|
But the family was also interested in selling her
story.
"The family wants some compensation," Mr Laureano
said.
It was later
reported that the Williams deal almost fell through
The crime deal of the decade that resulted in Carl Williams
pleading guilty to three murders was teetering on the point of collapse when
Justice Betty King reconvened her court.
While it took nearly seven months of secret negotiations to bring
Williams to the point where he was prepared to admit his guilt, the final deal was
struck in the final hour.
The man responsible for 10 underworld killings had just told his relieved
lawyers he would plead guilty to the murders of Lewis
Moran, Jason Moran and
Mark Mallia.
But his agreement was worth nothing. He had to say the words "I plead
guilty" when his presentments were read to him in open court. Backroom
deals didn't count.
He had been brought up from the court cells to sign a document instructing
his defence team of his intentions to enter guilty pleas.
Outside the court, members of the police Purana taskforce stood waiting.
One nervously said: "I won't believe it until I hear him say it."
Williams' mother, Barbara, and father, George, were allowed to see their
son before the hearing commenced. While George, who is facing drug-trafficking
charges, remained quiet, Barbara was animated. She pleaded with her son not to
plead guilty.
According to an insider, Carl began to waver and the deal was "within
a hair's breadth" of collapsing. "If we had lost him then maybe we
would have lost him forever."
But the court convened and three times Williams admitted his guilt.
Before Williams would
agree to any deal he wanted to pass a message to a man
on the outside. He desperately wanted him to know that
no matter what, he wished him no harm. That man was Mick
Gatto.
Hours earlier, it looked as though the murder trials could have dragged on
for five years.
It was around August 2006 that the man who once had teams of hitmen
prepared to kill for him knew he was facing the rest of his life in jail.
Several of his trusted offsiders had cut deals with prosecutors, leaving him
increasingly isolated.
One of the men was one of the hardest criminals in Victoria. No one
expected him to talk — until one day he did. The criminal gave statements
implicating Williams in four murders and the big man knew he was sunk.
Without a plea he was certain to be found guilty and receive a life
sentence with no minimum. But if he pleaded guilty, he would be entitled to a
discount. Now aged 36, he wants to get out of jail by the age of 70.
But the first, tentative approaches were not encouraging. His team floated
a prison sentence of around 12 years.
"They were looking for a ridiculous bargain-basement sentence,"
said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Coghlan, QC.
But as the trial date came closer, so, too, did the negotiators. In
February, the two sides spent 10 days talking. Then, last Friday, what had
appeared promising collapsed.
According to Mr Coghlan: "We were very cross. We thought
Williams had
been fooling around and was never serious. He was wasting our time because
they came up with various proposals that were absolutely laughable."
At midday, the court process began before Justice King with
pre-trial discussions. It was legal tent-boxing with a few slow punches thrown
without any landing.
First, Williams' team asked for an adjournment because of
pre-trial publicity but the same argument had been tried before and had
failed. Next was a move to suggest there was judicial bias and again it was
doomed to fail.
Then it was agreed the star protected witnesses could give
video evidence for security reasons.
By 1pm, the court was adjourned for the day. There would be a few more
pre-trial details to be cleared up and then a jury would be selected.
On
Monday, Chief Crown Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, would begin his opening
address to declare that Williams organised the murders of
Jason Moran and
Pasquale Barbaro, who were shot dead on June 21, 2003, while watching an
Auskick junior football clinic.
Once the jury was empanelled, any chance of a deal for Williams would be
over.
It was 2.10pm when Mr Horgan received a call in his chambers from Williams'
barrister, David Ross, QC. The message was brief. "We may have a
deal."
A message was passed to Justice King's associate Helen Marriott and a
decision made to reconvene the court that day.
But Williams had left the court and was heading to Barwon Prison.
Then
Justice King intervened and ordered the bus back.
This was no sweetheart deal. The prosecutors will make no recommendations
on a jail sentence although they acknowledge Williams should be set a minimum
due to his decision to plead. "His sentence will be totally up to the
judge," Mr Horgan said.
The charge sheet was quickly typed, documents signed and
Williams led back
into court. Then, despite his mother's concern, Williams nodded his head.
It was a decision, Mr Coghlan said, that would save millions of dollars and
send a message to the underworld that no one was above the law.
As five of Williams'
closest allies turned on him and became police witnesses
Purana discovered more about the crimes of the Premier.
Williams was not only
prepared to kill Moran, he would kill those that
wouldn't.
According to police, notorious killer, drug
dealer and armed robber Victor George 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, Veniamin killed
Peirce in Bay
Street, Port Melbourne.
Another career criminal
was shot after he refused to carry out a contract to
kill Moran.
Convicted murderer Mark Anthony Smith
supposedly agreed and then refused to kill Moran.
So
Smith was shot in the neck in the driveway of his Keilor
home on December 28, 2002.
He recovered and fled to
Queensland for several months.
 On
March
1, 2007, Melbourne's underworld war was reignited
on talkback radio as Judy
Moran's comments prompted a furious backlash from killer Carl
Williams' wife Roberta.
Mrs Moran (left) told Southern Cross
Broadcasting she wanted the death penalty for Williams.
"I think we'd like to bring Bolte's
government back and I think I'd like to be the hangman and I'd like to
pull the lever,'' Mrs Moran said.
Mrs
Moran protested the decision not to pursue prosecutions against
Williams for the murders of Mark Moran and Barbaro, whom she painted as
an innocent victim.
"Was little Pat Barbaro a part of
any ... drug war? I don't think so,'' Mrs Moran said.
She said she felt no satisfaction from Williams' confession and
guilty pleas and she criticised the deal which "cleared the
slate" for Williams.
"It is like shopping in the Myer basement: discounted jail
sentences for murders," she told ABC radio.
"He's a multi-murderer, I mean there's so much gone on and no
I don't feel any vindication of what's happened that he's pleading
guilty to these murders."
The underworld widow then recounted her
sole encounter with Williams as the pair crossed paths in Melbourne's
court precinct in 2003.
"He was gloating and Cheshire
catting. He had (now dead) Andrew Veniamin
and Roberta and his child with him and they were talking about the big
christening that was going to happen ... $150,000 they paid for that,''
she said.
"I walked up behind him and I dug my
nails in the back of his shoulder and he turned around.
"I said: 'Tell them the truth Carl.
Tell them how much you paid to have my family murdered'.''
According to Mrs Moran, the killer threw
his hands in the air claiming the encounter was a "set-up'' before
storming away.
Mrs Moran's comments, especially her
description of Barbaro who was slain alongside Jason
Moran, appeared to
infuriate Roberta Williams.
Mrs Williams rang 3AW to contradict Mrs
Moran's description of Barbaro.
"He was a drug runner for the Moran
family transporting amphetamines from Melbourne to Perth,'' she said.
At one point, according to Mrs Williams,
Barbaro was imprisoned in Perth and was left to do jail time there with
"no financial help for himself or his family by Jason or his
brother'', Mrs Williams said.
"Judy should get facts right and
help publish the truth instead of getting on air and in papers and
magazine and whatever and telling the public lies.''
But Mrs Williams was less forthcoming
when asked about her husband's role in the three killings he has pleaded
guilty to, and the one he has been found guilty of.
"I've no idea. I have no comment at
all to make because I have no idea at all,'' she said.
Brilliant Bulletin investigative
journalist, Adam Shand, published a
story which also referred to the possibility that other members of
Carl's family were implicated in some of the gangland killings and
that he maybe able to assist police in uncovering the extent to which he
was protected by corrupt detectives.
Following are edited extracts
from the Bulletin's March 1, 2007 issue.
Similar articles by Shand
can be found at his 'Bluestone' page....
Now that gangland killer Carl Williams has confessed to murder,
he might also cough up the names of the police who had been
protecting him.
Bluestone can reveal exclusively that as Williams
awaited trial
for the slaying of Jason
Moran, the Purana Taskforce
was turning up the heat on the rest of the crime clan, once the
most feared in Melbourne.
The substance of the discussions was this.
Either Carl would
plead guilty or his father George Williams would be charged with
the murder over the killings of Nikolai "The Russian"
Radev in 2003 and Lewis Moran in 2004.
Carl's estranged wife
Roberta would also be charged over Lewis Moran's murder.
Other
family members would be charged with conspiracy, perverting the
course of justice etc, etc.
In addition, Williams
would spend the entirety of his sentence in 23-hour lockdown in
the Acacia Unit of Barwon Jail.
And if, by a miracle, Williams
had beat the Moran charge, Purana
would have simply moved onto the next charge.
At least three
people, including the man who drove the getaway car, had fingered
Williams as the mastermind behind the
Radev killing on a Coburg
street.
Williams and his father George were alleged to have lured
Radev to the killing ground on the pretext of meeting an
amphetamine cook.
Andrew
Veniamin, then Williams' hatchet
man, despatched
Radev in a hail of lead.
The cops or the screws
had also put the emotional squeeze on Williams.
Inside a Christmas
card from Carl, Roberta says she discovered transcripts of
conversations between her husband and other women.
Divorce
proceedings were instituted.
Through all this, only Williams'
parents stayed by his side unconditionally.
As the trial date
loomed this year, Williams still was trying to delay his day in
court.
In the end it came down to a heartfelt discussion between
father and son. George Williams told Bluestone that he told his
son he could not advise him to accept "the deal" even if
it meant that Williams Senior would stay out jail.
There's no
certainty that the police can, or will, honour such agreements,
but it seemed the best option in a relative kind of way. Getting
into the mainstream of the prison might feel like a return to
earth from outer space after the Acacia unit.
Now that
Williams has nothing left to lose, perhaps he will cease to
protect the corrupt police officers who helped him to run the
business from the mid-1990s.
From his tiny cell, Williams still
might shake the foundations of the city. When his infant daughter
is old enough to know the history, she might say her Dad did the
right thing after all.
On March 2, 2007, the Age reported that a gangland organiser turned informer
was
certain Carl Williams would have him
killed in jail.
A judge said the man, who she jailed for
his crucial role in an underworld execution, was convinced Williams
or an associate would murder him.
Justice Betty King told the informer, who
cannot be identified: "You believe no amount of protective custody
can assist you to prevent it happening."
The informer supplied the shotgun used to
kill Jason Moran.
He also told Williams
where to find Moran, and provided him with
an alibi for the time of the murder.
But the informer, known as a "black
sheep" in his family, eventually made statements to police about
his involvement in the Moran murder and organised crime.
The 14 statements involved numerous crime
figures, violence and drug dealing, Justice King said last September in
jailing the informer for 23 years.
On March 2, 2007, the Herald Sun carried a
story which stated that
informers had implicated the
estranged wife and the father of Carl
Williams in several gangland murders.
Roberta
Williams had been quizzed several months before by Purana taskforce
detectives over a plot to kill Lewis
Moran, using a gun smuggled into prison.
Police confirmed they would
interview another person over the Moran
slaying.
And at least one informer had
promised to give evidence against George Williams about the
murders of Mark, Jason
and Lewis Moran, and against
Roberta for incitement to murder Lewis
Moran.
George Williams told the
Herald Sun he played no part in his son's crimes.
"I don't know if I will be
charged, I don't know if I won't be charged," the grandfather
said.
"I have been interviewed about
that much stuff I don't know what is going on.
"I'm sitting here grieving.
I'm not too well . . . I just want things to settle down, and I
want to get over it."
The informers made their
allegations in statements that were tendered to the Supreme Court
during their plea hearings.
They all received discounted
sentences in return for helping to solve some of the underworld
slayings.
Neither Roberta nor George Williams
have been charged.
The mother of four is soon to
divorce her spouse, but declared that she was still in
love with him.
A member of the extended Williams
family is among those who turned against him in the past three
years.
Known only as Mr Y, the man didn't
even know Williams until they met in prison around 2000.
He was later recruited to join in a
murder conspiracy, but decided to pull out at the last minute.
After his arrest, he struck a plea
bargain and made several statements against Williams, receiving a
three-year suspended term for his part in the murder conspiracy.
Mr Y said in a statement that an
associate of Williams told him that the rest of the Williams
family knew of the murder conspiracy.
"The only other people I
thought might be involved in the plan . . . were Roberta Williams
and George Williams," he told police.
"I believe that Roberta knew
because of conversations I had with her.
"I believe that George was
involved in the plan . . . because he was at the lunch on the
first meeting."
Another informer, known as the
'Runner' told police that George Williams was at the 2003
meeting where the Michael Marshall murder was planned.
George Williams said he knew of the
informer's claims and did not dispute that he was present at the
fast food outlet that day.
"So were a lot of other
people, I suppose. I didn't know about no plan.
"I know nothing about the
conversation," he said.
On March 3, 2007, it was reported that detectives expected to
interview another suspect over the execution of Lewis
Moran.
A new count of murder would bring to six those
who have either been jailed or charged, or pleaded guilty to the Moran
murder.
In other news, the Director of Public Prosecutions,
Paul Coghlan, QC — the man who authorised the deals with
criminal figures that forced Carl
Williams to plead guilty, said the underworld code of silence had
been smashed.
Mr Coghlan told The Age that
more major crimes would be solved as career gangsters agreed to
give evidence. "We are already seeing the results in other
cases."
Mr Coghlan said: "The culture
in the underworld has changed. We have, for at least the
foreseeable future, broken the model that there is honour among
thieves. This week has been the biggest week there has been for
law enforcement in the state of Victoria."
Mr Coghlan said the deals with some
of the figures in Melbourne's underworld war had taken years to
negotiate — and the admissions forced Williams to plead guilty.
Mr Coghlan said he would not
negotiate with killers if they could provide evidence against
those who ordered the murders. But Chief Crown Prosecutor, Geoff
Horgan, SC, said that while deals would be done, it would always
be judges in open court who decided jail terms. "There is no
plea bargaining involving judges. We do not do that in Victoria.
It has not happened."
In this case, prosecutors would not
push for a life sentence with no minimum, conceding that Williams
is entitled to a non-parole period.
"Here is a man who could have
kept us in court for five years. It would have cost millions of
dollars. I think it was necessary to take a pragmatic
approach," Mr Coghlan said.
"I was conscious through all
of this that there would be a day where I would have to say in
public that I take responsibility for what we have done and I do.
It goes with the job."
Mr Coghlan admitted to offering an
inducement to one of Williams' men
who was involved in four killings. "When he was taken out of
jail he wanted a vanilla slice. I don't think that would
constitute a bribe."
 On March 5, 2007, Roberta
Williams appeared
briefly at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on seven charges including
driving while suspended, speeding, failing to indicate and using a
mobile phone while driving.
Her son from a previous marriage,
Tye Stephens (pictured left walking behind his mother), also faced the same court on unrelated
drugs charges.
Both cases were adjourned.
On March 6, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that
police and prosecutors hoped Carl Williams
would help
solve the murder of a police informer and his wife.
They believed Williams
could tell them about the execution of Terry
and Christine Hodson in the hope it could reduce his sentence
over three other murders.
A former drug squad detective, who
was Hodson's police handler, was
sacked after being accused of criminal behaviour with the informer
and theft of confidential police files.
Another sacked detective is serving
at least 12 years' jail over a $1.3 million drug theft with Hodson.
Director of Public Prosecutions
Paul Coghlan, QC, said it was important the Hodson
murders were solved.
"Any unsolved murders,
particularly any that might involve corruption in the police
force, we're very anxious to solve."
Mr Coghlan said Williams'
degree of co-operation could help reduce his sentence.
"We're happy to receive as
much co-operation as we possibly can, " he said.
"But as the thing stands, we
don't actually have anything. He's got to decide. The ball's in
his court. He knows the areas we're interested in.
"From our point of view, the
rules are the more he co-operates the better he'll do on
sentence."
Mr Coghlan said the judge who will
sentence Williams -- Justice Betty
King -- had made it clear in previous gangland cases that degree
of co-operation was a major sentencing feature.
The Hodsons
were killed in their Kew home on May 16, 2004.
Terry Hodson's
drug squad handlers until the previous year were Det-Sgt
Paul Noel Dale and Sen-Det David Miechel.
All three were charged with the
Grand Final Day theft of drugs worth $1.3 million from an East
Oakleigh house about to be raided by police. (More)
Hodson
and Sen-Det Miechel were arrested at the scene after neigbours
alerted police. Hodson denied
Det-Sgt Dale was involved, but later implicated him in the theft.
Det-Sgt Dale was charged in
December 2003, but the case against him collapsed with the death
of Hodson and the case didn't proceed.
Miechel was convicted of charges
including burglary and commercial drug trafficking and jailed for
at least 12 years.
Dale was sacked, but successfully
appealed to the Supreme Court and later resigned.
On March 13, 2007,
the Herald Sun "revealed" that a state Labour MP gave
character evidence for an associate of Carl
Williams.
At least two
stories relating to this matter were published by
AAP in May 2001.
The Herald Sun
belatedly reported that Telmo Languiller, gave character
evidence during an earlier bail application by Walter
Foletti and his nephew saying that the pair had established good reputations in
Melbourne's close-knit Uruguayan community.
Telmo Languiller, now a parliamentary secretary to Premier
Steve Bracks, gave the evidence in a 2001 bail application, about 18 months before he was
appointed as a parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs after November's election.
Mr Languiller climbed the Labor ranks through the union
movement, and was a senior adviser to disgraced former federal
Labor MP Andrew Theophanous from 1996 to 1999.
He did not return calls from the Herald Sun.
A state government spokeswoman said giving evidence in open
court was something community leaders were called on to do and
was part of the court process.
"Such statements are tendered in the context of there
being charges before the court," spokeswoman Louise Perry
said.
In an interview on with Adam
Shand on Channel 9's Sunday program (aired on March 18,
2007),celebrity gangster Mark
"Chopper" Read said that "the Italians"
were the real winners in Melbourne's gangland wars. Read
said that Carl
Williams may have the score on the board, but
ultimately he is the loser and named the real winner of the war as
Mick
Gatto.
"Mick Gatto's got more brains (than
Williams)," Read said.
"He was sitting there playing chess
quietly."
Gatto had earlier beaten a charge of murder
and is now free and running a crane company.
In his interview, Read says Gatto used
Italian criminal philosophy, which in such
situations is usually superior to the
Australian version.
"Italians are prepared to lose 20 or 30
people in a gangland war in order to
ultimately win it," he said.
"Whereas Australians ... when in doubt,
shoot everybody."
Read also criticised Williams' choice of
hitmen.
"He (Williams) must be in his cell now
wondering what possessed him to hire these
knuckleheads, these junkies, these dogs and
these scumbags to go and do these killings
for him," he said.
"Now they're dobbing each other in,
whereas the Italians have stuck staunch and
haven't said a word."
On March 27, 2007, Magistrate Jane Patrick committed
Evangelos "Ange" Goussis to stand trial on a charge of murdering
Lewis Moran.
A witness, known only as "C" who has been jailed for the crime, said in a statement that Goussis shot Moran and that another man, who is now terminally ill, shot
Wrout.
Goussis, one of five gangland figures to have been charged over the shooting, pleaded not guilty to murdering Moran and was discharged on a count of attempting to murder
Wrout.
Witness C, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court via video-link during Goussis' two-day committal hearing.
The witness, a gangland double murderer, told the court that "bad blood" between he and Lewis Moran had contributed to the killing.
He said that he phoned Moran to ask "if he had a problem with me" before being told to "fuck off" and that after the brief conversation his mind was made up and he decided to accept a contract to kill him.
The contract had been offered by Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams.
Mokbel wanted Moran dead because the crime group known as the 'Carlton Crew', of which Moran was a member, had bashed him in late 2002, witness C said in his police statement.
Stephen Sherrifs SC, for Goussis, called witness C a liar who had given several versions of his story to police.
When Mr Sherrifs asked the witness to recall the events leading up to the execution of Moran he said that he had spoken to Carl Williams who phoned him shortly before the shooting of Williams' right hand man Andrew Veniamin on March 3, 2004.
Witness C said that a meeting then took place between himself, Williams, Mokbel and Goussis in the car park of Bridie O'Reilly's Hotel in Brunswick.
He said Williams asked him if he knew anyone interested in killing Moran and that the hit was worth $150,000.
Witness C said that Williams had asked him if there was any friction between he and the 'Carlton Crew'.
He said that he told Williams he had been dirty on some members of the crime group particularly Lewis Moran but especially
Jason Moran.
Witness C said he felt this way as a result of the 1998 murder of Lygon St crime boss and Carlton Crew leader,
Alphonse Gangitano for which many believed Jason Moran to have been responsible.
Witness C also said that he had been told that members of the Carlton Crew had put out a contract on his life and he had decided to phone Lewis Moran for some verification.
He said that Moran was less than forthcoming and launched into an expletive laden verbal tirade.
Witness C also told police that standover man Nik "The Russian" Radev had accepted a contract to kill Carlton Crew boss
Mick Gatto.
However, Radev was shot dead before he could carry it out.
Witness C said in a statement that Mr Gatto had taken offence that he didn't inform him sooner of a rumour that Radev, who was killed in April 2003, had agreed to kill the former boxer.
"Because of this situation I was deemed to be an enemy of Mick and his friends. In my heart I was never his enemy," the hired killer said.
He said that he requested another meeting with Williams shortly after Andrew Veniamin was murdered because he was worried that there would be surveillance on underworld identities and that the contract may have been jeopardised.
Witness C said he and Goussis then met Williams and Mokbel at the Grove Cafe in Brunswick where they were assured that it was safe to go ahead with the murder.
Witness C said that a week after Moran's death, Williams rang and told him: "Good one, mate. You have 150,000 reasons to smile."
He later met Mokbel and was handed $140,000 in an envelope from the boot of the millionaire's car and told there was "more business there if you want it".
The missing $10,000 was never paid.
 On
March 28, 2007, Roberta Williams turned heads in court with a shock new hairdo.
The convicted drug trafficker had shaved her head.
"I did a Britney Spears," she told the Herald Sun.
But Williams said her inspiration was not the erratic pop star but her sister Sharon.
"My sister's got cancer. She's really sick," she said.
A friend cut her hair during a recent fundraising campaign, towards which Williams says she raised almost $6000.
"It feels weird. It's cold," she said of her new crop.
Roberta wore a beanie to Melbourne Magistrates' Court to support Carl Williams.
Roberta exchanged smiles with Williams, who sat in the prisoner's dock surrounded by security staff.
Although the pair are divorcing, Roberta remains a supporter.
The court was told that Williams was awaiting Legal Aid funding so psychological reports could be prepared for a plea hearing set down for April 27.
Roberta plans to attend the plea hearing.
On April 11, 2007, George Williams gave
evidence at the trial of a police officer accused of stealing more than $7000
from his bank account.
The policeman, 45-year-old Barry Joseph Gipp, is accused of stealing George
Williams' Commonwealth Bank passbook from his home during a police search and
then withdrawing the money from it the following day.
Money was withdrawn from the Commonwealth Bank account on three occasions the
day after his arrest and while he was still in custody, the jury was
told.
Gipp has pleaded not guilty to charges including theft.
Prosecutor John Champion SC says Gipp was one of several police officers
involved in a search of George Williams' home on November 25, 1999.
Just prior to that George and son Carl Williams were arrested at another
property on suspicion of being involved in the manufacture of drugs.
Mr Champion says during the search Gipp was seen
by other police officers searching near a dressing table where Mr Williams' bank
book was kept.
The following day $7500 was withdrawn from Mr Williams' account at three
separate banks in the city over a period of about 30 minutes.
Gipps' lawyer Brett Young told the court his client admitted being one of about
nine police officers who searched the house that day. But he denies stealing the
passbook or withdrawing the cash from Mr Williams' account.
On April 12, 2007, George Williams
denied fabricating bank withdrawals to gain an advantage over police when
returned to the witness box in the trial of Barry Gipp.
Mr Williams said he did not fabricate the withdrawals or get anyone else to
do so.
The withdrawal slips used to allegedly milk George Williams' account carried
what were purported to be George Williams' signature but he says he did not sign
them.
Det-Sgt Gipp has pleaded not guilty to theft and three counts each of
obtaining property by deception, making a false document and using a false
document.
On
April 26, 2007, Detective Sergeant Barry Joseph Gipp was cleared of stealing a bank
the passbook.
George Williams had given evidence that during the search he saw an unidentified
person standing at his dressing table and looking at his bankbook.
On
April 26, 2007, a website set up as a tribute to Carl Williams, glorifying drugs, was removed
from the internet.
The Herald Sun viewed the page before it
was deleted.
Authorities feared it could have been set up by
Williams' supporters.
Commenting on the web page, a Corrections
Victoria spokeswoman said prisoner Williams had not created it and never had
access to it.
"Victorian prisoners do not have access to
the internet," the spokeswoman confirmed.
"We are opposed to any websites that glorify
criminals or criminal activity."
A message in place of the web page
stated: "This user has either cancelled their membership or their account
has been deleted."
 On
April 27, 2007, Carl
Williams took the witness stand in the Supreme Court, sitting at the County
Court, after Roberta Williams was almost ejected by security staff and Purana Taskforce
detectives.
Williams appeared before Justice Betty King for a
plea hearing.
After years of speculation, he revealed who had pulled the trigger in
Gladstone Park in October 1999 that, in turn, triggered the Melbourne's bloody
underworld feud.
"I was shot in the stomach," he said. "Jason shot me, Jason
Moran shot me."
Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, Williams told the court
that the shooting and his hatred for the Moran family led to him organising the
killing of he and his father Lewis.
Williams said that Jason
Moran had goaded him by saying, "let's see who gets who first,"
while it is gangland folklore that Williams once said to Moran, "I took the
bullet you put in me and put it in your brother," referring to the June
2000 murder of Jason's half-brother Mark.
Police believe Williams was responsible for up to 10 deaths,
including that of Mark Moran.
Detailing his involvement in open court for the first time,
Williams said that in "a perfect world" Jason
Moran would have been murdered somewhere other than the Cross Keys Reserve
in Pascoe Vale where young children, including Moran's, were playing football.
To which Justice Betty King replied: "In a perfect world, perhaps (you)
wouldn't have killed him."
Williams also denied organising the torture and disposal of Mark
Mallia, the disposal of his body or paying anyone to carry out any of the
killings which Justice King said was "inconceivable".
He said that he
wanted Mallia dead after hearing that he
believed Williams was behind another murder and was seeking revenge. That
murder was the shooting death of Bulgarian born gangster Nikolai
Radev in April 2003. Mallia was close to
Radev and was believed to have been his body guard. Police
strongly suspect that Williams' former right hand man Andrew
Veniamin was the shooter in the Radev hit while a Williams gang member, who
cannot be named, has claimed he drove Veniamin to a street in Coburg where the
Bulgarian was gunned down.
The court heard Mallia had been strangled after being lured to a meeting,
bound and gagged then possibly tortured with a soldering iron.
Williams also spoke of drinking heavily and using crack cocaine which made
him paranoid.
He said he had been taking sleeping tablets "sometimes, all of the
time" as he lived in fear for his own life and that of his family at the
hands of the Morans, who had said: "Don't fuck with us, Look what we done
to Alphonse (Gangitano)" – referring
to the murder of the standover man in 1998 - We're working with the police, we
virtually have a licence to do anything."
Williams claimed that the Morans said they were dealing amphetamines with
disgraced drug squad detective Wayne Strawhorn.
Williams said Jason Moran even rang him in hospital after he shot him and
said: "Next time, you won't be so lucky."
He also expressed his regret for what had taken place and said that he wanted
to turn his life around.
"I wish none of this had of happened, but unfortunately it did," he
said of the city's gangland war. "I wish I never got shot."
"Every day is the same down there," he said. "It's like Groundhog
Day."
Roberta Williams earlier gave Carl a stern ultimatum and swore in the court prior to the judge arriving at the
bench.
A court security officer warned her to remain quiet or she would
be removed from the court. Roberta was seated in front of the dock
when she tapped on the glass separating Carl Williams from the courtroom and told her
husband that he had to choose
between his daughter and Renata Laureano.
As Miss Laureano arrived with Williams' parents, George and
Barb, for the court date, Ms Williams screamed abuse and threats at her calling
her a "trashy whore."
Roberta Williams' contempt for her ex was made clear when she
later said that their daughter has to live in misery forever "because of
that dog behind the glass".
Williams mouthed words at her, flicked his hand across in a go-away gesture.
He mouthed "shut up", but she didn't. She glared at her love rival.
Her mouth turned down in a scowl as tears, or screams, threatened.
She shook, pulled tortured faces and repeatedly swung her head back to give
Williams another burst.
When the court adjourned and Justice Betty King left, she rounded on Ms
Laureano.
"You sad? You sad?" Ms Williams snarled.
"You're gonna have a great relationship.
"Don't go near my daughter," she warned.
Miss Laureano was led away by detectives from the Purana
taskforce, but Roberta Williams continued her abuse outside the courtroom and
onto the street for all, including a huge media contingent and several police
officers, to see. Roberta Williams told Miss Laureano to "stay away from
my daughter and stop buying her presents," before calling her a "piece
of fucking carnage" and saying "you're going to have a fun
relationship behind a piece of glass." Wearing a yellow
beanie that hid her recently shaved cranium, Roberta
screamed that Barb Williams wanted Carl to be with anyone but her. Williams'
parents, who separated Miss Laureano and Roberta, were also told their son
"destroyed my daughter's life", before Roberta Williams informed the
couple that they would never see their granddaughter again...."ever." Cameramen
were targeted by Roberta's son, Tye, and another man while security staff kept a
close eye. Judy
Moran, dressed in black and still mourning her husband and two sons, also called
Williams "evil" in court.
Ten News reported that she took the stand to read out her victim impact
statement which began, "Carl Williams, the evil person that you are,"
before she was cut off by Justice King.
"You have all but destroyed me, ripped out my heart," she said.
"My biggest regret is I never got to say goodbye to my family."
Mrs Moran later told the assembled media that the horrific period of her life
"will come to the closing chapter when the sentence is served...And when I
have my say a bit later."
"I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to my family. They're not
breathing but he (Carl Williams) is," she added.
In an exclusive, the Herald Sun reported that Carl Williams hoped a blonde brigade was waiting
for him at the hearing and that he had warned Roberta not to be jealous.
In a letter sent to Roberta, he boasts that "I can still pull 'em even while I'm in
jail".
"They say that I'm with a girl 17 years your
junior, & you'd have to agree even though I'm not with her, in the pictures
she looks hot and stunning, every media person & person that I know has said
that, not bad am I."
But rather than feeling anxious about his
sentencing -- which could land him in prison for life -- Williams is preoccupied
with the women in his life.
In his misspelt and error-riddled letter to
37-year-old Roberta, which is circulating in underworld circles, he tells her
not to cause trouble for them or try to take the media limelight away from them.
"Bert it's none of your business who I am
seeing, & you will not cause trouble for any of the girls who I'm seeing,
your simply in no position to do so, surely you couldn't disagree with
that," he writes.
He also warns Roberta not to take their daughter
out of the country and says he has taken steps to stop her.
"Don't even try taking my daughter out of
this country without my permission. I have a lot of . . . people willing to help
me, I will not let you take my daughter anywhere out of the country without my
consent, if you ask you shall receive, please don't you ever try treating me
like a goose as I deserve better."
The Williams' relationship is said to be over and
Roberta has been linked with two other men since he was jailed.
Roberta said she had recently split
from a new man in her life who had helped her convert to Islam.
She told the Herald Sun of her undying love for
Williams and said she would be at his plea hearing to support him.
Williams is adamant she should stay away from the
other women in his life at today's court hearing.
"I dare say you wouldn't like someone taking
all the media attention away from you, there will be more than one female coming
to my plea to support me, so if you do come, please don't say anything to ANY of
them."
Williams says he doesn't love Roberta any more,
but he still cares for her and wants to remain friends.
"I will be in here for 30-35 more years,
& I'd like to be able to keep in contact with the people who I feel are
close to me & have supported me through some hard times in my life . . .
"I will never forget you for that, even
though you just kicked me to the kirb in the past few months."
Roberta confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
She said she had received a subsequent letter
from Williams telling her how much he loved her. But she said she was still
contemplating leaving the country with her daughter despite his warnings.
"I will always be there for him. We have a
bond," she said. "They only want to write to him because of who he is.
"All the glitz and glamour of hanging off
the arm of a gangster. Look at what comes in the end.
"They think they're great but see how they
go when the chips are down. It infuriates me."
She said the only appeal Williams had was his
notoriety.
"Why else would you want Carl Williams?
"If Carl was a nobody and wore Target
clothes, who would want him?
"They like the glitz and glamour of the
gangster life."
Senior Crown prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said
Williams bore great animosity towards the Moran brothers after being shot and
had "counselled and procured" others to carry out the murders. He said
Williams and fugitive drug boss Tony Mokbel had short-changed one hitman $10,000
for the $150,000 murder of Lewis Moran.
The Herald Sun and other media have asked for permission to record Carl
Williams' sentence when it is handed down so it can be broadcast.
Justice King will rule on the application at a
later date.
On
April 29, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Roberta Williams had accused
her ex-husband Carl of cheating on
her with other women for a decade.
An emotional Ms Williams revealed
the previous day what
sparked her tirade on the murderer, his family and his blonde friend Renata
Laureano at the County Court.
She said her heart was broken and accused
Williams of ruining her life and leaving her an emotional wreck.
"I hate him right now. I hope he rots in
hell to tell you the truth," she said.
In a wide-ranging interview Ms Williams revealed
she:
PUSHED ahead with a divorce from Williams against
his wishes.
WAS broke and sometimes struggled to feed her
children.
DREAMED of having a childcare job, but realised
people would not want to employ her.
RECEIVED a letter from the killer this week in
which he said he felt sorry for her and realised she had been through "a
fair bit".
SHAVED her head to raise money for cancer
research.
She said Williams had constantly had affairs
throughout their relationship and marriage.
"Carl has had women for the last 10 years
behind my back," she said.
"I used to cry myself to sleep."
Her anger exploded after years of hurt,
she said.
"I am not a psycho. People have to
understand my heart is broken," she said.
"I expressed my hurt with aggression."
Ms Williams said she did not know whether she
will ever visit her former husband in jail.
"That's going to take a lot of
thought."
 On
April 30, 2007, Carl Williams denied making cash payments for any of the four murders to which he has
pleaded guilty and claimed that his plea came only after police told him his
father and former wife could face charges.
He also said he did not offer to pay the three
men arrested during an alleged foiled attempt to murder Carlton Crew boss Mario
Condello.
Williams gave evidence at his pre-sentence
hearing at the Supreme Court for the murder of three underworld figures between June 2003 and March 2004.
Although he had pleaded guilty to all of the killings, he
claimed the pleas came after police had introduced an "element of
blackmail."
According to Williams, if he had not made the
guilty pleas his father was going to be charged with the murder of Nik Radev and his wife would have been charged
with incitement to murder.
Looking healthy, considerably slimmer and wearing
a grey suit and pink shirt, Williams told the Supreme Court that he had offered
discount priced drugs for the murder of Lewis Moran
but "didn't offer any money".
He also said he not not paid cash to anyone
involved in the murders of Jason
Moran, Mark Mallia or Michael
Marshall and added that he didn't recommend the Cross Keys football ground
for the shooting of Moran.
Williams told the court that he wanted for the murder to happen "a.s.a.p"
but didn't want it to happen in front of children.
He had met the man entrusted with carrying out the Jason Moran hit on the
night before the murder but said that the location for Moran's planned demise
had not been discussed.
"It wouldn't bother me....anywhere," Williams told the court when
asked where he wished for Jason Moran to be shot.
"I didn't know he was gonna turn up to Auskick. If he (Moran) was gonna
turn up, it was up to (name suppressed) what happened. I didn't know it was
going to happen that morning but if he turned up I was hopeful he would be
killed."
Williams said he spoke to Lewis Caine shortly
before Lewis Moran was killed in March 2004 but
said he had no contact with one of the men who has admitted to killing the Moran
family patriarch in the days before the shooting.
That man, whose name has been suppressed, has claimed that he spoke to
Williams several times before the Lewis Moran murder and was offered money to
carry out the task.
Williams claims that the convicted killer had approached Lewis Caine to see
if he wanted the job done.
"Lewis Caine asked me if I'd like Lewis
Moran murdered and I said 'yes'," Williams told the court.
"He said would you put any money in to it
and I said, 'no'."
Williams said that Caine then told him that the
murder was going to happen anyway and that he was "getting money from
elsewhere."
Caine then asked if he would give him cheap drugs if
the hit was completed.
Williams agreed and said that he gave Caine over
two pounds of amphetamines at $25,000 a pound rather than at his usual price of
between $35,000 and $40,000 saying that the death of Lewis Moran was "in
our best interests".
He said that he gave varying amounts of amphetamines to Caine on several
occasions after Moran was shot.
Williams also claimed he did not know of any role
by Tony Mokbel in the murders
of Lewis Moran
or Michael
Marshall.
He then spoke of the killing of western suburbs drug dealer Mark
Mallia.
"Me and Andrew Veniamin agreed to do
the murder," Williams said.
He told the court that he then "got together" with Veniamin,
Alfonso Traglia and another man, whose name is suppressed, "but I didn't tell
anyone to do it".
Williams claimed two of the men had killed Nik Radev
and that Mallia, a friend a bodyguard of Radev's, was believed to be gunning for
Williams and his associates.
He said that Willie Thompson had paid
Traglia to kill Radev.
The murder was carried out by Traglia and the un-named Williams associate
and, in turn, Mallia had killed Thompson.
"It was my belief he (Mallia) was coming after us. We were seen as a
group, not a single person," Williams told the court.
Justice Betty King said William's claims differed
from facts already agreed by he and the prosecution.
She warned the prosecution that "it came
close to traversing his plea''.
Williams'
lawyer pleaded with Justice King not to impose a life sentence on his client.
David Ross QC asked that the
penalty handed down to Williams would not be crushing and said that he "should
be able to walk out of prison some day and not leave in a box".
Justice King agreed that Williams' guilty pleas
saved the state millions of dollars and a series of trials which she believed
would have lasted at least five years if he had contested the charges but she
questioned Williams' remorse as he continually blamed his foot soldiers, saying
the murders were "in all our best interests.".
Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said Williams had
demonstrated no remorse, and had a cavalier disregard for the truth.
"His evidence was mendacious and his mode of
presentation was arrogant," he said.
Mr Ross said his client regretted the terrible
things that had happened but believed at the time it was "kill or be
killed".
 On
May 4, 2007, Justice Betty King (right) refused to allow the sentencing of Carl Williams to be
filmed.
Several media organisations had applied to have a
television camera in the courtroom to film Justice King delivering her
sentence and for extracts to be used in news reports.
But Justice King said while the court
encouraged openness and transparency in its proceedings, she believed
broadcasting extracts of a judge delivering a sentence would do little to
further this.
She also said this could turn the spotlight on
the judge rather than where it belonged, on the criminality involved and the
sentence being imposed.
She said it would be a tragedy if the "cult
of personality" was attached to the role of a judge.
Justin Quill, a lawyer representing several media organisations, previously told the court Williams' sentencing would represent
the final chapter of one of the greatest law and order problems in Victoria.
He said the proper, detailed and thorough
reporting of the sentence had the potential to increase the public's confidence
in the judicial system.
Williams' barrister David Ross QC, opposed the
application.
The Herald Sun reported
that on
May 6, 2007, Roberta Williams taunted crime clan rival Judy Moran on the eve of
her estranged husband's sentencing for three underworld killings.
"Regardless of what he gets, he's still alive," Ms Williams told the Herald Sun.
"I can still kiss him hello on jail visits, and I can sit and talk to him. She'll never put her arms
around Lewis or her sons again."
Despite her taunt, Roberta Williams said she would not confront Judy Moran at court
when Carl's sentence was handed down --
or anyone else there to support Williams.
"I don't really care. My priority is to go there to support Carl and that's
it," she said.
Ms Williams said she would stand by her husband and felt indifferent towards his
friend, Renata Laureano.
"I do have a daughter to him and her future lies in his sentencing," she said.
"I do love him, my love hasn't changed."
She expected high drama at the Supreme Court.
"It's going to be devastating but I want to be there for him," she said.
She believed her husband would want her there, but declined to say whether she had heard
from Williams in recent days.
She expected Williams to accept his sentence with typical bravado.
"That's Carl. What you see is what you get. At least he's still alive."
She said Ms Moran could cut her flowers in her garden and visit her slain loved ones'
graves, but would never again see their faces.
Ms Moran did not return calls.
Williams would put on a brave face for the sentencing, his father George said.
Mr Williams and estranged wife Barbara visited their son at Barwon Prison's maximum
security Acacia unit on the weekend.
"Hopefully he can see the light of day," he said.
Mr Williams said his son was hoping to maintain a bond with his six-year-old daughter,
Dhakota.
He said Dhakota was aware her father was likely to face a long prison term.
"She's got an idea. She's not a dumb kid," he said.
"They know everything that's going on. Carl's worried.
"He will be 60 or 70 when he gets out. Hopefully he will keep that bond with her.
"If me or his mother can last 30 years we'll be here for him, but I doubt it very
much."
On
May 7, 2007, Carl Williams received three
life prison terms for the cold blooded murders of
four underworld figures meaning he will spend at least the
next 35 years behind bars.
Williams, who
smiled at mother Barbara, father George and Renata Laureano as Justice
Betty King delivered her verdict at 12.30pm, will
be 71 years old when he is eligible for parole.
The
baby-faced
killer pleaded guilty to the murders of Lewis
Moran, Jason Moran and
Mark Mallia.
Williams
entered
the courtroom dressed in a grey suit, white shirt
and pink tie.
Seated behind a glass partition, he
smiled and joked with his family sitting in front
of him.
High security
surrounded the packed courtroom, with those in
the gallery required to provide identification
and were searched before entering.
Justice Betty
King
said Williams was "a killer and a cowardly
one" and "the puppet master who
controlled whether people lived or died".
Justice King
said
while Williams did not pull the trigger in any of
the three murders for which he was convicted, his
role as "procurer and organiser" was
considered even more heinous.
"I do not
accept in any way that all the people involved
(in the murders) were enthusiastic
volunteers," she said.
Despite
pleading
guilty to each of the charges, Williams
continually lied on the stand to distance himself
from the murders, Justice King said.
"You
were a most unsatisfactory witness, incapable of
telling the truth ... it is my belief that you
view of all these murders was that they were justifiable."
Justice King
said
Williams was highly responsible for the gangland
war which claimed 29 lives on the streets of
Melbourne.
She described the murderous
tit-for-tat underworld war was "an
extraordinary time in the history of this
city in
that there was an almost unprecedented level of very public
murders" and in which "gangland executions
were carried out on the streets of Melbourne in
front of shocked men and women."
In sentencing
Williams, Justice King said "You have no real or genuine remorse for the victims of your crimes, only remorse that you
have been caught and lost your liberty."
"The only appropriate sentence for the three
murders is life imprisonment," she told the
packed court.
"The evidence that you gave, in the main was unbelievable, even incredible at times. It
was, in my view, designed to ensure that it would provide no evidence against any person
other than others who are already dead, convicted or have pleaded guilty to various
offences.
"I consider you a most unsatisfactory witness virtually incapable of telling the truth ... I
find the manner in which you gave evidence was arrogant, almost supercilious and you left
with me the strong impression that your view of all of these murders was that they were all
really justifiable and you were the real victim, having been forced to
admit at least some
of your involvement.
"You do not get to be judge, jury and executioner. These are not vigilante killings, they
were matters of expediency to you. Your reasons for killing were not justifiable; you acted
as though it was your right to have these people killed."
"In terms of the chain of command I find that you were at the top of the chain of command.
"You were indeed the puppet master deciding and controlling whether people lived or died.
"Whilst you were a suspect and being referred to in the media it was apparent that you were
enjoying the game of "being famous".
"I have a concern that some younger members of the community who are involved in petty crime
may be looking to you as some sort of hero. You are not, you are a killer, and a cowardly
one who employed others to do the actual killing."
Roberta Williams was
not in court for the sentencing and sat crying
outside as the verdict was read.
After the
sentence was announced, his mother Barbara
was ejected from the court for abusing the judge.
She said:
"You are a puppet for corruption, you are a
puppet of (anti-gangland task force) Purana, you
don't deserve your wig and your gown".
Her outburst
followed an unsuccessful attempt by Williams to
make a statement from the dock.
He continued the
attempt as he was led from the dock.
"We've almost treated him (Carl Williams) as a B-grade movie actor,
(both) him and his family, and the point has to be made and reinforced they're not
celebrities," Victoria's deputy police commissioner Simon Overland told ABC Radio.
"He is a killer. He is a cold-blooded cowardly killer, and he's now been convicted
of a number of murders and sentenced for that."
Mr Overland said he understood public interest in the case but said there was nothing
"romantic or glorious" in what Williams had done.
"Carl Williams is one of the worst, if not the worst, serial murderer, in the history
of this state," Mr Overland said.
"He needs to be seen in that light."
In the May 10, 2007, edition of The Bulletin, Adam Shand wrote that "you
have to wonder what happens to all the pre-paid phone numbers these gangsters go
through evading the cops' electronic ears."
"Until mid-June 2004 when he was nabbed, Carl was using
a certain pre-paid number which lapsed soon after.
Shand was trying to call Roberta Williams but by
accident dialled the old defunct Carl number.
"To our surprise, it rang. We hung up quickly but the
phone rang soon after - it was Carl's number. The nice Italian
gent asked me who I was after.
"Carl Williams," came the reply.
"A stunned silence ensued. I told him he was the proud
owner of our worst underworld serial killer's number.
"That explained some of the strange calls he had been
getting, he said.
On
May 13, 2007, the Sunday Herald Sun reported that
Roberta Williams was facing homelessness, with legal action under way to sell her family
house from under her, and that she was being pursued by the State Government over
a spiralling proceeds of crime debt.
The Justice Department confirmed this week a legal suit had been launched in a bid to force
the sale of the $500,000 Essendon home Ms Williams co-owns with George and Barbara Williams
-- her ex-husband's parents.
Ms Williams was ordered to pay $142,000 to the Assets Confiscation Office in March last year
when she was convicted of two charges relating to lying on home loan applications.
Ms Williams said recently she had been financially and emotionally "destroyed" and
now battled to feed her children.
"I live on a Centrelink benefit," she said, "Some weeks we have no
food."
Ms Williams received a 15-month suspended sentence and the financial penalty.
The Victorian Government's case against Ms Williams has been adjourned until next month.
While Ms Williams faced the County Court civil case, her ex-husband's new friend, Renata
Laureano, has been spotted with a mystery baby.
Ms Laureano was seen shopping in Melbourne's north carrying the child in a BabyBjorn.
Her relatives would not reveal who the child was yesterday.
The 21-year-old, recognised for her fashion sense when supporting Williams at court, wore
far more casual clothes for her shopping trip.
With her hair in a bun, she stepped out in green cargo pants, a grey midriff top and thongs.
On
May 17, 2007, a star police witness who was prepared to testify against Carl Williams
was found dead in his home by his mother of a suspected drug overdose.
Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.
Michael Thorneycroft, who was living under an alias in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, was the first of Williams' gang who was prepared to turn against him.
He was arrested with three others in 2004 and charged with conspiracy to murder Mario Condello.
Williams' former ally, 32, returned to live with his mother in Melbourne's east.
Although he was given a new name, police knew he could have been easily found by Williams if he had wished to kill him.
Police urged him to move and start a new life, but he told them he was determined to stay in the area where he lived but maintain a low profile.
It is believed he sought and received assurances from a relative of Williams that there would be no payback.
The witness, who still cannot be named because of an existing court suppression order, returned to playing suburban football under his new name but began to battle drug addiction.
On the day Thorneycroft died, Williams lodged an appeal against the severity of his
sentence.
On
May 31, 2007, the Australian newspaper reported that an
accused terrorist ringleader has reportedly tried to convert Carl Williams to Islam in
prison.
Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who has been
charged with directing a terrorist organisation and is awaiting
trial, approached Williams in the hope he would embrace the path of
the prophet Mohammed.
But Williams is believed to have immediately rejected the self-proclaimed
cleric's advances.
Williams and Benbrika are separated
in different areas of the maximum security Acacia unit at Barwon
prison but the newspaper
understands the Algerian-born accused terrorist was able to make
contact with Victoria's worst serial killer while the pair were in
the jail's exercise yard earlier in the year.
On July 9, 2007, a court heard Williams paid $50,000 for Mark
Mallia to be
tortured and murdered.
Damien Cossu, Hizir Ferman, Christopher Orfanidis and a man who cannot be
named faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court accused of murder.
Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, told the court Mallia was involved in the
illegal drug trade and closely associated with Nik
"The Russian" Radev.
Mr Horgan said when Radev was shot dead, Mallia became worried about his own
safety.
The court heard that Williams spoke to the unnamed accused and asked him to
organise for Mallia to be interrogated and killed.
Mr Horgan said at the time of his death, Mallia was living in
Sandringham with Cossu and Ferman, whom Williams allegedly employed
to lure Mallia to the Lalor property where he was killed.
He said Mallia trusted the two men, who drove him to the property
in a car registered in his name, but said he was increasingly
fearful of Williams and Veniamin in the months leading up to his
death.
"The deceased became increasingly concerned he might be murdered because
of his association with Radev," he said. "He was particularly fearful
of Andrew Veniamin . . . and Carl
Williams."
When the men arrived at the Lalor home, Mallia was taken to a
garage at the rear of the property where he was gagged and bound to
a chair, Mr Horgan said.
The court Veniamin then called Williams at his Hillside home to
tell him Mallia was at the Lalor property.
Williams later came to the address with $50,000 cash in a plastic bag.
A witness has told police Williams handed the money to the unnamed man and
was taken to see Mallia, who had a rope tied around his neck but was at that
stage still alive.
The witness said Williams ordered Mallia be questioned about the location of
drug money he believed he'd hidden.
Mr Horgan said the man who cannot be identified was later heard referring to
the garage as his "torture room", where he allegedly held a soldering
iron to the ear of his victim.
Mr Horgan said one or other of Mr Cossu, 31, Mr Ferman, 26, Mr Orfanidis, 23,
and the unnamed man, were responsible for Mallia's death, while the others acted
in concert.
About 10 security guards patrolled the courtroom, which was full
of family members and friends of the defendants.
The preliminary hearing before magistrate Peter Couzens continues.
On July 11, 2007, Williams' stepson pleaded
guilty to stealing three new cars and six digital cameras.
The Victorian County Court was told Tye Stephens, 20, of Essendon,
and three co-accused broke into a new car storage facility in
Melbourne's west and stole three cars on March 13, 2006.
Prosecutor Richard Pirrie told the court the three cars - a
Hyundai 4WD, Holden Monaro and Holden GTS - were collectively valued
at $120,000.
Mr Pirrie said Stephens and his co-accused drove one of the cars
to The Good Guys store in Maribyrnong.
The men, all wearing
balaclavas and gardening gloves, then drove to
Highpoint Shopping Centre's homemaker centre and
entered the rear of an electronics store by cutting
through a wire fence.
They broke into the shop and were
attempting to flee the store, with its safe and six
digital cameras, when they were stopped by a
policeman.
The lone policeman
fired a warning shot into the ground before all four
men surrendered.
Stephens, who appeared in court with his mother Roberta Williams,
pleaded guilty to the theft of the three cars and six digital
cameras from The Good Guys store and one count of burglary.
His barrister David Glynn described his client as a follower
rather than a leader in the offending and said he was lured into the
plot by the prospect of easy money.
Mr Glynn said Carl Williams started a relationship with Stephens'
mother while his client was a teenager and this exposed him to
criminal conduct at a young age.
He said his stepfather's notoriety also resulted in his private
life attracting the media spotlight.
He asked the court to impose a suspended jail sentence.
The prosecution called for him to be jailed.
Judge Sue Cohen extended Stephens' bail for his sentencing on
July 17.
On
July 14, 2007, a top criminal lawyer acting for Tony
Mokbel was thrown out of a maximum-security jail.
Alastair Grigor had
been at Barwon Prison to talk to at least three
underworld identities, among them Carl
Williams, when he was ejected.
All are believed to be
known to Mokbel and have been accused over the
shooting execution of Lewis
Moran at the Brunswick Club in 2004.
Mr Grigor is believed
to have spoken to Williams.
It is believed he also
wanted to speak to two other men, one convicted over,
and another awaiting trial for, the Brunswick Club
killing.
It is unclear why Mr
Grigor wanted to speak to the men during the visit.
Mr Grigor, who operates
Grigor Lawyers, was allowed into the prison after
showing his credentials but suspicious corrections
staff moved in and started asking questions soon after
he spoke to Williams.
It then became clear
none of the men he wanted time with was a client and
he was told to leave immediately.
Mr Grigor is a
well-known member of Melbourne's legal community,
having appeared in underworld murder cases and at the
Australian Wheat Board inquiry.
He also worked for
Zdravko Micevic, the bouncer acquitted of the
manslaughter of cricket figure David Hookes outside a
Port Melbourne hotel.
A Corrections Victoria
spokeswoman said she could not comment on prisoner
visits or security issues.
Mr Grigor did not
return calls from the Herald Sun.
On July 15, 2007, George Williams pleaded
guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of amphetamines.
Williams, 61, appeared in the Supreme Court,
telling the judge "I have to plead guilty'', to the drugs charge which
attracts a maximum 25 year penalty.
Earlier the court had been told Williams plea
hearing would have to be adjourned to obtain a report from a cardiologist.
Williams is said to have trafficked the
methamphetamine between December 2002 and July 2004
He was arrested in December 2004 and bailed a
month later because his many medical ailments could not be dealt with properly
in custody.
The court heard Williams medical reports would
be an important part of the plea.
Justice Betty King bailed Mr Williams to appear
in court again in September.
On
July 20, 2007, Carl Williams' stepson Tye Stephens was
spared a jail term after he was convicted of stealing
high-performance cars.
Stephens pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and
one of burglary after he was caught with three other
men stealing three cars, including a Holden Monaro,
with a total value of $120,000.
He was sentenced to a 12-month
intensive corrections order to be served in the
community.
County Court Judge
Susan Cohen acknowledged Stephens' family background,
including his mother's relationship with her now
estranged partner Carl Williams.
"You have had,
from an early age, an exposure to criminal behaviour
and public scrutiny arising from the notoriety of your
family members," Judge Cohen said.
"I accept this
scrutiny is due to the decisions your mother has made
rather than anything you have brought on
yourself."
Despite his criminal
offences, the judge said Stephens had a good chance of
leading a law-abiding life. But she warned him against
a life of crime.
"Your family's
notoriety should not deprive of you that chance and
let me make it clear to you that I regard it as your
last chance," Judge Cohen said.
The court was told
Stephens, along with three other men, broke into a car
yard in Laverton where they stole the cars on March 13
last year.
Judge Cohen described
the crime as "well planned" and "coolly
executed", but conceded Stephens, at 19, was not
the ringleader of the group and was under the
influence of drugs at the time.
On
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
Williams had organised for execution.
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.
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.
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.
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 was to reply to Mr Horgan's opening.
On August 27, 2007, the
court was told Sonnet never
intended to kill Condello, but was
acting out a ruse because he was
afraid of ending up like underworld figure
Lewis Caine who had been murdered after
failing to fulfil a similar
contract.
Sonnett pretended to go along with Carl
Williams who had engaged him to murder Condello 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 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 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.
Sonnet was so afraid that he had
been living in motels in the days
before his arrest.
Mr Desmond said police had
Sonnet, Hilderbrandt, Williams and
Thorneycroft,
under constant surveillance in the
days leading up to the arrests and could have picked
them up at any time.
But the police waited until the
last minute to help strengthen their
case.
On
September 19, 2007, the Herald Sun
reported that Roberta Williams had turned
up at the set of Underbelly,
searching for the actor who will play
her in the drama about Melbourne's
underworld.
Kat
Stewart was not on set that day, but
it was been rumoured Williams
wanted to give her a few tips on
gangland life.
Williams
apparently stumbled upon the western
suburbs set of television drama Underbelly
the previous month, and asked
to be let in, but left without
argument when told that filming was
closed.
It was
believed other underworld people
portrayed in the series have also
visited the set of the big-budget
Channel 9 show.
Stewart
declined to comment on Williams'
impromptu visit, but said she felt the
pressure of playing a real person.
"In
terms of meaty scripts and a rich
full-blooded character, it doesn't get
much better than this," she said.
"Roberta
Williams is a dream role. It's a huge
responsibility to do justice to
her."
More on Underbelly
 On
September 26, 2007, after a
six-week trial, a jury found
Sean Sonnet guilty of
conspiring with Williams and two other
men to murder Carlton Crew money man
Mario Condello.
The jury deliberated for
more than two days before finding that
Sonnet was
hired by multi-murderer Carl Williams
to shoot Mario Condello.
"This
is the operation that took out a hit
team . . . and we had sufficient
evidence to arrest Carl Williams and
get him off the street," Purana's
Det-Insp Gavan Ryan said outside court.
"That
was pivotal and the rest is
history."
Sonnet was not present for most of the
six-week trial after being reluctantly
excused by Justice Betty King when he
admitted he may "explode" in
front of the jury and he was not in court as the verdict was
read.
Sonnett
had threatened
to cause a "circus" on the
last day of the trial.
He had recently reappeared to give evidence,
but left court again two bays before
the verdict was delivered after
outbursts in front of the jury and
against Justice King, in which he
described proceedings as a circus in
which he would have convicted himself.
Sonnet
is notorious for contemptuous
courtroom behaviour, having been a
part of the 2000 "trial from
hell" in which a jury member was
hit by a bag of excrement thrown from
the dock.
During
his recent trial, Sonnet repeatedly
defied Justice King in a series of
actions in and out of the witness box.
The
trial had heard Sonnet was carrying
the two loaded guns while waiting for
Condello, who was expected to be
walking his dog along North Rd that
morning.
Unknown
to Sonnet, Condello was living in a
city apartment at the time.
The
jury dismissed defence claims that
Sonnet was pretending to act out a
murder plot to appease Williams, as he
owed him $80,000.
Sonnet's
first-choice getaway driver, Williams'
cousin Michael
Thorneycroft, gave
police two statements about the murder
plot but he died in May before he
could be cross-examined.
Sonnet
claimed Thorneycroft was a Williams
spy, and that Williams was not his
friend.
"I
wouldn't call him a mate," he
claimed while giving evidence.
"I
wouldn't call him an enemy. I'd call
him an associate."
But
police listening devices revealed
joking conversations between Sonnet
and Williams about pretty women and
sex.
In one
call, Williams referred to Sonnet as
"Mr Cool".
Bugs
also revealed Sonnet told Thorneycroft
he was being paid up to $140,000, and
Thorneycroft would make $40,000.
In one
police statement, Thorneycroft said:
"He asked me to drive for him.
"The
way he showed me the gun, he left me
in no doubt that he was indicating
that he was going to shoot someone.
"I
later found out from conversations
with Sean that the job he was
referring to was the killing of a
bloke called Mario, who was the money
man on the other side . . . Carl's
enemies."
The
court heard Williams was angry after
the fatal shooting of ally Andrew
Veniamin at the hands of Carlton Crew
identity Mick
Gatto.
Mr
Gatto shot Veniamin in self-defence at
a Carlton restaurant on March 23,
2004.
Thorneycroft,
described in court as a befuddled drug
addict, stole a car used in the
Condello plot but pulled out.
Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, told the
trial Sonnet was the leader of
Williams' kill gang.
"It's
Sean who's in command," Mr Horgan
said.
Hildebrandt
was jailed for a minimum of nine years
after pleading guilty in February.
Thorneycroft
got a three-year suspended sentence.
In
February 2006, a gunman shot
Condello dead in his garage. Condello
was on bail for inciting to kill
Williams, his father George and a
third man.
The
investigation into his killing
continues.
On
September 27, 2007, it was reported
that Carl
Williams was to be assassinated in
Lonsdale St with an Uzi sub-machinegun
fired from a speeding motorbike. (Audio
Surveillance tape
Audio
Would-be killers)
Secret
Victoria Police surveillance tapes
obtained by the Herald Sun
reveal extraordinary new details of a
foiled execution plot hatched by rival
underworld kingpin Mario
Condello, who was himself later
shot and killed.
Condello
was secretly recorded by the would-be
hitman, who was actually a paid police
informer.
In a
series of CBD meetings in May 2004,
Condello is heard offering $300,000
for the murder of Williams, Williams'
father, George, and a bodyguard.
"You'll
have the f---in' money to cover you,
150 a f---in' head. Do ya
understand?" he tells the hitman.
"We
don't want to go around hurting
innocent f---in' people . . . but some
of these blokes from the western
districts or western suburbs . . .
they just want to take action . . .
you don't f--- 'em around.
"Until
they're f---in' gone, mate, there's
always going to be trouble."
In one
meeting at the Myer city store
cafeteria, Condello urges the hitman
to use a disguise while carrying out
surveillance on the Marriott Hotel in
Lonsdale St -- a favourite haunt of
Williams and his crew.
The
following day, in the David Jones
basement-level food court, the hitman
boasts about walking undetected
through the city streets with an
arsenal of weapons. "I was
standing in Spencer St with more
f---in' guns than the f---in'
army," he tells Condello.
He
explains how he will use an Uzi
sub-machinegun to kill Williams while
on the back of an accomplice's
motorbike.
"I'll
f---in' do it. I will f----in' do it .
. . f---in' Uzi. I got (name deleted)
on the bike. I'll do it so don't doubt
me. He (Williams) is gone. He's as
good as f---ing gone."
The
tape recordings were used by Purana
Taskforce detectives to charge
Condello with conspiracy and
incitement to murder.
But the
trial never went ahead after Condello
was shot in the garage of his Brighton
home in February 2006. His killer has
not been caught.
The
wire taps also shed new light on the
character of the police informer,
known only as witness 166,
who remains under police protection.
Witness
166 was a
known drug dealer, extortionist and
gun runner, who was controversially
granted immunity in exchange for
testifying against Condello.
The
deal was struck after he was arrested
at an Adelaide train station with a
cache of illegal weapons including
five semi-automatic pistols, a .38
revolver, a shotgun and a 9mm Uzi with
silencer.
Police
had originally offered 166 and his
partner a $1 million protection
package, including relocation
overseas.
The
offer was withdrawn after 166 was
accused of unacceptable behaviour in
the protection program. He is
appealing against the decision in the
courts at taxpayers' expense.
The
failed attempt to use 166 as a star
underworld witness has come as a
severe embarrassment to police.
The
tapes also give an insight into
Condello's thoughts on the reasons
behind the underworld war.
In one
exchange, he appears to blame the
Moran family.
"It
was all about, ah . . . f---in', ah .
. . to let us know that we'd, ah,
f---in', that started with that
f---in' Moran," Condello says.
Lawyers
have since claimed Condello never
intended to go ahead with the murders
and was simply carrying out a charade
to obtain information about his
rivals.
On
October 8, 2007, a court was told
a term in jail would be a "death
sentence" for George Williams.
Williams appeared at
the Victorian Supreme Court where he
has pleaded guilty to trafficking amphetamines.
The
court was told that Williams was a
"go-for" in a drug
trafficking enterprise led by his son
Carl.
Defence
lawyer Shane Tyrrell told the court
his client's heart was a "ticking
time bomb" and if he was sent to
prison he would probably die in
custody.
Williams
pleaded guilty to trafficking a
commercial quantity of amphetamines
between December 2002 and July 2004.
Prosecutor
Geoff Horgan, SC, said Williams and
his son worked as a team supplying
amphetamines to a third party on at
least 14 occasions.
The
transactions totalled 4.79kg for which
the pair were paid $351,800, the court
heard.
The
court heard as part of Carl Williams'
plea deal, prosecutors had undertaken
not to ask for an immediate jail
sentence if they were presented with
medical material outlining George
Williams' health problems.
Mr
Horgan told Justice Betty King a
wholly suspended sentence would be
within the appropriate sentencing
range for Williams' offending.
Mr
Tyrrell told the court his client had
chronic heart disease that could no
longer be treated surgically.
He said
if Williams was jailed and suffered a
cardiac episode he was likely to die
because immediate help would not be on
hand.
"If
this man goes to prison it is a death
sentence," Mr Tyrrell said.
But
Justice King said she had difficulty
accepting that submission.
"I
find it difficult that people become
almost unpunishable. They are well
enough to commit the crime but too
unwell to accept the punishment
normally attached to it," she
said.
Mr
Tyrrell said his client deserved a
discount for his plea of guilty but
also for his role in convincing his
son to plead guilty, saying the two
were intimately linked.
The
court heard George Williams had also
agreed to repay a $108,000 pecuniary
penalty order to be made against him.
Justice
King bailed Williams, of Broadmeadows,
to appear in court again later this
month, saying she would make inquiries
about the medical facilities available
in prison.
Carl
Williams is appealing against the
35-year minimum jail sentence he was
given for the murder of three
underworld rivals.
On
October 16, 2007, it was reported that Carl Williams's
plans to write a book about his life of crime had hit a hurdle after part of
his manuscript was seized by prison authorities.
Barwon Prison officers impounded pages of manuscript Williams was attempting to post to his father, George.
The Herald Sun understood Corrections officials were concerned some
of the material in the papers could pose a security risk.
Individuals whose names were the subject of
court-ordered suppression orders were identified in the manuscript, which was
found among legal papers being sent from the prison last week.
Roberta Williams had confirmed
plans were in train for a book telling her husband's story.
"We are writing a book. We're trying to find
a ghost-writer or a publisher at the moment," she said.
Ms Williams had recently supported an author's
promotion of a book on the gangland wars that extensively portrayed her family's
involvement.
Police predicted that his prose would
need a lot of polishing before being published.
"I think it's safe to say it would need a
fair bit of ghost-writing," one source said.
"I couldn't see him giving Jeffrey Archer a
run for his money."
Williams is prohibited by law from making money
by writing about his criminal exploits.
Laws stopping prisoners sending letters to their
victims and families have been passed by State Parliament.
Premier John Brumby introduced the legislation in
August amid anger that Hoddle St killer Julian Knight was using the courts in an
attempt to write to his victims.
Under changes to the Corrections Act 1986, the
state's prison governors will have the power to intercept letters sent by
prisoners if they believe the letter contains material that may be distressing
or traumatic.
Prisoners sending or trying to send such material
will now face a maximum penalty of up to six months' imprisonment for doing so.
 On
October 31, 2007, Roberta
Williams appeared in court for
again driving while disqualified, this
time to visit her ex-husband in jail.
Ms
Williams was pulled over twice by
police on the Princes Freeway on
January 20 this year on her way home
from seeing her former husband at Barwon Prison.
Earlier in October Ms Williams received a one-month suspended
sentence for driving while
disqualified, and warned she faced
jail if she re-offended over the
following four weeks.
Melbourne Magistrates Court heard her license was suspended for
six months after she was caught
speeding in November the previous year.
The police prosector said Ms Williams
told police, "I didn't know I was
suspended".
Ms Williams was pulled over by police
at 11.30am at Werribee for changing
lanes without an indicator, and
informed by police her license was
disqualified, her lawyer told the
court.
She was picked up 45 minutes later,
and told police she had just found she
was suspended, the court heard.
Ms Williams pleaded guilty to two
counts of driving while disqualified,
and one charge each of failing to
indicate and failing to affix number
plates.
Magistrate Duncan Reynolds sentenced
her two months jail suspended for one
year, imposed a $400 fine, and
suspended her license for two months.
He described her actions as
"cavalier", but said he took
into account she lost her license in November
2006 through a traffic infringement,
not a court order.
She had previously been convicted for
driving while suspended in 1996.
Ms Williams' lawyer told the court she
is homeless as of today, and her
future is uncertain.
Her Essendon house has been sold by
authorities to settle a ballooning
proceeds of crime debt.
Williams is currently sole carer for
her three children, and the court
heard she will also become the sole
carer for her sister's child, as her
sister is suffering terminal cancer.
Williams' lawyer said she was trying
to set up a hair extension business
and wanted to put the past behind her.
On
November 14, 2007, it was reported
that, Travis
Eades, a mate of Williams' and
a killer who crushed a man to death
in a shocking road rage attack was
suing Victorians over a jail
knifing.
Eades,
38, was suing the
State of Victoria and Corrections
Victoria for personal injury, loss
and damages after his face was
slashed with a box cutter in
Barwon Prison.
Eades was one of two believed
linked to Williams to be attacked
about the same time.
Armed robber
Daniel
Heaney, 46,
suffered knife wounds in an attack
in Melbourne.
Eades is believed to have
needed 40 stitches in his face.
His compensation bid has upset
the family of his victim Peter
Hess and sparked calls for violent
criminals to be barred from
launching claims over jail
attacks.
Crime Victims Support
Association president Noel
McNamara said: "Violent
criminals in jail shouldn't
receive any compensation for
anything that happens to them in
the jail system.
"They are in jail by
self-invitation by committing
these violent crimes.
"We don't condone prison
violence but if you're a violent
criminal and you get bashed up in
jail that's tough luck."
Eades, the brother of former
top jockey Gavin "Group
One" Eades, claims he was
viciously attacked from behind by
another inmate in October 2004.
He says a severe cut to his
face has left him scarred.
The former Melbourne Grammar
student was in Barwon Prison for a
deadly road-rage attack in the
Gardiner railway station car park
at Glen Iris in August 2000.
Eades deliberately drove into
Mr Hess, whom he had never met
before, knocking the father of one
on to the road before reversing
over him and fleeing the scene.
Mr Hess's injuries included
breaks to almost every rib,
virtually every bone in his
pelvis, his left collarbone, right
shoulder, left thigh bone and
right shin bones.
Conscious for a short time at
the scene, Mr Hess suffered a
heart attack while being revived
by ambulance officers and died
that night at The Alfred hospital.
Eades was sentenced to 10
years' jail for culpable driving
causing death, with a non-parole
period of seven years, which
expired in September.
He lodged his writ in the
County Court last month, claiming
unspecified damages, plus interest
and costs.
"At all times the
defendants were responsible for
the organisation, care, control
and management of Barwon
Prison," the writ said.
Mr Hess's family declined to
comment on Eades' claim, saying to
do so would dredge up painful
memories and could inflame a
situation involving a person with
underworld connections.
"The family is reluctant
to be drawn into a situation that
may trigger memories of the
incident that brought this case
about," a family member said.
But Mr McNamara said Eades'
legal action would force the
family to relive his crime.
"They will have to live
with that for the rest of their
lives."
He said if Eades won a payment,
the money should be confiscated
and offered to Mr Hess's family.
"If they didn't want it
they can give it to a worthy
cause," Mr McNamara said.
While in jail, Eades and two
others were investigated over
allegations they were involved in
drug trafficking at Gippsland's
Fulham Prison in 2003.
Eades' lawyers, Slater and
Gordon, declined to comment on the
compensation claim.
A Corrections Victoria
spokeswoman declined to comment on
the matter but said inmates, like
any Victorians, had to prove they
suffered a permanent 5 per cent
physical or 10 per cent mental
disability to sustain a claim.
On
November 15, 2007, George Williams
was jailed for
20 months for trafficking 4kg
of drugs, a judge saying his
ill health could not excuse
him from just punishment.
Williams, 61,
had pleaded guilty to
trafficking a commercial
quantity of amphetamines
between December 2002 and July
2004.
The Supreme Court heard as
part of a deal done over his
son's murder pleas,
prosecutors did not ask for
George Williams to serve an
immediate jail term.
But Justice Betty King said it
was ultimately for the court
to decide Williams' sentence
although it was
"extremely important for
the court to take heed"
of the deal.
Williams' lawyer told the
court of his client's lengthy
list of health issues
including heart disease,
diabetes, anxiety and
depression and argued sending
Williams to prison would be a
death sentence.
But Justice King said Williams
had committed the offences
while dealing with the same
medical issues.
"The law cannot be that
if you are physically unwell
and commit criminal offences
over a lengthy period of time
that your physical health will
excuse you," she said.
"You are at serious risk
of death from your chronic
heart disease but that risk is
the same whether you are in
the community or in
prison."
The court heard Williams and
his son worked as a team to
traffic 4.79kg of amphetamines
on at least 14 occasions to a
third party, known as Mr Z.
Justice King said the pair
would have profited by
about $500,000 during the
deals done at shopping centres
and Williams' Broadmeadows
home.
The court heard Williams never
strayed far from Carl's side
after the death of his other
son from a heroin overdose.
Justice King said it was
inconceivable that having
suffered the grief of losing a
child to the drug scourge
Williams became involved in
the "evil trade" to
be closer to Carl.
"(You knew) the
consequences that drugs have
upon this community and more
particularly the younger
members of that community yet
you were actively involved in
selling drugs," she said.
Justice King sentenced
Williams to 4 1 /2
years' jail with a minimum of
20 months.
Outside court his partner
Kathleen Bourke said she was
worried he would die in jail.
"I don't think he would
have survived 20 months out
here but in there I don't
think he will," she said.
On
January 15, 2008, the Herald Sun
reported that a court had heard that Underbelly,
the
TV series about Melbourne's
underworld wars, made it hard for
Roberta Williams to get
"closure".
Roberta
was
spared
a
stint
behind
bars
for
pleading
guilty
to
a
string
of
driving
offences,
after
her
lawyer
told
the
court
Williams
was
affected
by
the
soon-to-be
aired
series.
"It
is
difficult
for
her
to
put
the
past
behind
her
and
move
on
with
her
life,''
lawyer
Theo
Magazis
told
Melbourne
Magistrates
Court.
Mr
Magazis
said
the
television
show
was
about
Williams'
family
and
she
"has
to
deal
with
that
on
almost
a
daily
basis
and
it
makes
it
difficult
to
have
closure''.
The
court
heard
the
mother-of-three
was
on
a
pension,
received
an
income
of
about
$485
a
week
and
suffered
anxiety
and
depression.
He
told
the
court
that
his
client
had
suffered
emotionally
in
the
past
two
years
as
the
result
of
being
evicted
from
her
family
home
and
the
deaths
of
her
mother
and
sister.
"She
was
evicted
from
her
family
home
in
Essendon
last
year,"
Mr
Magazis
said.
"She
is
someone
who
has
overcome
some
significant
personal
difficulties
over
the
past
12
months."
He
also
told
the
court
that
as
well
as
caring
for
her
own
children
aged
six,
14
and
16,
Williams
also
had
some
responsibility
for
the
children
of
her
sister,
Sharon,
who
died
from
cancer
in
November
last
year.
Williams
was
sentenced
to
a
two-month
prison
term,
fully
suspended
for
a
year,
after
police
twice
caught
her
driving
without
a
valid
licence
in
April
and
May
2006.
Williams
also
had
her
drivers'
licence
suspended
for
one
month
and
was
fined
$700
as
she
also
admitted
to
driving
25km/h
above
the
speed
limit
in
a
100km/h
zone,
diverging
left
without
signalling,
using
a
mobile
phone
while
driving
and
failing
to
inform
Vic
Roads
that
she
had
changed
address.
She
had
pleaded
guilty
to
six
driving
charges.
In
sentencing
Magistrate
Elizabeth
Lambden
said
she
took
into
account
Williams'
circumstances
but
said
the
speeding
change
was
an
aggravating
factor.
Williams,
who
was
dressed
in
jeans,
a
white
cardigan
and
a
blue
and
white
T-shirt,
did
not
comment
to
the
media
as
she
left
the
court.
On
February 22, 2008, the Herald Sun reported that Channel 9 was conducting an internal investigation over how copies of the
controversial Underbelly
drama series have been leaked on to the
black market.
The Herald Sun had been told
network bosses in Melbourne want to know how episodes of the 13-part
series got into the hands of some of the underworld players portrayed in
the series and the general public.
The $13 million series was banned from
Victorian screens the previous week until after a Melbourne underworld murder
trial was heard.
A Channel 9 source said staff had been
questioned over bootleg copies in circulation. A spokeswoman for the
station said two people had been questioned and denied making any copies
available.
She said only those involved in
programming or selling the series were entitled to view episodes and
Nine was not fearful of contempt charges.
"No (we're not fearful), but whoever
is operating a black market should be. Nine continues to abide by the
court order," she said.
Roberta Williams said she received nine episodes of the
series from a friend.
She received them before the series was
aired interstate, and she believed they were not pirates because they
were complete with Underbelly
promotional labels.
She said she had no intention of passing
on the copies. "I don't want anyone to see Underbelly. But
people are saying to me they've got copies. It seems like everyone has."
On
February 21, 2008, the Supreme Court was told Carl
Williams' hitman, Sean Sonnet, was under surveillance by up to 30 police as
he walked down North Rd, Brighton, with a loaded, cocked gun.
Defence barrister John Desmond told the
court that taped telephone intercepts between Sonnet and his choice of
getaway driver, Michael
Thorneycroft, had "all the hallmark of
jocularity" and "comedy capers".
Mr Desmond said the conspiracy was
impossible to perform as Condello was not in Brighton at the time, and
police were watching Sonnet's every move.
"If this was a serious conspiracy to
murder . . . one would think there would be more serious efforts,"
he said.
A jury found Sonnet, 38, guilty of
conspiring with Williams and two others to murder Condello, the Carlton
Crew "money man".
Mr Desmond said Sonnet was outraged and
intended to appeal and that Sonnet denied knowing or
associating with most of the parties to the gangland
war.
In a plea hearing, Mr Desmond said
"Mr Sonnet maintains his outrage" at a verdict he believed was
significantly based on allowing as evidence the recorded testimony of a
drug-affected witness who could not be cross-examined at the trial
because he was dead.
Mr Desmond said Sonnet regretted getting
involved in what he maintained was a "sham" conspiracy.
Justice Betty King said that Sonnet's intention
was to kill Condello "if he was on the street that morning".
The plea hearing, before Justice
King, was adjourned until March 19.
On March 9, 2008, it was reported that Roberta Williams wanted to knock actor Kat Stewart's lights out when she first
saw her portrayal on Underbelly, but now just feels sorry for
her.
And she said the underworld drama -
currently banned in Victoria - should have used such a better-looking
baby to portray her daughter.
"My sympathies go out to you Kat
because you've made a fool of yourself," Ms Williams said.
"You should have turned it back,
love."
Williams, whose ex-husband Carl is in
Barwon Prison until 2042 for three killings, said she first saw red
about the over-the-top shrill portrayal.
"At first I was a bit hurt by the
whole thing. I thought if I ever see her I'd grab her by the throat and
knock her out," she said.
"She should be ashamed of herself
putting on that stupid voice.
"I think it's a ridiculous comedy.
It's stupid. It's like she's a fan of Kath & Kim. I feel
sorry for her,'' she said.
"But that poor girl's been given a
piece of paper to read."
Ms Williams also had complaints about a
younger cast member.
"I love all kids, but my Dhakota is
a glamour. She's the next Megan Gale," she said.
"That baby . . . they could have
picked a nicer looking child."
Ms Williams has lost her house, buried
her sister and fought serious illness since Carl was jailed.
 She said Gyron Gantley was too creepy to
be an accurate portrayal of Carl, but the actor playing Andrew Veniamin
(played by Damian Walshe-Howling pictured right) was spot on.
She hit out at the portrayal of her as
popping ecstacy and canoodling with Veniamin.
"Yes lots of us have tried various
drugs (but) I have never taken an ecstacy in my whole life," she
said. "Do people f--- their brothers? Because that's what Andrew
was like to me."
Stewart, who plays Roberta, said she
regarded the role as a huge responsibility.
"Starting any job is always daunting
but this was particularly so," Stewart said.
"We like to think the real people,
if they are still around, will understand that this is not a
documentary, it is a dramatisation and we are just actors."
Kestie Morassi, who plays foxy lawyer to
the underworld Zarah Garde Wilson, said she regarded her character as an
enigma.
"She is a lawyer so you want to
tread really carefully and they did," she said.
"What I had to work with was the
fact she was a woman in love and fell desperately in love with the wrong
guy."
Morassi said she found the role difficult
"for lots of different reasons, most of which I can't say".
Ms Garde Wilson, who is still fighting to
keep her practising certificate, did not comment.
On March 14, 2008, George Williams won leave to appeal against his jail sentence for drug trafficking.
He had been imprisoned for a maximum four-and-a-half years the previous November after pleading guilty to trafficking in a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.
The offence took place between December 2002 and July 2004.
Justice Peter Buchanan said in the Court of Appeal that the crime normally would attract a significant jail sentence.
But he said George Williams' guilty plea was made in out-of-the-ordinary circumstances at the same time as Carl Williams pleaded guilty to three murder charges.
Lachlan Carter, for George Williams, said the prosecution in his case conceded that a three-year sentence - allowing the penalty to be wholly suspended - was a tariff that would not be appealed against.
He said the sentencing judge, Justice Betty King, underestimated the significance of the concession.
George Williams has also argued that the jail term was manifestly excessive, and that his ill health was not given sufficient weight in sentencing. He was given a 20-month minimum jail term.
Mr Carter said in court that the legal system had been saved millions of dollars because George Williams' trial did not take place.
He said the case was special because of the father-son guilty pleas.
Justice Buchanan said George Williams had an arguable case.
He accepted Mr Carter's submission that the case could be given a speedy hearing, but said it was not necessary for him to make orders to that effect.
No date was fixed for the appeal hearing.
On March 19, 2008, Sean Sonnet said he was being treated unfairly in jail - even though he had a PlayStation.
Sonnet has access to an exercise yard six hours a day, a treadmill, medicine ball and exercise bike.
"Exercise is all I've got," Sonnet told a pre-sentence hearing in the Supreme Court.
"I've just got my PlayStation back three days ago."
Sonnet told the hearing he was refused a move from high-risk management units to the mainstream population at Barwon Prison because of his alleged underworld connections.
"I'm not in the gangland. I don't know those people," he claimed, despite a police informer's confession and tapes linking him with Carl Williams.
"I'm still A-1 and other prisoners who have moved out the back are the same classification as me.
"They (prison authorities) have told me, 'We're concerned who you're associated with'."
In the hearing, Sonnet admitted he was under investigation for what was called "an altercation" with a guard at Barwon
the previous month.
The court heard the incident was the result of his frustration at being refused a jail transfer.
It heard Sonnet recently refused a urine test for drugs.
"It wasn't a refusal. I was in the middle of training," he told Justice Betty King.
Judge King told him: "You're a prisoner within a regime."
Sonnet responded: "I will not accept being punished by you (for the conspiracy to murder) and put in a high-security unit and then get punished again."
Judge King said that he had been found guilty of a gangland-related matter and prison authorities had to deal with him accordingly.
Sonnet replied: "That's double punishment."
Justice King responded: "Actually, it's not."
Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said Sonnet was "the author of his own misfortune" with run-is with authority.
On
March 20, 2008, the court heard Sonnet was not in the same league as Carl Williams.
Defence barrister John Desmond told a pre-sentence hearing that Sonnet was maturing in custody and should receive a low non-parole term.
He argued Sonnet was in the same category as driver Gregg Hildebrandt, who was jailed for a minimum of nine years for his part in the foiled scheme.
"It would be a ludicrous submission to suggest he's in Williams' league," Mr Desmond said.
Sonnet maintained the Condello plot was a sham and regretted getting involved, Mr Desmond said.
He said Sonnet had changed his previously bad behaviour in custody.
"He's going through the maturation process, and that needs to be encouraged," Mr Desmond said.
Prosecutor Geoff Horgan, SC, said the attempted hit got as near as possible.
He said Sonnet was a willing participant and should be classed somewhere between Williams and Hildebrandt.
"He was to be the killer. He was the one to actually carry out the execution," Mr Horgan said.
On April 16, 2008, Hizir Ferman was arrested when Special Operations Group police intercepted a
vehicle in which he was a passenger in Glenroy.
Sen-Det Mark Nichols, of the armed crime taskforce, later alleged Mr Ferman removed
something from his waistband and placed it down beside the seat.
He said a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun was later found between the
passenger seat and the console.
The driver was allegedly found with a black bag on his lap containing a .357
magnum Smith & Wesson revolver and a bag with five grams of cannabis.
Ferman was charged with two counts of being a prohibited
person in possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of cannabis.
Ferman, linked by police to two convicted gangland killers, was later denied bail on the
firearms charges.
Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard the driver had been in regular phone
contact with Williams and Lewis Moran's killer, Ange Goussis before his
arrest.
Sen-Det Nichols told the court Mr Ferman had been identified as a
"person of interest" in a shooting at Gladstone Park a week earlier.
Magistrate Maurice Gurvich refused bail. He said the evidence suggested Mr
Ferman, of Port Melbourne, was a career criminal who associated with
"like-minded" offenders and had failed to appear in court several
times.
The court heard another man had made a statutory declaration claiming he had
left the 9mm handgun in the car, but Sen-Det Nichols said the man had since
admitted the declaration was false.
On April 18, 2008, Carl Williams was granted leave to fight his 35-year sentence.
Williams appeared jovial during the brief Court of Appeal hearing as he smiled and waved at his mother, Barbara, and ex-wife Roberta.
Lawyers for the four-time killer claim his sentence was manifestly excessive because the sentencing judge failed to place appropriate weight on mitigating factors including his conditions in custody.
The court heard the crux of the appeal was whether Justice Betty King had given proper consideration to a statement Williams had given police.
Prosecutor Adrian Castle said evidence Williams gave at his plea hearing had made the statement unreliable and of no use to police.
Justice King said Williams was a coward and his evidence "unbelievable, even incredible at times", when sentencing him last May.
Mr Castle argued the grounds for appeal lacked substance when considered in the context of the whole of Williams' offending, which included four murders, a conspiracy to murder and drug trafficking.
"That alone makes a sentence of life with 35 years not manifestly excessive," Mr Castle said.
Lachlan Carter, for Williams, said when it came to considering a minimum term Justice King erred as a matter of evidence and law by not taking his client's statement into account.
Justice Marcia Neave granted the appeal, saying there were reasonably argued grounds.
But she warned Williams that did not mean his appeal would eventually succeed or time would be taken off his sentence.
The appeal was to be heard on a date to be fixed.
On April 21, 2008, a television showdown between Judy Moran and Barbara Williams was banned, just hours before it was due to go to air.
Supreme Court judge Betty King - who also banned the Nine's Underbelly series - banned the on-air showdown which had been planned for that night on the Seven Network.
Justice King imposed an interim order stopping the interview going to air on Seven's Today Tonight until 4.15pm the following day when she would have further discussions about the program.
She made her decision after viewing the segment in court that afternoon.
Justice King banned the broadcast in Victoria of Underbelly until the completion of the on-going trial of Evangelos Goussis, who had pleaded not guilty to shooting Lewis Moran.
"Being the queen of banning things, it is, obviously, my role," Justice King told the trial's jury today before imposing the ban.
"If it is on, I urge you not to watch it - it's Mrs Williams and Mrs Moran.
"I don't know what's in it, but I don't imagine it's going to be edifying or pleasant or anything else - one thing it is not going to be, it is not going to be relevant."
She said the two women will have strong opinions and won't be hesitant in voicing them.
She told the jury that if members of their family or friends watch it, they should not talk to them about it.
"I do wonder about the timing, but that's a matter I have to deal with," she said.
On May 16, 2008, Roberta Williams was evicted from a swish city restaurant during a radio station's tour of underworld murder sites.
The Nova FM stunt featuring Ms Williams sparked outrage among victims of crimes groups.
They said the Nova 100 promotion glorified and glamorised criminals.
And a spokesman for Society Restaurant - where the tour party attempted to have lunch - said the group was asked to leave when other customers began walking out.
Spokesman Elvis Dabic said he asked the tour party to leave almost immediately.
"We said we don't want to be associated with the whole gangland thing,'' he said.
"They came in and took over the place. It was really rude and some of our customers left.
"It was a circus.''
The station's Hughesy and Kate Show took Ms Williams and radio competition winners to locations of killings in a stretch Hummer.
Ms Williams also appeared in the stunt's advertising. However, Nova said Ms Williams was not paid for her part in the promotion and tour.
Eight radio competition winners joined Ms Williams, Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek for the drive around the city.
Ms Williams tried to avoid the media by hiding behind Hughesy.
A national TV current affairs program was documenting the tour, while a crew from a rival show spent most of the day trying to spoil the filming.
The tour party drove past the Carlton restaurant where Andrew Veniamin was shot dead. They later stopped at the Brunswick Club in Sydney Rd where Lewis Moran was murdered.
Hughesy and Kate's Gangland Tour was promoted all week and, aware of the controversy if could provoke, invited comments from listeners.
The majority thought the tour was a good idea, many describing it as ``awesome''.
Comments included: ``i say give carl and roberta a break''.
Nova station general manager Sam Thompson defended using Ms Williams for the promotion. ``She listens to the show and is a fan.
"We found that people were interested in her and we are responding to that interest.''
Ms Thompson said the tour was in response to interest in the gangland wars of Melbourne's drug gangs.
"What we're doing is acknowledging is genuine interest in the gangland scene.
``People are just interested in what's happened.''
But Crime Victims Support Association spokesman Noel McNamara said the stunt was ``absolutely bizarre and disgusting''.
"They are trying to glorify these hoons who are in jail for killing each other.
"Why are they glorifying these mongrels?
"They'd shoot their own mother in the back of the head if there was money in it.
"Nova should get a big kick up the ginger for promoting this.''
 On May 29, 2008, Sean Sonnet, a man described in court as a Carl Williams "gun for hire", was jailed for 16 years over a failed plot to kill Mario Condello.
Sonnet's mother sobbed and yelled out his name during his tirade.
Just before handing down the sentence, Justice King told Sonnet: "You have a clear history of use of firearms and a substantial history of violence."
Sonnet then stood and yelled to Judge King: "Are you f---ing finished, you f---ing dog? Get f---ed you
dog. You didn't even give me a fair trial."
He also called her a drunk as Justice King ordered Sonnet from the court.
Sonnet will spend at least 16 years in jail.
The outburst brought to an end a long, eventful
trial, which Sonnet threatened to turn into "a circus" to cause a
mistrial.
"If you think these fools (corrections
guards) will stop me, they won't," he shouted on one occasion.
"The Crown maintains that this conspiracy
was, in your minds, only a minute or two off being executed," Justice King
had told him.
"You each believed you were about to carry
it out, expecting that you would see Condello walking his dog."
Justice King said an innocent man walking his dog
at the time was lucky not have been shot by mistake.
"This was to be a cold-blooded execution of
a human being in a very public place with people going about their daily
business," she said.
"It is a very significant conspiracy to
murder, and one that rightly terrified the people of Melbourne.
"You had no personal knowledge of, nor
animosity towards, Condello. That makes you a gun for hire.
"Without you, Williams would not have been
able to put this plan into action."
|
Carl Williams
Mr Williams father, George
Leslie Williams
(left) was found hiding in another room, in which a loaded Glock semi-automatic
pistol was later found.
Police
bugs recorded the undercover officer asking Foletti on May 18, 2001, if he could
provide a large quantity of ecstasy tablets in a hurry.
Williams' close friend, 
On November 16, 2003,
members of the Special Operations Group arrested Williams,
in Port Melbourne, about
12.50pm.
On December 3, 2003, the Age reported that Judy
Moran, the mother of murdered underworld brothers 
During the morning of March
23, 2004, Williams and his right-hand man 
Williams, a pall-bearer at Veniamin's funeral,
said he believed 
Williams
planned to kill Carlton Crew money man 
Sean
Sonnet, an amateur boxer as a youth, has a rap sheet littered with crimes
including armed robbery, trafficking
drugs, possessing firearms, aggravated
burglary, making threats to kill and
recklessly and intentionally causing
serious injury.
In late May 2004
police bugs recorded Thorneycroft and Sonnet sitting in
what they thought was a clean car, discussing their plan
to kill 
A tall, long-haired
blonde woman had been sitting two rows in front of Williams in the
Supreme Court.
