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Underbelly: The Gangland War
The True Story Behind The Underbelly
TV Series
Underbelly - The Gangland
War, takes up where Leadbelly left off in 2004. If you like Channel 9's
new series, you'll love this book by John Silvester and Andrew Rule.
Purchase from
auscrimebooks |

Dirty Dozen:
Melbourne Gangland Killings
Revised Edition
By Paul Anderson
Purchase from
auscrimebooks

Big Shots: The Chilling Inside Story of Carl Williams and the Gangland Wars
By Adam Shand
Purchase from
auscrimebooks
SOURCES:
Gangland windows carve up compensation as 'victims'
Sunday Herald Sun
August 5, 2007
Friends for life
By Adam Shand
The Bulletin
May 10, 2007
Gangland feud endures
By Carly Crawford and Anthony Dowsley
Herald Sun
May 7, 2007
Regretful Williams lived in fear
By Jamie Berry
The Age
April 28, 2007
Carl Williams tells of murders
By Elissa Hunt
Herald Sun
April 28, 2007
Southern Cross Radio News
April 27, 2007
Plot to kill Carl at christening
By Keith Moor
Herald
Sun
April 9, 2007
Sting turned up a surprise catch
By Keith Moor
Herald
Sun
April 9, 2007
The gang's all here
By Sue Hewitt
Sunday Herald Sun
March 11, 2007
Deal of the century came close to collapse
By John Silvester
The Age
March 3, 2007
Blonde behind the killer
By Carly Crawford and Paul Anderson
Herald Sun
March 2, 2007
Jailed informer in grave fear for his
life: Judge
By Peter Gregory
The Age
March 2, 2007
Untold story: Melbourne's
underground war
By John Silvester
The Age
March 1, 2007
Williams admits gangland murders
By Elissa Hunt
Herald Sun
March 1, 2007
Wife leaves killer but finds faith
By Carly Crawford
Herald Sun
March 1, 2007
Crim waves goodbye to blonde
By John Hamilton
Herald Sun
March 1, 2007
Untold story: Melbourne's
underground war
By John
Silvester
The
Age
March 1, 2007
Williams admits to gangland murders
AAP
February 28, 2007
Williams ordered killings, court told
By Stephen Moynihan
The Age
March 2, 2005
Shotgun City -
Melbourne's gangland killings
By Paul Anderson
Published by Hardie Grant Books (2004)
Lions angry over naming of player
By Peter Ker
The Age
October 21, 2004
Top Lion link to accused in murder case
Herald Sun
October 20, 2004
Top player linked to underworld
By John Silvester
The Age
October 20, 2004
Accused quizzed on Moran
hit
Katie Lapthorne
Herald Sun
November 14, 2003
Brincat questioned over
Moran murder
Ten News
July 3, 2003
Kickboxer killed in
gangland murder
Herald Sun
October 26, 2003
$1m paid to shoot gangster
By Sue Hewitt
Herald Sun
October 12, 2003
Cell
shift over Moran gun DNA
By Paul Anderson and Elissa Hunt
Herald Sun
October 9, 2003
Murder suspect in brawl
By Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
August 12, 2003
Moran
linked to drug ship
By Sue Hewitt and Laurie Nowell
Herald Sun
August 3, 2003
Caller may help solve
gangster murders
By Nassim Khadem
The Age
July 23, 2003
Weapon Traced
By Sue Hewitt
Herald Sun
July 20, 2003
Stolen shotgun haul
may fuel underworld war
By Padraic Murphy
The Age
July 14, 2003
Caller
cleared of murder role
Herald Sun
July 4, 2003
Six who wanted Moran dead By Paul Anderson and Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
July 3, 2003
Death gun clue
By Paul Anderson
Herald Sun
July 2, 2003
Feared in life, honoured in death
By Ian Munro
The Age
July 1, 2003
Odd notes at a grey mass
By Terry Brown
Herald Sun
July 1, 2003
Revenge is mine, says
Moran's mother
By Paul Anderson and Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
July 1, 2003
Underworld gathers for gangster's funeral
The Age
June 30, 2003
Gangland victim's father to miss funeral
By Ian Munro, Andra Jackson
The Age
June 30, 2003
Moran's neighbours sue police
The Age
June 30, 2003
Moran link to WA drug war
By Sue Hewitt, Mary Papadakis and Shelley Hodgson
Herald Sun
June 29, 2003
Underworld hits claim four
in family
By Geoff Wilkinson
Herald Sun
June 28, 2003
Gangland's gateway to afterlife
By Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
June 28, 2003
Bounty on hitman
By Paul Anderson and Jon Ralph
Herald Sun
June 25, 2003
Football routine killed a gangster
By John Silvester
The Age
June 23, 2003
Crime figures, police
condemn slayings
By Paul Anderson
Herald Sun
June 23, 2003
Police appeal for help to find hitman
By Julie-Anne Davies
The Age
June 23, 2003
Moran a hunted man
By Geoff Wilkinson, Paul Anderson and Mark Buttler
Herald Sun
June 21, 2003
Seven charged over hash
By Courtney Walsh
Herald Sun
May 7, 2002
Carey backs
mate
By Sarah Dolan
afl.com.au - newsfiles
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Jason
Moran
Jason Matthew Patrick Moran
and Mark Anthony
Moran, half brothers with a history of
drugs, guns and football.
The Moran name has been well
known through three generations of criminals.
The half-brothers had strong links with the
Carlton Football Club through Jason's late grandfather, Leo Brooks, a
long-serving doorman, player confidante and life member at the Blues.
Through Mr Brooks, Moran came to know a number of
Carlton players, including former premiership champion Wayne Johnston.
Johnston said he met Jason and Mark
when they
were children.
"In those days a lot of the players, myself
included, used to come down from the country and stay with Leo and that's where
I first met the boys. I used to babysit them."
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Trisha Kane fell in
love with Jason (pictured left as a sixteen year-old) when she was 15.
He became her first boyfriend and then husband.
Trisha is the daughter of Les
Kane, a Painter
and Docker who was murdered in the bathroom of his home in Wantirna in 1978.
His brother, Brian, was shot dead four years
later in the bar of the Quarry Hotel in Brunswick.
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Brian
Kane was drinking with his wife and a friend when
two men wearing balaclavas walked in and shot him.
His
death was widely regarded as a payback for the murder of Raymond
"Chuck" Bennett, one of the men believed responsible for killing
his brother.
Brian Kane's
death inspired a teenage
Jason Moran to address a death notice to his "Uncle Brian", signing it
"Your little mate, Jason Moran".
Bennett and two others were charged with
Les
Kane's
murder but acquitted.
Two months later he was shot dead inside the
Melbourne Magistrates' Court complex while being escorted by two unarmed
detectives.
After leaving school, Jason worked several
honest jobs. He was
employed at a city abattoir for three years before leaving to become an
apprentice plumber for six months.
He moved on to work as a sales
representative for two years and remained on the payroll of a jewellery
wholesaler for the next seven years despite suggestions he did very little work
for the company.
Jason and Mark Moran were hard
drinkers and frequented several Ascot Vale Hotels.
They knocked around with football
identities and crooks.
Mark
(right) and Jason Moran were well
known in the Flemington and Ascot Vale areas in the mid-1980's.
"They came from
a pretty good school (of criminals)", one detective said.
"They were part
of the Ascot Vale crew and it's produced some of the best crims in Australia
over the years".
The crew of bank
robbers included: Mark
Militano, Frank
Valastro, Jedd
Houghton, Graeme
Jensen, Victor
Peirce and Gary
Abdallah, all have been shot dead.
Jason Moran's criminal record
dates back to 1988.
He was sentenced to one years' jail
with an eight month minimum for recklessly causing injury.
Jason
(pictured left with his mother, Judy) was known as a hothead.
Once, when a driver cut in front of him without
indicating at the intersection of Bridge and Punt roads, Moran grabbed a wheel
brace, smashed the other motorist's windscreen, dragged him from the car and
beat him severely.
"Jason got back in the car and was
laughing," a fellow criminal who witnessed the attack, Russell Warren
Smith, said later.
Football and political identity
Phil Cleary, a one-time acquaintance of Lewis Moran through the Coburg Football
Club, witnessed a bloody incident in 1989 that left him horrified by the
volatility of the Moran clan. It
was after Cleary had coached Coburg to a win in the Victorian Football
Association second semi-final. He'd
joined a few of his charges at the Prince of Wales Hotel in ascot Vale. At
the bar were Lewis and Jason Moran. According
to Cleary, a brawl erupted after a Coburg official mistakenly answered Jason's
mobile phone. What followed
was a punch-on involving chairs and glasses. Instigator
Jason was in the thick of it and, after the dust settled and the Coburg
contingent was walking away, he trapped in an upstairs room the official who had
answered the phone by the bar. That
official staggered from the pub with a jagged hole in the side of his head. Jason
had bitten off his ear and spat it back at him. Lewis
had taught Jason how to "look after himself". The
pair loved to spa together, lovingly belting each other around.
According to sources on both sides of the law,
cocaine fuelled many of Jason's brutal underworld outbursts.
Not only was he using the expensive drug,
according to sources, but he was also selling it in major quantities.
One police officer said it was known Moran snorted
cocaine to pump himself up before launching into violence against his enemies.
The officer said Moran had used the drug before
driving to the city on several occasions to fire shots at a nightclub.
"He was very dangerous when he had a nose
full of that (cocaine) and a firearm . . . When he needed to do
certain things, he used it for a bit of extra assistance," a detective
said.
Police said Moran used alcohol as a courtroom
excuse for his behaviour but he was more often affected by cocaine.
"He could really go right off tap and when
he did he could not be controlled. If he wasn't on speed or cocaine, I'll go
he," a detective said.
"He tried to say that he was really shocking
on the grog, but I've got no doubt it was more than that."
In a nightclub in 1994, fuelled by cocaine, Moran
pulled a gun on an off-duty policeman before he was told the cop was a local.
A detective told author and
journalist Paul Anderson of Jason pulling a gun
on him inside Chasers nightclub.
"He was with a prostitute I
knew. He came over and had a chat to me thinking I was trying to fuck her. He
fired up and ended up pulling a shooter. I was standing within a metre of him
and he showed it to me and said, 'Do you know who I am?' The woman calmed him
down, said I knew a few blokes and was in the job, and he quickly handed the gun
to someone else who ran it out the door. After that he just wanted to stand
there and drink piss all night. I didn't want any part of that."
One nightclub source told of an
incident two weeks before during which Jason shot two people in the legs
upstairs at the former Fantasia Nightclub in Commercial Rd,
Prahran.
Jason was
colourful Lygon Street identity Alphonse
Gangitano's right-hand man.
The dapper hoodlums acted like movie
gangsters and dressed in suits and wool-blend trench coats.
A former police
officer said Moran and Gangitano would
regularly drink upstairs at
the Joker Bar in Lygon Street, Carlton.
"It was a
little section out the back. It was a nice little bar."
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In 1995 Gangitano
had apparently given two women who witnessed a murder which he committed air
tickets to the UK so they would not testify against him.
The killing of
criminal Greg Workman occurred outside a Wando Grove, St Kilda East party Gangitano
had attended on February 6.
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Workman was shot
seven times in the chest and once in the back.
The party was to celebrate the
release of Mark Aisbett, who had been charged with armed robbery.
The guest list almost was a who's
who of Melbourne's underworld and included Gangitano
and Jason Moran.
Workman and the other two
criminal heavyweights had been drinking at the Australia Hotel in Richmond
before the party.
About 4am an argument broke out
between Gangitano and another guest, Martin Paul.
As Workman walked out the front
door he was shot eight times. A guest drove him to the Alfred Hospital, where he
died a short time later.
Two witnesses later told police
they had seen Gangitano run from the porch holding a gun as Workman lay on the ground.
Another woman said she had seen Gangitano
and Paul standing at Workman's feet before someone had yelled, "Get him out
of here". She said Paul had led Gangitano
away.
The two witnesses were placed in
the witness protection program, but later retracted their statements.
When Gangitano
was murdered in January 1998, there was speculation it may have been a payback
for the murder of Workman.
Gangitano and Jason, along with
Mark John
McNamara - an aspiring trotting driver whose career was ended when he fell from
a sulky at Moonee Valley - were charged over a brawl on December 19,
1995, at the Sports Bar nightclub.
It was alleged that Gangitano
beat patrons with a pool cue until it broke while his henchmen bashed others.
It is believed the gang were at the
club to collect unpaid protection money.
Gangitano unleashed
himself, more than likely after management refused him money to keep
peace and harmony inside the venue.
A South African
tourist was repeatedly bashed with a pool cue until it broke over the man's
head.
He was then stabbed
with the broken pieces and hit with an ashtray.
Another woman had
her jaw broken.
Ten people had to be
hospitalised.
Gangitano, who
police say was wielding a pool cue and chasing another victim up the road when
apprehended, was charged with affray and granted bail.
In later evidence,
police said that a phone tap on Jason Moran's home recorded him telling a friend
on the morning after the brawl that he had "basically started it all and
that he was in the process of washing blood from his clothes."
A court hearing was
later told that Moran and McNamara were with Gangitano
during the surprise attack on Sports Bar patrons.
Gangitano,
described as ''the man in the grey suit'', beat one customer until his pool cue
snapped, then asked: ''Who's gonna be next?''
Police had to use force in arresting
Jason and he suffered a fractured skull.
He was rushed to the Royal Melbourne
Hospital and admitted.
After healing, he was granted bail.
On January 22, 1996, Jason again
terrorised patrons of a nightclub.
This time it was Chasers in Chapel
Street, South Yarra.
Jason and his de-facto Trisha Kane,
with friends, arrived at the nightclub in the early hours of the morning.
After a dispute over a chair at a
bar, Trisha began arguing with a woman referred to in court documents as Ms
Clements.
Jason told Trisha to "cut it
out" but after she called Ms Clements a "stupid bitch", the woman
threw a drink in Trisha's face.
Jason then punched Clements in the
mouth.
She stumbled backwards and was
punched to the floor where she was further punched and kicked.
Charged with recklessly causing
serious injury, Jason was again granted bail, this time with a $250,000 surety
and an 8pm to 8am home curfew.
It has been
speculated that Jason and
Alphonse Gangitano had a falling out.
Moran received a
flogging and ended up in a critical condition in hospital.
While it has never been proved who
administered the beating, the suggestion is that Gangitano was the man
responsible.
Jason recovered but was told that he
would have to give up drinking due to the long-lasting effects of two severe
beatings.
This apparently
occurred shortly before Gangitano's murder.
On January 16,
1998, 40 year-old Gangitano was found dead in the laundry of his Glen Orchard Close,
Templestowe house by his wife.
He had been shot
several times to the head.
The Age reported
nine months after the slaying that Gangitano had been surprised and had run from
the kitchen.
Wounded and fleeing
his assassin, Gangitano was then shot in the head as
he lay on the laundry
floor.
On the night of his
murder the stand over man was visited by a friend, Graham
Kinniburgh.
Apparently
Kinniburgh left the house shortly after 11pm to buy cigarettes from a local store.
Returning about 30
minutes later, he found Gangitano's de-facto wife with the body of her husband,
which she had just discovered.
Jason
was later
interviewed about the murder, his legal representation coming from disgraced
criminal lawyer, Andrew
Fraser.
The advice provided by Fraser as
usual to 'keep your mouth shut' and that he did.
Fraser was later jailed for dealing cocaine at the time of
Gangitano's
shooting.
At the January 2002
inquest into Gangitano's
death it was revealed that Jason Moran had allegedly been observed at the
Templestowe home on the night of the shooting.
Jason's mother, Judy Moran later
denied her son was involved in any way with Gangitano's murder.
"Jason worshipped Al and Al was like
my brother," she told the Sunday Herald Sun.
"None of the underworld pointed the
finger (at Jason). A witness described a tattooed bald man entering Al's house
and Jason didn't have a birthmark, let alone a tattoo."
She said she was summoned to a
meeting in Sydney and told the identity of Gangitano's killer.
"He is a small framed man with evil
eyes," she said.
On May 1, 1999, Moran was
sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment, with nine months suspended for three
years, over the assault at Chasers.
In sentencing, Judge Mervyn Kimm
described the incident as "a violent and cowardly attack upon a defenceless
young woman".
Carl Williams, a
man who was part of a father son amphetamine operation, was shot in the stomach at
a meeting with the Moran brothers at the tiny
Barrington Crescent park in the outer-western suburb of Gladstone Park
on October 13, 1999.
Jason Moran
and his
half-brother Mark had arranged to meet amphetamine
manufacturer Williams to discuss their mutual
business interests.
The Williams and
Moran
families had trafficked drugs for years and while they often did
deals when it suited, they
were also competitors for a slice of the
lucrative illegal pill market.
But the two groups were
never friends and the niggles remained. The Morans, always quick to take offence, began to
stew. At first it was a simple domestic matter: Carl
Williams' wife Roberta had previously been married to
Dean Stephens, a friend of the Morans.
The next was competition.
Williams was undercutting his rivals, selling his pills
for $8 compared with the Morans' $15.
The third was business.
Williams had supplied the Morans with a load of pills.
But he had not used enough binding material and they
were crumbling before they could be sold.
The fourth niggle was
greed. The Morans claimed ownership of a pill press and
said
Williams owed them $400,000. Carl disagreed.
The meeting provided the Moran brothers with the perfect
opportunity to remind
Williams where he stood.
Soon after they
arrived Jason Moran pulled a gun, a .22 Derringer. A
woman nearby heard a man cry out, "No Jason",
and then a single shot.
Mark Moran urged his half-brother
to finish the job but Jason replied that they needed the
big man alive if they were ever to get their money.
Williams refused to
co-operate with police after he was ambushed. When
detectives interviewed him in hospital,
Williams said he
had felt a pain in his stomach as he was walking, and
only then realised he had been shot.
His wife, Roberta, gave
more away in a later conversation with The Age,
but denied the shooting was drug related. "Mark was
yelling 'Shoot him in the head', and Jason then shot him
in the stomach," she said.
"I am told that the police documentation put
together in that brief includes a belief that the shooting was at the behest of
the former husband," her barrister, Con Heliotis, QC, made an emotional
plea for a suspended sentence later told the Supreme Court.
Dean Stephens, Roberta Williams' ex-husband,
was a close friend of the Moran family.
If the Morans thought
that shooting
Williams would frighten him, they were
horribly wrong. The wound soon healed and the drug
dealer began planning his revenge, setting off a very
public underworld war.
Years later, Bulletin journalist Adam Shand
received a call from an old school mate of Carl Williams'.
He was trying to sell a picture of Carl and Dad George, Jason
Moran and others in Fulham Prison "in happier days" before the
1999 feud erupted.
Shand wrote that those at The Bulletin were mildly interested but as usual
impecunious and not wishing to boost a trade in gangster memorabilia.
"Anyway, the bloke then went on to tell me his story for free and it was
worth a lot more than the picture.
"It seems this bloke, let's call him Paco (Spanish for peace), had grown
up with Williams in Broadmeadows and had attended the same high school.
"Paco and "Skinny" Williams had been very close.
"It was eerie speaking to Paco because he sounded just like Carl, it was
like he was channelling him.
"In the mid-1990s, Paco served 15 months in a Canadian jail after being
caught with 6 kilos of coke.
"But the Williams family did not forget Paco, sending him cards and
magazines and keeping his spirits up.
"But when he got home, Paco fell in love with one of the Moran women and
the trouble began.
"We know that in October 1999, Jason shot Carl in Gladstone Park.
"What we didn't know was that, a few weeks later, someone shot Paco in
the shoulder as he got into his car to go for a meeting.
"A second shot shattered the side window, but Paco got away with (as
they say in the movies) a flesh wound.
"He was interviewed in hospital by police and, like Carl, never seemed
to have any idea who had shot him or why.
"But he suspected Carl and began to place his own surveillance on the
Williams team.
"The Williams believed that Paco had helped set Carl up for his
shooting.
"Soon after the first attempt, Paco narrowly escaped being shot by an
assassin hiding up a tree.
"This game of battleships went on for a while with neither side scoring
any direct hits.
"Eventually, Paco decamped the state to safety.
"But then Paco, missing Carl and their shared love of fast food and
cocaine, got to thinking about the night he was shot in 1999.
"He remembered a telephone call from Jason Moran that afternoon. Jason
had reminded Paco that he should not miss the appointment and that he should not
be late.
"He told Jason he would be there as he had nothing else on that day, so
in theory Jason knew when Paco would be getting in his car.
"Setting up mates was a favourite trick of the Morans. Like the time
Mark had set up another mate, let's call him Stevo, with a large quantity of
speed.
"Stevo took the speed only to be raided by the Drug Squad the following
morning.
"They turned Stevo's house over looking for the speed but failed to
locate it.
"But they did find some hashish and busted Stevo. When asked how did the
cops learn Stevo had the gear, one walloper replied: "Remember the last
person you spoke to last night?."
"And that was Mark Moran.
"Anyway Paco starts putting this together in his head and concludes he's
been used.
"Maybe, this was one time Carl was innocent of trying to murder someone.
"It dawned on Paco that perhaps Jason had been trying to dupe him into
killing Carl.
"And while others, like Andrew Veniamin,
were on a golden promise to kill Carl, Paco would be paid in lead.
"The Morans learnt their skills from their relatives the Kanes
who ruled Melbourne in the 1970s and 80s.
"Back then, the best way to pay off a successful contract killer was to
knock him and that's how Paco would have finished up had he killed Carl, he
believes.
In January 2000,
Mark John McNamara, 35 of Ascot Vale, pleaded guilty to one count of affray over
the King St brawl.
He was sentenced to
18 months' jail, with nine months suspended for three years.
Then, on February 15,
2000, the County Court had heard character evidence from North Melbourne
Football Club captain, Wayne
Carey in a bid to reduce his infamous mate, Jason Moran's, possible sentence
for his part in the Sports Bar brawl.
Carey insisted his
friend had matured ''a hell of a lot'' during the past few years
and had waved goodbye to his drinking days.
''I know too well what the effects
of alcohol can do,''
Carey told the court.
During the hearing,
Mark Moran was ejected from the County Court after giving a false identity on
entry.
Carey told a County Court judge he had never met the infamous Alphonse
Gangitano
and did not ''have a clue'' what happened at the Sports Bar on December 19,
1995.
Moran had pleaded not guilty to his part in the wild brawl.
Under
cross-examination from prosecutor Peter Robinson,
Carey said he had never spoken to Moran about the Sports Bar.
He said he knew Moran had
been in jail, but did not know what the trouble had been.
''Have you ever spoken to him about cannabis or amphetamines?'' Mr Robinson
asked.
''Never in my life,''
Carey said.
''Does he use strong language,
fuck or cunt? Mr Robinson asked, to which
Carey said: ''Not in my presence.''
Carey said he met Moran through a mutual friend six or seven years
before and lived about
400m from his house.
They had been to one another's homes and always had a chat if they ran into each
other in the street or supermarket.
The football star
said Moran had matured in the past four or five years and appeared to have given
up drinking.
Leaning forward and
gripping the side of the witness box,
Carey said no one made him attend court to give evidence.
''I was asked
whether I was certain I wanted to do this and I said I was certain I wanted to
do this, because that's what I believe in,'' he said.
''Those are the changes that I have seen . . . I'm up here telling the truth of
what I've seen.''
Carey admitted he did not socialise with Moran regularly.
On March 6, 2000,
Judge James Duggan said Jason Moran played a key role in supporting Gangitano
who started the fight that left 13 people injured.
The judge said that
although Gangitano's
reasons would never be known, he probably would not have instigated the fight
without the support of Moran and his roommate, Mark John MacNamara.
The judge said Mr
Campbell Lawler suffered the worst injuries, including loss of vision in one
eye, after he was repeatedly struck with a pool cue and then kicked by Gangitano
and Moran.
A woman also suffered a broken jaw.
"I am satisfied
that it can only be described as an extreme example of this offence (affray). It
came completely out of the blue so far as the patrons were concerned,"
Judge Duggan said.
Moran was convicted after pleading not guilty to one charge of affray.
He
was sentenced
to serve a minimum non-parole period of 20 months.
The court was told
there were several possible reasons for Gangitano's
outburst of violence.
The judge said there was not enough evidence to show the
brawl was because the bar owner owed Gangitano
money.
He said it could have followed a row with a patron or may have been
racially based.
"The irony of
suffering a racially motivated attack in Melbourne was not lost on Mr Lawler who
remarked that, as a coloured man, he had lived through the apartheid era in South
Africa without being involved in any such episode," Judge Duggan said.
He noted Moran
suffered several skull fractures during his arrest.
The judge said the handling
by police of Moran appeared to be remarkably heavy handed and included the
waterside worker being struck on the head with a gun.
Jason - with shaved head sporting a
jagged scar - remained fearless and cocky during his time in prison, although he
turned on the charm for the female warders.
"What he did behind closed
doors, I don't know," one prison insider said, "but he did work out a
lot of problems I had with other prisoners. He never tried to bribe me.
On Thursday June
15, 2000, Mark Moran was shot dead outside his house.
Mark was murdered
outside his luxury home in Combermere St, Aberfeldie, near Essendon, at 8.30pm,
seconds after pulling up in his white Commodore ute.
In the days after
shooting it became apparent that the Moran's believed that the father son team
who they were in dispute with were responsible for killing Mark.
There were
reports of shots being fired around the North Fitzroy home of the major suspects
shortly after his death.
Shots were heard in
Rae Street Brunswick on the night of June 20, 2000 and a car was damaged by gun
fire in Brunswick Street near Rae St on the night of Marks funeral.
Carl Williams was the gunman and his
getaway driver would later be implicated in another
three murders.
Police later established
that Williams had only been waiting 10 minutes when
Moran returned. It smelled of an ambush.
On June 22, 2000,
about 500 mourners dressed in black coats and dark sunglasses gathered to
farewell Mark Moran.
Jason, granted day
leave from prison to be at the funeral at St Therese's Church in Essendon, sat
under guard with his head in his hands during the service.
He had hinted at
revenge.
"Words could
never, ever express the way I am feeling. This is only the beginning. It will
never be the end,'' ``REMEMBER, I WILL NEVER FORGET.''
Jason wrote in a
Herald Sun death notice.
Other death notices
included many from Australian Rules footballers including a former Carlton
captain who remembered them running a premiership lap in the 1980's.
Rumours abounded
that Mark may have been killed in revenge for the murder of Alphonse
Gangitano.
Many bikies attended
the funeral wearing full colours whilst in church.
Jason was embraced
by a long-haired Hells Angel.
On Friday
December 29, 2000, the
Age reported that an attempt by two of Victoria's most notorious criminals to
play Santa for their mates in Fulham prison has been foiled by Scrooge-like jail
authorities.
Or, at least, partly foiled.
Prison sources said prisoners Jason
Moran and John
Higgs, had tried to "shout" the party for their unit by having
thousands of dollars sent into the jail.
The prisoners still managed to
organise a lavish Christmas blow-out last week for fellow inmates and their
children and families at the jail, near Sale, with gifts, a Santa and $2500 of
seafood buffet, roasts and salads.
But Corrections Commissioner Penny
Armytage declared the party excessive and told the private prison's management,
Australasian Correctional Management, that future celebrations must be
significantly scaled back.
Authorities intercepted the money,
returned it, and refused the pair permission to host the party.
But organisation
was so far advanced that they allowed the event to proceed, on condition it was
paid for by each prisoner and catered by the jail's food services manager.
Higgs,
the self-proclaimed biggest amphetamine producer in Victoria, was doing six
years for his part in a massive drug ring broken after an eight-year police
investigation.
"They were big-noting,"
said a prison source.
"But that sort of largesse doesn't come without the
expectation of some sort of, let's say, mutual obligation from the other
prisoners in the future."
Prisoners in Victorian jails are
able to seek permission to host Christmas parties for their children.
Ms
Armytage confirmed that the party had been held on the Wednesday
before Christmas.
One of two parties organised by
inmates at the jail, it was attended by about 30 prisoners, more than 100
children, and prisoners' partners and family members.
Ms Armytage said prison authorities
became aware of Moran's and
Higgs' generosity and the scale of the event after
two $1000 money orders were sent to one of the prisoner's trust account.
But
food orders had already been placed.
"Prison management confirmed
they became aware of the scale of the order after it had been placed and
management exercised its discretion that it would not be paid for by any
individual prisoners, which is what had originally been proposed."
"It would only
go ahead if all the prisoners contributed and they all paid their share,"
she said.
On January 17,
2001, Darren
William Harland faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court after he was caught
with a loaded gun while visiting Jason Moran at Fulham prison, in eastern
Victoria, the previous year.
A loaded
semi-automatic Phoenix .22 pistol was found in a bag in his car.
When asked if
it was his gun he replied: “ It wasn’t in there when we pulled up”.
A reference from
champion Melbourne footballer David
Schwarz helped him to escape jail.
Harland,
who was a water-side
worker, and an unidentified friend fled when the guards called police.
The pair were
arrested in Melbourne shortly after.
Harland,
a former VFA player for Werribee and Port
Melbourne and son of 80's Port legend 'Buster' Harland, pleaded guilty to
charges including owning an unlicensed handgun.
Schwarz's
glowing words helped convince magistrate Jenny Bowles to impose a $3500 fine and
a six-month suspended jail sentence for Harland
It was the second
time Harland has avoided jail.
Two years before he received a suspended sentence for his role
in a hotel brawl.
This Sporting
Life
By Derryn Hinch
Question time: What
is it between Australian sports stars and gangsters? Why do their worlds get so
entwined so often? And I’m not just talking about illegal bookies and fixed
cricket matches.
If some of the
things our so-called sporting heroes get away with here were even attempted in
the United States they would be banned for life.
“Broadway Joe”
Namath, the flamboyant quarterback for the Superbowl- winning New York Jets, was
forced by football authorities to close down his bar in Manhattan because
several unsavoury characters associated with The Mob were said to have been seen
drinking there.
Namath’s crime?
Somebody might inadvertently let slip that a certain player was injured and
would not be playing on a certain night. That would give the crims an edge in
the betting.
And Pete Rose,
former champion player and coach of the Chicago White Sox was actually jailed.
His crime? Betting on baseball. Of course, the White Sox don’t have the best
record in sport. They threw the World Series prompting the plaintive cry from a
kid to “ Shoeless” Joe Jackson: “ Say it aint so, Joe”.
But here in Australia it seems
anything goes.
The latest mix
between the murky world of crims and sport involves Melbourne’s star player David
Schwarz.
The Demons’ Vice
Captain provided a character reference for a man who was caught with a loaded
gun in his car in a jail car park while visiting one of Melbourne’s best-known
thugs.
And the reference
helped Darren
William Harland escape jail.
The reference was handed to Magistrate Jenny
Bowles and although it wasn’t read in court the defence lawyer said it was “
very positive”.
The magistrate said she was initially going to send Harland
straight to jail. Instead, after the
Schwarz words of wisdom she fined Harland
$3500 and gave him a suspended sentence.
Obviously
Schwarz can kick goals off the field as well as own.
But look at the
Harland case.
He was visiting Jason
Moran, one of Australia’s least savoury people.
A loaded
semi-automatic pistol was found in a bag in his car.
When asked if it was his
gun the smart-arse replied: “ It wasn’t in there when we pulled up”.
Then
when guards called police Harland
and a friend fled.
He was arrested later in Melbourne. Hardly the actions of an
innocent man.
But there are other
links between famous footballers and the Morans.
Kangaroos captain, Wayne
Carey, gave character evidence for Jason Jason
Moran,
to try to lessen his prison sentence.
You may recall
Carey became some sort of rehabilitation expert based on several vague conversations
he had with Moran when he bumped into him in the supermarket on a couple of
occasions.
Still I guess it
beats grabbing a strange woman on the breast outside a nightclub at 9 o’clock
in the morning.
Now, there is a
bigger issue here.
Does the AFL step in and ask questions about players and who
they associate with in cases like these? An American football commissioner
certainly would.
And with good reason.
Football is big
business. Football betting is big business. And I believe football must not only
be clean but be seen to be clean.
When cricket matches
can be fixed at an international level anything can happen in any sport. And
things are not helped when governing bodies - like the Australian Cricket Board
- try to shove things under the carpet.
Mark Waugh and Shane Warne would have
been banned for life in the United States and should have been expelled for at
least two years here.
But that, as they
say, is another story.
- Derryn Hinch
Lewis
and Jason Moran arranged to kill rival Carl
Williams in front of scores of guests at his daughter's May 2001
christening.
The planned public bloodbath was foiled at the
last minute when police secretly stepped in to save Williams.
Detectives set up a sting operation in which
Williams was arrested and jailed just hours before the scheduled hit.
A person deep within drug boss Tony
Mokbel's gang tipped off police that Williams was about to be murdered at
his six-week-old daughter Dhakota's christening.
The informer told a detective the Morans had
hired two Sydney hitmen to gun down Williams at a Keilor reception centre during
the christening party.
The burly drug lord was shocked when police told
him about the sickening plan.
"But then Carl showed some grudging respect
for the plan, saying it wasn't a bad one as he would have had his guard down at
his daughter's christening," a police source said.
Detectives believe the foiled plot prompted
Williams to come up with his own plan to murder Jason Moran when he least
expected it.
The Morans put a contract on Williams in 2001
after he shot dead Mark Moran.
They wanted to deliver a strong message and
decided killing Williams in front of family and friends at his daughter's
christening was a very public way of proving that point.
Police discovered the plot only three days before
it was due to be carried out.
An emergency meeting of senior officers was
called to discuss how to thwart the attack.
They decided that staking out the christening
party in the hope of identifying and catching the hitmen was too dangerous.
A plan to put a booze bus outside the christening
to deter the execution was considered.
However the meeting decided getting Williams
behind bars was the safest option.
Williams was on bail awaiting trial over a $20 million drug operation, so
another arrest would guarantee to put him behind bars and out of reach of the
hired killers.
Police command agreed to provide $100,000 to detectives so they could set up a
sting involving an undercover officer buying drugs from Williams.
An undercover officer had recently made contact with drug dealer Walter
Foletti.
Evidence suggested that Foletti was getting his drugs from Williams.
Detectives planned to use the $100,000 to get proof that Williams was Foletti's
supplier.
Police bugs recorded the undercover officer asking Foletti on May 18, 2001, if
he could provide a large quantity of ecstasy tablets in a hurry.
Later that day, Foletti told the undercover officer he had spoken to the
supplier's wife, Roberta Williams.
She said would confirm the deal the next day.
Foletti rang the Williams home at 10.20am on May 19 and asked to speak to Carl,
but was told by Roberta that her husband was still in bed.
He asked her if her husband was "organising that thing for me" and
that "the bloke is going to ring me up after 12".
Roberta Williams told him the deal was set for that day.
The undercover officer rang Foletti at noon and arranged to meet at the
McDonald's car park in Sydenham about 2pm.
He arranged to buy 8000 ecstasy tablets for $100,000.
Detectives photocopied the notes which made up the $100,000 before putting them
in a green shoebox and giving them to the undercover officer.
Foletti arrived at the car park with his nephew, Pablo Foletti, and parked his
white Jeep near the undercover officer's car.
Foletti gave a shopping bag containing 8000 ecstasy tablets embossed with the
letters XTC to the undercover officer, who handed over the shoe box stuffed with
$100,000.
As this was happening, Carl Williams rang Roberta and was recorded asking her if
the deal had been done yet.
Roberta told him she hadn't heard, but expected to soon.
Foletti rang her at 3.13pm and she told him to "bring what you've got
now", but Foletti told her it would be better if she came to him.
Roberta Williams immediately got in her dark BMW coupe and drove to Foletti's
house in the suburb of Hillside.
Surveillance police watched her leave Foletti's house three minutes later. She
was carrying a blue shopping bag.
Other surveillance police saw Carl Williams arriving home at 3.24pm in his white
Mitsubishi Lancer.
He took a call from his wife on his mobile and she told him she was at the
Watergardens shopping centre in Sydenham.
Police followed as he drove there and watched as Carl and Roberta Williams met.
After walking round the shops, they got into Carl's car.
Heavily armed members of the special operations group swooped as soon as Carl
and Roberta got in the vehicle.
Carl Williams was found with Victoria Police's $100,000 in his lap and he and
Roberta were jailed that day.
Roberta was granted bail 48 hours later, but it was 14 months before Carl got
out.
The couple were both later convicted of trafficking in a commercial quantity of
ecstasy over the drug sting that saved Carl's life.
Foletti was jailed for five years and six months.
Dhakota's christening was rescheduled for December 2003 after her father was
released.
Carl and Roberta were keen to portray themselves as a loving and law-abiding
family.
They invited the ABC's Four Corners to film the christening at Crown
casino's plush Palladium Room. They chose Crown because is had the best security
in Victoria.
Among the 120 guests was Greg Domaszewicz -- the
babysitter who was acquitted over the 1997 murder of Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie.
Police and the underworld
expected that when Jason Moran was released from prison
he would go after Carl
Williams to avenge his brothers' killing.
But when he was freed
from Fulham Prison on
September 5, 2001, Williams was back inside on remand,
having been charged in the May with trafficking 8000
ecstasy tablets.
In
an unusual move, the parole board let
Moran go overseas because of fears for his life, while
Williams continued to recruit from a small area filled
with potential killers — Port Phillip Prison.
Once the man known as the
Runner decided to accept Carl
Williams'
offer to join his band of hitmen, they
celebrated with a quiet drink inside the prison's
Swallow Unit.
According to the Runner,
it was there that Williams
first asked him to kill Jason Moran.
Moran had been spotted in London by one of the
Williams team (the "Lieutenant" ) and,
unwisely, decided to return, even though he must have
known his life was still in danger.
Moran arrived back in Melbourne on November 20.
On January 14,
2002, the inquest into Alphonse
Gangitano's murder begun.
Coroner Iain West
was expected to hear from several of Gangitano
former henchmen, including Jason Moran.
Other associates
expected to contribute to the court proceedings included Graham
Kinniburgh.
In an opening address to the
inquest, Mr Jeremy Rapke, QC., identified two criminal associates of Gangitano'
as suspects in his murder.
"Very considerable suspicion attaches not
only to Graham
Kinniburgh but also to Jason Moran in relation to the murder of
Gangitano',"
Mr Rapke said.
Reporting on the
inquest, the Herald Sun's John Hamilton described the 12 cm scar under the stubble on the head of
Jason Moran that runs down the right side of his skull.
"Illuminated by
four overhead spotlights in the Coroner's Court, the scar seemed to glow like a
jagged lightening strike. Little flashes darted off to Mr Morans right ear as he
sat in the front row in his sharply tailored blue pin-stripe suit with a
patterned tie resembling a ring of keys. Moran also wore a diamond buckle ring
on his wedding finger," Hamilton wrote.
"The
ring sparkled and flashed as he spent some time examining his fingernails and
cuticles or waved a cheery greeting to somebody he knew in the public
gallery."
Hamilton
concluded his piece by recalling evidence given by a former legal representative
of Gangitano's and the fact that Moran, sitting in front of him began buffing
his diamond ring in an abstract fashion.
Jason was accompanied in
court by his father Lewis, who was on bail following his and Tony
Mockbel's arrests the previous August.
Evidence suggested that both
Kinniburgh and Moran were at Gangitano's house on the night of the murder, Mr Rapke said.
Long-time
friend and criminal Graham
Kinniburgh left blood at the murder scene and associate Jason
Moran
was seen leaving the house that night by a witness.
Mr
Kinniburgh's blood was found on a banister inside the house and his skin was
found on a larger dent on the front security door.
Jeremy Rapke, QC, assisting the
coroner, said evidence strongly suggested Mr
Kinniburgh was present during the
murder but fled quickly to set up his alibi.
Mr Rapke said two people sitting
in a car saw two men leave the Gangitano house about 11.25 that night.
One was shown a video line-up and
picked out Jason Moran as the
man he saw walking up
Gangitano's Glen Orchard Close driveway on the
night of the murder.
The witness said he saw the same man and another
person leave the property a short time later.
Mr West found the man was a
credible witness who had accurately identified Moran, who was known to
Gangitano
and who had the opportunity to be there.
"While the witness was not in a position to
say that he actually saw Jason Moran enter the premises, I am satisfied he did
and that he was present at the time the deceased was shot," the coroner
later said.
There was
speculation that evidence at the inquest would include a police tape allegedly
featuring Moran's lawyer, disgraced solicitor Andrew
Fraser.
It was unknown
whether
Fraser,
in jail for cocaine importation at the time of the hearing, would be called as a
witness.
Mr Rapke said
Fraser represented Mr Moran when police interviewed him about the murder.
He refused to answer questions.
But in a secretly recorded
conversation on August 11, 1999, Fraser was asked by a colleague: "Who do
you reckon did Gangitano?"
"Jason,"
Fraser replied.
Moran
was also recorded by police making disparaging remarks about Gangitano,
blaming him for a vicious attack at the Sports Bar in 1995.
The court was also told of another taped
conversation between Jason Moran and another lawyer in which Moran said of Gangitano:
"He's a fucking lulu....if you smash five pool cues and an iron bar over
someone's head....you're a fucking lulu".
The inquest heard Gangitano
spent the morning of his death at Melbourne Magistrates' Court, where he was
facing charges over the King St brawl.
Mr Rapke said Gangitano
and his co-offender, Mr Moran,
appeared somewhat distant from each other at the court hearing.
Gangitano
returned home and after 9pm he spoke to his mistress and several friends on the
phone.
His de facto wife was visiting her sister with their two daughters.
Mr Kinniburgh,
60, told police he arrived about 11pm and found his mate on the phone.
He said Gangitano,
who was found wearing underpants and a shirt, told him he was about to have a
meeting.
Kinniburgh
said he left to buy cigarettes.
Mr Rapke said Mr Kinniburgh's
claim a meeting was about to take place was not corroborated and Gangitano's
mistress said he would never hold a meeting in his underwear.
When Mr Kinniburgh
returned he found Gangitano's
de facto in the laundry with her husband's body.
Gangitano
had been shot three times - in the head, face and back.
On January 14, 2002, the inquest into Gangitano's
shooting hit a wall of silence as the two prime suspects were excused
from giving evidence.
Jason Moran and Graham Kinniburgh
were exempted by the coroner on the ground they might incriminate themselves.
The two men suspected of killing Gangitano had refused to give evidence to a Victorian coroner.
Their lawyers claimed the
evidence would incriminate them.
Legal representatives said there
was no evidence implicating the pair in the murder.
"You don't have to be guilty
to claim the privilege against self-incrimination," said Mr Kinniburgh's
lawyer, Tony Hargreaves.
The inquest heard that a
convicted killer told police he drove Mr Moran to Templestowe on the night of
the murder.
Russell Warren Smith, who
later committed suicide, told police he was afraid of Mr Moran.
"I am very
scared for my own safety at the moment, as I know what Jason Moran is capable
of," he said.
In a statement tendered to the
court, Smith said Moran asked that he drive him to and from Gangitano's
home on the night of the murder.
Counsel assisting the coroner,
Jeremy Rapke, QC, said Mr Smith, who met Mr Moran when the pair were in Barwon
Prison, hanged himself in September 1998, five months after making the
statement.
Mr Moran allegedly told him:
"You can't come in, just wait here. I'll be back in five or 10
minutes."
Smith told police he waited in a
car while Mr Moran went into a Templestowe house.
According to the statement, Mr
Moran stayed at the house about 15 minutes before telling Mr Smith to drive to
Williamstown.
The pair stopped briefly at a
McDonald's store for takeaway food on the way.
When the car reached the top of
the Westgate Bridge, Mr Smith alleged, Mr Moran tossed what he said was an
apparently unusually heavy, empty McDonald's paper bag from the car into the
Yarra River.
Mr Smith said the bag appeared
heavy as it travelled further than expected when thrown.
He said this may have
been because Mr Moran had placed something inside it.
Detective Senior-Sergeant Charlie
Bezzina, of the homicide squad, told the inquest police divers searched the
Yarra River for a week but did not find a gun, the bag or its contents.
Two days after the murder,
according to Mr Smith's statement, Mr Moran visited his house and warned him not
to tell anyone he had driven to or from Mr Gangitano's
house.
He told him Gangitano had been "put off".
Counsel for both Mr Moran and Mr Kinniburgh
asked that their clients be excused.
Coroner Iain West allowed the pair to
exercise their right against self-incrimination.
Moran's lawyer urged the
coroner not to find his client contributed to Gangitano's
death.
Chris Dane, QC, said there was insufficient evidence to say who fired the
fatal shots and identification of Mr Moran at the scene was "gravely
suspect".
Tony Hargreaves, for Mr Kinniburgh,
said police claims his client was involved in or was present at the murder were
speculation and innuendo.
Closing the inquest into Gangitano's
death, counsel assisting Deputy State Coroner Iain West, Jeremy Rapke, QC,
said the evidence against Mr Moran and Mr Kinniburgh
was not such that Mr West could make a positive finding of contribution, but was
nevertheless "good enough" to implicate them.
Mr West also rejected
Kinniburgh's
version of events that night.
Mr Rapke outlined a police
scenario in which Mr Kinniburgh spent at least 30 minutes at
Gangitano's
house before Moran arrived armed with a .32 calibre handgun after 11pm.
Gangitano
tried to flee into the laundry as Mr Moran fired at him with a small pistol,
hitting him three times, Mr Rapke suggested.
In the police scenario, Mr Kinniburgh
bumped his elbow trying to flee the house and left his DNA on a screen door.
He ran upstairs to check he had
not been recorded on Gangitano's
elaborate security system, leaving his blood on an upstairs banister, and then
went to a nearby service station to set up his alibi before returning.
Homicide squad detectives then
prepared a fresh report for the
Office of Public Prosecutions to consider whether there are new grounds to lay
charges.
Neither Moran or Kinniburgh were
in court, but it might be said that Mr Moran did have a representative to put
his case - his mother, Judy.
While Mrs Moran, in orange skirt orange
sunglasses and orange hair, did not put her case to the court, she did put it to
the media as she ran the gauntlet to a green four-wheel-drive.
Initially stating that she did not want to
comment, she quickly relented.
"My son's a beautiful boy - that's all I can
say."
"Is he innocent?"
"My word he's innocent."
"Was he framed?"
"Of course he's framed by the police, like
he's always been framed."
"He had nothing to do with this?"
"No. Nothing."
"Was he there on the night?"
"He was home, he was home. The police know.
They had a bug in the roof ... they know where he was. They couldn't produce the
papers.
"Just remember - my son is a beautiful boy.
And Alphonse was my friend, too (and a friend) of the family since he was 16
years of age. How would my son do that - they grew up together?"
 Around the time Mr West was reading his
findings, family patriarch Lewis
Moran (pictured left with Jason) was fronting Melbourne Magistrates Court on drug charges.
Lewis was released on bail and is due to reappear
the following May.
On May 1, 2002,
Moran associate, Victor Peirce, one of the four acquitted of the 1988 Walsh
St police murders, was shot dead in Bay St., Port Melbourne
The Herald Sun
reported that Peirce was involved in a long-running feud with the
Morans, and was suspected by them
of being involved in the murder of Mark Moran in June 2000.
At the time many
theorised the Peirce killing may have been an act
of revenge by supporters of the Morans.
On May 8, almost a week after Peirce's
death, a death notice from Jason
Moran was published in the Herald Sun.
It read simply, "Victor - Rest
Peacefully - Jason Moran".
|
|
|
In 2006 Age reporter John Silvester revealed
that Peirce
had been murdered for not fulfilling a
contract he had taken to kill Jason Moran.
Peirce
had accepted the contract from a rival drug faction but instead of completing
the task he had pocketed the down-payment and warned Moran.
|
|
It is believed Moran's appearance at Peirces'
funeral was a sign of his gratitude.
The Age
reported that an investigation had been launched after jailed drug dealer, John
Higgs, held a meeting with Jason Moran while on accompanied day release from the
Fulham prison in Gippsland on
May 23, 2002.
State corrections commissioner
Dennis Roach had asked Australasian Correctional Management, the prison's
operator, to explain how
Higgs managed to meet Moran while on a 12-hour community access leave.
Higgs has been granted leave on several occasions as part of the prison's
rehabilitation program.
He was meant to be visiting his wife when the meeting
with Moran took place at
Higgs'
home at Mount Cottrell, on Melbourne's western fringe.
Higgs'
minimum security grading had been upgraded and community access visits suspended
pending the outcome of the investigation.
Authorities wanted to know how the
meeting was organised and what was discussed by
Higgs and Moran.
The commissioner had also asked ACM why it took two weeks to notify
authorities of the breach.
An ACM spokesman said the meeting
was reported to management by the accompanying guard.
The delay in informing the
commissioner's office was caused by an administrative error.
"Fulham is operated within
the rules and guidelines by the Victoria Government ...
Higgs breached the conditions and his leave has been suspended," the spokesman
said.
ACM, which also operates Port
Phillip Prison, west of Melbourne, faced possible fines if the commissioner
found management was negligent.
On July 17, 2002, Carl
Williams was bailed, despite having twice been arrested
on serious drug charges.
But the courts had no choice;
Williams' case (and those involving six others) were
indefinitely delayed while prosecutions against drug
squad detectives were finalised.
In December 2002,
Williams' close associate, the Runner, was released and within weeks he was going out
with Roberta
Williams' sister, Michelle.
The Runner and Carl
Williams met daily, and
Williams asked his new
right-hand man to find Moran.
He said Moran was aware he
was being hunted and had gone to ground.
"Carl told me that
he still wanted Jason dead and that he wanted me to
locate Jason so he could kill him. We did not discuss
money at this point but I was to start surveillance on
Jason Moran."
Williams' ambitions and
his desire for revenge were growing. No longer did he
just want to kill Jason. "Carl developed a
deep-seated hatred of the Moran family … there is no
doubt it was an obsession with him. Carl told me on
numerous occasions that he wanted everyone connected
with the Moran family dead."
On December 28, 2002 convicted
murderer Mark Anthony Smith was shot shot
three times in the driveway of his Old Calder Highway home.
A man believed to be
the shooter, fled the scene.
Police suspected Smith
accepted a contract to murder Jason Moran (with the help of Victor
Peirce) he did not fulfil.
The attempt to kill Smith
failed when he was shot in the neck in the driveway of his Keilor home.
He recovered and fled to
Queensland for several months.
The Runner began to track
Moran.
With every report
Williams would peel off between
$500 and $1000 for the information.
His former prison
buddy was also paid to deliver drugs and collect money,
and set up in a Southgate apartment that
Williams sometimes used as a secret bachelor pad.
The Runner would tell
police that he was not the only one spying on Moran.
Williams
also received information from millionaire drug
trafficker Tony Mokbel, and soon-to-be-deceased crime
middleweight, Willie
Thompson.
Williams and the Runner
began stalking Moran, and discussing how they would kill
him.
Their schemes ranged from the imaginative to the
idiotic.
One was to hide in the boot of Moran's silver
BMW, remove the lock and spring out to kill him.
A
simpler version involved lying beneath shrubs outside
the house where Moran was believed to be staying.
Williams considered hiding in the rubbish bin next to
Moran's car, then popping out to shoot him.
Another plan was to lure
him to a park and the Runner, dressed as a woman and
pushing a pram, would walk past and shoot him.
He and
Williams bought a shoulder-length brown wig before
abandoning the plan.
But finding Moran proved
more difficult than first believed.
Moran was an expert
in counter-surveillance and teamed with a man who
appeared to be a bodyguard.
He ditched his flamboyant
lifestyle, rented a modest house in Moonee Ponds and
kept on the move.
Also, the Runner had
never met Moran and
Williams did not provide him with a
picture.
Once the Runner saw a man matching the
description leaving Moran's brother-in-law's home in
Gladstone Park. "I am pretty sure (it) was
Jason."
They finally spotted him
in late February 2003 at a Red Rooster outlet in Gladstone
Park.
Williams was not armed.
They followed him and an
unidentified female who was driving a small black sedan.
As a surveillance
operative Carl made a good drug dealer.
He grabbed a
tyre lever and a screwdriver from inside his car and
followed at a distance of only 20 metres.
According to
the Runner, "about 40 or 50 metres down this road
(Johnson Street) the rear of the hatch of the car opened
up and Jason shot several shots at us from the back of
the car."
Williams lost interest,
saying "we will get him another time".
Williams and the Runner
went to pubs and clubs where they might find Moran.
They
came up empty.
They thought about a hit at the Docks
where Moran was said to occasionally work, but terrorist
fears had resulted in a massive security upgrade that
made it impossible.
Williams started to get
desperate.
If he couldn't get to Jason he would kill
those close to him. He told the Runner to start
surveillance on Moran's oldest family friend, Graham Kinniburgh, and another associate
Steve (Fat Albert) Collins.
Kinniburgh
was a
legendary, semi-retired gangster, one of those rare,
successful criminals hardly known outside police and
underworld circles. But he was a close friend of Jason's
father, Lewis Moran.
Career criminal Terrence Hodson
told investigators he was assisting in a drug
robbery investigation that in 2003 he was approached by police officers,
who can't be named because of legal reasons.
Hodson said
the officers told him they were interested in being paid to murder targets of
the underworld war.
Hodson told
corruption detectives that he made inquiries for the officers and found that Jason Moran, who was in Queensland at the time,
wanted someone to kill members of the Williams syndicate, including Carl
Williams and Victor Brincat.
Hodson said
he relayed this information back to the unnamed Victorian officers but there
was a dispute over the price of the contract.
The officers, Hodson
claimed, were asking to be paid $250,000 per head and Jason Moran was only
prepared to pay $200,000.
According to Hodson,
a few weeks after these negotiations, Jason Moran was murdered.
The information Hodson
gave anti-corruption detectives about these dealings raises several
possibilities.
For instance, the most simple reading is that
the officers may have indeed been looking to carry out contract killings.
Or, a theory some police sources say is more
plausible, is that they may have been trying to get information about who
wanted who dead, information they could then corruptly pass on to other
criminals.
Carl Williams finally put a
bounty on Jason Moran's head in April 2003.
Andrew Veniamin and the
Runner would get $100,000 each.
The pair, armed and
masked, hid in the back seat of a rented car outside the
school expecting Jason to drop his children off.
But he
did not show.
Next time, Roberta Williams picked a fight
with Jason's wife Trish outside the school in the hope
she would call her husband to come and support her.
Still no Jason.
Career criminal Terrence
Hodson
decided to assist police
after he was charged over a break-in in which he and a
drug squad detective were arrested while attempting to
steal drugs and money from an Oakleigh home.
One of the things he told investigators was
that in May 2003 he was approached by police officers who told him they were
interested in being paid to murder targets of the underworld war.
Hodson told corruption detectives that he made
inquiries for the officers and found that Jason
Moran, who was in Queensland at the time, wanted someone to kill members
of the Williams syndicate, including Carl Williams
and Victor Brincat.
Hodson said he relayed this information back to
the unnamed Victorian officers but there was a dispute over the price of the
contract.
The officers, Hodson claimed, were asking to be
paid $250,000 per head and Jason Moran was only
prepared to pay $200,000.
The information Hodson gave anti-corruption
detectives about these dealings raised several possibilities.
For instance, the most simple reading is that
the officers may have indeed been looking to carry out contract killings.
Or, a theory some police sources say is more
plausible, is that they may have been trying to get information about who
wanted who dead, information they could then corruptly pass on to other
criminals.
Williams
wanted Veniamin
(who was still associating with Mick Gatto and the Carlton
Crew) to set up Moran for an ambush but Benji was
frightened Big Mick would realise he was working for Williams.
"Carl was becoming
wary of Andrew and told me that he was concerned that
Andrew was more in the Moran camp than in ours,"
the Runner later told police.
In fact, Williams
believed Moran was trying to persuade Veniamin to become
a double agent and kill Carl.
When Benji failed to
deliver Moran to a planned ambush at the Spencer Street
taxi rank near The Age building, Williams started
to doubt his number one killer.
"From then on Carl
would only meet Andrew on his own terms. That way Carl
could be sure of his own safety. He did not trust Andrew
any more," the Runner said.
The Williams team learned
that Jason Moran took his children to Auskick training every
Saturday morning in Essendon North.
Williams had eased Veniamin out of the hit team and replaced him with the
getaway driver from the Mark Moran murder.
The Runner and his new
partner, the "Driver", inspected the football
oval and planned an ambush.
On June 14, 2003, armed and
ready, they watched the football clinic but did not see
Jason.
They agreed to try again the next week.
Williams had another
plan. He told the Runner he wanted Jason ambushed on
June 15, the anniversary of Mark's murder, at the grave
site at Fawkner Cemetery.
"Carl decided,
though, that if we were not able to kill Jason on Sunday
(June 15) then we would try again at Auskick next
week."
On the assigned day it
took the hit team more than an hour to find the grave
and when they did, they found a card signed by Jason.
Leaving, they saw a car fly through a red light. It was
probably Moran.
During the following week
the team repeatedly went to the Cross Keys ground to
fine tune their planned hit.
The Runner would be dropped
at the hotel car park where Moran would be parked; he
would run up, shoot Moran in the head and then run over
a footbridge to the getaway van.
Williams organised a
blood test for that morning, giving him an alibi.
On the Saturday morning
they collected guns from Andrew Krakouer's (brother to
former footballers Jimmy and Phil) house in Pascoe Vale,
which Williams used as a safe house, and placed stolen
plates on the white van that would be used in the
getaway.
Williams' lieutenant, a
man who can source chemicals for amphetamines and who
cannot be named, then advised the Runner to "get
Jason good and get him in the head".
In early
June, 2003 Moran
dashed to Western Australia to "help out a
mate".
Underworld sources told the Herald Sun that Moran
had been called to WA to help settle a growing dispute over the amphetamine
trade involving a gangland associate and a bikie gang.
The associate had connections to Alphonse
Gangitano.
Mr Moran's visit to WA was noted by Perth's
organised crime squad.
Melbourne police were understood to have
interviewed members of the Victorian chapter of the WA bikie group and its
affiliates.
It is not known if Moran was successful in
mediating in the simmering drug war.
On June 21, 2003, the
'Runner' and the 'Driver' sat near the park
and the 'Runner' spotted a man he believed was the target.
"I thought it might have been Jason because people
were coming up to him, shaking his hand and generally
paying attention to him. His behaviour was typical of a
gangster."
Williams and the
Lieutenant drove past and nodded that they had seen him.
As the clinic was about to wind up the pair watched
Moran head back to the hotel car park to hop in a blue
van.
The hit-team drove to the rear of the car park.
"I then put on my balaclava and gloves and jumped
out from the van, carrying the shotgun in my right hand.
I had the two revolvers in a belt around my waist. I ran
to the driver's side window of the blue van, aimed the
shotgun at Jason Moran and fired through the closed
window."
Moran slumped forward and
the Runner fired again. He dropped the shotgun, grabbed
his long-barrelled revolver and fired at least another
three shots.
He then took off, running over the
footbridge to the waiting van.
The other man in the blue
van with Moran was Pasquale Barbaro, a small time crook
who worked for Moran. The Runner later said he didn't
see Barbaro let alone intend to kill him. "I did
not even know that I had shot Pasquale Barbaro until
later . . . I regret that happening."
Williams received news of
the hit with the message that "the horse . . . had
been scratched".
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Barbaro, known as "Little Pat", is
believed to have returned to Melbourne about two years before after serving time
in a Perth jail over amphetamine charges.
Unlike
Moran,
he did not have an extensive criminal record although he was arrested a t Perth
airport in May 1999 carrying a black bag containing 367 grams of amphetamine
powder. He had also been a heavy gambler.
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Also in the van were five
children.
Moran's twins, Christian and Memphis, were both
in the van along with three other family friends ranging in age from three to 13
years, as the fatal shots shattered the windows.
Jason often picked up his children from the
Saturday football clinic and was regarded as very friendly by parents and
teachers.
It was part of Moran's weekly routine and
regarded as one of the rare times he would have dropped his guard.
Locals think he took his son to Auskick at the
same time every week, but "wouldn't have been expecting it there".
To the killer, the football clinic was the ideal
time to strike.
Moran was at his most vulnerable.
On those mornings he appeared to be an average
suburban dad rather than a gangster in survival mode - although associates say
he always carried a gun, even at Auskick.
One of the first on the scene on Saturday was
ex-policeman, Phil Glare.
He found Moran and Barbaro dead in the van.
Glare, a former member of the now disbanded
consorting squad, was no stranger to gangland wars and public executions.
He was escorting Raymond
'Chuck' Bennett to an armed robbery hearing when he was shot dead by an
unknown gunman inside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court building in November
1979.
Bennett's
murder remains unsolved.
Moran was said to have kept a lower profile in
the months prior to his murder, was careful where he went and usually had a minder with him.
He had repeatedly changed addresses in
his last 12 months.
After selling his luxury apartment in Grosvenor
Street, Moonee Ponds, he moved into his sister-in-law's house, before relocating
to the large home of a friendly hotel owner.
Moran knew he was under threat and had
been looking for new, unlicensed handguns. He was said to be prepared to pay
$3500 per weapon.
A Herald Sun story reported that Moran feared
he was marked for death in the weeks leading up to his murder and appeared to be
very nervous at a wake attended by many underworld figures the week before he
was gunned down.
Sources said Moran, 36, was accompanied by a
minder but appeared to be very toey.
One said "all the usual suspects" were
among hundreds of mourners at the wake after the funeral of Angelo Quadara.
"I don't know if Jason knew what was coming,
but he spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder," the source said.
Mr Quadara was a brother of greengrocer Joe
Quadara, who was shot dead as he arrived for work in Toorak in May 1999.
Some police feared the slaying could ignite a
brutal escalation of Melbourne's underworld war which had claimed at least 15
lives in five years.
The killing would pit those close to the Moran
family – among them some of the state's most powerful gangsters – against
the killers.
"It's like the Carpenters' song We've
Only Just Begun," a source said the day after the shootings.
There was speculation the
Williams family was behind the killings of Moran and Barbaro.
The same family was suspected of organising the
shooting execution of Jason's brother Mark outside his Essendon home in June,
2000.
Jason was at war with Carl Williams
who survived after being shot in the stomach
by the Morans over an alleged $400,000 drug debt.
Ironically, the children of the two feuding
families attend the same private school.
Roberta Williams went to the police
in 2002 to complain she had been harassed by Jason outside
the school.
She considered seeking an intervention order but
later withdrew her complaint.
Two other prominent crime families – the Peirce
and Pettingill
clans – denied any involvement in the murders.
One theory had it that Moran was killed as a
payback for the murder of Victor Peirce, who was gunned down in Bay Street, Port Melbourne, in May
2002.
The story went that Peirce
was a close friend of Frank
Benvenuto, the son of former Godfather Liborio Benvenuto.
Frank employed Peirce, a gun for hire, on a
freelance basis when he needed protection.
Frank
Benvenuto was shot dead in Beaumaris in May
2000 and Peirce was said to have blamed the Morans, shooting Mark the following
month as a payback.
Jason then shot Peirce
to avenge his brother's
murder, and the circle was completed with Jason's murder
But Peirce's widow Wendy says the theory is just
another fantasy.
"It's complete crap. Victor didn't kill Mark
and the Morans had nothing to do with shooting Victor," said Wendy Peirce.
"There was no bad blood whatsoever between
Victor and Jason," she said.
Despite all the bloodletting, Wendy was still
shocked at the way Moran and Barbaro were killed.
"It's a dirty thing doing it in front of all
those kids," she said.
Victor's mother, family matriarch Kath Pettingill,
also said her family had nothing to do with Moran's murder. "There's no
connection. It's ridiculous," she said.
Pettingill also said she was disgusted by the
gunman's actions.
"I thought that was dreadful. It's not
on," the great-grandmother said.
"It's a sad world if it comes to that,"
she said. "Those poor kids will have to carry that."
Other underworld figures joined police in
condemning the gunman.
Bill
"The Texan" Longley, a former Painters and Dockers union identity
who served 13 years' jail after being convicted of ordering the murder of a
rival in the 70s, said he did not condone such killings.
But he said a contract killer would strike when
his opportunity arose, no matter his surroundings.
"I'm not suggesting it's right for one
minute but regrettably, that's life," he said.
"If there's a contract out on you, people
are going to find you when your guard's down, be it in a shopping mall or while
you're in your car or even when you're putting your feet up at home."
"It just shows the killer's desperation and
desire to carry out the task at hand," a senior policeman said.
"He obviously saw his opportunity and took
it. It's a pretty drastic thing to do."
On June 25,
2003 the
Herald Sun reported that a notorious underworld figure
had put a $100,000
bounty on the killer of Jason Moran.
The Herald Sun had been told the crime
figure – a leading member of Melbourne's mafia scene – wanted the hitman
found dead or alive.
Criminal sources said the mafia man was
infuriated both by the murder of his close friend and associate and the fact it
was carried out in front of children.
The bounty sparked fears of more bloodshed in
the crime world.
"The message is out through the crime
underworld there's money on it," a criminal source said.
"He was close to Jason. He's disgusted it
happened in front of the kids."
The bounty came as police appealed to
Victoria's criminals to break their code of silence and hand over the killer.
"There will be people out there that will
know about this murder," said Assistant Commissioner (crime) Simon
Overland.
Moran's distraught mother, Judy, placed a
death notice in the Herald Sun to "Jason, my adored baby".
It read: "I did not get a chance to say
goodbye, or kiss your smiling face. The only consolation is I know you're with
your beautiful brother Mark. I love you both with all my heart – what is left
of it. I WILL NEVER FORGET."
The Herald Sun also revealed Moran had
amassed a fortune of up to $5 million, and Mr Overland would not rule out
seizing the assets.
"We will look at all avenues. If that takes
us down the path of needing to seize assets, then that is something we will do
but I don't want to rule anything in or out."
Homicide squad detectives were planning to
interview the five children who witnessed the murders from the back of Moran's
blue Mitsubishi van.
Simon Overland said he felt "very deep sorrow" for Moran's family.
"Regardless of how he may have chosen to
lead his life, no one deserves to die this way and no one deserves to have one
of their loved ones killed in this way," Mr Overland said.
He said the murders in front of children could
prompt "a very dangerous and unhelpful escalation" in the level of
underworld violence.
Mr Overland said he expected the police
investigation to be protracted, and appealed to people with information to speak
up.
"The people who do these things tend to be
very forensically aware, so tend not to leave a lot of evidence behind.
"They're normally very careful about what
witnesses are around, and there's often not a direct connection between the
person committing the murder and the victim.
"It's time to break the code of silence and
at least just tell us who we should be looking at," he said.
It is understood that within hours of the
shooting in an Essendon hotel car park, the brother of a violent armed robber
was questioned by police.
The man was later released.
An underworld figure, who had placed a
$100,000 bounty on Mr Moran's killer, was boasting about revenge during the week
after the shootings.
Sources said the notorious figure and an
associate were at the Sandown racecourse and told others the revenge would take
a very public form.
"They said they would chop the killer up in
little pieces and leave the body on the front door step," a source said.
Meanwhile, police confirmed they had started
interviewing Moran's six-year-old twins who were among five children sitting in
the van in which their father and Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro, were killed.
The Herald Sun also reported that Mr Moran or Mr Barbaro did not own the blue van.
The van was owned by a West Brunswick panel shop.
Domenic Pansino, a director of Melville Body
Works, confirmed the van belonged to his company.
When asked why Moran was using the van, Mr
Pansino said he was "borrowing" it.
He would not comment further.
Even though Carl
Williams was
the obvious suspect his blood test alibi was standing
up. The shotgun found at the scene had not been traced
and those around the Williams camp said nothing.
From the start no one
really doubted that Williams was behind the killing but
there was no hard evidence. Several names were nominated
as the shooter, including the Runner, but names without
facts were of little use.
It would be months before
the first real clue emerged from the double murder.
Near the Cross Keys Hotel
in Moreland Road is a public telephone and detectives
eventually checked the calls made at the time of the
murder.
On a long list a series
of numbers stood out.
On Friday, June 20, the day before
the double murder, someone rang Williams' mobile phone
from the telephone box. Roberta Williams' mobile had
also been called, and then the Runner's.
But the next call on the
list was not a known suspect. When police tracked down
the man who received the call he told them he had been
rung that day by a mate. That friend was the Driver. It
did not take long to find out that the Driver was a
thief, drug dealer and close friend of Williams. He sold
speed and had a lucrative sideline in stolen Viagra. He
was still selling the remains of 10,175 sample packs he
stole from a Cheltenham warehouse in April 2000.
Detectives drove to the
Driver's house. Sitting in the driveway was a white van,
the same type as the one captured on closed circuit
video depositing a masked gunman in the car park moments
before Moran and Barbaro were killed.
It was a breakthrough,
but it would take police 14 months before they could lay
charges. Meanwhile, the murders continued.
On June 30, 2003, the Age
reported that the former neighbours of Jason Moran were suing police after their house was used to spy on the murdered underworld
figure.
The neighbours claimed they were driven from their
home after Moran allegedly threatened to harm their children and bomb the house
when he discovered he had been watched.
They were suing the state of Victoria and four
police officers after claiming they were forced to flee their house near Moran's
former home in Grosvenor Street, Moonee Ponds.
Moran's Grosvenor St property was passed in for $680,000 in
July, 2002, but is understood to have sold later for an undisclosed figure.
Police sources said that during a raid on the Grosvenor St
house, a Rottweiler charged the officer who had used a sledge-hammer to break
the down the front door.
"The officers were ready to shoot it, but it jumped up and licked the
guy's face," the source said.
On June 29, 2003, St Mary's Star of the Sea
cathedral hosted Moran's funeral.
For five decades St Mary's had
been the place where Melbourne's underworld has gathered to farewell some of its
most infamous sons.
During an outbreak of mafia violence in the
1960s, funeral services for three leaders of the Italian organised crime world
were held there.
Domenico
Italiano, regarded as Melbourne's godfather of the era, was farewelled at
the church after dying of natural causes in 1962.
Prominent gangsters Vincenzo Muratore and
Vincenzo Angilletta were dead within two years during the bloody power struggle
that followed Italiano's death.
St Mary's became the church of choice because
it's close to the Queen Victoria Market where much of the brutality was
generated.
In 1998, a massive crowd gathered to say farewell
to standover man Alphonse
Gangitano.
Now, the man suspected of killing him -- Jason
Moran (who entered the church four years before for the baptism of his
twins, a son and daughter who were with him when he was killed) -- was
farewelled at St Mary's.
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Parish priest Father Joe Martins said every
person who had their funeral service at the church was treated the same way.
"Any funeral presents a challenge.
Obviously, the church does not make judgments about the person. They need the
prayers and whatever the church can do for them," he said, "They have
to answer to God. We will not deny them."
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More than 500 mourners, family, friends,
sportsmen, legal identities and businessmen joined underworld figures, gathered
in their pin stripe suits and black overcoats, packed St Mary Star of the Sea
for Moran's
funeral which followed that of Pasquale Barbaro the a few days before.
Father Joe Giaccobe, a friend of the Moran
family, conducted the service.
Members of Melbourne's underworld who paid their
final respects were watched by a large media contingent and a low-key police
presence.
Jason's father, Lewis, who is in Port Phillip
Prison, remanded on drugs charges did not attend however after being refused
permission on safety grounds.
Prison authorities said it would be too risky to
allow Lewis Moran to be released from the Laverton prison to attend the service.
Classified as an A2 prisoner, Lewis would have
been shackled and accompanied by at least four armed guards if he'd attended.
Under a cheerless winter sky, the day was cold
and unforgiving.
A spattering of rain chased mourners into church.
Wreaths lining the path to the church were, as
often as not, sent anonymously.
A heart of red roses splashed with white blooms
read 'Jason Our Baby'.
The young Moran twins were ushered into church
with their mother and other relatives, separate from the congregation and
entered through a back left door.
They sat at the front, facing three almost
billboard-sized wreaths -- Daddy, Champ and Uncle spelled out in thousands of
gerberas.
Moran's mother Judy who followed his
pallbearers into church resting a hand on her son's coffin made an emotional
promise that her son's death would be avenged.
"All will be dealt with, my darling,"
Judy Moran said as she stood before his flower-draped coffin.
She later said that the line was borrowed from a
homicide detective who promised to find the killers of
Mark and Jason. Mrs Moran said she believed her sons – born to
two different fathers – were now together on the other side "where there
is no night".
She said Jason was a "beautiful boy"
who could now be re-united with his "big, beautiful brother".
The grieving mother was surrounded by most of her
family
Friends and relatives told stories of a kid who
played under a sprinkler slung from a Hills hoist on summer days, who when he
was little announced of the girl who became his wife - "Auntie Pat, this is
the girl I am going to marry" - and whose doting, fatherly ways with kids
won him the nickname "Pied Piper".
Others, in short speeches, added unique and Mr
Fantastic to the tributes.
Father Giacobbe said that man, while crowned with
dignity, was created less than a god.
He said it was important to think of the good
times, and the service remembered only those.
Friends spoke of Moran's knack with children and
was urged to never forget Moran's "generosity, style and charisma".
Friends said he was a knockabout mate who never
forgot a name and always put his hand in his pocket to help out others.
"He would always say, `Hello champ, how's
your mum?' " a friend said.
"He would remember everyone's name. Their
mother, their father, right down to their pets.
"You put the `ace' in Jason. Friendship is
eternal. You'll never walk alone, Mr Fantastic."
The gathering heard about Moran's boyish
relationship with his father, with whom he used to spar.
They also heard of his love of animals –
including his horse and first dog, Cassius.
Friends also remembered his party spirit.
"He was always the life of the party. He
would always walk into a room with a laugh so hearty," a good mate said.
Another friend, who gave his name only as
"Sugar", told mourners that Moran's love of children made the manner
of his death all the more difficult to take.
"The way that he was taken . . .
it's the ultimate insult," he said.
Among the congregation was Ray
"Muscles" Kane,
survivor of an earlier underworld war that killed his brothers Les and Brian.
Former Carlton football star Wayne Johnston, a
hero to Jason and Mark, was among them.
The brothers loved the Blues and eventually
became firm friends of Johnston through their grandfather.
Former champion boxer Mick
Gatto, a mate of Alphonse
Gangitano, was there.
Leading criminal lawyer George
Defteros arrived with Mr
Gatto.
Graham
Kinniburgh was present, too.
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A single Hells Angel in his club colours broke
the uniformity of shining dark suits worn by men with their hair mostly clipped
and cropped and gelled.
A few still held to the ponytail.
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In the pews a big man in a heavy overcoat with
a heavier five-o'clock shadow sat slumped throughout the service, resting his
forehead on one hand.
As the service moved to its end he
slumped into
the arms of the woman beside him.
In front of them a group of smooth-faced young
men wiped their eyes and a couple sobbed
One man, his face crumpled with grief,
moved to
touch the coffin, but others were expressionless, impossible to read.
The service began with the song I'll Be
Missing You, rap artist Puff Daddy's tribute to another rapper, Notorious
B.I.G., the latter also a suspected killer and murder victim.
If that song was for Jason, the service
closed
with a song chosen by Trish. It was Delta Goodrem's Lost Without You.
And again and again a bitterly ironic song, first
made famous by the Police, played.
I'll Be Watching You, a version of Every
Breath You Take, from an album called No Way Out played as the church
filled, while Moran's casket was carried towards the altar, and when it left --
at least five times.
In a last, possibly deliberate irony, the Police
had the last word on Jason Moran.
It was the only obvious police presence, though
undercover officers were expected to film mourners.
As his casket was carried, procession-like from
the church a crowd formed a community of loss around the immediate family.
Outside, the rain had held off, cigarettes
were
lit and Jason Moran left his favoured church for the last time.
As always at such events, somewhere in the crowd
may have been his killer.
The mood was sombre and greetings
were mostly
muted.
A door somewhere slammed suddenly, its bang echoing
through the church.
Nobody jumped.
Police kept a close eye on the proceedings from a
distance.
Mourners appeared to remain on their best
behaviour, mindful of possible surveillance and the large media presence.
After Moran's hearse was driven from the
church under the escort of a lone Hell's Angel, a large section of the
congregation moved to several hotels in inner north-western suburbs.
Some gathered at the Union Hotel in Maribyrnong
Rd, Ascot Vale.
Others went to the Moonee Valley Tabaret, where Moran was a
regular drinker and punter.
One local hotel worker was thankful he did not
have to host the gathering.
"They're definitely not here, thank
god," he said.
Judy Moran attended her son's funeral despite
being told that she too is a target of underworld violence.
Mrs Moran received a threatening telephone call
the week before telling her she was next, sources said.
The calls came soon after Mrs Moran returned home
from a Melbourne health clinic, where she had been treated for stress suffered
after Jason's killing.
The sources said the caller also made a threat
against the life of a Moran family associate, Graham
Kinniburgh.
A second telephone call followed minutes later to
ensure the message was understood.
Police would not confirm or deny the claims of
further threatened violence.
It was thought homicide detectives
had cancelled
leave as part of a commitment to investigating the killings.
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Photo: The Age
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On July 2,
2003
the Herald Sun
reported that a
birthday message
engraved on the shotgun used to kill Moran and Barbaro had given police their best
clue to solving the murders.
The weapon – a Miura
model Boito 12-gauge "under and over" shotgun with sawn-off vertical
barrels – had its serial number intact.
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But more revealing for investigators trying to
trace the gun's origins is a personal engraved message etched on to the weapon.
The message read: "Mitch on your 21st from
The Boy's 23.4.56". Homicide detectives believe the engraved date could
refer to a birth date.
In his haste to escape the murder scene,
surrounded by children and parents at an Essendon football clinic,
the gunman dropped the sawn-off shotgun he used to blast both men.
According to police, the Boito 12-gauge shotgun
was not manufactured until 1972 after which shipments were imported into
Australia.
Police appealed to the public for help.
Det-Inspector Graeme Collins, of the homicide squad, said the shotgun was a
leading clue.
"It is possible it was dropped accidentally
but I can't be sure," Det-Insp Collins said.
"I can't tell you what was going through his
(the gunman's) mind, but it's something that gives us an avenue of inquiry that
we wouldn't ordinarily have.
"Homicide squad investigators wish to speak
to any person who has knowledge of this firearm or can assist in identifying the
person who made the engraving.
"Investigators need to trace the history of
the weapon.
"No attempt has been made to remove the
serial number and inquiries so far have failed to trace the owner."
On July 3,
2003 , the Herald Sun reported
that up to six people with strong motives to kill Jason
Moran had emerged as prominent suspects in his murder.
Detectives
had a list of up to 40 names and had already interviewed several
people.
They expected to interview
more who had been nominated as having reasons to want Moran dead.
The six main suspects had been identified from a
field which included:
AN alleged rival drug dealer, who
that
week told the Herald Sun he had no involvement in the double killing.
A PROMINENT drug lord.
ANY one of many associates of crime boss Alphonse
Gangitano, whose January 1998 murder was attributed to Moran.
AN armed robber who by then
was out of jail.
ANY one of many associates of slain
criminal Dino
Dibra, shot dead outside his Sunshine home in October 2000.
ANY one of many associates of slain career
crook Victor
Peirce.
There was also speculation a powerful mafia family
might have organised the hit in a pre-emptive strike to quell a possible revenge
attack by Moran on behalf of his slain brother Mark.
One chief suspect had denied killing the feared
standover man.
The suspect told the Herald Sun he had
no involvement in the vicious murder.
"It's nothing to do with me at all,"
the man said.
The accused drug dealer said he was fed up with
potentially dangerous speculation surrounding his involvement with the murders.
Homicide squad detectives interviewed the
man and there had been talk in gangland circles about what he knew.
On July 3,
2003 Ten News reported that it was believed convicted bank robber
Victor
Brincat was one of the many infamous and not-so-infamous people to be interviewed
by homicide squad detectives in relation to the shootings of Moran
and Barbaro.
Brincat
was arrested in June 1999 by the Special
Operations Group shortly after attempting to rob the Lygon Street National Bank.
He is famous for jumping from the back of a
police car vehicle while being transported from St Kilda Road police complex in 1990.
He was later re-captured.
Brincat
had released from prison shortly before Moran's murder.
A Herald Sun death notice after Moran's murder
read:
''Thirty pieces of silver. Respect to all the
poor little kiddies.
Mick Gatto (The Don), Rod
Collins, Benji, Carl
Williams and Dad, Victor Brincat, Alfie.
Lest we forget. 2003''
It was not known if the letter was genuine
It was also revealed that the homicide squad had
interviewed the person who allegedly called Jason Moran's mother, Judy, with the
threat that she would be next.
The matter was not being pursued by the Morans who
said they were very happy police had caught the perpetrator.
The caller was cleared of any involvement in the Moran
killing.
It was believed the caller also made threats
towards Jason Moran's associate Graham
Kinniburgh.
No charges were expected to be laid. On
July 20, 2003
it was reported that the shotgun used to kill Jason
Moran had been traced to its original owner.
Police said the man - who they would not identify
by name, age, address or state - lost track of the sawn-off weapon 20 years
before.
''At this stage detectives are still trying to
trace the movements of the firearm since then,'' a spokesman said.
On July 20, 2003 the Herald
Sun reported that Homicide detectives had dismissed claims the
shotgun used to murder
Moran and Barbaro was once in the possession of convicted armed
robber Frank
Valastro, who was shot dead by police in 1987.
A source had told the Herald Sun that
Valastro,
who used machineguns in hold-ups, had the gun at the time of his death.
The source said it was likely the gun was seized
by police.
But a homicide squad spokesman said in a prepared
statement: ''There is no evidence, at this stage, the firearm is linked to the
death of Frank
Valastro.''
On July 23, 2003, the Age reported that police
believed an anonymous caller to the 000 emergency number could lead them to the
killers who gunned-down Moran and Barbaro.
An unknown male caller rang police from a pay
phone on Queen Street at 2.50pm on Saturday June 21, the same day the pair were
killed, with detailed information about the murders.
Assistant Police Commissioner Simon Overland
refused to say whether the caller named Moran and Barbaro's killers, but urged
the anonymous caller to contact police again.
"They provided a detailed description of the
route taken by them (the killers) after the shootings and their probable
destination: a specific location in the northern suburbs," he said. On August
3, 2003 the Herald Sun
reported that Jason Moran
had been linked to the seized North Korean
heroin ship Pong Su.
The Sunday Herald Sun had learned Moran was suspected of involvement in
the failed drug operation that planned to bring ashore 150kg of heroin worth
$250 million.
Underworld and police sources revealed Moran's connections with the
4015-tonne North Korean government-owned freighter and his base on Great Ocean
Road.
"The thing is, Moran used a holiday house at Lorne and there is a
connection there with the Pong Su," one source said.
A separate police intelligence source confirmed the suspected link.
And an official in South Korea's prosecutors department revealed
unprecedented telephone contact between his office and law enforcement agencies
in Victoria.
"There have been several telephone conversations in the past few
months," the spokesman said.
"We have been speaking to law enforcement
in Australia -- in Victoria. This is unusual."
He would not reveal the nature of the phone calls or agencies involved.
It was believed Moran and the drug syndicate intended to use the multi-million
dollar seafront property near Lorne as their base in an operation to bring the
drugs ashore.
At the time of his death, Moran was in possession of equipment owned by a
company that had been under police surveillance for several months.
It has also emerged that the morning before Moran's half-brother, Mark Moran was gunned down on June 15, 2000, he also had equipment
owned by the same company.\
Title searches confirmed that the same company owned the two-storey, modern
property -- which is close to where the heroin delivered by the Pong Su
was seized. Locals said Moran and his bodyguard, Pasquale Barbaro
frequently stayed at the property, effectively using it as a holiday
home.
The house had a clear view out to sea.
And the owner of the company that owned the property was recognised by Lorne
residents as one of the mourners at Moran's televised funeral.
Locals said they often saw Moran and Barbaro at the property.
They also saw the pair with jet-skis at the beach opposite the property about
the time the Pong Su dropped its drug load in April, 2003.
Moran and Barbaro were also seen transporting jet-skis behind a
four-wheel-drive to an unknown destination.
The Pong Su was seized by SAS troops, the navy and police off the NSW
coast on April 20, 2003 after allegedly dropping the high-grade heroin off Boggaley
Creek, 14km west of Lorne, a week earlier.
About 50kg, worth $80 million, were seized from a van on the Great Ocean Road
on April 16, 2003 after the body of a drowned courier was washed up on the beach.
Police also found 75kg of heroin hidden in bushland off Great Ocean Road on
May 7, 2003
Another 25kg is believed to have been lost at sea.
The Pong Su's captain and 29 crew -- all North Korean -- were arrested
and charged after the seizure. Four men -- two Malaysians, a Singaporean and a
Chinese national -- were also arrested and charged.
The Australian Federal Police allege that a "shore party" met the Pong
Su near Lorne to take delivery of the drugs.
They would not comment on whether members of the "shore party" were
Victorian or had come from the ship.
Moran was often seen at restaurants in the resort town and his step-brother, Mark, once approached estate agents to buy a property
in the area.
"A salesman rang his wife (Antonella) to say a property had been found,
but she said a tragedy in the family had happened a week earlier," a local
woman, who did not want to be named, said.
Another source said: "The locals are s--t frightened of that family (the
Morans). They don't want to cross them, they won't report their comings and
goings at the house.
"Moran used it as his personal holiday house and Paddy (Barbaro) used to
visit in a four-wheel-drive."
The Sunday Herald Sun understood that Moran "owned" several
exclusive properties in Victoria at the time of his death.
The houses were believed to be held in the names of associates or companies to
prevent them being seized under proceeds of crime legislation.
The hidden spoils are thought to include an old home in Maribyrnong which was
razed to make way for a multi-level mansion that is still being built. On,
or about August 7, 2003, Victor Brincat,
a suspect in the murder of Jason Moran
was involved in a wild brawl at Crown Casino.
Sources said the convicted armed robber bit a bouncer during the fight in which several men were injured.
TV news services showed footage of the brawl which occurred
after a group including Brincat, Carl Williams
and their partners, who are sisters, were ejected from a casino nightclub.
Brincat's group then began fighting with bouncers, the fracas
spilling onto an escalator and ending in a lobby where Brincat was subdued and
seemingly beaten.
Brincat was injured after the confrontation and taken away in
an ambulance.
But sources said he jumped from the vehicle when it left the casino.
The Herald Sun was told the man had earlier been detained briefly by
police, forcing him to miss a surprise birthday party planned for him at a pub
in Melbourne's northwest.
On October 8, 2003
the Herald Sun
reported that a prisoner caught in the middle of the investigation into the murder of Jason
Moran has been moved to strict protection in jail.
Heathcliffe Wilson, 31, was interviewed by homicide detectives after approval
from the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
Police sought permission to interview Wilson after telling the court his DNA
was found on the shotgun used to kill Moran and Pasquale Barbaro.
He was in custody on a manslaughter charge at the time Moran and Barbaro were
gunned down.
Wilson was arrested and charged after killing his half-brother in June
2002, suggesting he did not have possession of the shotgun at least a year
before the murder of Moran and Barbaro.
Wilson was moved from Port
Phillip Prison's Borrowdale unit to the high-security Charlotte unit for his own protection after the DNA link with the gun was confirmed.
"Wilson was moved to Charlotte a couple of days ago. You can't get any
higher security than that," a prison source said.
Another source said Wilson now found himself in a sticky predicament, with
word spreading that he had been interviewed by police over the Moran shooting.
"His saving grace was that he was on remand when it (the Moran shooting)
happened," a prison source said.
Senior-Detective Russell Sheather, of the homicide squad, was called to give
evidence in Melbourne Magistrates' Court about why police wanted to speak to
Wilson.
"Investigators believe he has information in relation to possession of
the firearm, its movements and whereabouts," Sen-Det Sheather said.
The application was not opposed by Wilson but his lawyer, Georgia
Halikopoulos, raised concerns that the story was leaked before it had reached
court.
Ms Halikopoulos said there were issues about her client's safety in jail and
the court should note that as a custody management issue.
Magistrate Steven Raleigh rejected the safety issue as irrelevant to the
application.
Mr Raleigh granted police four hours to interview Wilson, cautioning the
prisoner that he did not have to answer questions.
A Supreme Court jury had found Wilson guilty two weeks before of the
manslaughter of his half-brother, who was bashed and stabbed at the family home.
On October 12, 2003
the Herald
Sun reported that Jason Moran had a $1 million price on his head -- placed by drug barons who
turned against him.
And DNA found on a sawn-off shotgun left at the scene of the double murder
was planted, underworld sources said.
Several underworld sources have told the Sunday Herald Sun how the
killer of Moran and Barbaro left the shotgun and a balaclava to mislead police
and set up rival criminals.
A police spokeswoman said a balaclava was found near the shooting scene, but
investigators believed it had been there for "some time".
The sources named two drug barons as taking out a $1 million contract on
Moran, who was becoming a threat to the lucrative trade in amphetamines,
ecstasy, cocaine and other drugs.
"A million dollars is small change to those men," a source said.
"And they don't let anybody stand in their way."
The sources also revealed Moran was a marked man for three years.
A criminal source told the Sunday Herald Sun the shotgun and a balaclava had
been dropped intentionally at the scene.
"It was a professional hit, not some sloppy amateur; this hitman did not
make mistakes," the source said.
"He was confident enough to walk up to Moran's van and fire a shotgun in
front of a crowd, drop it, and walk, not run, around to the passenger side and
empty a (hand) gun into them.
"Why drop the shotgun, why drop the balaclava? Because they left clues
that would twist the police investigation."
Another underworld figure said many criminals thought DNA had been left to
confuse police.
The barons who bankrolled Moran's execution contract are struggling to
control a billion-dollar drugs empire, and one had a major falling out with
Moran about a week before the execution.
One controls a crime empire specialising in party drugs, including
amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine, with a side-line in hashish and cannabis.
This man had an argument with Moran a week to 10 days before the gangster was
slain.
During the row, Moran's bodyguard was bashed.
Another man, who in partnership is running a major amphetamines racket, had a
personal motive of revenge as well as "business" concerns that Moran
was muscling in on the drug trade.
There was also growing concern among criminals that Moran had turned police
informer.
Moran lived in fear for the last three years of his life, according to prison
sources.
In 2000, one of the drug lords placed a $15,000 bounty on Moran, who was in
prison serving time over a King St brawl.
When no one took up the hit on Moran in jail, his half brother, Mark, was
slain at his Aberfeldie home on June 15, 2000.
A source said that after his release from jail, Jason Moran "fled"
Australia in September, 2001.
On October 25, 2003, Michael Ronald Marshall
died after being shot outside
his home in South Yarra.
An amphetamines dealer, Marshall
was a former champion kickboxer of the
1990s.
The task force probing Melbourne's gangland murders later charged two men
over the shooting.
Victor Brincat, 43, a prime
suspect in the Jason Moran murdrer, and Thomas
Hentschell, 41, were arrested shortly after
midnight.
The pair were in a Toyota van near the Elsternwick hotel at the corner of
Glenhuntly Road and the Nepean Highway.
On November 13, 2003, two weeks after the Marshall murder,
Hentschell was interviewed over the
slaying of Jason Moran.
He spent three hours being questioned.
Hentschell was asked about his whereabouts and knowledge of the killings.
Detective-Sergeant Stuart Bateson told Melbourne Magistrates' Court earlier
that security camera footage showed a balaclava-clad man with a shotgun being
dropped at the scene in a white Toyota Hiace and running towards the victims'
van.
The footage, from the Cross Keys Hotel security camera, then shows the man
running from the carpark and into parkland.
Det-Sgt Bateson said Hentschell
and Brincat were arrested in a white Toyota
Hiace van a short time after Marshall was shot.
"(The van) is identical in appearance to that which is depicted on
security camera footage from the Cross Keys Hotel," he said.
The court heard the white van the pair were arrested in belonged to Mr
Hentschel.
Det-Sgt Bateson said witnesses at the Moran murder scene had helped police
develop photofits of the driver of the white van.
"And that description is very similar to the respondent (Mr Hentschel),"
he said.
Det-Sgt Bateson told the court Purana detectives had established
similarities between the murder cases, including:
A LONE gunman assisted by a driver was responsible in each case.
THE assailants were lying in wait for the victims in both cases.
THE gunman was dropped at the scene by his driver in both cases.
THE gunman fled on foot in both cases.
THE calibre of the guns used in each case was identical.
Witnesses to each crime had given similar descriptions of the gunman and
driver.
The court heard police would allege Mr Hentschell
used his own car to drop off
the gunman who killed Marshall. Defence lawyer Nicola Gobbo said Mr
Hentschell had been in solitary
confinement since his arrest for his own protection. Magistrate Clive Alsop ordered Mr
Hentschell's transfer into the custody of
police for up to eight hours so they could interview him at the St Kilda Rd
police complex.
On December 3, 2003 the Age reported that Judy
Moran, the mother of murdered underworld brothers Jason
and Mark Moran, angrily confronted Carl
Williams (left) outside a Melbourne court,
accusing him of involvement in their killings.
Judy Moran demanded of Williams - who had
just been released on bail on charges of threatening to kill - why he would not
admit to the murders of her sons.
Clutching his daughter Dhakoda, 3, Williams, who
was already on bail for charges that allegedly involve $20 million of
amphetamines and $1.5 million of ecstasy, responded: "Is this another
set-up?"
Mrs Moran said soon after that it was a
"freak of nature" that she saw "those evil people" just as
she was attending a meeting with her solicitor.
"He was gloating and Cheshire catting. He
had Andrew Veniamin
and Roberta and his child with him and they were talking about the big
christening that was going to happen ... $150,000 they paid for that,''
she said.
"I walked up behind him and I dug my
nails in the back of his shoulder and he turned around.
"I said: 'Tell them the truth Carl. Tell
them how much you paid to have my family murdered'.''
According to Mrs Moran, the killer threw
his hands in the air claiming the encounter was a "set-up'' before
storming away.
In Sepember 2004, Carl
Williams and associates Victor Brincat
and Alfonso Traglia were charged with the murder of Jason Moran.
They were remanded to face court again the following year.
On October 20, 2004, AFL
triple premiership player Chris Johnson (right) was named on 3AW as having links
to members of the Melbourne underworld including one of the three men charged
with Jason Moran's murder.
Johnson was named after revelations in The Age that an elite AFL player had
become embroiled in police investigations into Melbourne's gangland murders.
It is believed the former All-Australian player grew up with some of the men
who are now connected with a major drug ring and under investigation over
several murders.
Johnson and Alfonse Traglia have been close friends and at one point in 2003
spoke almost daily.
Sources close to him confirmed that Johnson had been a childhood friend of an
alleged gangster, but said he was not involved in any wrongdoing.
Johnson grew up in Jacana, a suburb next to Broadmeadows, and started his
career with Fitzroy before moving to Brisbane in the 1996 merger.
(Click here for
Andrew Rule's story on the connections between footballers and the underworld)
In September 2004 Traglia was charged with the murders of drug boss Jason
Moran and his friend Pasquale Barbaro in June 2003.
Police considered confronting Johnson only days before he was due to play in
the 2003 finals series. He was to be questioned about his connection with
gangsters and any knowledge he may have had about their criminal activities.
Johnson had been seen with members of one of the warring groups and was
spotted by surveillance police while he was associating with gangsters at a
five-star Melbourne hotel.
But a decision was made to leave him alone because there was no suggestion he
had ever trafficked drugs or committed any major crime.
Although there were allegations he was present during some drug use, he was
not considered a key figure in the investigations and senior police felt that to
pull him in based only on his association with suspects would have been an abuse
of power.
They also did not want to flag to suspects that they were under close
surveillance.
Some of the Johnson's associates had been arrested by the Purana gangland
taskforce. He is known to have traveled to the Port Phillip Prison to visit his
friends.
Prison officers were surprised when they recognised the high-profile visitor.
But since the spate of shootings in the past year and a series of
high-profile arrests, Johnson appeared to have distanced himself from his former
associates.
Johnson was also an associate of a jockey who is close to a major drug dealer
linked to the same crime circle.
Johnson would not comment
Several present and former AFL players have been linked to underworld
figures, some placing respectful death notices and others attending their
funerals.
A star Victorian footballer was linked to a major amphetamines syndicate
during a police sting operation.
The player came to a suburban hotel with the dealer for a meeting with an
undercover police officer.
According to police, the player appeared to be acting as a bodyguard for the
dealer.
The drug dealer later died in a car accident and the footballer was never
charged.
On March 1, 2005 a court was told alleged underworld figure Carl
Williams ordered that criminal Jason Moran be
murdered on the anniversary of the killing of his half-brother Mark
Moran.
Williams allegedly wanted Jason
Moran to be shot on June 14, 2003.
Mark Moran
had been gunned down outside his Aberfeldie home on June 15, 2000.
It was alleged in court that Williams ordered
the hit in retaliation for being shot in the stomach by one of the Moran
brothers in 1999.
However, it is alleged the plan failed after Williams'
purported accomplice, Alfonso Traglia, failed to identify Jason
Moran at a junior football clinic on the intended day of the murder.
A week later, on June 21, 2003, Williams'
co-accused Victor Brincat allegedly shot Moran
and Pasquale Barbaro as the pair sat in a van with 10 children after attending
an Auskick football clinic at the Cross Keys Reserve on Pascoe Vale Road,
Essendon North.
Williams, Brincat
and Traglia appeared in a committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court
charged with the men's murder.
Williams and Brincat
were also charged with the murder of hot-dog vendor and drug dealer Michael
Marshall in South Yarra on October 25, 2003.
The two gangland murder hearings were being held simultaneously because the
case against the three accused relies on the evidence of a supergrass referred
to as Mr X.
In January Mr X had been sentenced to a minimum of 10 years' jail for his
involvement in Marshall's murder.
The court also heard that Mr X had provided Purana taskforce detectives,
investigating underworld murders, with a statement connected to the murder of Mark
Moran.
During the hearing, the three accused sat in a secure dock behind security
glass and flanked by five armed guards.
In his opening, prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said Williams ordered the
murders of Jason Moran and Marshall
but Barbaro was an unfortunate victim, in "the wrong place at the wrong
time".
Mr Horgan said Brincat drove to a nearby
street and was picked up by Mr X, who then dropped him off near the park filled
with children.
He said Brincat, carrying a
sawn-off shotgun and hand gun, walked up to the van and shot the two men dead.
Both were shot in the head, and Moran also in the
upper back.
A security camera at the Cross Keys Hotel, next to the park, recorded the
shooting.
Brincat then fled to a Ford sedan,
registered to Williams' father, George.
The
court heard the car was sold two days later.
The hearing before Chief Magistrate Ian Gray was expected to last two weeks.
On February
28, 2007, Carl Williams
appeared in the Supreme Court and
pleaded guilty to the murder of three rivals.
Williams
three times uttered the words "I plead guilty" to the charges
of murdering Lewis Moran, his son Jason
Moran and Mark Mallia whose burnt remains were found in a wheelie
bin.
He refused to plead over Pasquale Barbaro as he claimed that death was an accident.
As a
result of the deal struck with Williams, he will never
be charged with another six murders police believe he
committed.
Williams
had
faced a morning of pre-trial legal argument in the Jason
Moran case, which was due to pick
a jury this week, and was on his way back to Barwon prison's top
security unit when he asked to return to court.
He now faces spending the rest of his
life in jail.
While Williams
did not pull the trigger on any of the people he has admitted killing,
he arranged for the executions and offered the gunmen cash.
Williams
is already serving a jail-term for the 2003 murder of Michael
Marshall - the outcome of that trial has been suppressed until now.
He was also found guilty of killing the
hotdog salesman at a secret trial in October 2005 and jailed for at
least 21 years.
In March 2006 the man who shot Marshall
dead outside his South Yarra home pleaded guilty and surprised police by
confessing Tony Mokbel was behind the
murder plot.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a
minimum term of 23 years.
Then in June 2006, another Williams
ally also turned police informer and pleaded guilty to the murder of Jason
Moran.
The man, who also cannot be identified,
told police he was involved in planning the shooting and supplied one of
the weapons, a shotgun.
He was sentenced to 23 years jail with a
minimum term of 12 years.
Informers who turned against Williams
in the past three years, which also included two killers of Lewis Moran,
have told how he vowed revenge for being shot in the stomach by one of
the Moran brothers in 1999.
Details of these developments had been
suppressed until Williams' appearance in
the Supreme Court.
Crown Prosecutor Geoff Horgan told the
court the events "clears the slate as far as Carl Williams
is concerned".
This means other charges Williams faced,
including those for the murders of Mark Moran
and Pasquale Barbaro, will not proceed.
Nor will a drug trafficking charge or a
charge over making threats to kill a policeman's girlfriend.
Barbaro, who was Jason
Moran's bodyguard, was not an intended victim but happened to be
present when the gunman hired by Williams
opened fire.
Mark Moran
was shot dead outside his Aberfeldie home in 2000 and Williams is
believed to have personally shot him dead.
On March 2, 2007, the Age reported that a gangland organiser turned informer
was
certain Carl Williams would have him
killed in jail.
A judge said the man, who she jailed for
his crucial role in an underworld execution, was convinced Williams
or an associate would murder him.
Justice Betty King told the informer, who
cannot be identified: "You believe no amount of protective custody
can assist you to prevent it happening."
The informer supplied the shotgun used to
kill Jason Moran.
He also told Williams where to find Moran, and provided him with
an alibi for the time of the murder.
But the informer, known as a "black
sheep" in his family, eventually made statements to police about
his involvement in the Moran murder and organised crime.
The 14 statements involved numerous crime
figures, violence and drug dealing, Justice King said last September in
jailing the informer for 23 years.
On
April 27, 2007, Carl
Williams took the witness stand in the Supreme Court before Justice Betty King for a
plea hearing.
After years of speculation, Williams revealed who had pulled the trigger in
Gladstone Park in October 1999 that, in turn, triggered the Melbourne's bloody
underworld feud.
"I was shot in the stomach," he said. "Jason shot me, Jason
Moran shot me."
Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, Williams told the court
that the shooting and his hatred for the Moran family led to him organising the
killing of he and his father Lewis.
Williams said that Jason
Moran had goaded him by saying, "let's see who gets who first,"
while it is gangland folklore that Williams once said to Moran, "I took the
bullet you put in me and put it in your brother," referring to the June
2000 murder of Jason's half-brother Mark.
Police believe Williams was responsible for up to 10 deaths,
including that of Mark Moran.
Detailing his involvement in open court for the first time,
Williams said that in "a perfect world" Jason
Moran would have been murdered somewhere other than the Cross Keys Reserve
in Pascoe Vale where young children, including Moran's, were playing football.
To which Justice Betty King replied: "In a perfect world, perhaps (you)
wouldn't have killed him."
Williams denied paying anyone to carry out any of the
killings which Justice King said was "inconceivable".
He also spoke of drinking heavily and using crack cocaine which made
him paranoid.
He said he had been taking sleeping tablets "sometimes, all of the
time" as he lived in fear for his own life and that of his family at the
hands of the Morans, who had said: "Don't fuck with us, Look what we done
to Alphonse (Gangitano)" – referring
to the murder of the standover man in 1998 - We're working with the police, we
virtually have a licence to do anything."
Williams claimed that the Morans said they were dealing amphetamines with
disgraced drug squad detective Wayne Strawhorn.
He said Jason Moran even rang him in hospital after he shot him and
said: "Next time, you won't be so lucky."
Williams also said he not not paid cash to anyone
involved in the murders of Jason
Moran, Mark Mallia or Michael
Marshall and added that he didn't recommend the Cross Keys football ground
for the shooting of Moran.
He told the court that he wanted for the Jason Moran murder to happen "a.s.a.p"
but didn't want it to happen in front of children.
Williams had met the man entrusted with carrying out the hit on the night
before the murder but said that the location for Moran's planned demise had not
been discussed.
"It wouldn't bother me....anywhere," he told the court when asked
where he wished for Jason Moran to be shot.
"I didn't know he was gonna turn up to Auskick. If he (Moran) was gonna
turn up, it was up to (name suppressed) what happened. "I didn't know it
was going to happen that morning but if he turned up I was hopeful he would be
killed."
He also expressed his regret for what had taken place and said that he wanted
to turn his life around.
"I wish none of this had of happened, but unfortunately it did," he
said of the city's gangland war. "I wish I never got shot."
Judy
Moran, dressed in black and still mourning her husband and two sons, also called
Williams "evil" in court.
Ten News reported that she took the stand to read out her victim impact
statement which began, "Carl Williams, the evil person that you are,"
before she was cut off by Justice King.
"You have all but destroyed me, ripped out my heart," she said.
"My biggest regret is I never got to say goodbye to my family."
Mrs Moran later told the assembled media that the horrific period of her life
"will come to the closing chapter when the sentence is served...And when I
have my say a bit later."
"I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to my family. They're not
breathing but he (Carl Williams) is," she added.
Senior Crown prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said
Williams bore great animosity towards the Moran brothers after being shot and
had "counselled and procured" others to carry out the murders. He said
Williams and fugitive drug boss Tony Mokbel had short-changed one hitman $10,000
for the $150,000 murder of Lewis Moran.
The Herald Sun reported
that on
May 6, 2007, gangland wife Roberta Williams taunted crime clan rival Judy Moran on the eve of
her estranged husband's sentencing for three underworld killings.
"Regardless of what he gets, he's still alive," Ms Williams told the Herald Sun.
"I can still kiss him hello on jail visits, and I can sit and talk to him. She'll never put her arms
around Lewis or her sons again."
Despite her taunt, Roberta Williams said she would not confront Judy Moran at court
when Carl William's sentence was handed down the following day --
or anyone else there to support Williams.
"I don't really care. My priority is to go there to support Carl and that's
it," she said.
She said Ms Moran could cut her flowers in her garden and visit her slain loved ones'
graves, but would never again see their faces.
Ms Moran did not return calls.
On
May 7, 2007, Carl Williams received three
life prison terms for the cold blooded murders of
four underworld figures meaning he will spend at least the
next 35 years behind bars.
Williams, who
smiled at mother Barbara, father George and Renata Laureano as Justice
Betty King delivered her verdict at 12.30pm, will
be 71 years old when he is eligible for parole.
On
August 5, 2007, the Sunday Herald Sun reported that
gangland widows had bagged a fortune in compensation for their
notorious underworld partners' deaths.
A "gangland
pension" of up to half a million dollars had been
paid to women who lived high on criminal profit.
Yet genuine victims of
crime had been denied compensation.
The jackpot, totalling
up to $493,000 for crime families, had been kept
secret from taxpayers, who paid the bill.
A Sunday Herald Sun
investigation uncovered public payouts to wives
and girlfriends of gangsters Alphonse
Gangitano,
Victor Peirce, and Mark, Jason and Lewis
Moran.
Victim advocates were
angry and old-school gangsters sneer that those
claiming compo are soft.
Underworld matriarch
Kath Pettingill said: "In the old days you
wouldn't have dreamed of going to government for
money. Death was an occupational hazard."
Mrs Pettingill, who has
buried three sons, said she did not seek compensation
when the last of them, Victor Peirce, was shot in Port
Melbourne in May, 2002.
Crime Victims Support
Association president Noel McNamara said
"gangsters' molls" were picking the pockets
of genuine victims.
"This is
ludicrous," he said. "Live by the sword, die
by the sword."
Mr McNamara said the
women "exploit the scheme, are protected by its
secrecy and are experts when there's easy money to be
made".
The investigation found Trisha
Moran (left), widow of
Jason, pocketed up to $50,000 for his death.
Critics of the system
have called for open court compensation deliberations.
Mrs Pettingill said
part of the money Victor's widow, Wendy, received was
paid to his children -- the two youngest were at
school at the time of his death. She said she
understood the argument when young children were still
dependent.
"Jason Moran's
twins were in the vehicle with him at the footy clinic
when he was shot and they would have suffered, so I
can see why they should get something," she said.
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