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Timeline August 2007
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Mokbel runner gets discount
(Herald Sun)
August 31, 2007

A drug runner on whom Tony Mokbel issued a contract to kill after his arrest has been sentenced to nine months' jail.

Joseph Frank Parisi was sentenced for trafficking 5.1kg pseudoephedrine, 6kg of valium and 500 LSD tablets.

Melbourne County Court heard Parisi, 52, was trusted by Mokbel to collect two bags of drugs from an associate at Campbellfield and store them at his Pascoe Vale South home in 2001.

Judge Tony Duckett said Parisi was entitled to a discounted sentence for pleading guilty to three counts of trafficking, which avoided a trial.

Parisi was ordered by Mokbel to check the bags for listening devices and deliver samples to him at the Grove Cafe in Sydney Rd, the court was told.

On August 21, 2001, police intercepted a telephone call between Parisi and Mokbel, who first met at the Brunswick Market.

"You had known Mokbel for some time and your offending shows he had great trust in you," Judge Duckett said.

"It was submitted by (Parisi's counsel) Mr (Leonard) Hartnett that you were no more than a gofer, that you were simply following instructions for no apparent reward.

"While that is true, it is a notorious fact that dealers in substantial quantities of drugs regularly employ couriers and others to knowingly handle and deal with illegal drugs.

"Without such assistance, large-scale drug dealers could not operate."

Judge Duckett sentenced Parisi to three years' jail, with two years and three months suspended.

A psychological report tendered to the court revealed Parisi had a pathological gambling disorder and was easily led by others.

Judge Duckett said the seized pseudoephedrine, used to make the drug ecstasy, was double the minimum that constituted a commercial quantity.

The wife of a psychiatrist who tried to bring a loaded gun into court has been ordered to stand trial.

Kerrie Gelb, 35, of Prahran, reserved her plea to five charges including perverting the course of justice and possessing an unregistered firearm.

A court heard earlier that Ms Gelb's husband Dr Jerry Gelb, 49, was stopped by security officers at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on February 1 after he was found to be carrying a loaded .22 pistol and 49 bullets in his backpack.

The court was told police found a cache of weapons at the couple's Armadale home, including ammunition, a cattle prod, loaded spear gun and catapult.

Magistrate Felicity Broughton ordered Ms Gelb stand trial and continued her bail to appear at the County Court on November 7.

On February 1, 2007, Dr Gelb attended court with his wife and their hired security officer David Karl Schmack, 40, to apply for an intervention order against his former partner.

Dr Gelb told police he feared his ex-wife had taken a contract out on the lives of him and his new wife, a court heard the next day.

Dr Gelb and his wife Kerrie, 35, heavily fortified their Armadale home after continued threats were allegedly made to them.

Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard the security measures included surveillance and infra-red cameras, multiple locks on every door and bright lighting to stop people seeing in through windows.

The Gelbs installed surveillance cameras in many rooms.

They were scoping for the underworld hitman the couple believed Dr Gelb's ex-wife Sharon Guy was allegedly sending to kill them.

The court heard that Dr Gelb acquired the pistol for their protection from an unnamed but well-known criminal.

Television news services later reported that the criminal was Tolli Spilliopolis.

Sonnett 'faked kill plot"
The Australian
August 27, 2007

A man accused of plotting to kill gangland "money man" Mario Condello pretended to go along with the plan because he knew underworld figure Lewis Caine had been murdered after failing to fulfil the contract.

Sean Jason Sonnet, 38, never intended to kill Condello, but was acting out a ruse because he was afraid of ending up like Caine, a court was told.

Underworld identity Carl Williams engaged Sonnet to murder Condello in revenge for the killing of gangland hitman Andrew "Benji" Veniamin by Dominic "Mick" Gatto in 2004, the Victorian Supreme Court was told.

Sonnet, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with three others to murder Condello in June 2004, agreed to the offer because he owed Williams money and was in fear of his life.

Barrister John Desmond, opening the defence case for Sonnet, said Melbourne's gangland was a world of consequences where "for every action or inaction, as in the case of Lewis Caine, there is an equal and opposite reaction".

Caine was engaged by Williams to murder Condello, the money man for the rival Carlton Crew, and when he did not follow through he was executed.

"Sonnet was aware of this and Sonnet was in fear of his life," Mr Desmond told the court.

"He said he would (kill Condello) without intending to do it.

"He wanted to get Williams off his back for the significant debt he owed Williams."

Mr Desmond said Sonnet was acting out his ruse when he was arrested, carrying two loaded handguns, with a second man, Gregg Hilderbrandt, near Condello's house in the Melbourne suburb of East Brighton just after 7am on June 9, 2004.

Sonnet knew Condello was not living at the house at the time and was residing at his city apartment. But he convinced Williams and Hilderbrandt that was not the case and that Condello could be ambushed while taking his dog for an early-morning walk.

"Condello was never going to be shot, certainly not by Sean Sonnet," Mr Desmond said.

"Condello wasn't present and Sonnet knew it. It was a sham. It wasn't genuine at all."

Sonnet was trying to string Williams and the others along and drag out the plan because Williams had told him Condello was about to be arrested for conspiring to kill Williams.

"Time was becoming of the essence," Mr Desmond told the jury yesterday.

Sonnet was so afraid that he had been living in motels in the days before his arrest.

Condello was arrested on June 17 and charged with trying to hire a hitman to murder Williams and his father, George.

Mr Desmond said police had Sonnet, Hilderbrandt, Williams and a fourth man, Michael Thorneycroft, under constant surveillance in the days leading up to the arrests on June 9, 2004, and could have picked them up at any time.

But the police waited until the last minute to help strengthen their case.

Mr Sonnet has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder.

The trial, before judge Betty King, is continuing.

Mokbel 'planned' to kill 'gofer'
(The Age)
August 24, 2007

Police warned a "gofer" for Tony Mokbel that the drug boss had a contract out to kill him while on bail for drug offences, a court has heard.

Joseph Parisi's lawyer, Leonard Hartnett, told the County Court that his client did not distance himself from Mokbel despite warnings from a drug squad detective that his life was at risk because the drug boss thought he was co-operating with police.

Mr Hartnett said Parisi, 52, who was arrested with Mokbel and others in 2001, was under considerable stress for six years while on bail for drug offences. Joseph Frank Parisi has pleaded guilty to three charges of trafficking LSD, pseudoephedrine and diazepam.

"The pressure Mr Parisi must have felt over that period of six years, having this over his head, a lot of that time being in close proximity to Mokbel," Mr Hartnett said.

He said police "would only have (told Parisi of the contract) if they thought it was credible".

The court heard that Parisi, a married father of two, had never taken drugs before he turned to cocaine and speed to cope with his pending drug charges.

Mokbel told Parisi — in a telephone call police intercepted on August 21, 2001 — to pick up two bags from an associate in Campbellfield and take them to his Fawkner home. The drug boss further ordered Parisi to deliver samples to the Grove Cafe in Brunswick for his perusal.

Police arrested Parisi later that day, unearthing 500 LSD tablets in the glovebox of his car. More drugs were stashed in his garage, where they located a portable cooler containing 5.1 kilograms of pseudoephedrine and 6.04 kilograms of diazepam, also known as valium.

Mr Hartnett said his client had been "poisoned" by his friendship with Mokbel and was merely a "gofer" who did not profiteer from the drug syndicate to gain for himself "the Ferraris and the flash house".

"He has played his part in this exercise without the element of betterment. The reverse is true for those higher up."

Judge Tony Duckett will sentence Parisi at a later date.

Sonnett had back-up plan, court told
(H/Sun - Age)
August 24, 2007

A Supreme Court jury was told the target of alleged contract shooters Gregg James Hilderbrandt and Sean Jason Sonnet was Mario Condello, the so-called Carlton Crew's "money man", whom Carl Anthony Williams had organised for execution.

The pair were arrested in Brighton in 2004, near one of Condello's homes.

Gregg James Hilderbrandt was driving near the intersection of North Road and Hawthorn Road on the morning of the pair's arrests when he activated a two-way radio, the court heard.

"Is that him?" Hilderbrandt asked.

Sonnet, who was driving another car, radioed: "Fuck, man, there's an awful lot of people around."

Hilderbrandt repeated "was that him back there?" before he realised his radio was not turned up properly.

When he gave a description of a man, Sonnet said it wasn't him and replied: "I'm not gunna get a … man, there's too many. I'm gunna have to walk up.

"I'm just gunna have to hang around and walk up beside him."

Sonnet, 38, lay in wait for Condello, hoping to see him walking his dog outside his Brighton home.

But prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said if Condello didn't show, Mr Sonnet planned to attack him after he dropped his children at school.

Mr Horgan told the jury listening devices picked up Mr Sonnet telling co-accused Michael Thorneycroft they needed to find out the name of the school.

"So if he doesn't fuckin' come out tomorrow morning we can go straight to the school and get him there," Mr Sonnet is recorded saying.

In his opening to the trial, at which Sonnet has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder, Mr Horgan said he planned to shoot Condello in the head.

The court heard Mr Sonnet believed he was only minutes away from executing Condello when he was arrested outside the Brighton cemetery on the morning of June 9, 2004.

He had a fully loaded 9mm Luger Beretta down the front of his pants, a ready-to-fire .38 Smith and Wesson in a bum bag and a two-way radio to communicate with the man who would drive the getaway car, the court heard.

Mr Horgan said police waited "until almost the last possible moment" to arrest the men, but "when the risk to the public became too extreme", the Special Operations Group arrested them outside the main gates of the cemetery.

The jury was told Mr Sonnet was recruited by Carl Williams and offered between $120,000 and $140,000 to carry out the murder.

Mr Horgan said that Williams was keen to extract revenge over the death of his friend, Andrew Veniamin, killed by Condello's mate and fellow Carlton Crew member Mick Gatto.

The court heard luck played a big part in saving Condello.

Police uncovered the plot by chance through listening devices installed in a drug operation, and Condello was not living at his Brighton property at the time.

They activated telephone intercepts, listening devices and tracking equipment in cars and surveillance on the men.

Mr Sonnet has pleaded not guilty to being involved in a conspiracy with Williams, Thorneycroft and Hilderbrandt to murder Condello.

Mr Horgan told the jury Mr Sonnet first approached Thorneycroft about "driving for him" in late May 2004.

Mr Sonnet was watched by surveillance crews as he staked out the streets surrounding Condello's property, and organised for Thorneycroft to steal a car to use on the day.

But the court heard in the days before the planned murder, Thorneycroft was drug-addled, unreliable and would not return Mr Sonnet's phone calls.

Mr Horgan said Mr Sonnet warned his accomplice to lift his game and ordered a replacement.

"We have got to be absolutely 100 per cent spot-on. We can't afford to fuck it," he allegedly told Thorneycroft.

"If we get caught we get years and years and years. This has got to be perfect. Think of 20 years out of your fuckin' life.

"That is why I am so fuckin' hard on ya because I don't want to get caught."

Thorneycroft, who died earlier in 2007, supplied the stolen car but was at home when Mr Sonnet and Hildebrandt were arrested outside the cemetery, the court heard.

But Mr Horgan told them that evidence he gave to police in two statements and evidence from him recorded at an earlier court hearing would be used and played in the trial.

In a direction of law to the jury, Justice Betty King told them not to view any information on Google about people mentioned in the trial. "If you do that you are going outside the oath you took as jurors," she said.

Justice King said it was not a matter of concern for them that Sonnet was not present in court.

The jury spent the afternoon viewing the area where the men were arrested.

Defence barrister John Desmond will reply to Mr Horgan's opening on Monday.

Bikies jailed for kidnap, bashing
(Herald Sun)
August 21, 2007

Two bikies and their mate who kidnapped a man, bashed him and then dangled him off a walkway, have been sentenced to jail.

Raymond Joseph Hamment, Andrew Hinton and Paul Petersen subjected victim Brendan Schiavella to a five-hour ordeal that started in the Rue Bar in Upper Heidelberg Rd, Ivanhoe, on June 25, 2005.

County Court Judge Geoffrey Chettle described the assault as severe and said the three men had terrified their victim and alarmed bar patrons.

"You arrogantly and brazenly committed these crimes and were prepared to challenge anyone, including security, who confronted you," Judge Chettle said.

The three men attacked Mr Schiavella shortly after walking into the bar and continued assaulting him after all of the men were thrown out by security guards.

The trio kicked and stomped Mr Schiavella before Petersen and Hamment hung his body over a walkway, 8m above ground. Security guards tried to stop the assault, but were told to "fuck off".

Mr Schiavella was later bundled into a ute and was not seen for another four hours.

The court heard Mr Schiavella had no links to the Hells Angels -- of which Hamment and Petersen were associated -- and the trio would not reveal why they had attacked him and what happened to him in the four hours he disappeared.

All three men pleaded guilty to counts of riot, intentionally causing injury, reckless conduct endangering life and false imprisonment.

Hamment, 39, of Greensborough, was sentenced to 30 months' jail with a minimum of 20 months, as was Petersen, 31, of Bundoora.

Hinton, 37, of Diamond Creek, will serve at least 16 months in jail.

Baron backs Boris in big lawsuit
(Sunday Age)
August 19, 2007

After shooting down the prosecution's case against his client Boris Beljajev (the judge agreed Boris had no case to answer), top gun Robert "The Red Baron" Richter, QC, and instructing solicitor Theo Magazis are plotting their client's next case - a huge damages suit against the Chief Commissioner of Police, the DPP and possibly the state of Victoria as well.

"We are considering the actions available for damages for malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office," says Richter.

Beljajev was acquitted in 2000 of heavy drug charges following the longest and costliest legal proceedings in Victoria's history.

He spent more than five years behind bars before being released, with 21 months on remand for the murder charge.

Crime buster recruited to Gatto tax probe
(Sunday Age)
August 19, 2007

Famed corruption buster Tony Fitzgerald, QC, is heading a probe into the Melbourne arm of the Australian Tax Office after concerns over links between one of its senior investigators and underworld figure Mick Gatto.

Mr Fitzgerald's appointment late last month comes after the resignation in February of senior tax investigator and former Victoria Police detective Peter Spence, who was earlier suspended due to his association with Gatto.

It is the second time in three years that Mr Fitzgerald has been called to Victoria to inquire into the activities of local law enforcement officers, sparking a fresh attack from Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu on Victoria's "piecemeal approach" to tackling corruption.

An email sent to staff three weeks ago by ATO deputy commissioner Michael Monaghan states that Mr Fitzgerald is investigating a serious "potential conflict of interest in the serious non-compliance" unit in Melbourne, where Mr Spence formerly worked.

"While the commissioner is satisfied that there is no evidence of any systemic issues in SNC, the review will assure the highest levels of integrity within the Tax Office," the email says.

Mr Fitzgerald will question more than 40 ATO staff members about investigation practices and potential integrity issues highlighted by the Spence case.

In another email, staff are advised that information they provide Mr Fitzgerald will "not be disclosed to third parties, provided (it) does not involve your own misconduct".

Law enforcement sources said the ATO had previously failed to deal with malfeasance or suspected corruption, or properly address the risks associated with its expanding role in fighting organised crime and sophisticated tax fraud.

It is believed the Victoria Police privately pressured the ATO to ensure it acted decisively against Mr Spence, who has denied any wrongdoing and claimed his infrequent association with Gatto was not a conflict of interest.

ATO officials have investigated Gatto's earnings as part of police probes into his business activities, forcing the crane company owner to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid tax.

Gatto was found not guilty in 2005 of murdering underworld hitman Andrew Veniamin in a Carlton restaurant in 2004.

Mr Spence told The Age in March that his association with Gatto was formed over two decades of policing, including his time as a detective with the now-disbanded major crime squad.

Mr Spence, who left the force in 1996 and worked in the ATO's serious non-compliance unit for four years, said his dealings with Gatto were never improper and that he had been unfairly targetted by the ATO.

The Sunday Age believes that Mr Fitzgerald has been provided with a small number of complaints lodged previously by ATO staff that raised concerns about Mr Spence's behaviour.

Law enforcement sources say they are concerned about the screening of ATO staff, including former state and federal law enforcement officials who may have left previous jobs under a cloud.

The Sunday Age has confirmed that a small number of former Victorian police officers who resigned while under internal investigation have been re-employed by other government agencies, including the Victorian Workcover Authority, or as investigators for large corporate firms. Some maintain networks with serving police.

It is the second time that Mr Fitzgerald, a NSW-based QC who headed the royal commission into police corruption in Queensland in 1987, has travelled to Victoria to conduct a corruption probe.

In 2004, he was appointed by state Ombudsman George Brouwer to conduct a limited investigation into the theft and leaking to the underworld of sensitive police documents about murdered police-corruption informer Terrence Hodson.

State Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu seized on the latest appointment of Mr Fitzgerald to raise concerns about investigations into corruption and misconduct in Victoria.

"We seem to have a piecemeal approach to these investigations and the very many agencies which are responsible for them find themselves with their own conflicts and gaps in their responsibilities."

Victoria's corruption framework falls short of those interstate. The Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission, the WA Corruption and Crime Commission and NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption can all investigate politicians and public officials.

The Victorian Office of Police Integrity has similar powers but is restricted to investigating police misconduct. The Victorian Ombudsman is unable to investigate commonwealth agencies, judicial bodies, politicians, private individuals or businesses, and cannot hold public hearings.

The Opposition has also renewed its call for Mr Brouwer, who heads both the OPI and the Ombudsman's office, to be removed as the head of one to avoid a conflict of interest.

Nightclub man: I was booked to kill Gangitano
(Herald Sun)
August 18, 2007

A nightclub operator says he was involved in a plot to murder Alphonse Gangitano -- whose death sparked the gangland war.

Colin Latham says he was part of a conspiracy to eliminate Gangitano who was shot several times in the head in January 1998.

He told the Herald Sun he accepted a contract to kill Gangitano at a meeting in October 1997, attended by a high profile footballer, a media figure, an underworld figure, and another man.

But Mr Latham, who now runs a nightclub in Hobart, would not say who offered him the contract.

He said he accepted the contract, for which he wasn't to be paid, but he did not gun down Gangitano.

"If I had said no I would have left Victoria with my tail between my legs," he said.

"You stand your ground."

Mr Latham said he was 26 at the time and thought he was "the biggest thing in Melbourne" during his involvement in Melbourne nightclubs over 10 years from 1992.

The two prime suspects in the killing, major crime figures Jason Moran and Graham Kinniburgh, were also gunned down in the gang war that claimed 29 lives in eight years.

Mr Latham listed the people at the meeting to hire him -- but named neither Moran nor Kinniburgh.

A coronial inquiry later implicated both men in Gangitano's death but there remains a strong belief that others were involved.

Mr Latham, part owner of Players' sports bar in Hobart, said the meeting happened at 6am at Virgin Mary's nightclub in Prahran.

He had no feelings against Gangitano although they both wanted to take over the same nightclub, and he knew Gangitano had enemies.

He knew Gangitano had been involved in standover tactics and in one incident held a gun to another nightclub owner's head.

"They wanted me to take out the contract on this man's life. They knew I had the means to do it.

"These people wanted this man out of the way.

"This started the gangland wars -- this was the first murder in the gangland wars."

Mr Latham said he had never been questioned over Gangitano's death by police.

What prompted him to speak out now, he said, was his partner of 10 years was leaving him and moving to the mainland with their five- month-old daughter.

So he was not concerned with any ramifications of speaking out now.

But he does not see his safety under threat from speaking out or expect police to try to charge him with conspiracy to murder.

He said police would not take what he said seriously and would discredit him.

For a long time, Mr Latham said, there had been a contract on his life and "no one expected me to live this long".

"Why I am saying all this is because I want my baby daughter to know exactly what I am, who I am, and where I have been," he said.

The two most important people in his life had been his partner and daughter.

"I am not in fear of my life.

"I am doing it for my kid.

"I love her more than anything on the planet."

Serene hideaway for Mokbel
(The Age)
August 18, 2007

What do Tony Mokbel and The Castle's Darryl Kerrigan have in common? Both men, it seems, enjoyed the serenity of a sleepy Victorian town just two hours drive from Melbourne.

While police conducted an international manhunt for Mokbel after he skipped bail last year, they now believe the drug lord was hiding around a modest farmhouse in Bonnie Doon, just 150 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

The Age can reveal that police executed search warrants on the property, perched among rolling green hills 10 kilometres from the Maroondah Highway, when they arrested one of Mokbel's closest associates, George Elias, on drug charges two months ago.

Since then, Purana Taskforce detectives have been interviewing neighbours about suspicious activity along the quiet gravel road and a police helicopter scoured the area this week to piece together Mokbel's movements after he disappeared in March last year.

Police believe he may have been hidden around the property for up to seven months before being smuggled on to a ship.

Police allege Elias, 39, was working as a drug manufacturer and courier in Mokbel's drug empire, which he is accused of controlling until his arrest in Greece 2½ months ago.

Mokbel, 41, vanished during the final stages of a cocaine importation trial.  He received a nine-year jail term in his absence and this year he was charged with the murders of underworld rival Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall.

His disappearance prompted the State Government to offer a $1 million reward, with his whereabouts rumoured to be as far away as Lebanon, Dubai, Turkey, Mexico or Colombia for the 15 months he was at large.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, told The Age yesterday that two Purana detectives recently asked if he had seen new cars driving along the road last year.

Police also wanted to know if Elias had been travelling regularly in any particular direction, as though he was delivering something, the resident said.

"They seemed to be suggesting that somebody else was there … This is old gold mining country. There's plenty of places to hide someone, there could have been caves or something like that," he said.

Another resident said she thought a relative of the Elias family had been living in a caravan on the property some time last year, but she never seen him.

She said Elias' arrest, during a night-time raid after Mokbel was picked up in June, was big news in town. "It was a bit of a shock, we didn't know what was going to happen after that," she said.

Elias is one of eight alleged members of a group that police claim has produced 42 kilograms of amphetamines since July 2006, with a wholesale value of about $4.2 million.

He is charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs and will face a committal hearing in January.

His family still live on the property, which is also home to cattle, a chook pen, a dog and a couple of horses.

Bikies in court
(Herald Sun)
August 16, 2007

Two bikies and their mate kidnapped a man and dangled him off a bridge in Ivanhoe during a scary five-hour campaign, a court has heard.

Raymond Joseph Hamment, Andrew Hinton and Paul Petersen and their victim were thrown out of the Rue Bar at the Ivanhoe Hotel after a bloody confrontation on June 25, 2005.

The County Court was told they dumped Brendan Schievella in a Brunswick street five hours after he was snatched about midnight.

Shievella had been drinking with several Carlton footballers including Lance Whitnall before the incident.

Hamment, 39, of Greensborough, Petersen, 31, of Bundoora, and Hinton, 37, of Diamond Creek, have not revealed what happened to Mr Schievella after he was bundled into a white ute.

He was found in a street in Brunswick and taken to the Alfred hospital.

Crown prosecutor David Ross, QC, said the victim had no bikie links, and the trio's motive was a mystery to police.

Mr Ross said they assaulted Mr Schievella in the bar, and he tried to escape as the bashing continued in the street.

The court was told Mr Schievella was held and hung 8m above the ground from a walkway on Upper Heidelberg Rd.

Hinton was not a Hells Angels member but was associated with the club through his friendship with Hamment, barrister John Saunders said.

Hamment, Petersen, and Hinton -- who has been in custody for much of the past three years -- pleaded guilty to four charges each of conduct endangering life, intentionally causing serious injury, false imprisonment, and rioting.

Justice Geoffrey Chettle said the bar's patrons would have been terrified by the three men.

"No doubt they desired to scare the living daylights out of him," Justice Chettle said.

Damien Sheales, for Petersen, said his client had not told him if he was still a Hells Angels member.

"The organisation is not on trial," he said.

Mr Sheales said Petersen had a stable work and family life, and suburban aspirations.

Defence lawyer Paul Marin said there was no evidence Hamment assaulted Mr Schievella in the bar. He said Hamment was told by hotel security to cover his Hells Angels vest when he entered.

The trio will be sentenced by Justice Chettle next Tuesday.

Brendan Schievella is known to have links with several members of the underworld.

Two other Carlton footballers, Nick Stevens and Heath Scotland, were drinking with Whitnall and Schievella in the upstairs Ruebar when the incident happened.

It is believed the players said they were associates of the victim but did not consider him a close friend.

Dennis William Smith and Kerry Ashford were arrested for dealing drugs out of a Campbellfield trucking yard in October 1986. 

Tanner twist: police my face charges
(Sunday Age)
August 12, 2007

The Denis Tanner case began as the investigation — and eventual disgrace — of a police sergeant accused of shooting his sister-in-law and being involved with a transsexual prostitute whose skeleton was found in a mineshaft.

But the case has now turned on itself.

After 11 years, several inquiries and a secret $400,000 payout to a policeman whose home was bugged, the case may finally claim a scalp — but not that of an alleged killer.

Two respected police officers risk being charged for their part in the investigation that led to the state coroner naming Denis Tanner in 1998 for killing his sister-in-law, Jennifer Tanner.

A brief compiled over several months has gone to Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland. He will pass it to the assistant commissioner in charge of the ethical standards department, Luke Cornelius, who may seek the opinion of the Office of Public Prosecutions.

If the brief is judged strong enough, charges will be laid against Inspector Paul Newman and acting Inspector Marty Allison, key members of the taskforce that investigated allegations against the then Sergeant Tanner from 1996 to 1998.

Neither officer would comment about the likelihood of charges but supporters say both are angry at "a nitpicking exercise" over the wording of an affidavit.

The brief has been compiled after a fruitless four-year investigation into the Tanner case — from the two mysterious deaths to the fire that destroyed the Tanner farmhouse at Bonnie Doon after the skeleton was found.

Mr Overland ordered Detective Senior Sergeant Bill Nash to review the investigation following repeated complaints by Mr Tanner and another former policeman, Gerry McHugh.

Operation Trencher, which has employed three investigators full-time since 2003, followed other reviews — including one by specially seconded federal police — that exonerated Inspector Newman and acting Inspector Allison and other members of the taskforce that investigated Mr Tanner.

The taskforce was formed several months after the discovery in late 1995 of the remains of a transsexual prostitute, Adele (Paul) Bailey, in a mineshaft next to the Tanner family farm at Bonnie Doon. Bailey vanished in 1978 from St Kilda, where Denis Tanner was the last police officer to arrest her.

Mr Tanner refused to give evidence at the second Jennifer Tanner inquest on grounds that it "might tend to incriminate him". He later gave the same reason for not giving evidence at the Adele Bailey inquest. He resigned from the force in 1999.

Zarah's client escapes jail term
(Herald Sun)
August 10, 2007

A teenager who groped a breastfeeding mum at a shopping centre has been sentenced to community service.

Mohamed Chkhaidem pleaded guilty at Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court to indecently assaulting the woman as she nursed her week-old baby.

The court heard he was traumatised over his girlfriend's abortion when he fondled the woman in a parents' room at Broadmeadows shopping centre on April 30.

Prosecutor Sgt Kevin Ellis said Chkhaidem "invaded an intimate moment between mother and child".

Magistrate Robert Kumar imposed an 18-month community-based order, including 200 hours of unpaid community work.

Chkhaidem, 18, of Broadmeadows, will not be added to the sex offenders' register.

But he will continue psychological treatment, and join sex offenders' programs.

Defence lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson said Chkhaidem had been ridiculed in custody because of media attention to the case.

She said he had served three weeks' pre-sentence detention, and had apologised to police when he surrendered himself on May 3.

Ms Garde-Wilson recommended a community-based order so Chkhaidem could continue counselling and a new job as a car detailer.

"He was suffering a dramatic episode as a result of his partner's abortion several months earlier, which led to his conduct," Ms Garde-Wilson said.

Sgt Ellis said Chkhaidem told police he had frequented parents' rooms for more than six months.

Chkhaidem said it made him feel better to watch women breastfeed.

Sgt Ellis said Chkhaidem drew back a privacy curtain and started a conversation with the mum.

He told her his wife had given birth, and touched her on the left breast and nipple before fleeing.

"She was fearful, and felt she contributed to the incident," Sgt Ellis said.

He said security footage showed Chkhaidem loitering in the corridor before the attack on the mum.

Character references from his former employer at a car wash, his girlfriend and his psychologist were tendered to the court.

McGuane in crime probe
(Herald Sun)
August 9, 2007

Collingwood football legend Mick McGuane has allegedly been caught on police surveillance visiting men claimed to be linked to Melbourne's gangland war.

McGuane has allegedly been detected associating with an accused drug manufacturer and another man claimed to be involved in organised crime.

He has been named in a brief of evidence that will be made public in a trial set for February.

At least one of the men he knows is linked to convicted drug trafficker and captured fugitive Tony Mokbel.

Police claim they saw McGuane repeatedly entering a house used as an amphetamine laboratory.

It is believed anti-gangland Purana detectives have spoken to McGuane over his alleged relationships with gangland figures.

McGuane would not comment on whether he had been interviewed by police.

He has not been charged with any offence.

"Am I involved in any gangland war? No," he said.

"Do I deal drugs? No. Do I shoot people? No. Have I been in hiding? No. Have I done anything wrong? No."

McGuane would not say if he had ever mixed with organised crime figures. But he said he would gladly face a court if he had done anything illegal.

"I'm not saying nothing. I'd be in jail if I did something wrong. I've got nothing to say."

Asked if he knew any criminals, McGuane said: "What's wrong with that? I've been caught on surveillance, so what? I can't visit a house?

"It's just like Alan Didak. Was he supposed to have a crystal ball? It's the same thing."

McGuane played 152 games for the Magpies, including the 1990 premiership, and three with Carlton.

He has since coached country team Gisborne to several premierships and was an assistant coach at St Kilda.

More on this topic Andrew Rule: The connections between footballers and the underworld

Mallia suspects may still face court
(The Age)
August 8, 2007

The Office of Public Prosecutions is considering directly presenting three men for trial over the gangland murder of Mark Mallia.

Police allege that Mallia was abducted and tortured to death on August 18, 2003. His burnt remains were later found in a wheelie bin in West Sunshine. Two weeks ago a magistrate, Peter Couzens, refused to commit the suspects because he found there was insufficient evidence, but the OPP is examining the case with the view to presenting the men directly to the Supreme Court.

Gangland boss Carl Williams has already pleaded guilty to the murder.

Drug haul duo's mafia links
(Herald Sun)
August 7, 2007

The son of a murdered gangland figure and the lover of a slain Russian mafia boss were two members of a group trying to obtain a shipment of ecstasy pills worth $7million a court was told.

The County Court heard Giuseppe Mannella, 31, and Hayley Wood, 29, both had links to Melbourne's underworld.

Mannella assumed the role of "man of the household" after his father, restaurateur Vince Mannella was shot to death outside their Fitzroy North home in January 1999, his lawyer told the court.

Vince Mannella was an associate of gangster Alphonse Gangitano and had served five years in prison for shooting a coffee-shop owner who tried to bar him from the premises.

The court heard that Wood had an affair with Nikolai Radev, drug dealer and enforcer for the Melbourne head of the Russian mafia.

Radev died after being shot repeatedly in the head and chest in Coburg in April 2003.

"He was a fairly domineering, controlling man," Wood's lawyer said.

"That would probably not be considered a positive relationship."

In June, a jury found Giuseppe Mannella, Wood and associate Mario Acciarito, 36, guilty of attempting to possess a commercial amount of ecstasy.

The court heard the trio were arrested on the evening of April 21, 2005, as they unloaded a shipment of barbeques in the Tullamarine warehouse of Mannella's company, Logistic Solutions.

The shipment had earlier been intercepted by customs in Sydney, who found the barbeques contained 90kg of ecstasy pills.

The ecstasy was replaced with fake drugs, and tracked to the warehouse.

Mannella's lawyer, John Kelly, said his client steadfastly claimed his innocence and appealed his conviction.

Mannella had no prior criminal convictions and had "committed himself wholeheartedly to a business," the court heard.

Mannella had lost "an awful lot by way of reputation....and potential earnings," Mr Kelly said.

Prosecutor Gavin Meredith said Mannella and Acciarito "had an expectation of significant return" from the enterprise and urged the judge to impose a significant term of imprisonment on the two men.

Judge Liz Gaynor remanded Mannella, of Fitzroy North, Wood, of Coburg, and Acciarito, of West Brunswick, in custody for sentencing on September 3.

Mokbel demands legal aid
(Herald Sun)
August 7, 2007

Fugitive Tony Mokbel wants taxpayers to fund his fight against extradition, as police allege he lingered in Victoria for eight months after skipping bail.

Mokbel's audacious bid for Victoria's help comes as court documents detail how the convicted drug trafficker dodged police in 15 months on the run.

An Australian Government submission to a Greek court alleges Mokbel stayed in Australia after absconding during his cocaine importation trial last March.

In the document, seen by the Herald Sun, Purana Taskforce boss Insp Jim O'Brien alleges Mokbel was living in Victoria until the end of October.

Insp O'Brien alleges he left the country by boat or "shipping vessel" soon after that.

The accused murderer skipped bail during his drug trial, after which he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years' jail.

Police scoured Lebanon and searched airline passenger lists in the months after he vanished, and splashed his mugshot around the globe through Interpol.

They also investigated a theory that Mokbel, who speaks Arabic, went to Turkey using an air and sea escape route hatched by underworld rival Lewis Moran.

It is alleged that while on the run Mokbel continued running "the Company" – a criminal network police allege made $4.2 million worth of amphetamines in less than a year.

The group allegedly transferred $400,000 to Mokbel overseas, and made false documents to shield him from justice.

In 2005, the Supreme Court dismissed Mokbel's appeal to overturn an order freezing $20 million in assets.

Mokbel's lawyers have applied for legal aid funding for a complex, two-pronged legal attack aimed at keeping him out of Victoria, where he is facing two murder charges and 18 others linked to Melbourne's underworld war.

The defence bill is tipped to soar into the tens of thousands.

Deakin University law expert Mirko Bagaric, hired by the drug czar, will launch a Federal Court bid to stop authorities bringing Mokbel home to face justice.

Mr Bagaric will apply for a constitutional writ banning the Commonwealth Government from executing a Greek court's order that Mokbel be extradited.

He will argue that vital documents, including the submission outlining Mokbel's alleged movements, were not shown to the defence before the extradition hearing, in breach of protocol.

The submission refers to detailed affidavits from Victorian police and prosecutors, documents the Mokbel defence team has not yet seen.

Mokbel's lawyer in Greece, Yiannis Vlahos, has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the extradition order.

Mokbel was captured at an Athens cafe on June 5.

He had been living there under a false name with his girlfriend, Danielle McGuire, and their child.

Justice Minister David Johnston refused to comment on Greek extradition procedures.

Zarah has a win
(Herald Sun)
August 6, 2007

Zarah Garde-Wilson has won another victory in her fight to keep her licence to practise law.

A tribunal dismissed an application by the Legal Services Board to access a police file and a privileged document containing allegations made by criminals against the controversial lawyer.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal also ordered the board to pay Ms Garde-Wilson's costs for her Queen's Counsel.

In December the board ruled Ms Garde-Wilson was not fit to practise law after she was found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to give evidence against two men found guilty of murdering her partner, Lewis Caine. She is fighting the decision in VCAT.

She also took Supreme Court action, but Justice Bell dismissed her case. Her appeal is due to be heard next year.

She can run her law firm pending her appeal.

Fears for gangland supergrass
(The Age)
August 6, 2007

The threat of being killed has ensured a former close associate of Tony Mokbel will not have to give evidence in court for police.

The associate-turned-traitor is said to have implicated a "who's who" of accused people, some allegedly linked to Mokbel's Melbourne drug syndicate, of which the man was a major member until he turned supergrass.

The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the police Purana gangland taskforce held grave fears for the man's safety if he had been forced to attend court.

Andrew Tinney, a prosecutor for the DPP, said it was hard to imagine a person in more danger than the man, who cannot be named.

Mr Tinney told Melbourne Magistrates Court last week not only was he in danger but also those who would have to transfer him from his secure location to court.

"Everyone involved in moving the witness is at risk," he said.

The DPP applied on Friday, with affidavits from Purana and Corrections Victoria, to magistrate Donna Bakos to have the witness give evidence against three men in November from a remote witness facility via video link.

Brothers John Kelegouris, 45, and Polydoros Kelegouris, 47, of Greensborough, and Daniel Bitaxis, 32, of Coburg, are charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine between 2005 and 2006.

Lawyers for the men, who are on bail, opposed the application, arguing their clients had the right to question the witness in person.

Timothy Gattuso, for Bitaxis, said there were safety procedures in place, despite the expense and inconvenience cited by authorities, that would allow the man to be cross-examined while present in court.

Mr Gattuso said it was "unlikely" he would come to harm in the courtroom as there were security checks entering the court complex, searches outside the hearing room, an armed escort for the witness to and from the building and the chance of giving evidence in camera.

He said the man had implicated an array of people he described as "almost a who's who" and would have faced multiple life sentences if he had not turned prosecution witness.

Because of that he had a very strong motive to give false evidence and falsely implicate as many people as he can, he said.

Mr Gattuso submitted that witnesses responded differently when giving evidence in court as compared to sitting in a room from a distance looking at a camera.

"It's easier to maintain that lie if sitting in a room," he said.

He argued that the concern of the witness, the DPP and police was not with the three defendants, but other people in jail who had been implicated and who would cause grave concern to the man.

In granting the application, Ms Bakos said if the defendants were not a risk to the man, then it was simply great enough in the movement to and appearance of him court.

Gang widows carve up compensation as 'victims'
(Sunday Herald Sun)
August 5, 2007

Gangland widows have bagged a fortune in compensation for their notorious underworld partners' deaths.

A "gangland pension" of up to half a million dollars has been paid to women who lived high on criminal profit.

Yet genuine victims of crime have been denied compensation.

The jackpot, totalling up to $493,000 for crime families, has been kept secret from taxpayers, who paid the bill.

A Sunday Herald Sun investigation has uncovered public payouts to wives and girlfriends of gangsters Alphonse Gangitano, Victor Peirce, and Mark, Jason and Lewis Moran.

Victim advocates are 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:

WENDY Peirce and her four children received $153,000 in compensation and other payouts when partner and accused cop-killer Victor was executed.

VIRGINIA Strazdas received a $20,000 gift from taxpayers after gangster boyfriend Lewis Moran was shot in a Brunswick pokies pub.

JUDY Moran received $20,000 when son Jason -- drug dealer, standover man and killer -- was executed at a junior footy clinic. And she was paid up to $50,000 as part of a family claim over son Mark Moran's death.

TRISHA Moran, widow of Jason, pocketed up to $50,000 for his death.

The families of "Lygon St Godfather" Alphonse Gangitano and Mark Moran are believed to have been each paid up to $100,000.

The Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal refused to disclose payouts.

It is not known if payments have been made to Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh's family or Victor Peirce's surviving lover and her son, or to Carl Williams for having been shot in the stomach.

And embattled lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson refused to say if she had claimed crimes compensation over slain boyfriend, Lewis Caine.

The widows defended the payments.

Ms Peirce said: "People say I have been living off the money Victor was supposed to have made from crime. But what have the kids done wrong?"

Virginia Gangitano reportedly didn't know where her husband obtained his money and she never asked.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said laws guided the tribunal on compensation claims.

"An applicant's character must be taken into account, including past criminal activity," the spokeswoman said.

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.

But while gangland families count their public cash, innocent victims remain penniless.

Melissiah Diabel, whose mother and baby sister's disappearance is one of the state's most mysterious unsolved crimes, was recently refused compensation.

"I was refused Crime Compensation from the Government over the murder of my mother and sister 27 years ago," she said.

"I was told there was currently no proof Louise and Charmian Faulkner were deceased and that any crime had been committed."

Ms Diabel has spent more than $60,000 in a quest to solve the mystery. Max Coulton was three when his mother was murdered in Melbourne and her naked body dumped in Elwood.

Mr Coulton, 19, was denied a payout for trauma because he may have been in Queensland when told of her death.

Train drivers, such as Arthur Enver, used as executioners by suicide victims are routinely denied compensation for pain and suffering.

Sharlene McKenna's daughter, Charli, was stillborn at 22 weeks after a motorist smashed into her car in March last year.

Ms McKenna qualified as the "primary victim", but her bid for compensation as a "related victim" to her daughter was refused -- because her baby wasn't born.

Postmaster Gilbert Icke, shot during a hold-up, at first received only $231 for clothes. After public outrage, he received about $2500 -- for petrol and other expenses.

Bikie bailed after 'explosives' found in car
August 3, 2007

A senior bikie has walked from court on bail after being charged over a cache of weapons, drugs and explosives allegedly found in his car outside a city strip club.

A court heard Rodney Mathews was a sergeant-at-arms of the Black Uhlans motorcycle club.

A magistrate described the police case against Mr Mathews, 37, as chilling, but released him on bail after hearing it would take up to a year for forensic testing of the suspected drugs.

Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard police approached Mr Mathews in his unregistered late model black Mercedes-Benz coupe outside the Spearmint Rhino in King St at 1.20am.

The men's club was the same one where Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson allegedly beat a woman before going on a shooting rampage in the city earlier this year.

Police allegedly found an unloaded semi-automatic pistol, five cylinders marked "explosives", homemade nunchakus, a silver baton, a can of pepper spray, a 60cm shard of wooden dowel and live ammunition in Mathew's vehicle.

Police said they also found three bags of suspected methamphetamine, $350 cash, digital scales, plastic zip-lock bags and mobile phones.

A search of Mr Mathews' house in North Melbourne uncovered suspected marijuana seeds, a small number of firecrackers and two containers of a white powder substance, Sen-Det John Lane told the court.

He said special operations group officers had also found detonator cord.

Mr Mathews has not been charged over the items allegedly found at