- and that someone could have come from either the Carlton Crew OR even the Williams/Mokbel crew. That's how much of a liability Benji was becoming.
3/ Benji was believing his own bullshit. He's knocked a few easy cases, and possibly the Munster (though the cops conveniently say he didn't do it now coz it helps to mess with Gatto's post shooting words) and frankly I reckon he was keen to have a go at Gatto. Maybe not kill him there 'n then, but certainly stick a rosco up his nose and see what came out. Wrong move Benji old bean.


For a while there, it seemed that Gatto was trying to broker a true between the warring groups. Fighting might be fun, but there was money to be made and if the two main players couldn't get their shit together and get back to the task at hand-the drug trade- then some smart bunch would. Vietnamese crews moving away from heroin, Russian mafia, Philippines crews, Indos, Schapelle Corby, the list of possible players goes on.

It would make sense to get Gatto to get it all cooled down. He's negotiated some interesting settlements in industrial relations before, and the underworld is just like the real world, but with bullets, death, drugs and this blog.

But sending Benji to negotiate with Gatto? Not fucking likely!

The Fifth Element:
KORBEN
Found him...

AKANIT
(tense) Send someone to negotiate!

KORBEN
Mind if I go? I'm an excellent negotiator.

COP 1
Uh... Sure, go ahead.

Korben gets ready.

COP 1
We're sending someone in who's authorized to negotiate.

Korben walks quickly into the room, heads straight for Akanit, raises his gun and puts a bullet through his head.

KORBEN
Anyone else want to negotiate?

COP 2
(to another Cop)
Where'd he learn to negotiate like that?

Where Mr Gatto has a problem
1/ Five. Fucking. Shots. Once for fear, twice for adrenalin, thrice for certainty. But four 'n five were pure indulgence.

"In that passageway . . . the deceased man, Andrew Veniamin, had no retreat and nowhere to hide," Mr Horgan said. "The accused man . . . shot him twice to the neck and once to the head. He shot at him a fourth time as the deceased lay dying on the floor of the passageway . . . but he missed. In all, five shots were fired."

Christ Mick, one more shot and you'd have had to reload. Why not saw his head off to finish him?

2/ How the defence handle the issue of the gun's sudden arrival on the scene is muy importante aussi. They will say it was Benji's. We here at MU have no opinion either way. We would be 90% sure that Gatto was tooled up. Normally Benji would be too BUT:

Veniamin was wearing white thongs, elastic-waisted three-quarter pants, a light T-shirt and boxer shorts, clothing that would not have enabled him to hide a weapon. Mr Horgan said neither the restaurant owner nor anyone at Gatto's table noticed anything to suggest Veniamin had a gun.

Who said Benji would hide a weapon? We're talking 'bout a fucking hitman not a boyscout who's showing a gun to his mates. It would come as no surprise to see Benji roscoed up with it pointing right at his cock Workcover would have a field day there...

If the prosecution contend that Benji was unarmed, cast your mind back to the early days of this website, when Benji was first killed and we ran this quote from the Herald Sun:

But Veniamin was a known hothead, who sources said started "going nuts and losing the plot" about eight months ago.

"He was getting carried away, driving his $200,000 Mercedes while tooled up (carrying a gun)," a former detective told the Herald Sun.

"He wouldn't leave home without a rosco (gun). He wouldn't even go to the bathroom without one. He was paranoid, and a lot of people started distancing themselves because he was getting out of control and upsetting people left, right and centre."

Now, get that to fly...

Five shots that ended a life - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Carl Williams to dodge a bullet?

Not a literal bullet mind, he's ducking and weaving like a bantam weight. Pretty cool given he's, well, fat. And the Insider can confirm Roberta's been in the green paddock while in jail. Or she's pregnant. Or something.

The Crown is considering dropping a murder charge against underworld figure Carl Williams, a Melbourne court has been told.

Geoff Horgan, SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Melbourne Magistrates Court the charge against Williams over the murder of gangster Mark Moran may be withdrawn.

Williams appeared at today's hearing via a video link.

"The question of whether the prosecution will withdraw this charge is still under consideration," Mr Horgan told Chief Magistrate Ian Gray.

Why is the case going arse up?
Hard to say really, there are some problems relating to evidence and it would seem some people who'd represented they'd do and say one thing, are now harder to find. (ok longest hyperlink ever, but, well, necessary)

It's a family affair...

Father and son duo George and Carl Williams have been ordered to stand trial on charges relating to an alleged million-dollar drug ring.

The two men appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on several charges, including trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine between December 2002 and mid-2004.

At least Roberta is now out of jail so she can go back to running t5he show like she always has. With Carl out of the way she'll be able to cut down on the hero factor...

Hitman planned shooting 'at school' - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Hitman planned shooting 'at school' - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Corrupt police 'offered to kill' - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Even more shocking revelations about the Hodson case, this time in The Age:

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Simon Overland has confirmed murdered informer Terence Hodson told them corrupt officers were touting themselves as underworld contract killers.

The ABC's AM program reported that Hodson, who was executed with his wife Christine in their East Kew home last year, was approached by corrupt officers who asked him to solicit murder contracts on their behalf.

Corrupt police 'offered to kill' - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Four Corners - 14/03/2005: Melbourne Confidential

Last night's 4 Corners on the ABC featured a story from top investigator Chris Masters:

Victoria Police have long insisted that no firm links can be drawn between the parallel scandals of the gangland killings and the entrenched corruption that has plagued parts of the Victoria Police.

But Four Corners can reveal new evidence that supports this connection – evidence that Terence Hodson took to his grave.

Reporter Chris Masters profiles the murdered Terence Hodson, a British migrant, devoted father and grandfather, who opportunistically turned his hand to anything that would turn a dollar – drugs, guns, stolen goods, cars, antiques.

Compelling stuff...

Four Corners - 14/03/2005: Melbourne Confidential

Man survives 'contract' he took out on own life

Some clown wants to commit suicide.. and fails.
There's a lot more to the story but:

It is believed the pair spent the $10,000 on top-shelf alcohol, a box of Cuban cigars and mobile phones. They are expected to be charged on summons with attempted murder.

At least they behaved like low brow crims.
Man survives 'contract' he took out on own life - National - www.theage.com.au

Exhibition draws fire

I don't know much about art, but I know a lot about crime...

Exhibition draws fire - Arts - www.theage.com.au

Strike FOUR and you're out?

Carl is having a pretty tough time of it as we blog...

Police are set to charge alleged underworld figure Carl Williams with a fourth murder, claiming he stalked and shot drug dealer Mark Moran outside his luxury Aberfeldie home nearly five years ago.

Now this case was stone cold dead in the water. Purana (and just about everybody) knew the rumours surrounding Carl's involvement (though most thought it was Benji who did done the trigger work..) but the cops couldn't pin it on him with any certainty. What changed?

The breakthrough comes after a key witness told police he drove Williams within walking distance of Moran's Combermere Street home on the night of the murder.

Good help is so hard to find. Yes the guy dropping Carl in it MR X is the same Mr X who managed to get a whole 7 years off his 25 year sentence for dobbing in Carl. Worst of all, Mr X has deprived us of Carl's antics for about 35 years or so...

The word of a convicted crim doesn't carry much weight on its own... but then:

Another witness, who is not connected with the underworld, has been able to corroborate much of Mr X's statement.

A second criminal source is also alleged to have made a statement against Williams.

Oh this is bad, very bad for our boy. Maybe he will be able to go in "The Biggest Loser" while in prison? He's got a bit to lose...


Murder charge No.4 for Williams - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Carl Williams- Game Over?

Huge story brewing here folks- it appears that Carl Williams is to be charged with the murder of Mark Moran in June 2000.

It's been rumoured that Carl was involved ever since he gobbed off at Jason Moran in prison about how he "took the bullet out of my stomach and put it in Mark" (referring to the earlier shooting of Carl by the Moran brothers...) but frankly we here at Melbunderworld news always thought Carl was a bit of a pussy when it came to tooling about.

We was wrong!

Seems Carl was a regular Wild Bill Hickok eh? He didn't stay down and dirty once the cops were onto him though- the late great Benji put up his hand and Carl handed over the rosco just as fast as he had used it.

So folk- is this the end game? It was said that the Carlton Crew were gone once the Munster and Lewis Moran went- but seems the Williams crew are not far behind- all the trigger men are dead or in jail, the players are in jail and tony Mokbel is just waiting for a knock at the door.

And what happens now? Well a vacuum rarely stays a vacuum when there is fresh air nearby.

*Calling all tough guys, your time has arrived*

The Age- Williams arrest in Nov 2003
The Age- Watch on Mark Moran Lifted days before murder...
Melbourne Crime Site- Moran murders

25 - grassing yer mates = 18

A prosecution supergrass who agreed to give evidence against underworld figures Carl Williams and Victor Brincat yesterday became the first person jailed for murder over Victoria's recent gangland killings.

The informer, known only as Mr X, was sentenced in a secret Supreme Court hearing at Ballarat to 18 years' jail.

I'm sure many of you have seen the US "Law and Order" franchised TV shows. In these shows, the accused can cut all sorts of deals and get their sentence reduced significantly.
Not so here in Australia- The accused can roll over, but the charges will stand- the judge alone has discretion and in this case, one can't quite see where Mr X gets his motivation:

"Justice Teague said he would have jailed Mr X for at least 25 years, with a 20-year minimum, had he not agreed to co-operate with authorities and plead guilty to murder."

Here at Melbourne Underworld news are fully aware of the identity of Mr X and frankly cannot understand why there is a supression order surrounding his name:

• The people he has implicated/testified against know who he is
  
• Fellow prisoners know who he is

Why it matters whether the public knows is beyond us- I'm pretty sure the public don't care either way.
Go figure. But on this rare occasion we will respect the judges decision and despite these servers being based in the USA where the supression order has no weight, we will not reveal who Mr X is...

Underworld supergrass gets 18 years for killing

Underworld recruiting in prisons - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

Some of the main suspects in Victoria's underworld war are trying to recruit fresh troops inside Melbourne's prisons, according to Corrections Commissioner Kelvin Anderson.

We're told there are two types of recruit:

The "lifers" recruited to strong arm in prison.

The short sentence hard men wanted for work outside.

The issue here is whether there is enough to sustain a new war. As said in the media in recent rtimes, the war has taken a cease fire as the main layers are either in prison or dead...


Underworld recruiting in prisons - Crime & Corruption - www.theage.com.au

What's that you say Keithy?

Dobber, dobber!

Notorious Melbourne underworld figure Keith Faure has turned on an associate and admitted being present at the shooting murder of crime patriarch Lewis Moran, a court was told today.

This is ol' Keithy:

Chopper: Oh, Keithy. I always thought I was a good bloke.
Keithy George: Ha. What did you ever do that was good?
Chopper: Well, I bashed you. That was good, wasn't it? It was good for a bit of a giggle, anyway.

It's interesting that Keithy has folded up on this. It's hard to see if he's got form for lagging, but one thing remains- ol' Keithy has been unable to reitre gracefully. Thats the thing about living the tough guy life- there are but two retirement plans: Bars or Box.

Chopper: You don't much like me, do you Keithy?

There's also the possibilty that the police want to fuck Keithy's shit up by putting it about he's the one wobbling the gob.
One could believe that it's Evangelos Goussis going the blab:

Goussis remained silent during the brief hearing today, but lodged a complaint about his imprisonment under 23-hour-lockdown at Barwon Prison through his lawyer, Maria Priolo.

"My client just wished to express for the record he has experienced torturous conditions in custody for the past seven months," she said.

Sounds a bit Guantanamo Bay does it not? That sort of living can drive a man to seek a deal...
The Age- Wobbly gob Keithy

US-style powers to hit crime

Analysis will follow....:

A US-style special prosecutor and unprecedented police powers will be used to attack organised crime in Victoria, but civil liberties groups claim the proposal is dangerously flawed.

The new officer, with the title chief examiner, will have coercive powers and can demand answers from organised crime suspects. Self-incrimination will no longer be accepted as a reason for not answering questions.

The Age: US-style powers to hit crime

Chris Johnson- on field hit man is off field...?

Brisbane Lions chairman Graeme Downie reacted angrily yesterday when Lions triple-premiership player Chris Johnson was named by a radio station as having links to members of the Melbourne underworld.

Those writers!! Why did they pass up the opportunity to say "Brisbane have come out FIRING?" ot "Taken a shot at thaose who named the player" or even "accused those who named Johnson of character assasination"

So many opportunities-lost.

I had hoped the Herald Sun would get on board:

Top Lion link to accused in murder case

AFL triple premiership player Chris Johnson has been linked to a man arrested over three Melbourne gangland murders.

Brisbane Lions' star Johnson and Alfonse Traglia have been close friends and at one point last year spoke almost daily.

Traglia last month was charged with the murders of drug boss Jason Moran and his friend Pasquale Barbaro in June last year at an Essendon North children's football clinic.

There's a bit of spice, but where are the damn sub editors?

In a rather hilarious effort the Herald Sun publish a disclaimer before tipping a bucket on a few current and former players:

The Herald Sun does not suggest Johnson was ever involved in any criminal behaviour. The spotlight on Melbourne's underworld has also uncovered other relationships between prominent footballers and gangland identities.

They include:

THE brother of a rising AFL star linked to accused drug boss Carl Williams.

A STAR midfielder who has been a friend of an armed robber who has come under Purana notice.

RICHMOND player Ty Zantuck who is a friend of the Moran family and was at the funerals of Jason Moran and his father Lewis.

FORMER AFL star Wayne Johnston who attended the funeral of Jason Moran and was a friend of his brother Mark, who was murdered in June, 2000.

Traglia is in the top security Acacia unit of Barwon Prison, near Geelong.

Chris Johnson played in Brisbane's premiership triumphs of 2001, 2002 and 2003 and has won all-Australian selection.

A highly-skilled and courageous player, he started his career with Fitzroy and headed north when the clubs merged in 1996.

Football and crime.... It's not a new thing folks. Been around since the year dot. Once connected with gambling (legal and illegal) now its moving more into players social lives. They no longer have jobs AND play footy so idle hands... (ask Wayne Carey...)

The Age- Gangland link to AFL player
Herald Sun: Top Lion link to accused in murder case