The catalyst that ignited the conflict was the 1998 murders of Melbourne gangsters Alphonse Gangitano, shot dead in his own home on 16 January 1998, and Charles Hegyalji known as "Mad Charlie", murdered in front of his house on 23 November of that same year. Both Gangitano and Hegyalji had been major figures in the Melbourne underworld, and Gangitano in particular had been a close ally of Higgs. Following these two deaths many of Gangitano and Hegyalji's former associates suddenly rose to positions of importance in the underworld, and it was several of these figures, such as Vince Mannella and Dimitrios Belias, who became the next victims in Melbourne's underworld war as the fight for power escalated. The conflict was further exacerbated by the 1999 shooting of Carl Williams, who was shot in the stomach by the Moran brothers, Jason and Mark, over a drug-related debt. Williams, who survived the shooting, vowed to exterminate the Moran family and in doing so became the most infamous criminal involved in the killings, as he arranged the murders of most of the Moran family and several of their allies in the Carlton Crew.