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Bad business as usual

March 27, 2004

The death of a suspected hitman is the latest killing in a long and bloody feud. John Silvester reports.

When Andrew "Benji" Veniamin was approached by detectives and told that he was likely to become a gangland murder victim, the suspected hitman didn't miss a beat.

They were stating the obvious, he told police. And he had made plans. Veniamin told detectives he had instructed his parents not to co-operate with any murder investigation - even his own.

"So we can put it down as 'no offence detected'?" one officer inquired. Veniamin responded that he didn't care whether police ever found the man who was to kill him. But they did.

Mick "The Don" Gatto was in custody within minutes of Benji's violent death in a Carlton restaurant on Tuesday afternoon. Gatto, a man with more than two decades' experience of the untimely demise of associates and colleagues, knew the routine.

He told the first police to arrive at the scene at La Porcella family restaurant that it was a clear-cut case of self defence. As ambulance officers fussed over a lost cause, he told police that he and Veniamin had been walking to a back room when Veniamin pulled a gun and fired a shot before the much larger Gatto relieved him of the revolver and shot him in the head. He has been charged with murder.

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There were no witnesses and it has long been observed in matters of the underworld that dead men tell no tales. Which is unfortunate for the Purana gangland taskforce and the Australian Crime Commission, because Veniamin's death put an ugly bullet hole in the plan to grill him over four unsolved underworld murders.

Police say Veniamin killed market identity Frank Benvenuto, in Beaumaris in May 2000; Dino Dibra, in his West Sunshine home in October 2000; Paul Kallipolitis, shot two years later and Nik Radev, killed in Coburg on April 15, 2003. No charges were ever laid - so officially Veniamin died an innocent man.

Benji, who had a reputation as an irrational hothead, was the constant companion of the unlikely looking major crime figure of Carl (no nickname available) Williams. Williams, 33, who claims he is not worried about being a target, says he doesn't carry a gun and has not ordered anyone's murder.

He is, he says, just a misunderstood family man and unemployed property developer with an interest in punting and an unfortunate habit of losing friends to bullet wounds.

Radev had been to Williams' home to celebrate his daughter's birthday. Williams also knew Jason Moran, Mark Moran, Mark Mallia, Dino Dibra and Willie Thompson - all shot dead as part of Melbourne's underworld feud. "That doesn't mean I know what happened to them," he says.

Williams is a large, but not particularly threatening looking, man. He has a ready laugh and is often prepared to talk, although he rarely provides answers of substance. Williams was shot in the stomach in Broadmeadows on October 13, 1999 and yet he has told The Age he did not bother to inquire who pulled the trigger.

Police say Jason Moran was the gunman and that shooting was the cause of the bloody Melbourne feud.

The police theory goes that after the shooting an attack was launched on the Morans. First there was the killing of Mark Moran, who was shot outside his Aberfeldie home on June 15, 2000. Mark's half-brother Jason was next, together with Pasquale Barbaro at Essendon North junior football clinic on June 21 last year.

Other drug figures were killed, some because they were seen as competition. Others owed money. If the police theory is right, each murder set the scene for the next.

Many thought Lewis Moran, Jason's father and Mark's step-father was the ultimate target, so much so that Purana investigators gave evidence to allow Moran snr to alter his bail conditions on serious drug charges so he would not be an easy execution target.

But in leafy Kew, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh, the biggest name in Melbourne crime, was becoming apprehensive. Aligned with the Morans, Kinniburgh feared he could be on the death list and began to carry a gun for the first time in years.

His premonition was right and while he managed to fire a shot when he was ambushed on the night of December 13 last year it didn't save him.

Gatto treats death in the underworld as an occupational hazard. Police joke that it is not officially an underworld killing until Gatto has placed a death notice in the Herald Sun. Some claim he has the classifieds number on a speed-dial.

But the death of Kinniburgh is said to have hit "The Don" hard. The former heavyweight boxer and reigning heavyweight crime figure began to make inquiries on who killed "The Munster". It was unlikely he would have shared his knowledge with police.

It is also not known if he asked Benji of his alleged involvement before he shot him in the head - at least twice.

Despite media reports to the contrary, police had eliminated Veniamin as a suspect in Kinniburgh's murder because he had a solid alibi.

Another theory is that someone close to Kinniburgh took advantage of the gang war to kill the underworld's elder statesman.

The owner of La Porcella was shaken by the death and concerned that his family restaurant would lose business once it was identified as a "mobsters' hangout". He needn't have worried, at least in the short term. Many tables later in the week were filled with colour writers, comics and food reviewers with expense accounts.

Part of the feud has spilled over to the media, with The Age claiming 23 underworld murders and the Herald Sun 22 since 1998. In fact, there have been 25 killings with gangland overtones in the past six years but not all are related.

The claim that the murders are just gangsters killing gangsters is wrong. Victims killed in suspected professional hits include Vicki Jacobs, a murder witness; "Steve" Gulyas and Tina "Bing" Nhonthachith, shot in their Sunbury home; and John Furlan in a car bombing.

Police estimate that 11 murders may be linked. These cases are all being investigated by the Purana taskforce.

Purana detectives have a long-held plan to involve the Australian Crime Commission. The strategy is to compel some of the major players to answer questions using the commission's coercive powers and to identify and destroy the gangsters' asset bases.

Kinniburgh put three children through private schools while living a life of leisure. Williams can afford five-star accommodation in Queensland although unemployed, and Radev was wearing Versace when he was gunned down. He was buried in a gold-plated $30,000 coffin, proving that money can't buy you happiness.

Some so-called experts with chequered pasts and vested interests suggest Purana has failed. But the gangland taskforce has arrested Williams over making threats to kill, two men for the murder of Michael Marshall and Gatto over Veniamin's demise. They believe they will lay charges over the Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro murders and have made inroads in eight of the 11 cases.
