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 Trade killers for cash
July 5, 2008
Three $100,000 rewards have been re-offered to help solve Melbourne gangland murders.
Detectives say they are closing in on several suspects in relation to the shootings of underworld figures Victor Peirce, Paul Kallipolitis (left) and Francesco Benvenuto.
They believe the killings are linked and are offering a $100,000 reward a murder for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Police said there were no rules stopping gangland figures such as Carl Williams receiving the rewards.
"I don't make that decision, but he is eligible to apply," Det Insp Bernie Edwards, of the Purana Taskforce, said.
Detectives believe the late Andrew "Benji" Veniamin was the shooter in all three murders, but they want to identify other people involved.
"We do not believe Andrew worked alone," Det Insp Edwards said.
He said involvement in the murders could include financing the hits, or providing or disposing of firearms and cars.
Purana detectives were "definitely closing in on a number of suspects", he added, and warned it might be time for anyone involved to hand themselves in "before we come and get you".
The suspects were known within the "gangland fraternity", but Det Insp Edwards refused to say whether any of them were already in jail.
Francesco Benvenuto, a fruiterer, was shot while in his car in Dalgetty Rd, Beaumaris, on May 8, 2000.
Victor Peirce was also shot while in his car, in Bay St, Port Melbourne, on May 1, 2002.
Paul Kallipolitis was found dead at his home in Nicholson Parade, West Sunshine, on October 15, 2002. He had been shot several times.
Det Insp Edwards said he hoped the rewards, which had been offered separately at different times in the past seven years, would help people do the right thing and contact police.
"The code of silence wavers a lot when there's money involved," he said.
The Victoria Police board of management determines whether a reward application is successful.
"It depends on the information they provide (and) whether there is a successful prosecution," Det Insp Edwards said.
"Solving the three murders would take police a great step towards finishing the gangland murders."
Det Insp Edwards said it was getting easier to crack underworld crime because, while older criminals were a "lot stauncher", modern crooks were "a little bit self-centred".
Source:
Trade killers for cash
By Rachel Hewitt
Herald Sun
July 5, 2008
Tussle on Mokbel charge
July 3, 2008
Prosecutors want Tony Mokbel to appear in a criminal court to argue his case that he was extradited from Greece illegally.
Mark Dean, SC, for the Commonwealth today that to hearargument about the extradition in a civil court would "fragment" the criminal proceedings.
Mokbel's lawyers are seeking a permanent stay of the charges their client faces on the basis that his extradition from Greece wa illegal because his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was pending.
Mirko Bagaric, for Mokbel, said this argument should be dealt with before any trial.
But Mr Dean told Justice David Ashley such a move was "fordeoomed to fail".
It was unusual for a civil court to interfere with the criinal justice process, he said, and the argument should be decided by the trial judge.
Justice Ashley adjourned the matter to late August, when another judge will har and determie it.
Source:
Tussle on Mokbel charge
Herald Sun
July 4, 2008
Tony Mokbel brothers charged with trafficking drugs
July 2, 2008
Two of Tony Mokbel's brothers appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court charged with trafficking methylamphetamine.
Kabalan and Milad Mokbel were charged on June 30 and appeared via videolink from Barwon Prison today.
Kabalan Mokbel, 47, has been charged with trafficking and conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine at Pascoe Vale South between August 2001 and February 2002.
He is also charged with conspiring with Tony Mokbel and another person to traffic a commercial quantity of amphetamine between August 2001 and February 2002.
Milad Mokbel, 40, has been charged with trafficking a large comercial quantity of methylamphetamine a t McCrae between May and September 2002.
Magistrate Jon Klestadt remanded the men to appear in court again in September.
Sources:
Tony Mokbel brothers charged with trafficking drugs
Herald Sun
July 3, 2008
Mokbel brothers on new charges
Geelong Advertiser
July 3, 2008
 Accused faces murder charge over Yaraville shooting
June 30, 2008
Police have upgraded a charge against an accused shooter who allegedly gunned down a man in Yarraville last week from manslaughter to murder.
George Reglis, 35, of West Footscray, a former friend of dead hitman Andrew Benji Veniamin (left), faced Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with murdering Martino Ventrice in a park on Friday.
Police allege he shot and killed Mr Ventrice about 6.10pm after meeting him in a Yarraville reserve off Francis Street, near Roberts Road.
Following Reglis' arrest, police said they had arrived at the scene to find him performing CPR on his alleged victim.
Reglis was also charged with possessing an unregistered handgun and ammunition.
Reglis did not apply for bail. He sat leaning forward in the dock during a brief filing hearing wearing a blue windcheater with his dark hair and beard closely shaved.
He was remanded in custody to reappear in court on October 20.
Source:
Accused faces murder charge over Yaraville shhoting
By Mex Cooper
The Age
June 30, 2008
Fatal shooting's underworld link
June 29, 2008
A man charged over a fatal shooting in a park was a close friend of slain underworld hitman Andrew Benji Veniamin.
Gangland links have not been ruled out in the death of the 34-year-old man in a lane next to a park in Melbourne's west.
Police were investigating last night after the alleged gunman rang officers following the shooting on Friday at 6.10pm.
Georgios Reglis, 35, of West Footscray, was charged with manslaughter yesterday.
He was still trying to resuscitate the man when police and ambulance officers arrived. Sources said the accused gunman "idolised" Carl Williams and Veniamin, but was not part of the inner sanctum of the Williams crew.
It is understood Veniamin was best man at Reglis' wedding and godfather to his son.
It is believed the two families remained close after the shooting death of Veniamin in a Carlton restaurant in 2004. Veniamin was shot dead by Mick Gatto - who was acquitted of murder.
The dead man, from the eastern suburbs, allegedly met Mr Reglis at McIvor Reserve off Francis St, Yarraville.
The victim was shot in the upper body. The alleged shooter performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took over, but the victim died at the scene about 6.30pm.
Detectives interviewed Mr Reglis and charged him with manslaughter and possessing a pistol and ammunition.
He was remanded in custody to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court tomorrow.
The fatal gunshot was heard at the Yarraville-Footscray Bowls Club at the reserve.
One patron, who did not want to be named, said the victim was shot 400m from the clubrooms in a dead-end lane between the park and a factory.
"It's an isolated, dark spot known as a lover's lane," he said.
Source:
Fatal shooting's underworld link
By Liam Houlihan, Sue Hewitt and Aaron Langmaid
Herald Sun
June 29, 2008
 Godfather II Rosario 'Ross' Gangemi dies
June 28, 2008
One of Victoria's veteran Calabrian mafia bosses has died of natural causes, aged 86.
Undercover police are expected to closely monitor mourners at Rosario "Ross" Gangemi's Moonee Ponds funeral on Monday.
His death enables the Herald Sun to finally reveal Gangemi's high standing in the mafia.
It also legally allows us to reveal that Gangemi was named by Italian police as ordering one of the infamous Victoria Market murders in 1963.
Gangemi served alongside Melbourne mafia godfather Liborio Benvenuto from the 1960s to the 1980s, possibly as his deputy.
Police intelligence files show he remained a respected and influential member until his death in Coburg's John Fawkner Hospital.
Canberra mafia cell boss Pasquale "Il Principale" Barbaro, who became a police informer in 1989 and was murdered the following year, was secretly taped by detectives naming Gangemi as one of Melbourne's Calabrian mafia bosses.
A confidential 1991 Victoria Police report named Gangemi as one of the top 10 mafiosi in the state.
That same year, the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence identified Gangemi as one of the top 30 Italian organised crime bosses in the country.
Gangemi was born in Calabria in 1922 and arrived in Melbourne in 1951, quickly working his way up the underworld hierarchy.
Police allege Gangemi was involved in an extortion racket at the Melbourne wholesale fruit and vegetable market for more than 25 years.
"Rosario Gangemi is considered a senior member of the Benvenuto crime family, frequently nominated by informers as a leading contender for leadership of that crime family following the death of Benvenuto," said the ABCI document.
When Liborio Benvenuto knew he was close to death he nominated Giuseppe "Joe" Arena to succeed him as Melbourne godfather.
Arena, 50, was shot dead by a rival faction six weeks after Benvenuto died in 1988.
Michele Scriva, another Gangemi associate, committed Melbourne's first mafia hit, stabbing Giuseppe "Fat Joe" Versace 91 times in 1945. He later served years in jail for another murder.
Gangemi knew Melbourne underworld godfather Domenico "The Pope" Italiano, whose death in 1962 sparked a power struggle to take over the cell.
That in turn resulted in the deaths of Calabrian-born mobsters Vincenzo Angilletta and Vincenzo Muratore.
Their deaths in 1963 and 1964 became known as the Victoria Market murders.
Among the international experts brought to Victoria to help investigate the market murders was Italian police assistant commissioner Dr Ugo Macera.
He produced a still-secret report implicating Gangemi in the death of Angilletta.
The Macera Report, which has been seen by the Herald Sun, said: "Vincenzo Angilletta's murder is the classic example of a killing decided by the mafia."
Source:
Godfather II Rosario 'Ross' Gangemi dies
By Keith Moor
Herald Sun
July 2, 2008
Accused drug boss here
June 27, 2008
The alleged Australian boss of an international cocaine ring run by the supergrass who bought down the Victorian drug squad has been extradited from Thailand.
Shanu Krawiec appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court today and was charged with two counts of importing illegal drugs into Australia.
He was remanded in custody to appear again on October 3.
Mr Krawiec, 32, is one of several Australians charged during a three-year AFP investigation.
Agents claim the probe smashed the global smuggling syndicate allegedly run by the supergrass from Amsterdam.
The AFP claims the Krawiec arrest allegedly shut down the Bangkok end of the supergrass's world-wide operation.
Thai police played a major role in tracking down Krawiec for the AFP on June 24 whose agents flew into Melbourne with him later that week.
Earlier in the month, Alexander Leigh Neil Pugh, a minor player in the syndicate was given a three month sentence.
The Magistrates' Court was told Pugh's job was to help Krawiec organise money for the operation's cocaine imports.
Source:
Accused drug boss here
By Keith Moor
Herald Sun
June 30, 2008
 Bail for accused Mokbel smuggler
June 24, 2008
A woman accused of helping smuggle Tony Mokbel out of the country was whisked from court today after being granted bail.
Angela Nissirios, 46, appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrates' Court where prosecutors did not oppose her bail application.
Ms Nissirios, also known as Angela Verykios, was arrested this month and charged with intent to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, accessory after the fact and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police claim Ms Nissirios was one of the registered owners of the the $350,000 yacht the Edwena, which Mokbel, 42, allegedly sailed to Greece after skipping bail.
Police say the 17m luxury yacht was bought in NSW and trucked to Fremantle where it was renovated.
After six months hiding out in a Bonnie Doon shack, Mokbel allegedly boarded the boat for a six-week voyage to Greece, arriving on Christmas Eve 2006.
Magistrate Amanda Chambers granted Ms Nissirios bail on conditions including reporting to police twice a week, surrendering her passport and not leaving Victoria without police consent.
Afterwards, she was quickly rushed out of court to avoid a media pack awaiting her release from the custody centre.
The centre's managers, GEO Group Australia, said its officers had acted under police direction.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Cassie Stone said Ms Nissirios was "assisted from the premises for security reasons".
Ms Nissirios, of Burnside, will appear in court again in September.
Two weeks ago, when Mokbel's girlfriend, Danielle McGuire, flew back to Australia, federal police ushered her and her two children through a side exit of the airport.
Source:
Bail for accused Mokbel smuggler
By Katie Bice
Herald Sun
June 25, 2008
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