Kathy paid an uncharacteristic compliment to police three days after the murder when she told the Sunday Herald Sun she was impressed with comments from Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

"She said they would pursue his murderers the same as they would for any other victim. After all the other cops saying how much they hated him and how happy they were he was dead, that was good to hear."

Pettingill denied rumours her son had been waiting to conduct a cocaine transaction.

"He's not dealing drugs," she said.

"He doesn't need to, he's paid good money on the docks. More importantly, even if he was dealing, there's no way he would have arranged something so close to meeting the two kids."

"You don't mix business with family," she said.

"There's 49 of us left," she said.

"If someone thinks we're finished they can find out the hard way."

In an exclusive interview, the 67-year-old mother of 10 said she believed her son's killer was "a young tearaway trying to make a name for himself".

"I'm told it was some young punk who wanted to brag: 'I knocked Victor Peirce'," she said

Pettingill said she had discounted underworld theories that corrupt police were involved in a payback for the 1988 Walsh St murders.

"I may have thought that at first, but not any more," she said.

"I know I always said the cops would kill Victor and Trevor, but from what I'm led to believe that's not what happened."

Pettingill had lived for the past 14 years in the ocean-side hamlet of Venus Bay in South Gippsland, where the community, always protective of her privacy, has rallied with support.

She and seven other women with whom she plays bingo on a regular basis had left Venus Bay on Monday for a mystery coach tour.

"We get together several times a week for bingo, and we had a bit of money saved so we all went on a coach tour, no idea where we were headed," she said.

The mystery destination was a "beautiful" caravan park in Albury Wodonga, where the party stayed until the morning of Peirce's murder.

"We came back during the day and I was home by around 9pm," she said.

"I had only been in about 20 minutes when the phone rang. It was Trevor. He was hysterical. He is totally devastated by this.

"I've never seen anyone so destroyed. I was with him on Thursday and he couldn't control the crying. It was coming up from his feet."

Pettingill said neighbours had sat with her until the early hours of Thursday morning offering comfort in her grief.

She then left for Melbourne by car, spending time with Wendy and the couple's children.

She also visited other family members before returning to Venus Bay the following evening by bus.

"They (friends and neighbours) were there to meet me off the bus. They've been wonderful," she said.

Pettingill said she had learnt from Peirce's family during her stay in Melbourne, that her son had possibly suspected the end of his violent life was not far away.

"It's like he had a premonition," she said.

"There were a few times recently when he told people before he went out that he was leaving his important papers and bits and pieces in a certain place in case he didn't come back."

She said the family was now occupied with funeral arrangements, and flowers had been pouring in from the underworld.

"We're expecting a big crowd at the funeral," she said.

"And no doubt the cops will be there with their cameras filming everybody."

Two inmates at Port Phillip Prison were among the dozens of friends and foes of murdered career criminal Victor Peirce expressing sympathies, or otherwise, in the Herald Sun's death notices in two days after his shooting.

Associates in and out of jail wasted no time calling to place their notices after hearing the news the violent standover man was dead.

Thomas Ivanovic, who is awaiting trial for the shooting murder of a motorcyclist outside his Brunswick West home on January 8, and convicted armed robber Victor Brincat, sent a message of "sincere thanks" to their fallen comrade.

"Our sincere thanks for your kindness and love. You will never be forgotten," the two prisoners said. "Our prayers are with you. Rest in peace."

Jason Moran also placed a death notice in the Herald Sun.It read simply, "Victor - Rest Peacefully - Jason Moran".

Notorious armed robber and jail escaper Christopher 'Badness' Binse also left a notice.

It said he was 'shattered' and was signed 'Badness'.

The Venus Bay Bingo Ladies wrote in the Herald Sun's notices: "Kathy P, our thoughts are with you through this terrible time."

His four children and wife, Wendy, added their glowing tributes.

"Mr darling Victor, you were the love of my life. Now we can no longer grow old together," Mrs Peirce's notice reads.

"I can't explain the devastation I feel of losing you. I will never ever forget you Victor . . . Your broken-hearted wife Wendy (Witch)".

His daughter, Katie, called him a "soldier in life, an angel in death".

"Whenever I was lonely, whenever I was in strife, it only took one phone call and you would be there morning, noon and night," she wrote.

Family friend Peta Freeman, whose mother lived with Peirce's half-brother, Peter Allen, for six years, said she always believed the criminal was "just an ordinary person".

"My mum told me a lot of people don't like his family, but she always said to me there is two sides to every story," she said after placing a notice.

"They say bad things about him, to me he was a nice, normal person."

On May 7,2002, Peter Allen spoke to a small media contingent telling them that he could not be held responsible for the actions of his "family" in the wake of Victor's death.

Allen, dressed to the nines in a dark tailored suit, used the quirky phrasing abilities gained by representing himself in court for many years in an animated 60 second speech.

"Anybody who thanks the Pettingill, Allen, Peirce faction are dead - are wrong," he warned.

Allen spoke of the many friends he'd made during his years in jail saying, "They all say, Peter, we will help you."

Allen, on bail for armed robbery charges, asked that "there' be no interference from the Victorian Police Force and that Insp John Noonan be restrained from his comments."

Accompanied by the nineteen year-old mother of his child, Peter Allen said Noonan was "full of hatred after being angered by the failure of his case against him in 1988.

"He failed to get a conviction, he never got promoted over it...that's not our fault", Allen said.

"Because of Noonan's comments, I cannot be responsible for the actions my brothers (who are everywhere) could take."

Allen also dismissed speculation that Mark 'Chopper' Reed was a suspect.

"We've got three major suspects," he said, "and that does not include the fairy-tale person, Chopper".

Police would not respond saying they didn't want to give Allen more publicity than he deserved.

On May 9, 2002, a large gathering farewelled Victor Peirce at St Peter and Paul's church in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. 

The crowd gathered well before the service.

Members of Peirce's notorious crime family, known criminal figures and people with no criminal convictions -- arrived at the South Melbourne church under the eye of homicide detectives.

Anthony Farrell, co-accused in the 1988 Walsh Street police murders, was among the mourners as was building industry hard-man, Mick Gatto.

A notable appearance was also made by Jason Moran, a man whose family the press had suggested could have been associated with Peirce's death.

Moran was accompanied by three men and, as with many of the guests, one of the man with him was very, very, large.

A selection of hulking gentlemen waited for their associates outside as the service was in progress.

Several homicide squad detectives currently hunting Peirce's killers, were among the congregation.

Mourners mingled with plainclothes police, reporters and (according to Age reporter, Andrew Rule), at least one known gunman, a prime suspect in another unsolved gangland slaying.

It wasn't, however, a huge funeral by underworld standards.

A police presence was not obvious, but for one marked car that cruised by while the prayer service was underway and a suspiciously spotless Commodore which followed a few minutes later.

About 250 people crammed into the church as a crowd of onlookers took up vantage points outside.

At the precise moment that the funeral service began inside the popular 19th century church, a small helicopter approached and passed directly overhead.

It was up to the imagination who was aboard.

In the church, many shied away from the pews, preferring to stand together at the back of the church.

Father Bob Maguire welcomed the congregation, saying the funeral for Victor Peirce was the most important ever held at his church.

"Think of the good that Victor did. The rest is buried with him," Fr Maguire said.

Father Maguire, whose inner-city flock has included many a black sheep, conducted a service, as he called it, "designed by the family".

Instead of hymns, popular songs were played.

Instead of a formal eulogy, the dead man's children and friends read out personal tributes that were clapped, like speeches at a birthday party.

Fr Maguire played the dreamy The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for the mother of the criminal brood.

He said Kath Pettingill epitomised a mum.

"A mother is a person who guides you, helps find yourself and is someone who walks beside you," he said.

Mrs Pettingill sat unmoved throughout the service.

Kath's feathers remained unruffled despite a provocative death notice placed by celebrity criminal Mark "Chopper" Read the day before.

In a disparaging reference to Kath's glass eye -- earned in a shooting incident many years ago -- Read wrote: "Don't worry Vic, Kath will keep an eye on things."

Kath sat as her son and Peirce's criminal half-brother, Trevor Pettingill gave her a hug.

Flanking them in the second-row pews were Kath's other sons, Peter Allen and Lex Peirce.

Kath's clan, including children and grandchildren, nearly filled the first two rows.

In short eulogies, Peirce's youngest children told of the man they knew as a father and friend.

His youngest son, Vinnie said he would miss his dad picking him up from school, buying him lollies and driving around.

"I remember when he used to go fast in the car with me," he said.

Vinnie Peirce, 10, told of good times with his dad. "We went on adventures and even got lost," the youngster said.

Katie Peirce, affectionately referred to by her father as "Pooh Bum", described Peirce as an absolute gentleman who always danced and sang like a maniac at her birthday parties.

Katie Peirce said her father was a "strong, kind, family man" who had hired a double-decker bus for her 16th birthday and taken her out to get her drunk as a treat.

"He gave me the best of everything. He still sat me on his knee and called me Pooh Bum. My dad was my everything," the teenager said.

Another relative spoke on behalf of Peirce's wife, Wendy.

Wendy's message was: "My life will be so empty now. You will always be my everything."

The first line of the opening song (Soldier Of Love) began with the words "Lay down your arms".

Six pall-bearers, including Lex Peirce, Trevor Pettingill and Victor's two eldest son's Victor and Chris, were led out of the church by young Vinnie who carried a framed photograph of his father.

A guard of honour blocked Montague Street as the hearse and two limousines left for Peirce's burial. A queue of locals waited patiently in their cars until they were allowed to pass.

When the procession left, a fierce wind and rain squall instantaneously erupted. Mourners scattered to their cars.

Under a tree in the churchyard, a homicide detective watched, wondering if the killer was in the crowd.

Victor Peirce was buried at the Altona cemetery.

On May 16, 2002, The Herald Sun revealed that Wendy Peirce planned to seek crimes compensation worth up to $50,000 over Victor's murder.

The Herald Sun believed Ms Peirce requested application forms for compensation from a magistrates' court in the days after his death to pay for his funeral.

Wendy was believed to be considering applying for compensation at the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal.

If successful, she could be granted up to $50,000 of taxpayer money for counselling, medical and funeral or other expenses.

But the move outraged crime victims who said they were disgusted Ms Peirce wanted compensation after living off the proceeds of Peirce's crimes for years.

The president of the Crime Victims Support Association, Noel McNamara, said the claim was an insult to all victims. "It is absolutely obscene, a disgrace," he said.

"If VOCAT lets it go through, they need to be overhauled completely. The victims are the ones being let down here."

Ms Peirce could be deemed a secondary victim of the violent crime because she is raising Peirce's four children.

Wendy Peirce, who has raised four of Peirce's children, was not available for comment.

The family of slain underworld figures Alphonse Gangitano and Mark Moran had reportedly applied for compensation from the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal after their deaths.

Victims of violent crime hit out at families of criminals seeking compensation.

Postmaster Gilbert Icke, who was shot and almost killed during a hold-up two years before, said he initially received only $231 compensation for clothes.

After public outrage, he received about $2500 to include petrol and other expenses.

Mr Icke, who was unconscious for six days after the shooting and still has a bullet in his spine, said the State Government needed to do more to protect innocent victims.

Mr Icke said it was outrageous that families of criminals could receive compensation after living off the proceeds of crime. "It is not right," he said.

Crime Victims Support Association president, Noel McNamara, said more needed to be done to protect the innocent.

Victims of violent crime are eligible for up to $50,000 compensation for counselling, medical, funeral or other expenses. Magistrates at the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal decide cases based on the mental, psychological and physical suffering of victims and their families.

Past criminal activity and the character of the victim and the applicant can also be taken into account by the tribunal.

Victoria Police said their victim advisory unit treated all victims equally.

"The role of the victim advisory unit is to assist all victims of crime and advise them of any areas they can provide assistance to them," a police statement said.

The statement said the unit treated all cases confidentially.

Meanwhile, the Herald Sun had learned the family of the slain drug trafficker was conducting its own search for his killer.

"The family is looking. They're narrowing the field with their own investigation," said one relative, who did not want to be named.

"There were a few people at the funeral who had bits of information and were more than happy to give it over."

A police source said the homicide investigation was "running by the numbers".

Kath Pettingill, said she was hoping for more information about the investigation into her son's murder.

"I'm left in the dark," she said. "I've given up trying to work out why it happened. I can't even think about it."

Wendy Peirce spoke briefly with the Herald Sun on May 17, 2002, for the first time after her crimes compensation claim was revealed

Wendy said Victor was a taxpayer whose children deserved a financial entitlement.

Ms Peirce had a brief conversation with the Herald Sun before promising a full-length interview.

She said her four children were the true victims after the Port Melbourne murder. "I'm a secondary victim," she said.

She was later unable to be contacted.

"Gilbert Icke is still alive. My husband is dead," Ms Peirce said.

"He (my husband) was a taxpayer. My children are the victims."

On July 21, 2002, Wendy Peirce threatened vengeance on her husband's killer at a police-organised press conference.

Wendy Peirce warned his killers faced the same fate if they were not caught by police.

Flanked by her daughter Katie, 17, Wendy said her husband's killers should be "very scared".

"They could be shot dead out there. They could be kidnapped and never seen again. I don't know," she said.

Clutching a photo of her husband, Wendy Peirce said she was getting stronger and angrier since Peirce was shot dead.

"If they are watching now, I have a large extended family. If they are not apprehended by the police... then they can do it the hard way... Even in jail they won't even be safe," she said. 

Ms Peirce said police were doing a tremendous job.

"Dean Thomas and his crew (the investigating team) have been fantastic. I ring them every day. I know they haven't hit a brick wall yet. I expect I will get a call in the middle of the night from them saying, 'Wendy, we've got them'."

"Regardless of Victor in the past being in prison and his past history, they're taking this case just as if it was Joe Blow or Mr and Mrs Jones next door or Jack the Ripper," she said.

"They are going flat out. They are working really hard and I find that they are very genuine."

Detective Inspector Brian Rix of the homicide squad, who coordinated the press conference, said underworld reprisals would not be tolerated.

Det-Insp Brian Rix said police and Peirce's family believed he was killed by someone he knew.

Kath Pettingill reiterated Wendy Pierce's confidence in the homicide squad when she spoke on Neil Mitchell's morning show on 3AW.

Pettingill, had been nominated for a community award for volunteer work.

After speaking about the award Ms Pettingill said she would not be seeking retribution for Victor's death and that the "homicide squad had been fantastic."

In August 2002, police conducted raids and interviewed five men who were associates of Victor.

Wendy Peirce believed the killers were hired by an associate of her late husband.

"It had to be someone he knew who paid for it. The two dickheads who did it had to be paid. He must have been frightened of Victor and got in first.

"I know there are people who know what happened. I hope they will come forward for the sake of his kids. They deserve better than this."

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.

Six months after Victor was shot dead, Wendy Peirce reflected on a man she loved and feared in a story John Silvester wrote for the Age.

When police finally returned her murdered husband's 1993 Commodore after forensic checks, Wendy Peirce slid her fingers under the front ashtray with practised ease.

She immediately found what she was looking for - nearly $400 in cash. "It was his favourite spot to stook (hide) money," she said.

Once police finished with the maroon sedan, Wendy had it detailed, including patching a bullet hole, replacing the driver's-side window, shattered by the shots, and fitting new seat covers.

Now it looks as good as new and her 17-year-old daughter is learning to drive in it.

Wendy had studied the autopsy report and knew that Victor was shot twice from point-blank range. A third shot missed, lodging in the strut between the doors.

She also knew he probably used his right arm to try to block the shots as he sat in the driver's seat. Both travelled through his arm into his body, causing fatal wounds to his liver, diaphragm and lungs. "They revived him twice there but he was unconscious and they couldn't save him," she says with little emotion.

While the mother of four spoke calmly about her husband's murder, she said people misjudge her if they think she is callous.

Wendy now said that, in between long jail terms, Victor was a devoted family man.

"There were two sides to him."

But she does not try to hide that one of those sides was chilling.

She has a bent little finger on her left hand after it was broken by her husband.

"He said it would be the nose or the finger. I passed out with the pain."

He once fired shots around her feet to encourage her to dance. "I didn't move. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction."

As a joke he once chased her around the house waving a dismembered human toe. She failed to see the humour: "It was disgusting."

But there was romance. Earlier in his final year, he gave her a Valentine's card that read, "You are now and always will be the only woman in the world for me." He took her to Port Douglas for a five-star second honeymoon.

According to Wendy, her husband was more than just a gangster. "He was devoted to his children and loved his grandchildren."

But detectives said Victor was a standover man, armed robber, killer and drug dealer, who had plenty of enemies. He was hated by many police and despised by nearly as many in the underworld.

Then who killed him?

One theory, and there are several, is that an old friend - a man who once shared the criminal dock with him during a trial - was the one who set him up.

As the story goes, the old friend works for a South Yarra drug dealer whose supply of ecstasy was ripped off by Victor.

The associate was given three choices: kill Victor, get the drugs back, or die. He took the first option.

Wendy said she has lost nearly 20 kilograms since the murder.

"Sometimes I can't believe he's gone. I think when the phone rings that it will be Vic. I can't eat and I can't sleep. One week I'm sort of OK and then I have a relapse."

On August 22, 2004, gun Sunday and Bulletin reporter, Adam Shand presented a story which told of a contract Victor Peirce had accepted to kill Mark Chopper Read.

A participant in the interview was famed Painter and Docker, Billy 'The Texan' Longley.

ADAM SHAND: You need your mates if you are going to survive jail. Bill Longley had Chopper Read watching his back while he served a 13-year term for murder in Pentridge Prison. It was a courtesy Longley did not forget when he heard in early 2002 that Victor Pierce had some unfinished business with Read.

BILLY LONGLEY: Victor was reputedly given the contract to kill Mark Read, 'Chopper' Read, and I was told of this and we had a meeting.

MARK 'CHOPPER' READ: We decided to back up Billy Longley.

ADAM SHAND: When Sunday visited Read last year he was unaware of the plot to kill him, but, after describing the dons of Carlton as "the plastic godfathers" in his crime fiction, he wasn't exactly rushing to Lygon Street.

MARK 'CHOPPER' READ: No, I don't go to Richmond, I don't go to Carlton. I don't dine in restaurants on Lygon Street, you know, because of the ill will that was previously there. Some people might think it would be like sitting on someone's grave.

ADAM SHAND: Talk of murder contracts flies around the underworld almost continuously. Usually it's just talk, but Pierce wasn't one for idle chat when it came to business.

BILLY LONGLEY: Victor was a serious person. You wouldn't want Victor talking about killing you, he wouldn't talk about killing you, anyway, he'd do it, you know. Serious people don't talk about killing, they do it.

ADAM SHAND: It's normally dangerous to meddle in such affairs. But Longley's respect for Read and his wife overcame his normal reticence.

BILLY LONGLEY: Chopper's reputed to have done me a few turns in years gone by, in the jail, watched my back, etcetera, etcetera, for which I'm suitably grateful. I felt I owed it to them both to do something and I did it. Victor had enough respect for me to heed what I asked him and he did it. I prevailed upon Victor to forget about the contract on Chopper and about six weeks later he was killed himself.

ADAM SHAND: Read never knew of the contract and had nothing to do with the killing of Pierce in a Port Melbourne street in May 2002.

On October 1, 2005, the Age published a story in which Wendy Peirce said she lied to save her husband from a life in prison.

The star witness who refused to testify against four men charged with the Walsh Street police murders admitted that Victor Peirce was guilty as charged.

She said the murders were carried out as as a payback after detectives killed Peirce's best friend, Graeme Jensen.

Mrs Peirce said her husband showed no remorse over the police killings.

"He just said, 'They deserved their whack. It could have been me.'

"It (Walsh Street) was spur of the moment, we were on the run. Victor was the organiser," Mrs Peirce told The Age.

She said she was staying in a Tullamarine motel with Peirce but he left during the night to join members of his gang to set up the Walsh Street murders.

Mrs Peirce named the shooters as Jedd Houghton, who was later shot dead by police, and Peter McEvoy.

She also said the car abandoned in Walsh Street was stolen by Gary Abdallah, who was shot dead by police in a Carlton flat.

Mrs Peirce said her husband always believed police would never prove he led the ambush team. "He covered his tracks and he didn't think he'd get pinched," she said.

Wendy Peirce was persuaded by police to become a prosecution witness against her husband, but after 18 months in protection, costing nearly $2 million, she refused to give evidence in his Supreme Court trial.

She was later sentenced to 18 months' jail with a minimum of nine months for perjury.

Mrs Peirce claims she was never going to give evidence and planned to sabotage the police case from within by failing to testify.

But senior police say she changed her mind because the court process took too long, she didn't like witness protection and Peirce and his family persuaded her to return to them.

The joint head of the investigation taskforce, Inspector John Noonan, said he had no doubt that if Wendy Peirce had given truthful evidence the four accused men would have been convicted.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Age Mrs Peirce said:

■ Melbourne hitman Andrew Veniamin killed Victor Peirce's best friend, Frank Benvenuto, in May 2000 as a payback for an earlier underworld murder. She said Veniamin and Peirce held peace talks in which her husband agreed not to seek revenge for the death of his friend.

■ Melbourne solicitor Tom Scriva laundered money for gangsters but squandered it before he died in July 2000. She said she once gave him $120,000 in armed robbery proceeds hidden in plastic shopping bags.

■ A fortune in drug money buried around Richmond by her brother-in-law, Dennis Bruce Allen, who died in 1987, has never been recovered.

■ When her husband discovered she had a sexual relationship with Graeme Jensen, he said: "If I had known about the affair I wouldn't have done it (Walsh Street)."

■ She routinely went on $5000 shopping sprees using money from her husband's bank robberies. "We wasted it all … I'd buy things just for the sake of it," she said.

Mrs Peirce said she had finally decided to tell the truth because she wanted to sever all ties with the underworld.

"I don't want my children connected to the criminal world," she said.

"I loved Victor, but now that he is gone I feel I have been freed. Now every time I hear a car door slam I don't have to worry that it is the police about to raid us. I think of all the murders and feel so sorry for their families. No one deserves this."

On October 6, 2005 Victor and Wendy Peirce's son was shot, allegedly as part of an ongoing family feud.

Victor Peirce jnr, 24, was shot under the armpit and also suffered head injuries during an alleged fight with the brother of his de facto wife in Boronia.

He underwent emergency surgery that night.

Jude Matthew Quinn, 27, of Scoresby Road, Boronia, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court the following day.

He was charged with the attempted murder of Mr Peirce.

Quinn, dressed in a multi-coloured jumper and tracksuit pants, was also charged with intentionally causing serious injury and with possessing an unregistered long-arm firearm.

Nick Goodenough, for Quinn, said his client would not make an application for bail. Magistrate Lesley Fleming remanded Quinn to appear in January.

Wendy Peirce said her son had been shot after a dispute with Quinn. "They had been feuding for years.

"I can't believe this has happened," Mrs Peirce said. "I want justice done for my son.

"Victor (junior) is not a career criminal. He hasn't been in jail, he hasn't even been in a boys' home. When is this all going to end?"

In 2006 some of the closest allies of drug dealer and underworld murderer, Carl Williams turned on him and became police witnesses.

Detectives discovered more about his crimes.

Williams was not only prepared to kill Jason Moran, he would kill those that wouldn't.

According to police, Victor Peirce was shot dead because he accepted and then reneged on a contract to kill Moran.

He was paid $100,000 in advance and was to pocket a further $100,000 on completion of the job.

But he changed sides and warned Moran.

So, on May 1, 2002, Andrew Veniamin, Williams' right-hand-man, killed Peirce.

On March 15, 2007, it was reported that police were close to solving Peirce's murder

Police were of the firm belief Veniamin was the shooter and appealed for help in finding the driver of the car who they said shared responsibility for the murder.

Victoria's elite Purana anti-gangland taskforce today took over the investigation into Peirce's death.

Homicide squad inquiries indicated the murder appeared gangland-related and passed the investigation on to the taskforce who are now concentrating on charging the man who drove Veniamin to Bay Street Port Melbourne in a silvery blue 1987 Holden Commodore on the night of the shooting.

3AW reported that the car is believed to have been stolen from the RMIT campus in Plenty Rd Bundoora on the day of Peirce's murder and later recovered in St Albans.

Inspector Jim O'Brien said that a new witness has come forward and provided substantial new information.

"Detectives believe they have identified the passenger and shooter of Victor George Peirce," Insp O'Brien said.

"We're now seeking information in relation to the driver of that vehicle and any person involved in the murder."

Police say Veniamin's get-away driver was also involved in at least three other gangland killings.

At the time police believed he was the leader of various drug syndicates in Melbourne and heavily involved with drug trafficking.

Before his death in March 2004, Veniamin was the right-hand man of drug dealer and underworld murderer Carl Williams.

Veniamin was shot dead in self-defence by Carlton identity Mick Gatto.

A $100,000 reward was still being offered for information leading to a conviction for Peirce's murder and police were also offering witness protection for informers.

On June 1, 2007, the Age reported that a 29-year-old man who shot and wounded the son of Victor Peirce had escaped a prison sentence.

Jade Matthew Quinn, of Queensland, was convicted in the Supreme Court this morning of possessing of a prohibited firearm.

Judge Anthony Cavanough sentenced Quinn to 12 months' imprisonment, to be suspended for two years.

"An offence of this kind is regarded by the court as a very serious offence," Judge Cavanough said.

He said he took into account the fact that Quinn had not re-offended during the 18 months since the incident.

Quinn pleaded guilty to the firearms charge on April 27.

He was initially charged with attempted murder and two charges of intentionally causing serious injury. Those charges were later dropped.

The court heard Quinn and his de facto brother-in-law, Victor Pierce Junior, were drinking at Quinn's Boronia home when a fight broke out between the pair.

In his summary, Justice Cavanough said Pierce put his hand over Quinn's nose and mouth during the altercation.

Quinn retrieved a sawn off .22 rifle, loaded it and warned Pierce not to come closer.

He then shot Pierce as he continued to approach. The bullet went through his chest and into his arm.

Quinn then struck Pierce with a cricket bat.

Judge Cavanough said he took into account the fact that Quinn feared retribution in prison.

When first remanded over the incident, Quinn served 22 days in prison on 23-hour-a-day lockdown due to his fears for his safety.

Judge Cavanough said Quinn feared others would try to "big-note" themselves and carry out "retribution".

On June 22, 2007, Purana detectives arrested one of Mick Gatto's associates, Faruk "Frank" Orman, over the murder of Victor Peirce.

Detectives swooped on an address in Sunshine at 8am and took Faruk to the Victoria Police St Kilda Rd crime complex for questioning.

Mr Orman was a friend of gangland gunman Andrew "Benji'' Veniamin.

A police source told the Herald Sun that Orman did not have a long criminal history but was regarded as a "player'' in the underworld.

He later appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

Wendy Peirce had said after her husband was killed she feared detectives would not try to solve the murder because of their hatred of the police killer.

But she said the homicide squad and Purana had never stopped working on the case.

Mrs Pierce sat between two Purana gangland detectives during Orman's brief appearance in the Magistrates' Court where he was remanded in custody on one count of murder for a committal mention in September.

She thanked detectives for their work but said she would not be celebrating tonight.

The Purana taskforce allege Orman, 25, was the driver of the two-man hit team but believe the man who shot Peirce was Andrew "Benji'' Veniamin.

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.

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 Victor was executed.

The Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal refused to disclose payouts.

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?"

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.

On September 14, 2007, Vince Benvenuto, brother of Frank Benvenuto was arrested at Glen Eira Road, Caulfield by the Special Operations Group.

He was charged with possessing cocaine, amphetamines and an unlicensed pistol.

After his arrest Benvenuto, 54, was interviewed by Purana detectives over the murder of Victor Peirce.

It is believed Benvenuto was formally cautioned and gave a "no comment" record of interview on legal advice.

Police