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 Mark Mallia
Mallia wanted quick-fire fame and fortune.
He was a financially savvy criminal who wanted to
shrug off the image of a low-level western suburbs crook.
He was lured across the West Gate Bridge by the
lucrative designer drug trade.
"He wanted better for himself and he didn't
want to work for it," a police source said.
"He wanted the fast ride to the top. He
wanted the Toorak lifestyle within weeks of leaving Sunshine."
Mallia grew up with hotheads Andrew
Veniamin, Dino Dibra and Paul
Kallipolitis
He came from a working-class family in West
Sunshine who had migrated from Malta.
Mallia lived just around the corner from Veniamin,
who police believe could have been involved in his murder.
Police investigations suggested Veniamin
killed his mates Dibra and Kallipolitis
as greed set in over a local drug syndicate.
Police have linked Mallia, who had a heart
operation during a stint in jail, to slain drug dealer Willie
Thompson.
Thompson was an
old school friend of fugitive drug lord Tony Mokbel.
Before Thompson's
murder on the nod of Carl Williams, Mallia
jumped ship and joined forces with feared Bulgarian-born drug dealer Nik
"The Russian" Radev.
Channel Ten's evening news suggested that Mallia
had once employed Radev as a body-guard.
Andrew Veniamin
shot Radev dead in a Coburg street in April 2003.
Police have been told Carl
Williams gave the order.
Mallia was said to be "left out in the
cold" when he lost his friend Radev.
"Mallia was having trouble with Carl
Williams because of his former involvement with Radev,"
a detective said.
"After Radev was
killed he didn't have the team to back him up."
Some thought Mallia was going to get revenge
after the Russian was murdered.
Mallia's charred body was found in a drain on
the night of Monday August 18, 2003.
Fire-fighters were called to a fire in a storm
water drain in Ralph St, Sunshine West.
After the flames were extinguished, the body was
found along with the remnants of a council wheelie-bin.
Mallia was identified by a distinctive tattoo on
his left shoulder.
Toby Mitchell was one of several suspects interviewed by police.
Damien Cossu, Christopher Orfanidis, twice
convicted armed robber Hizir Ibery
Ferman and two other men (one a drug 'king-pin' who could not be named ) were
later charged over Mallia's murder.
On December 19, 2003, Ferman,
22, of Port Melbourne was arrested along with Robert Daniel
Musso, 25, of Mill Park. Musso and
Ferman, who both have
records for violent crime, were both on parole when they were pulled
over by the police Special Operations Group in suburban Reservoir.
Police later told a court that
Ferman had a loaded semi-automatic firearm in his pants and
Musso a .38 calibre handgun in a bumbag and that the weapons
would be tested to determine if either was involved in unsolved
murders.
Judge Tom Wodak sentenced the
pair to 12 months in jail to be served cumulatively with
remaining time on previous sentences for armed robbery and
attempted armed robbery.
As they were led from the court,
Ferman turned to a Purana Taskforce detective and shouted:
"You reckon 12 months is going to stop me, you dog".
Musso added "You fucking
rat".
At about 7.30am on July 14,
2006, Damian Cossu, 30, was arrested by heavily-armed
police in Sydney. Police
swooped on a car carrying him and his father at Liverpool, in Sydney's
south-west. They had been monitoring
Cossu's movements in NSW for at least six months.
Cossu appeared relaxed and waved
to family members, including his father and brother, when he
appeared in Liverpool Local Court charged on an extradition
warrant for Mark Mallia's murder.
He consented to the extradition
orders from Victoria Police and told Magistrate Mark Shepherd he
had nothing more to say.
Cossu, was formally charged with
murder when he arrived in Victoria.
Superintendent Richard Grant from
the Purana Task Face, established in 2003 to investigate
Melbourne's string of underworld murders, said more arrests were
expected.
He alleged Cossu was an associate
of Mallia's and that he had played a significant role in the
killing.
Police were able to charge Cossu
after evidence was found in a search of a home the previous week
in Lalor, in Melbourne's north, where it's alleged Mallia died.
"We believe more than one
person was involved in the murder, and as a result of this
arrest today we anticipate further arrests over the next couple
of weeks," Supt Grant said.
"It has been a difficult
investigation. We have met a wall of silence in relation to this
murder investigation and so this arrest this morning is a
significant milestone in this investigation."
Speaking from the family's home
in Sydney's Bonnyrigg Heights, Cossu's mother said she believed
her son was an innocent man wrongly accused because of his
Italian heritage and associates.
"We find it possible these
are just accusations because of who he associated with,"
said Mrs Cossu, who declined to give her full name.
She said the whole family was
struggling to cope with Cossu's arrest, which occurred while her
husband was driving him to work.
"It just happened on his way
to work. The police stopped them in the middle of the road, guns
drawn," Mrs Cossu said.
Cossu was also named by detectives as having
being present at the murder of Nik Radev.
On July 17, 2006, as Cossu appeared in court, 22-year-old
Christopher
Orfanidis of Ardeer was formally arrested at Sunshine police station.
He was charged with one count of murder in an out
of sessions court hearing at the Melbourne Assessment Prison.
Orfanidis faced court again the following day.
He remained silent
during a brief appearance in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.
At the end of his hearing Orfanidis blew a kiss,
thumped his heart and gave a thumbs-up sign to his friends in the public gallery
before calling out:: "I love you all".
A friend replied: "Stay
strong buddy".
Magistrate Dan Muling remanded Orfanidis in custody to appear in court again on October 9.
The unidentified friend of Orfanidis told the
media outside court that his friend had "plenty of support".
Mr Mallia's father welcomed police efforts to find those responsible for
his son's slaying, but did not want to give his name.
He told journalists outside the court he was "very pleased" with
the progress made by the police investigation.
"I am very pleased with the police and what they're doing now,"
he said, after attended the brief court hearing.
"But, still, we don't know what it's all about ... we have to wait for
the police."
On July 19, 2006, a further three people
were charged over the murder.
Hizir Ferman, 25, and two other men appeared before the Melbourne
Magistrates' Court.
Ferman, who was in custody over firearm offences, appeared by
video-link.
The other two men also appeared in court in separate, brief hearings.
Magistrate Lisa Hannan remanded them in custody for a committal mention
hearing on October 9.
On February
28, 2007, Carl Williams
appeared in the Supreme Court and
pleaded guilty to the murder of three rivals.
Williams
three times uttered the words "I plead guilty" to the charges
of murdering Lewis Moran, his son Jason
Moran and Mark Mallia.
Dressed in a grey suit with a pink
pin-stripe, a pink shirt and a striped pink tie, Williams
was surrounded by four court security officers and appeared calm
throughout the proceedings.
His parents, George and Barbera, were in
court and as the events unfolded his mother wept.
Also weeping was a tall, long-haired
blonde woman sitting two rows in front of Williams.
Williams
had
faced a morning of pre-trial legal argument in the Jason
Moran case, which was due to pick
a jury this week, and was on his way back to Barwon prison's top
security unit when he asked to return to court.
He now faces spending the rest of his
life in jail.
While Williams
did not pull the trigger on any of the people he has admitted killing,
he arranged for the executions and offered the gunmen cash.
Williams
is already serving a jail-term for the 2003 murder of Michael
Marshall - the outcome of that trial had been suppressed.
He was found guilty of killing the
hotdog salesman at a secret trial in October 2005 and jailed for at
least 21 years.
On
April 27, 2007, Carl
Williams took the witness stand in the Supreme Court, appearing before Justice Betty King
at a
plea hearing.
He denied organising the torture and disposal of 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 Nikolai
Radev. 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.
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.
But on his involvement in Maliia's death, Williams said, "me and Andrew
Veniamin agreed to do the (Mallia) murder".
He told that court that he then "got together" with Veniamin,
associate 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 was believed to be gunning for Williams and his friends.
He said that Willie Thompson had paid
Alfonso Traglia to kill Radev and that, 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.
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 Mallia.
On July 9, 2007, a court heard Carl Williams paid $50,000 for 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.
On July 25, 2007, three men accused of
torturing and killing Mallia on the instruction of Carl
Williams were discharged after a magistrate
ruled there was not enough evidence for them to stand
trial.
Magistrate Peter
Couzens cleared Damien Cossu, Hizir Ferman
and Christopher Orfanidis of one count each of
murdering Mallia.
Mr Couzens said he did
not believe a Supreme Court jury could convict the men
of murder because the case relied on an "almost
totally unreliable" prosecution witness.
A fourth man, who
cannot be named for legal reasons, was this month
committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court for
Mallia's murder.
Senior crown prosecutor
Geoff Horgan, SC, told Melbourne Magistrates Court
this month that Williams, who is serving a life
sentence for his role in Mallia's killing, hired the
four men to interrogate and torture Mallia over
missing drug money.
Mr Ferman was released
from custody. The other two men were remanded to
appear in court on other matters.
On
August 8, 2007, the Age reported that the Office of Public
Prosecutions was considering directly presenting
three men for trial over the murder of Mark
Mallia.
The OPP was examining the case with the
view to presenting the men directly to the Supreme
Court.
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.
On June 5, 2008, Ferman, linked by police to two convicted gangland killers, was denied bail on the
firearms charges.
Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard the driver had been in regular phone
contact with gangland killers Carl Williams and Evangelos 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.
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