As a teenager, Kizon was a star boxer.

He grew up in Perth's northern suburbs, training with many of his current business associates and later became one of Australia's most colourful crime identities.

A nightclub owner and entertainment promoter, he was a close friend of Alphonse Gangitano.

The Melbourne crime figure was gunned down in his Templestowe home in January 1998.

According to police intelligence documents, the so-called Kizon Group was a large-scale importer of heroin, ecstasy and cannabis.

Police said Mr Kizon has considerable criminal connections right around Australia.

Police intelligence documents link him not only to Gangitano, but also to others, including Sydney underworld figure Tom Domican. 

It's alleged Mr Domican once threatened to break his neck.

Kizon, a keen West Coast Eagles supporter, has a wide range of associates that included Rose Hancock (he once dated her daughter, Johanna, before she was mysteriously bashed and fled to England), and the late corrupt businessman Laurie Connell.

Kizon was once charged, and acquitted of punching a 15-year-old boy outside a Perth nightclub and breaking his jaw.

Kizon has served three jail sentences.

In 1982 he was convicted of heroin trafficking.

In 1985 he was convicted of assault.

In 1990 he was convicted of opening false bank accounts.

But for the next 11 years, all charges against John Kizon failed.

Kizon says he become a legitimate businessman.

One of Kizon's associates was Andrew Petrelis, a man who went into witness protection before being found dead in bizarre circumstances in Queensland.

He made a 15-page statement to police about a major cannabis syndicate but did not implicate Mr Kizon.

Petrelis died of a drug overdose on September 11, 1995 - one month before he was to give evidence in the committal hearing.

Mr Kizon and Perth identity Michael Rippingale were later acquitted of cannabis conspiracy charges.

There are no public photos of Petrelis but he grew up in a well-off family.

He was drawn into the Northbridge (Perth) scene, becoming a heroin user, and he got work as a driver for John Kizon's old girlfriend.

According to police, in the early '90s, Petrelis started doing some jobs around Northbridge.

He was told to go to Perth's Kings Park and dig up a couple of bags buried there.

He then took the bags, which contained cannabis, to a self-storage unit and padlocked the door.

The storage centre owners became suspicious when they saw the padlock on a unit they thought was empty.

They broke in, found $150,000 worth of drugs and called the police.

Detective Sergeant Peter Coombs had a long interest in John Kizon.

Coombs was a highly decorated police officer known for his innovation.

He was interviewed by Stephen McDonell of the ABC for its Four Corners program.

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: We, through the early part of that investigation, established that the person who rented that storage was Petrelis.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Andrew Petrelis was then offered immunity from prosecution if he'd roll over and give evidence against his alleged criminal bosses.

He agreed and became a protected witness.

Back at the storage centre, police had already set a trap using surveillance.

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: That's when I came up with an idea that we'll substitute it with grass clippings.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Coombs swapped the cannabis for lawn clippings, installed a secret camera and waited to see who would turn up.

On November 22, 1994, Michael Rippingale was captured picking up the bags which now contained a different sort of grass.

The court was later told that when Mr Rippingale to his horror discovered the lawn clippings, he immediately rang John Kizon.

A series of conversations between the men were captured by police phone taps and a bugged car.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Do you want to meet me somewhere?

JOHN KIZON: Why? What's wrong?

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Oh, something.

JOHN KIZON: You all right?

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Yeah, oh, no, not really -- not really.

JOHN KIZON: Have the coppers got you?

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: No, no. Something else.

STEPHEN McDONELL: The secret recordings seemed to indicate that John was angry that something valuable was missing.

JOHN KIZON (25 minutes later, meeting in car): Hey, Rip, he probably never put it in there in the first place. You understand what I mean? That cunt.

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: They thought Petrelis had ripped them off the cannabis and put grass clippings in -- and not the police.

STEPHEN McDONELL: And so how were they going to respond to that?

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: They responded in a very violent manner in their conversations with themselves on what they intended to do to Petrelis.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: (Later that night, telephone transcript): Cunt.

JOHN KIZON: Little arse.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Oh.

JOHN KIZON: And when you said yeah, he's a little cunt.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Yeah.

JOHN KIZON: I'm gonna wring his fucking neck.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: Yeah, alright.

JOHN KIZON: Alright, buddy.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE: See ya.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Police phone intercepts show that John Kizon and Michael Rippingale looked for Andrew Petrelis without luck for days.

Armed with the phone taps, police charged both Michael Rippingale and John Kizon with conspiracy to supply cannabis.

This time, they thought they had the big fish.

JOHN KIZON, 1999: I've only been charged in this offence because I've stayed close to a friend of mine.

There is no substance to this charge at all.

It's just a slur on my name and it's a personal attack on myself.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Police promised their star witness, Andrew Petrelis, that he'd be protected with a new identity.

He moved to Queensland and in the quiet town of Caloundra, planned to get his pilot's licence.

When he didn't turn up for his flying lesson one day, local police went around to his flat.

They found Andrew Petrelis dead.

He was naked and lying hunched over with a CD playing on repeat.

The door was locked from the inside and Queensland police said it was a heroin overdose.

Yet there was no tourniquet and no spoon.

He was right-handed but the injection was into his right arm and this arm was twisted up and around.

Official cause of death -- opiate toxicity.

Andrew Petrelis was to give evidence against John Kizon and Michael Rippingale in a month.

How much of a blow to the prosecution was the lack of the Petrelis evidence?

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: His evidence, in my opinion, was critical in the conviction of one, if not both, of the accused people.

STEPHEN McDONELL: A jury acquitted John Kizon and Michael Rippingale of the drug charges.

MICHAEL RIPPINGALE, NOVEMBER 1999 (Outside court): Yeah, I'm just happy it's all over now.

And this has been going for five years.

I can get on with my life.

Work the rest out for yourself.

JOHN KIZON, NOVEMBER 1999 (Outside court): I'm pleased for myself but what I'm not pleased about is they spent $1 million to $1.5 million on me.

There's kids in the children's hospital that don't have facilities.

There's old people that are being thrown out of their homes in the suburbs because this Government has a personal vendetta against me.

STEPHEN McDONELL: John Kizon had an alibi over the weekend of Andrew Petrelis's death.

He checked himself into hospital, complaining of heart problems, and was soon discharged.

Andrew Petrelis's death remains a mystery.

There was no inquest.

We don't know whether it was the result of an overdose or a hot shot from an enemy.

But his death opens the doorway to a dark cave of police corruption because before Mr Petrelis had even gone to Queensland, his new secret identity was already blown.

And it was blown by the police.

Constable Kevin Davy, made an unauthorised access of the police database in May 1995.

He found Andrew Petrelis's new identity -- Andrew Parker.

The new identity had only just been given out.

Davy's excuse for looking this up on the computer was that he's an Elvis fan and he was looking for the name of Elvis's famous manager Colonel Tom Parker.

He says he found Petrelis's new identity by mistake.

What Kevin Davy did with the information is unknown.

But Four Corners was able to establish that another officer, Sergeant Murray Shadgett, also accessed Petrelis's new identity on the police mainframe.

He passed the information on to known criminals.

They allegedly provided Shadgett with a car-registration number and he matched it with the name Andrew Parker, Petrelis's new identity.

Because Shadgett was speaking to suspected members of the Kizon syndicate, their phones were bugged and Peter Coombs heard the conversations.

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: The fact is, um -- known crooks asked a police officer to obtain information off the police mainframe.

STEPHEN McDONELL: And these were known criminals?

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: That's a criminal offence.

There's no, uh -- no beg your pardons, in my opinion.

It is, um -- an inexcusable.

STEPHEN McDONELL: These criminals who received information from the police mainframe computer, from police -- were they linked to the main criminal syndicate being targeted by you?

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: Yes.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Significant members of the group?

DET SGT PETER COOMBS: Yes.

INSP CHRIS CULL, OPERATIONS MANAGER, RED EMPEROR (Operation investigating Kizon and his associates): And those criminals are involved in the organised crime group in Western Australia.

STEPHEN McDONELL: So there's little doubt that these senior level criminals were trying to find out about Andrew Petrelis?

CHRIS CULL: Absolutely. Everything they could.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Could it mean, then, that these high-level Western Australian criminals still have spies, allies in the West Australian police?

CHRIS CULL: Yes.

STEPHEN McDONELL: It's unclear if Andrew Petrelis's death was related to the security breaches.

But the West Australian witness protection program has been hopelessly compromised.

As for those who looked up Petrelis's details, Constable Davy resigned for giving out other classified information.

Red Emperor officers told Internal Affairs about Sergeant Shadgett who'd been recorded talking to their criminal targets.

Nothing happened.

Both officers refused to speak to Four Corners.

For three months, Andrew Petrelis lived in Queensland.

Though police knew his identity was compromised, they made no attempt to give him a new one.

After the blow of losing Andrew Petrelis, Red Emperor went on.

The operation uncovered more police corruption.

INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, RED EMPEROR: What we found was driver's licences in false names in the hands of members of the syndicate under investigation.

STEPHEN McDONELL: And you believe police had given these driver's licences to the criminals?

INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Inquiries confirmed that they were issued by police officers to persons unknown but ended up in the hands of members of our syndicate, under investigation.

STEPHEN McDONELL: As Red Emperor continued, its key undercover officer gained access to senior levels of John Kizon's alleged syndicate.

CHRIS CULL: He lived with them, drank with them, was right in with them, the whole way.

UNDERCOVER OFFICER: Someone will tell you half a bit of information about it.

You know, something that might be worth rolling over or, you know, plans to make a shitload of eccies or something like that.

So you start talking about presses and who can steal chemicals, then nothing happens with it.

Every now and then, something does.

In 1995 Kizon was covertly observed dining with jailed drug using criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro and Alphonse Gangitano.

There were also two well known stand over men at the lunch.

Watson-Munro gave character references for Gangitano in several of his many court appearances.

John Kizon, May 28, 1997: "Now, how can anyone have a business meeting after reading that on the third page of the 'Western Australian'? How can my mother wake up in the morning and read, "Kizon linked with some drug case"? Now, that's disgraceful. When trash like that is publicised in the third page of the 'Western Australian', it just affects any sort of business dealings I'm trying to do in Australia, overseas, you know, in a lawful, legitimate way.

As of 1997, Kizon did not hold any bank accounts in Australia under his own name.

Documents state that over a six-year period, his average stated income to the Tax Office was $3,000.

Yet police intelligence said shortly after, he was making investments worth over $3 million.

In January, 1998 Kizon was a pallbearer at the funeral of Alphonse Gangitano.

Mr West said the phone call from Perth had shown Mr Kinniburgh had been with Mr Gangitano at a time he told police he had been elsewhere.

Kizon rang Mr Gangitano from a Chinese restaurant in Francis Street, Northbridge, the night he was murdered.

On March 13, 2002, in an Age report, Kizon said that he had a relationship with two star West Coast Eagles football players, but that it was "purely social" and not business related.

Police had observed Kizon and players Ben Cousins and Michael Gardiner, socialising together in Melbourne during Grand Final week the previous year.

Cousins and Gardiner were in Melbourne to attend the Brownlow Medal, which was held at the Crown complex.

The two were seen drinking with Kizon at Fidel's Cigar Bar later that night.

Police surveillance officers reported the three men were seen at Crown Casino at the same time and were "obviously friends".

Kizon released a statement to The Age, through his lawyer, George Defteros (right).

"He knows the two players on a social basis as he knows a lot of sportsmen in Perth," Mr Defteros said.

"It was purely coincidental that he was at the (Crown) hotel at the same time as they were."

It is understood a senior West Coast Eagles official was warned earlier in the year by a leading player manager about Mr Kizon's close relationship with some of his players.

Despite the warnings, the players did not appear to have distanced themselves from the controversial figure.

After the Eagles-Carlton Wizard Cup game on February 16, 2002, Cousins and Gardiner were seen with some of Mr Kizon's Victorian associates in a five-star Melbourne hotel.

Another investigation looking at Melbourne underworld identity Gatto was under way in early 2003. 

In 2003 the West Australian reported that a special police operation had been launched in a bid to stop payback attacks after Raimond Fazio was viciously bashed and his Northbridge gymnasium firebombed.

Police feared a potential violent turf war could erupt following a brawl outside a Subiaco restaurant between a Coffin Cheater and an associate of John Kizon.

Coffin Cheater Troy Mercanti (left), the club's sergeant-at-arms, allegedly took on the gym owner and former Golden-Gloves boxer in a toe-to-toe street fight, which escalated when associates of both men joined in.

They had been dining together with other friends, including Mr Kizon, who did not join the fight.

Eyewitnesses to the night melee claimed strong words were exchanged between Mr Mercanti and Mr Fazio inside trendy Funtastico restaurant.

They went out on to Rokeby Rd and got stuck into each other.

Fazio was kicked and stomped on.

Police from the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Taskforce attended the scene of the fight to back up local officers.

Mr Fazio and Mr Mercanti declined to provide statements to police.

Kizon, Fazio's long-time friend, denied reports that he had stood by and watched as he was bashed.

Mr Kizon refused to comment specifically on the incident or acknowledge that a fight had occurred but said he was loyal and would never watch any friend being bashed without trying to stop the violence.

"I would not let any of my friends hurt each other without trying to help," Mr Kizon said.

Witnesses described how Mr Kizon tried to hold back Mr Fazio's attackers but did not throw a punch himself.

He also encouraged friends of Mr Fazio to take him from the scene before the dispute escalated.

Mr Fazio was treated at Royal Perth Hospital for serious facial injuries.

He had gashes on his forehead, ears and scalp and was believed to have had extremely bad bruising on his torso where he was kicked and stomped on.

Organised crime detectives were watching developments closely to see if the incident would shatter the supposed "harmonious" relationship between the Coffin Cheaters and Mr Kizon's group.

Mr Kizon said Mr Fazio was in "good spirits" and he stressed that he was friends with all sides.

"I am disappointed that my friends were involved in an altercation," he said.

"I have a very good relationship with the Coffin Cheaters, ...Greeks...Italians. They are not my enemies and if any of my friends got into an altercation at Funtastico, if they did, all those people who were there are still friends of mine."

Codenamed Radix, an operation was set up amid police fears that the feud which saw Mr Fazio bashed by the Coffin Cheater bikies could escalate to a violent war.

Bikies, their associates and Mr Fazio's friends and associates would be approached by police in a bid to gauge the level of animosity between the groups.

Police described Radix as a risk-management operation.

Intelligence was being gathered and police had begun formulating tactics on ways to solve outbreaks of violence between the groups.

Several key witnesses to a violent brawl had been approached by police.

Organised crime detectives were to run the operation with specialist arson detectives, Wembley detectives and the bureau of criminal intelligence.

Federal agencies were also involved.

Troy Mercanti was part of a violent gun and knife fight at the Metro City nightclub, in inner-city Northbridge, on January 23, 2005.

Mercanti said he pulled a gun on Nahil Dabag, a member of rival bikie gang, the Scorpion Boys after Dabag slashed and stabbed him up to 10 times.

John Kizon and three other men – David Morris, Adam Lloyd and Paul Martino – were also tried alongside Mr Mercanti, and cleared of covering up the fight.

Police later alleged that Kizon, Martino, Lloyd and Morris tried to "clean up" the scene, including hosing blood from floors, erasing a security tape and disposing of the gun used to shoot Dabag.

Mercanti needed 90 staples to close his wounds after being slashed across the neck, chest and arms.

John Kizon was in the club at the time and was accused of helping dispose of the gun allegedly used by Mercanti.

Kizon was charged with being an accessory after the fact and attempting to pervert the course of justice, and was released on bail.

West Coast Eagles footballers Michael Gardiner and Ben Cousins, who had been linked to Kizon previously, became the centre of media attention after the brawl when it was revealed the pair had been in contact with Coffin Cheater, David Morris, immediately before and after it occurred.

Morris faced a charge of being an accessory after the fact.

Gardiner was also filmed allegedly making a "handcuffs" gesture to Mercanti as a show of support during the Wizard Cup grand final at Telstra Dome in March 2005.

Mercanti's lawyer, who asked not to be named, confirmed that Mercanti knew Cousins and Gardiner, but said they were not friends.

The Eagles players later held a press conference to apologise to their "club, friends, fans and family for the controversy.

While Cousins looks sheepish in the image below, Gardiner (bottom right) looked very much the gangster as the media was addressed.

On May 10, 2006, Mercanti was cleared by a West Australian District Court jury of unlawfully wounding another man, with the gun, during a fight at the nightclub.

The jury accepted Mr Mercanti's defence that he shot Dabag four times in the legs to disarm him.

Mr Mercanti was also acquitted of perverting the course of justice by trying to cover up the shooting.

Mr Mercanti's defence at the trial was that he shot Mr Dabag in self-defence in a bid to disarm him.

John Kizon, David Morris, Adam Lloyd and Paul Martino were also cleared after being accused of perverting the course of justice by trying to cover up the shooting.

Prosecutor Dave Dempster told the jury that minutes after Mr Mercanti had fired four shots, Mr Kizon, a company director, began covering his friend's actions.

Mr Kizon picked up the .38 gun, which has never been found, and then placed it in a plastic bag held by Mr Morris to attempt to cover up the fight, the prosecution alleged.

He said Mr Lloyd, the nightclub's operation manager, then cleared up the blood from the passageway.

Mr Dempster said Mr Martino rushed to hospital after learning of the fight, where he wiped gunshot residue off the fingers of the wounded Mr Mercanti.

Kizon's lawyer Phillip Dunn accused police of "hotting up" evidence and suggested to the jury anyone could have taken the gun because police had failed to secure the crime scene.

The jury accepted Kizon's version, that he picked up the gun and took it to the nightclub office to prevent another outbreak of violence.

"I wasn't leaving no gun on no floor with those gentlemen," Mr Kizon told the court.

Speaking outside court, Mr Kizon said he had only been charged with perverting the course of justice because of a police vendetta against him.

"The (police) will do anything (to get me), they are sick people," Mr Kizon said.

"They (police) have secret meetings in little rooms, they are manipulators, they corrupt witness, they lie and they are out there doing it all the time."

On May 24, 2006, Mercanti was charged with carrying a firearm after police conducted a review of the nightclub fight.

"Further information has come to hand and, as a result, police have charged him with carrying a firearm," a police spokeswoman said.

On March 20, 2007, Ben Cousins was banished indefinitely by his club the West Coast Eagles amid rumours he is addicted to the drug known as ice.

The star mid-fielder recently split with his long-time girlfriend and he is believed to have embarked on a drug and alcohol fuelled 'bender' after his team's match on Saturday night.

He attended the club's jumper presentation on Sunday in what officials described as an unsatisfactory state.

Cousins then avoided two training sessions in which several of his team-mates were drug tested.

He appeared at the club on Monday and was required to provide testers with a urine sample.

It is believed he was then involved in a heated conversation with coach John Worsfold, a chemist.

Sources claimed that Cousins told Worsfold to keep out of his personal life. It was then that Worsold decided to banish Cousins from the club.

During John Silvester's spot on 3AW's breakfast show the following morning, the Age journalist said that Cousins and Gardiner had previously been recorded speaking with Perth underworld figures by police phone taps.

Police apparently leaked this information to the West Coast Eagles who the spoke to the wayward duo.

According to Silvester, Cousins flat out denied it was him on the tapes while a forthright Gardiner told the club that it was alright for them to tell him what to do on the football field but to keep out of his private life.

Cousins underwent rehabilitation for his "substance abuse problem" in the U.S and returned to Australia in late May 2007.

In mid-June, he was seen in a Perth bar with Pelligrino Paul Mule, who has done jail time on drugs and firearms charges. 

On November 15, 2007, it was reported that fallen football star Ben Cousins had been keeping a low profile in Sydney and staying at a luxury Manly apartment belonging to a friend who is closely linked to Western Australian bikies.

The apartment belongs to Fabian Quaid who is a long time friend of Cousins and the godfather of a son of Troy Mercanti.

Cousins is also close to Mercanti's brother Tyrone who counselled him after he was banished by the Eagles for drug use earlier this year. 

Click here for Andrew Rule's story on the connections between footballers and the underworld