Housam 'Sam' Zayat

Lebanese-born Zayat, known as Sam or ''Huss'', had a string of convictions dating back to 1985.

He made a name for himself by carrying a gun around Brunswick in the early 1990s and was well known in criminal circles.

Kirsch was convicted in 1991 of being an accessory after the fact to the murders of drug dealers Ricky Parr and Lina Galea.

He once advised Zayat in a joint property deal with his eventual killer, Nicholas Ibrahim.

The 32-year-old, bailed on charges including possessing and trafficking amphetamines and ecstasy, had more than 100 criminal convictions at the time of his death in 2003.

These included attempted murder, a charge stemming from an attack on Ann Williams, sister of convicted escaper and armed robber Peter Gibb, and her son Thomas in August 1993.

Zayat was found guilty of the attempted murder of Thomas Williams but not guilty of murdering Ann Williams, who a court was told treated him as her "toy boy".

As his status grew, Zayat hooked up with violent criminals Dino Dibra and Rocco Arico.

Police believe Dibra was dealing in cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy before he and Arico graduated to a kidnap, during which they brutally assaulted their victim and demanded money.

Arico went on to be jailed for a road rage shooting.

On December 6, 1998, Dino Dibra and four others were involved in a shooting at the Dome nightclub in Prahran. 

Dibra's accomplices included former Footscray reserves player Michael Phillip Dewhurst of Melton and another friend, Ahmen Molic of Sanders Avenue Sunshine.

Zayat is also believed to have been present.

The three men were in the company of another two when they started a fight with the security guards.

During the brawl, the men mentioned firearms and said that Molic would 'pop' the bouncers.

Detective Sergeant John Carmody said Molic produced the gun and shot one bouncer, Nick Talakouros, in the leg and the other in the stomach.

Dewhurst was later arrested for punching and kicking a bouncer and for hitting one of the guards with a pole.

Zayat's last criminal mate was without doubt the most dangerous.

He was Nik "The Bulgarian" Radev and according to the Age, the pair fell out over a drug debt six months before Radev' was shot dead in April 2003.

Known by police and criminals as Radev's right-hand man, Zayat revelled in his work as a standover thug, drug dealer and -- if police suspicions are correct -- an underworld hit man.

He was considered an enforcer for Radev.

A police source said Zayat and Radev kept guns and explosives on their property when they shared a house in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

"He always had guns. He would have always been tooled up, especially in the current (underworld) climatic conditions," the source said.

Police considered Zayat to be Radev's dirty jobs man.

Zayat's criminal connections were also said to extend into the Melbourne wing of the Russian mafia, more than likely through Radev.

A former detective said Zayat and Radev ran a profitable extortion racket over drug dealers.

"Zayat would go out and find the traffickers," the former detective said.

"He would then introduce them to Nik, who would threaten them for their profits."

The pair, along with Zayat's brother Mohammed, were charged over a violent aggravated burglary in November 1998.

The violent home invasion involved a 71-year-old man being bashed and his five-year-old granddaughter being tied to a bed and threatened with a handgun.

The three men had donned balaclavas and burst into the family home in Northcote.

The man police suspect was Radev put a .38 calibre pistol into the five year-old's mouth, threatening to kill her if money wasn't produced.

The family dug up $29,000 in cash.

Mohammed was found hanged in a cell at Port Phillip prison in April 1999.

Zayat is said to have "lost the plot" after his brother's death.

Radev and Zayat were considered prime suspects over the murder of Dino Dibra.

He was shot dead in 2000 in Sunshine.

Sedat Ceylan, an underworld figure police had feared would be the next victim in Melbourne's gangland war, fled Australia in 2001 soon after Radev and Zayat, tortured him for six hours in room 719 of the Stamford Plaza Hotel, in Little Collins St.

He told police Radev and Zayat, with whom he had been friends, threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't give them $120,000.

Radev and Zayat dangled Ceylan by the ankles from a seventh-floor window of the hotel.

"They got me over the balcony and I looked straight down,'' Ceylan later said.

"I thought I was going to die. I didn't yell for help because I was scared. I didn't want to upset them and make them drop me out of anger.

"Nik and Sam were laughing. They were joking with each other.

"I couldn't see what was funny . . . if they let go I would've fallen seven floors to my death.

"I weigh 50kg in total. I am sure this saved me from death.

"If Nik and Sam had held someone heavier over the rail, they wouldn't have been able to hold them.''

Ceylan said Radev and Zayat released him after he agreed to pay up.

But he didn't pay.

Ceylan, 37, was facing charges related to an alleged scam that resulted in the Australian Taxation Office paying him $2.3 million in GST refunds he allegedly was not entitled to.

Seperate Victoria Police charges involved an alleged attempt by Ceylan to steal 7kg of gold bullion and more than $1 million in cash using allegedly stolen cheques.

The fraudster fled to Turkey with his money.

He later contacted Victoria Police and revealed he was hiding in Turkey.

Australia doesn't have an extradition treaty with Turkey, but after several discussions with Victoria Police Ceylan volunteered to return to face his fraud and tax charges.

In January 2007, Victoria Police arrested Sedat Seylan at Melbourne Airport after the wanted man tipped them off that he was flying in from Turkey and gave himself up.

A jury later heard that former law clerk, Ali Aydin, threatened to sue police officer and reality TV star Detective Senior Constable Benjamin Archbold in July 2001 in a bid to influence the criminal case against Zayat.

The County Court was told that Helmut Kirsch, and Aydin, had threatened Archbold to frighten him so he would "go soft with their client".

The jury heard that Aydin "directly threatened" Mr Archbold with civil and criminal charges, and had also threatened to leak his address to Nik Radev, who was described as "an armed loose cannon".

Adam Shand of The Bulletin wrote that at the Australian Grand Prix in 2003, Zayat had approached drug king-pin and multi-millionaire businessman Tony Mokbel saying he was collecting a debt on behalf of Radev.

That discussion had nearly turned to blows or bullets.

Zayat, a heroin addict, was released on $50,000 bail the first week of September 2003 after spending three months in custody on serious drug trafficking and firearms offences.

It is believed he was bailed because delays in police forensic tests had stalled the prosecution.

On September 9, 2003, Melbourne's underworld war claimed its 19th victim with the brazen murder of Zayat who was run off a road and shot in the head near Derrimut and Boundary Roads in Tarneit, west of Melbourne, at 10.30pm.

Zayat had left a halfway house in North Melbourne just after 10pm and was being driven to an address in the city's west to collect a debt from an associate when he was shot.

Zayat drove to a meeting with business associate Nicholas Ibrahim in an isolated paddock.

With Zayat was his dog and an articled clerk named Ali Aydin, who was involved with bribery charges in 2001.

Ibrahim had earlier agreed to buy Mr Zayat's share in the city nightclub Khokolat for $200,000, and had agreed to pay Zayat a $20,000 cash deposit.

When the cars stopped Ibrahim got into Mr Zayat's car and a "short verbal exchange" took place followed by another outside the cars.

Ibrahim produced a pump-action shotgun and pulled the trigger, but the safety catch was on.

Ibrahim followed Mr Zayat as he ran around a tree and jumped a barbed wire fence before shooting at him five times.

Aydin, who had stayed in the car, a red Holden Commodore sedan, reversed a car into a tree forcing him to flee across paddocks to report the shooting to police after Ibrahim allegedly smashed the windscreen with the butt his the weapon.