Melbourne gangland killings

Background

Groups and factions

Investigation

Timeline of deaths

1995

• 7 February 1995 – Greg Workman shot dead by Alphonse Gangitano over a $5,000 debt

  1996

• 15 August 1996 – Tim Richards and Les Knowles, two mechanics who also dealt in drugs, were shot dead in their auto-shop by Gerald David Preston. A third mechanic, Kym Traeger, was wounded but survived. The killing was related to drugs and is believed to have been ordered by the Hell's Angel outlaw motorcycle club, of which Preston was an associate. Preston was convicted in 1998 and given a life sentence with a 32-year non-parole period, and the driver for the murder, Kevin Wayne Gillard, was also given a life sentence. Preston's wife Vicki Jacobs, who gave evidence against him in court, was shot dead in her home on 12 June 1999.

  1998

• 16 January 1998 – The Melbourne gangland killings are believed to have begun with the murder of 40-year-old Alphonse Gangitano. He was shot and killed in the laundry of his own home, while wearing only his underwear. A coroner's report into his death directly implicated Jason Moran and Graham Kinniburgh. They were both found to be in Gangitano's home in Templestowe when the murder took place; however, it could not be established who pulled the trigger. Kinniburgh's blood was found on a banister inside the house, and his skin was found on a dent on the front security door. Both were excused from giving evidence to the coroner on the grounds they might incriminate themselves. It is widely believed that Jason Moran was the one who shot Gangitano.
• 3 August 1998 – John Furlan, a 48-year-old motor mechanic from Coburg, was killed by a car bomb in his Subaru Liberty in Lorensen Avenue, Merlynston. Domenic "Mick" Gatto was initially treated as a suspect since he had been involved in a payment dispute with the deceased; however, no one has been arrested in connection with his death.
• 23 November 1998 – 42-year-old stand-over man Charles Hegyalji, known as "Mad Charlie", was killed at his Caulfield home. He was an acquaintance of Chopper Read and had been associated with the amphetamine industry. Dino Dibra was linked to the killing, which was believed to be either drug or debt related.

  1999

• 9 January 1999 – Vince Mannella, a former associate of Victor Peirce and Alphonse Gangitano, was ambushed and killed outside his home in North Fitzroy in the evening. Media suspected his death was debt-related or part of an underworld power struggle but no suspects were ever named.
• 21 February 1999 – Phong Dui Nguyen, a heroin dealer, was shot six times with a.357 magnum as he exited his car on Gray Street, Yarraville. The gunman was Tom Scarborough, a major Melbourne heroin trafficker.
• 24 February 1999 – Damian Catania was the victim of a drive-by shooting at about 6.00 am. Catania was waiting outside his home in Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne's western suburbs for a regular lift to work when a white Holden Commodore slowed as it cruised by. A gunman in the car, opened fire, hitting Catania at least four times in the legs and groin. Catania, a mid-level "player" in the underworld was an ex-boxer who had a string of minor convictions, mostly for violence. Catania almost lost a leg as a result of the shooting and spent 12 months in hospital recovering. Those in the car were never caught. On Monday 22 May 2006 Catania, then 30, was sentenced to a minimum of six years jail for pouring petrol over a man who had annoyed him and setting the victim alight, causing horrific burns. Catania told the court that on his eventual release from jail, he wanted to "pack up and travel out of Melbourne".
• 28 May 1999 – Joseph Quadara, a 57-year-old greengrocer, was ambushed by two people and killed in a Toorak carpark in the early hours as he was about to start work at a Safeway supermarket. The former millionaire was declared bankrupt in 1994. Police believed that his killing was a horrible case of mistaken identity, due to the existence of another Giuseppe "Joe" Quadara involved in Melbourne's fruit and vegetable industry with underworld connections, although Joe himself had connections to the Melbourne's fruit and vegetable markets and it is conspired that the Markets God-Father; Frank Benevenuto hired Andrew "Benji" Veniamin to perform the hit.
• 9 September 1999 – 38-year-old Brighton businessman Dimitrios Belias was killed with a single shot to the back of the head in an underground carpark on St Kilda road. He had been an associate of Charles Hegyalji and was believed to be heavily in debt.
• 13 October 1999 – Drug dealer Carl Williams, who was 29 at the time, was shot in the stomach and survived in Gladstone Park. Williams told the police he blacked out and could not identify the shooter. Known underworld figures Mark and Jason Moran were present at the time, and police believe there was a dispute related to a failed amphetamines batch and ownership of a pill press. A woman told police she heard a man cry "No, Jason!" moments before a shot was fired.
• 20 October 1999 – Vince Mannella's brother, 31-year-old Gerardo Mannella, was ambushed and killed outside his brother's home, after attempting to flee from two men. The killers of Mannella are also believed to have shot his brother Vince as well as Dimirtrios Belias.
• 25 November 1999 – George and Carl Williams were charged with multiple drug offences after police raided an alleged amphetamine factory in Broadmeadows. Police seized around 25,000 amphetamine tablets, a pill press, a loaded pistol and 6.95 kg of powders containing methamphetamine, ketamine, and pseudoephedrine with a street value up to A$20 million. These charges were never brought to trial because of corruption allegations against former drug squad detectives involved in the raid.

  2000–2002

• 8 May 2000 – 52-year-old fruiterer Francesco "Frank" Benvenuto, was fatally shot while sitting in his car in the driveway of his Beaumaris home. Phone records show that as Benvenuto lay dying he managed to ring ex-employee and associate Victor Peirce on his mobile phone. It is suspected the contract was ordered by Mick Gatto. Police initially treated him as a suspect but later offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Mark Moran and Andrew Veniamin were later named as chief suspects.
• 16 May 2000 – Richard Mladenich, a 39-year-old parolee, career criminal, and associate of Mark Moran, was killed with a single bullet in the St Kilda Esquire Hotel. He had recently been released from jail where he once shared a cell with Chopper Read. Police named Rocco Arico as a suspect but were unable to interview him whilst he was in prison. They later named Dino Dibra as their primary suspect Mark Moran was also named as a suspect.
• 15 June 2000 – Mark Moran was shot and killed by Carl Williams as he was getting out of his white Holden Ute outside his luxury home in Aberfeldie. Moran's murder was initially thought of as retribution for the death of Frank Benvenuto. Some underworld rumours suspected Rodney "The Duke" Collins as one of his killers. Dino Dibra and Rocco Arico were also thought to have carried out the killing. Mark Moran had been under close police surveillance but the surveillance was mysteriously switched off hours before he was shot dead.
• 14 October 2000 – Dino Dibra was killed after leaving his house in West Sunshine. At the time he was facing charges relating to kidnap and assault. At a police press conference, Detective Inspector Andrew Allen said "We are confident that this gunman is a hired hitman and that he, along with another person, ambushed Mr Dibra that night about 9:16 pm and shot him a number of times... this is not the only murder has committed". This police profile strongly suggested that 'Benji' Veniamin was one of the gunmen. A $100 000 reward was offered by police for information.
• 22 March 2001 – George Germanos was shot repeatedly in an Armadale park.
• 1 May 2002 – 43-year-old Victor Peirce was killed while in a car parked opposite the Coles supermarket in Bay Street, Port Melbourne. A white Holden Commodore pulled up beside Peirce, who exchanged words with the occupants inside the car before being shot four times at close range. Although Pierce was officially employed as a waterfront worker, police believed he was the leader of various drug syndicates in Melbourne and heavily involved with drug trafficking. Peirce was considered a true underworld heavy-weight; he was born into the notorious Pettingill family. It is suspected that this contract killing was organized by Mick Gatto and Vince Benvenuto and executed by Andrew Veniamin and Faruk Orman.
• 10 July 2002 – Alexander Kudryavstev was shot by Michael Goldman. Goldman, 55, said he shot to miss a wounded acquaintance on a suburban nature strip despite orders from psychotic criminal, Nik Radev to "finish him". Goldman said he was "under the gun" and terrified of Radev. Goldman lured Kudryavstev to his Hampton flat and told a Supreme Court jury he was acting like a robot when he shot Mr Kudryavstev in the stomach at the flat. He said Radev told him earlier the same day: "Give him one in the head and I take care of the body." Goldman, of Highett Road, plead not guilty to the attempted murder of Kudryavstev. The jury heard Kudryavstev, a police informer, was wearing a concealed tape recorder when shot in the abdomen and in the head. He secretly recorded his terrifying brush with death. Goldman shot Kudryavstev in the abdomen as he greeted him at the front door. Kudryavstev said he moved his head when Goldman fired at him on a nature strip near Highett Road. Goldman denied during cross-examination that he knew at the time Kudryavstev was a police informer. He said an angry Radev wanted to meet Mr Kudryavstev over a burglary at a friend's warehouse. On 27 May 2004 Goldman was jailed for 14 years. Supreme Court judge Justice Robert Redlich ordered Goldman to serve a minimum non-parole term of 11 years. "Your anger and desire to kill him is evident on listening to the tape recording," said the judge.
• 16 October 2002 – 31 year old drug dealer Paul Kallipolitis was shot dead in his West Sunshine home. He was lying on his bed and had one gunshot wound to the head. Police publicly suspected that his friend Andrew Veniamin was the killer. Veniamin and Kallipolitis had been friends for many years, since they were kids. Kallipolitis shot and killed a man in Deer Park almost a decade earlier after having a gun pulled on him. Angelo Mario Venditti was arrested for this murder on 29 July 2008.

2003

• 15 April 2003 – 44-year-old Nik Radev, known as "The Bulgarian", was killed in Queen Street Coburg. The known drug dealer and standover man was shot seven times in the head and chest as he sat in his Mercedes-Benz coupé. Victoria Police told The Age that they believed his death was planned by a father and son drug manufacturing team, and a hitman suspected of four other murders carried out the killing in a red sedan. Andrew Veniamin met Radev on the day of the murder and unambiguously fitted the police description of the prime suspect, along with George and Carl Williams. Radev had been warned that he was a marked man but ignored the warnings refusing to believe his friends would turn on him. Damien Cossu and Alfonso Traglia were with Radev at the time of the murder but claimed they could not identify the gunman, and were subsequently named by police as 'persons of interest'
• June 2003 – Taskforce Purana was set up by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland to investigate Melbourne's underworld.
• 4 June 2003 – 28-year-old male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott was fatally shot outside his Reservoir home on his way to a County Court trial for raping and bashing a female client in 2002. In 2007, underworld assassin Keith Faure confessed to this murder and said two corrupt detectives were linked to the murder. The murder sparked a media frenzy. The Briars Task Force was formed to investigate the murder.
• 21 June 2003 – 35-year-old Jason Moran, and his minder, 40-year-old Pasquale Barbaro were fatally shot as they sat in a parked blue van outside an Auskick football clinic in Essendon. Five children were witness to the murder including Moran's six-year-old twin boy and girl. The gunman Victor Brincat ran away across the football oval and over a Moonee Ponds Creek footbridge to a waiting vehicle.
• 21 July 2003 – 39-year-old major drug dealer Willie Thompson was killed while sitting in his car after leaving a mixed martial arts club in Chadstone. He had been a close associate of the Moran family. Police say the gunman strolled up to the car and shot Thompson dead before escaping with a second person in a stolen Ford sedan. Some bullets were lodged in nearby shops. Thompson's official occupation was a lollipop vendor inside nightclubs, and a police report said he had recently developed an enmity with Nik Radev. In many rumors Hizir Ferman and Robert Musso are thought to have done this shooting. According to criminals turned testifying witnesses, Carl Williams ordered the death of Thompson to steal a large quantity of drug chemicals from him.
• 18 August 2003 – 36-year-old Mark Mallia's burnt body was found in a suburban storm drain packed inside a green wheelie-bin. Before his murder, Mallia was kidnapped by drug-boss Carl Williams and a team of 7 men, the 7 men took Mallia back to a warehouse where they tortured him into confessing where some laundered money was buried. Little details are known if the torture was successful or not, but not long after Mark Mallia was murdered.
• 9 September 2003 – 32-year-old Housom Zayat was run off the road, forced from his car and repeatedly shot in the head before being found in a paddock in Tarneit with multiple bullet wounds. Zayat was also a close associate of Nik Radev. Nicholas Ibrahim charged with his murder.
• 20 October 2003 – 49-year-old Istvan "Steve" Gulyas and his de facto wife were found executed in their Sunbury home. Together they ran a dating agency, Partner Search Australia, which police suspected was a front for a brothel. Gulyas was also a friend of Nik Radev.
• 25 October 2003 – 38-year-old Michael Ronald Marshall was shot four times in the head outside his luxury South Yarra home in front of his five-year-old son. He was a hot-dog salesman but also sold ecstasy at the street level. He had been suspected by some, including major crime lord Tony Mokbel, of being the one responsible for Willie Thompson's death. Carl Williams, eager to frame Marshall for the Thompson killing, ordered his murder. Victor Brincat and Thomas Hentschel were convicted of killing Michael Marshall. The killing became controversial as Brincat and Hentschel had actually been closely followed and monitored by police, who however at the last minute could not or would not prevent Marshall's murder.
• 17 November 2003 – Carl Williams was arrested and charged with making threats to kill a Purana Taskforce detective and the investigator's girlfriend. The alleged threats were made in a taped phone conversation to Victor Brincat in Barwon Prison. Carl was bailed two weeks later. The arrest was dramatically captured on film by The Age photographer Angela Wylie.
• 13 December 2003 – 62-year-old Graham Kinniburgh, known as "The Munster", was ambushed and shot outside his home in Kew just after midnight. Police said he had been killed in front of family members soon after parking his car. Kinniburgh was carrying a gun and managed to return one shot before being killed. He was considered Melbourne's most influential criminal at the time of his death. Kinniburgh was also a ring leader in the notorious Drill-bit gang that specialised in safe breaking. Mick Gatto was a pallbearer at his funeral, Lewis Moran and many other underworld figures also attended. Andrew Veniamin was treated as a suspect in his murder, and Carl Williams was also questioned. Stephen John Asling was charged with The Munster's murder in 2015.

  2004

• February 2004 – Carl Williams went on the record with the news magazine The Bulletin with a denial that he had paid Andrew “Benji" Veniamin A$100,000 for five of the murders.
• March 2004 – Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison announced the Australian Crime Commission would be investigating the murders.
• 23 March 2004 – Andrew Veniamin was fatally shot by Mick Gatto in the Carlton pizza restaurant "La Porcella" after an argument. Gatto was arrested and charged with his murder, with police alleging that Gatto had set a trap for Veniamin. Veniamin was a close associate of Carl Williams and was suspected of being a hitman involved in as many as seven underworld murders. Gatto was later acquitted on the grounds of self-defence.
• 31 March 2004 – Lewis Moran, father of Jason Moran and stepfather of Mark Moran, was shot and killed in broad daylight by two balaclava-clad men in the front bar of the Brunswick Club in Brunswick. Lewis had only recently been released on bail for drug trafficking charges, and police had warned him that his life was in danger. His close friend and fellow Painter and Docker, Bert Wrout, sustained injuries but survived. Graham Kinniburgh and Lewis Moran were notorious for their work on the Melbourne docks. It was later proven that Carl Williams paid for the hit and known hard-man Keith Faure was the driver. His brothers Noel Goussis and Evangelos Goussis were the executioners.
• 12 April 2004 – Terrence Blewitt, a hitman connected with the Williams syndicate, and believed to be the one who shot Graham Kinniburgh in 2003, disappeared without a trace. He was last seen walking towards a blue Hyundai Excel, the same car model that was used as a getaway car in the Kinniburgh murder. His remains were found over a decade later, during a search of a property in Pelmet Crescent, Thomastown in Melbourne's north.
• 8 May 2004 – The body of Lewis Caine was found dumped in Brunswick Street, after being shot at close range with a shotgun. He was a friend of Carl Williams and had been seen dining with him two nights earlier. This murder was a paid hit by Mario Condello, allegedly in reprisal for the killing of Lewis Moran. In May 2008, Evangelos Goussis was convicted of killing Lewis Moran in March 2004. Goussis was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years for the Caine murder, and in February 2009 he was sentenced to life in prison for the Moran killing. He will be eligible for parole in 2039.
• 16 May 2004 – Terrence and Christine Hodson were found executed in their home in Kew. Terrence Hodson was revealed to be a police informant. A week before the bodies were found ABC radio reported that a leaked document revealing Hodson as an informant was doing the rounds in certain underworld circles. It is also reported that an associate of Lewis Moran hired Hodson to murder Carl Williams in 2001. Police drug squad detective Paul Dale allegedly paid Carl Williams $150,000 to organize the hit, who used gunman Rodney "The Duke" Collins for the murders.
• 9 June 2004 – Purana Taskforce detectives arrested Carl Williams for conspiracy to murder. His associates Sean Sonnet and Gregg Hildebrandt were arrested only metres from the home of Mario Condello. Victoria Police said the raids had "absolutely" saved Mario Condello from becoming the 28th gangland victim.

  2006

• 6 February 2006 – On the eve of his murder trial, Mario Condello was shot and killed in his driveway at around 10 pm. Condello had dined with Mick Gatto earlier that night and police warned Gatto that he was under increased risk as this was possibly the resumption of the gangland war. The killer is known to police as Rodney "The Duke" Collins.
• 20 March 2006 – Melbourne business man Tony Mokbel failed to appear in Court during his trial for the importation of cocaine from Mexico in 2000. Mokbel had been granted bail by Magistrate Phillip Goldberg, despite protests from Police. Goldberg had previously dismissed drug cases brought against Mokbel and his brother. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but Mokbel had not been seen since 5 pm on 19 March 2006. His defence team feared for his life. The week before this date, Mokbel raised concerns for his safety, after an incident not related to this case. He was eventually arrested by Greek police in Athens, Greece on 5 June 2007. Mokbel was successfully extradited to Australia on 17 May 2008.
• 26 March 2006 – Lee Patrick Torney’s body was found dumped down a mineshaft. He was a violent Melbourne criminal and drug trafficker connected to the Williams family and suspected of being involved in several murders, including the 1982 shooting of his former associate Sidney James Graham. Torney had been killed several months earlier with a shovel by Graham John Holden, following an argument.
• 14 October 2006 – Michael "Eyes" Pastras was shot once in the buttocks and once in the thigh at a house in Albion St, Brunswick. Pastras gave evidence at Mick Gatto's murder trial that he spoke to Andrew Veniamin on 23 March 2004, the day Veniamin was killed by Gatto. He said that Veniamin never mentioned anything to him about wanting to harm Mr Gatto. But after testifying, he approached the Purana gangland killing taskforce and made a statement refuting what he said in the witness box. Pastras told Purana detectives he saw Veniamin with a gun when he went to meet Mr Gatto in Carlton's La Porcella restaurant and that Veniamin told him he wanted Mr Gatto dead. He claimed Veniamin told him: "I’m fucking dirty on Mick Gatto. He’s gotta go." That evidence was not presented to the jury in the Gatto murder trial. Pastras was named in a confidential Victoria Police document that was blamed for prompting the executions of police informer Terrence Hodson and his wife, Christine in 2004. It contained details of what Hodson told police and was leaked to Melbourne's underworld shortly before the Hodsons were fatally shot in their Kew home in 2004. His brother Savas Pastras was an associate of Lewis Moran. Pastras, 39, turned up at Moran's Essendon unit on 25 October 2002, not knowing police were inside raiding it. One of the detectives asked Moran's partner, Virginia Strazdas, who was the man walking up the driveway, and she said he was a friend. Moran's partner ignored a police command not to warn the man and managed to slightly open the door and tell him to go away. A detective, Senior Constable Victor Anastasiadis, said he opened the door, recognised Pastras and said, "Sav, come in." He was taken into Moran's house and a search discovered he had $44,000 in $100 and $50 notes hidden under his jacket in a green plastic bag. After removing the bag, Pastras hunched over and began to shake, he said. Detective Senior Sergeant Marty Allison told the court that Pastras had a look of shock and horror on his face when police confronted him. "He looked as though he had seen a ghost; he couldn't speak. He opened his mouth but words weren't coming out," Senior Sergeant Allison said. Forensic tests revealed the cash showed traces of heroin and cocaine. Savas Pastras was charged with possessing the proceeds of crime. Police alleged the $44,000 was to be paid to Lewis Moran to settle a drug debt. Pastras's lawyer, Stephen Shirrefs, SC, told the court that the warrant used to conduct the raid on Moran's home was illegal. "The search of Mr Pastras and the seizure of the money on him only arose because he was invited into the house by police," Shirrefs said. He said the money could not be deemed proceeds of crime because Moran had not touched the cash and police said it was related to a drug deal "purported to have occurred". Magistrate Ann Collins ruled in April 2004 that Savas Pastras had no case to answer because police could not prove the money was derived from a crime. Collins cleared Pastras in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court after finding that police could not prove that the money, stashed in a green plastic shopping bag, had anything to do with the sale of drugs. She also found that police could not prove that traces of heroin and cocaine found on the cash did not come from other sources.

  2009

• 15 June 2009 – Underworld identity Desmond Moran was shot and killed at Ascot Vale in Melbourne's north-west. Des Moran was the brother of slain underworld figure Lewis Moran, who was murdered in 2004 during Melbourne's gangland war, and uncle to Mark and Jason Moran, who were also killed in gangland disputes. Des Moran originally escaped serious injury in March 2009 when shots were fired outside his Ascot Vale home. He was in his car with a friend when one shot was fired through the front windscreen, narrowly missing the pair. At the time, a Purana Task Force detective said police did not believe that incident was related to the Gangland war. On Tuesday 16 June 2009, his sister-in-law Judy Moran was arrested and charged as the driver, along with two other people in relation to the murder. Judy Moran's house was coincidentally damaged by fire while she was in custody.

  2010

• 19 April 2010 – Carl Williams was bashed to death by fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson at HM Barwon Prison Johnson was already serving multiple life sentences for unrelated gangland murders.

  Arrests and sentencing

2019 Royal Commission