Lewis Moran, the well-respected hard man of the family, once told friends he was prepared to make sacrifices for his son (Jason - left).

"I'd even do time for the boy," he said.

Described as an "underworld boss," McCulloch was an amphetamine producer and dealer.

He and Moran were very close but had a falling out after Jason demanded $290,000 from McCulloch to help pay Lewis's legal fees after Lewis was arrested on drug charges in October 2002.

"I am told that the police documentation put together in that brief (The Carl Williams shooting) includes a belief that the shooting was at the behest of the former husband," her barrister, Con Heliotis, QC, later told the Supreme Court.

Stephens was a close friend of the Moran family.

An ambulance was called immediately but Moran was dead by the time it arrived.

Amphetamines and cocaine were found on him.

Mark left two children, Tayla and Josh.

In the days after shooting it became apparent that the Moran's believed that the Williams family were responsible for killing Mark.

There were reports of shots being fired around the North Fitzroy home of the major suspects shortly after his death.

Shots were heard in Rae Street Brunswick on the night of June 20, 2000 and a car was damaged by gun fire in Brunswick Street near Rae St on the night of Marks funeral (June 22).

Another suspect was body-building drug-dealer, Dino Dibra. 

He was to meet a similar fate to Mark's four months later.

Homicide squad investigations were headed by Detective Inspector, Brian Rix. He said that Mark "saw himself as a bit of a heavy."

Another policeman said that "Jason was out of control, Mark was the brains."

Criminals told the Herald Sun reprisals for Mark Moran's murder were inevitable.

"If one goes down, you can be sure there will be others,'' one underworld figure said.

"The ball has just started rolling. There will be a few more, you just watch. There will be a few names we all know.''

Police called for underworld calm, fearing more bloodshed.

Det-Det.-Insp. Rix appealed to the Moran family to help investigators solve the killing.

On June 16, 2000, police seized more than 3kg of amphetamines from Jeffrey Robert Milne's home in Intervail Drive, Airport West.

Milne, president of Mark's former football club, claimed that  the drugs had been stored in his back yard bungalow by Mark  Moran.

On June 22, 2000, about 500 mourners dressed in black coats and dark sunglasses gathered to farewell Mark Moran.

Jason, granted day leave from prison to be at the funeral at St Therese's Church in Essendon, sat under guard with his head in his hands during the service. He had hinted at revenge.

"Words could never, ever express the way I am feeling. This is only the beginning. It will never be the end,'' ``REMEMBER, I WILL NEVER FORGET,'' Jason wrote in a Herald Sun death notice.

Rumours abounded that he may have been killed in revenge for the murder of  Alphonse Gangitano.

Jason was embraced by a long-haired Hells Angel at the funeral.

Many bikies attended the funeral wearing full colours whilst in church.

Death notices included many from Australian Rules footballers including a former Carlton captain who remembered them running a premiership lap in the 1980's.

On July 10, 2000, Andrew Fraser, the Moran brother's lawyer, appeared in court on charges relating to cocaine trafficking. 

His former clients had included Alan Bond, Dennis Allen and Anthony Farrell. Detective Senior Constable Stephen Paton of the drug squad said police had monitored all of Mr. Fraser's telephone calls, taping those they felt were pertinent to their investigation.

Paton, from the Victorian drug squad, told the court police were investigating a number of people in February 1999 year when Mr Fraser's name came up.

Paton himself was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in August 2001.

When the magistrate asked Paton if brothers of gunned-down underworld figure Mark Moran were under investigation, Paton replied they had been.

On October 15, 2000, Dino Dibra,  a cocaine and ecstasy dealer and an associate of Charlie Hegyalji was blasted to death outside a home in Krambruk St, West Sunshine. 

Dibra was the prime suspect immediately after Mark Moran's murder.

On Friday December 29, 2000, the Age reported that an attempt by two of Victoria's most notorious criminals to play Santa for their mates in Fulham prison has been foiled by Scrooge-like jail authorities. 

Or, at least, partly foiled.

Prison sources said prisoners Jason Moran and John Higgs, had tried to "shout" the party for their unit by having thousands of dollars sent into the jail.

On January 17, 2001, Darren William Harland faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court after he was caught with a loaded gun while visiting Jason Moran at Fulham prison, in eastern Victoria, the previous year.

A loaded semi-automatic Phoenix .22 pistol was found in a bag in his car. When asked if it was his gun he replied: “ It wasn’t in there when we pulled up”.

Harland, who was a water-side worker,  and an unidentified friend  fled when the guards called police. 

The pair were arrested in Melbourne shortly after. Harland, a former VFA player for Werribee and Port Melbourne and son of 80's Port legend 'Buster' Harland, pleaded guilty to charges including owning an unlicensed handgun.

A reference from champion Melbourne footballer David Schwarz helped him to escape jail.

Schwarz's glowing words helped convince magistrate Jenny Bowles to impose a $3500 fine and a six-month suspended jail sentence for Harland.

On Feb 3, 2001, Jeffrey Robert Milne appeared in a County Court witness box to say more than 3kg of the drug had been stored in his back yard bungalow by Mark Anthony Moran.  

The court heard he and Moran met through their love of football.

Milne eventually became president of the Kensington Football Club that Moran had played for.

Prosecutor Mark Rochford said the drugs were found at Milne's house after Moran had been subjected to a surveillance operation by the drug squad.

The seized drugs included more than 2kg of methamphetamine, 1.3kg of ketamine, 990g of pseudoephedrine, and 39 boxes of Sudafed containing 2010 tablets.

On February 25, 2001, Milne, 37, pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking in a drug of dependence and one of possessing a drug of dependence. 

Being "as generous as he could'', Judge Barnett sentenced him to three years' jail. He ordered Milne to serve two years before becoming eligible for parole.

Lewis and Jason Moran arranged to kill rival Carl Williams in front of scores of guests at his daughter's May 2001 christening.

The planned public bloodbath was foiled at the last minute when police secretly stepped in to save Williams.

Detectives set up a sting operation in which Williams was arrested and jailed just hours before the scheduled hit.

A person deep within drug boss Tony Mokbel's gang tipped off police that Williams was about to be murdered at his six-week-old daughter Dhakota's christening.

The informer told a detective the Morans had hired two Sydney hitmen to gun down Williams at a Keilor reception centre during the christening party.

The burly drug lord was shocked when police told him about the sickening plan.

"But then Carl showed some grudging respect for the plan, saying it wasn't a bad one as he would have had his guard down at his daughter's christening," a police source said.

Detectives believe the foiled plot prompted Williams to come up with his own plan to murder Jason Moran when he least expected it.

The Morans put a contract on Williams in 2001 after he shot dead Mark Moran.

They wanted to deliver a strong message and decided killing Williams in front of family and friends at his daughter's christening was a very public way of proving that point.

Police discovered the plot only three days before it was due to be carried out.

An emergency meeting of senior officers was called to discuss how to thwart the attack.

They decided that staking out the christening party in the hope of identifying and catching the hitmen was too dangerous.

A plan to put a booze bus outside the christening to deter the execution was considered.

However the meeting decided getting Williams behind bars was the safest option.

Williams was on bail awaiting trial over a $20 million drug operation, so another arrest would guarantee to put him behind bars and out of reach of the hired killers.

Police command agreed to provide $100,000 to detectives so they could set up a sting involving an undercover officer buying drugs from Williams.

An undercover officer had recently made contact with drug dealer Walter Foletti.

Evidence suggested that Foletti was getting his drugs from Williams.

Detectives planned to use the $100,000 to get proof that Williams was Foletti's supplier.

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.

Later that day, Foletti told the undercover officer he had spoken to the supplier's wife, Roberta Williams.

She said would confirm the deal the next day.

Foletti rang the Williams home at 10.20am on May 19 and asked to speak to Carl, but was told by Roberta that her husband was still in bed.

He asked her if her husband was "organising that thing for me" and that "the bloke is going to ring me up after 12".

Roberta Williams told him the deal was set for that day.

The undercover officer rang Foletti at noon and arranged to meet at the McDonald's car park in Sydenham about 2pm.

He arranged to buy 8000 ecstasy tablets for $100,000.

Detectives photocopied the notes which made up the $100,000 before putting them in a green shoebox and giving them to the undercover officer.

Foletti arrived at the car park with his nephew, Pablo Foletti, and parked his white Jeep near the undercover officer's car.

Foletti gave a shopping bag containing 8000 ecstasy tablets embossed with the letters XTC to the undercover officer, who handed over the shoe box stuffed with $100,000.

As this was happening, Carl Williams rang Roberta and was recorded asking her if the deal had been done yet.

Roberta told him she hadn't heard, but expected to soon.

Foletti rang her at 3.13pm and she told him to "bring what you've got now", but Foletti told her it would be better if she came to him.

Roberta Williams immediately got in her dark BMW coupe and drove to Foletti's house in the suburb of Hillside.

Surveillance police watched her leave Foletti's house three minutes later. She was carrying a blue shopping bag.

Other surveillance police saw Carl Williams arriving home at 3.24pm in his white Mitsubishi Lancer.

He took a call from his wife on his mobile and she told him she was at the Watergardens shopping centre in Sydenham.

Police followed as he drove there and watched as Carl and Roberta Williams met. After walking round the shops, they got into Carl's car.

Heavily armed members of the special operations group swooped as soon as Carl and Roberta got in the vehicle.

Carl Williams was found with Victoria Police's $100,000 in his lap and he and Roberta were jailed that day.

Roberta was granted bail 48 hours later, but it was 14 months before Carl got out.

The couple were both later convicted of trafficking in a commercial quantity of ecstasy over the drug sting that saved Carl's life.

Foletti was jailed for five years and six months.

Dhakota's christening was rescheduled for December 2003 after her father was released.

Carl and Roberta were keen to portray themselves as a loving and law-abiding family.

They invited the ABC's Four Corners to film the christening at Crown casino's plush Palladium Room. They chose Crown because is had the best security in Victoria.

Among the 120 guests was Greg Domaszewicz -- the babysitter who was acquitted over the 1997 murder of Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie. 

On July 21, 2001, seven men were arrested and charged over Victoria's largest hashish raid.

The men were accused of importing three tonnes of hashish valued at almost $150 million into Melbourne.

Nick McKenzie told listeners that allegations in court suggested that corruption in the former drug squad may have involved officers who were still serving in the force.

The allegations centred on the relationship between the detectives, a criminal turned police informer, and the late Lewis Moran.

The informer claimed that drug squad head, Det Snr Sgt Wayne Strawhorn, the detectives' boss, illegally pocketed up to half a million dollars.

But in court, the informer also claimed that the other detectives forced him to cover up the corrupt dealings that he'd had with Strawhorn.

That's a claim those detectives strenuously denied.

The theory that corrupt police rarely act alone was being tested in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, in the committal of two men who were allegedly involved in a drug syndicate headed by Lewis Moran.

In 2001, the syndicate was being investigated by Strawhorn.

But defence barrister, Chris Dane QC, had also subjected four other police officers who worked under Strawhorn to intense scrutiny about their own conduct.

Much of the cross-examination related to statements made by a criminal informer, who was passing on chemicals to Lewis Moran, while being monitored by the drug squad.

A statement from the informer read that on one occasion, the informer received money from Lewis Moran that was given to Senior Sergeant Wayne Strawhorn.

STATEMENT EXCERPT: I was paid $10,000 cash by Lewis Moran in return for the red phosphorus. The money I received on this day was paid to the drug squad.

I therefore believe the money I received on that day was paid to Wayne Strawhorn.

Such a transaction would not have been unusual had it been properly logged by the drug squad.

But, as evidence from the informer alleged, at least some of the $10,000 he gave Strawhorn was pocketed illegally, part of a total of up to half a million dollars the informer said Strawhorn made on the side.

When it came to disclosing that transaction in a statement, the informer told the Court three still serving officers working under Strawhorn – Detectives Martin Allison, Victor Anastasiadis and David Bartlett forced him to lie.

The informer also claimed other statements he'd signed for the drug squad were false, and that he was pressured to sign such statement.

STATEMENT EXCERPT: …Partly from the fact that Bartlett and Anastasiadis were on Strawhorn's staff, I felt that I didn't have any choice in the circumstances I found myself in.

Believe it or not, I signed it because I was scared.

Asked by the defence barrister to explain his fear, the informant told the Court…

" It was gun-in-your-face scared."

CHRIS DANE: Well he didn't actually raise a gun to your face?

INFORMANT: No, Marty Allison didn't do that. I had that happen on a couple of occasions from Wayne Strawhorn.

They're all the same gang as far as I'm concerned. Any arguments that I had with Marty or Bartlett or Firth or Ranna (phonetic), they'd be straight on the phone to Strawhorn.

They'd pass their phone to me and Strawhorn would give me a mouthful.

CHRIS DANE: So you had no choice but to commit perjury under the direction of these officers?

INFORMANT: That's correct.

The detectives named all denied the claims, including Senior Sergeant Martin Allison.

He told the Court the informer simply had no memory of the $10,000 transaction at the time he was asked to make his statement.

But Detective Allison was also implicated in other untoward behaviour.

The Court heard he allegedly approved and encouraged contact between the informer and Senior Sergeant Strawhorn, before Strawhorn was charged, but at a time at which any such contact had been banned.

A taped conversation between Allison and the informer was read out in court.....

INFORMANT: Why does he keep ringing me?

MARTIN ALLISON: 'Cause I asked him to.

INFORMANT: Why, he's not even in the drug squad.

MARTIN ALLISON: Yeah, I know that. Why? The investigation's still running, and I find it to my advantage because you respond better to him.

Under cross-examination the informer also said detectives threatened to expose his activities to the Moran family if he didn't cooperate.

He told the Court detectives Allison and another officer bumped into him while he was with Lewis Moran, an incident he said, the police found funny.

INFORMANT: It was always a funny topic of conversation for them, for the fact that I might die and they could just charge Lewis with murder.

NICK MCKENZIE: Another focus of the defence barrister during the committal was the movement of 35 boxes of Logicin, from the drug squad to Lewis Moran.

Logicin contains the chemical, pseudoephedrine – a crucial component in the manufacture of speed.

Detectives David Bartlett and Paul Firth picked up the Logicin from the Central Property Management Unit of the Victoria Police before giving them to the informer.

But the Court heard that two detectives mistakenly picked up 41 boxes instead of 35.

The drug squad detectives maintained 35 boxes were passed on to Lewis Moran, and the excess boxes were returned to the Management Unit.

However, the Court was told notes made at the unit showed eight boxes of Logicin instead of the required six, were returned.

That is, two extra boxes had been returned.

Under intense cross-examination, Detective David Bartlett could not explain where the extra two boxes had come from, putting it down to an accounting error.

But, defence barrister Chris Dane QC told the Court the additional boxes presented the drug squad with the capacity to manufacture amphetamine.

CHRIS DANE: Who are you protecting?

DAVID BARTLETT: Nobody.

CHRIS DANE: You are protecting somebody who has seized a number of boxes.

DAVID BARTLETT: That is not true.

CHRIS DANE: The lot of you were doing it on the side and Wayne Strawhorn will have to wear it for the rest of you.

DAVID BARTLETT: That is not true.

Three of the detectives accused of corruption in court were still serving, one in the new drug squad. The fourth officer accused in court, Paul Firth, had been suspended.

On the witness stand, the police repeatedly rejected the informer's claims.

But, a lawyer for internal investigators told the Court there may be issues raised during the hearing that touch on ongoing investigations.

On July 13, 2004, Paul Sequenzia was ordered to stand trial on charges of trafficking and possessing pseudoephedrine, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Crown prosecutor Colin Hillman, SC, said Sequenzia was a major player in the conspiracy with Lewis Moran.

Mr Hillman submitted there was a "wealth" of evidence that Moran was a major participant with Mr Sequenzia to make amphetamines.

He said that while the case against Mr Sequenzia was circumstantial, a jury "could clearly be satisfied" there was a conspiratorial arrangement between the accused.

During the committal before magistrate John Hardy, the witness, an informer who cannot be named, accused corrupt Drug Squad Detective Sergeant Wayne Strawhorn and other detectives of deceiving Victoria's Court of Appeal.

Mr Hardy's decided to discharge Sequenzia on a charge of conspiracy to traffic a commercial quantity of amphetamines.

On July 30, 2004, the DPP abandoned its case against Paul Sequenzia.

Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Coghlan, QC, announced in the County Court that charges against Sequenzia would be discontinued.

The DPP's decision followed claims by the prosecution's key witness that former drug squad detectives bullied him into signing false statements.

The policemen strongly denied the allegations, which included claims they had hidden corrupt behaviour by their former boss, Wayne Strawhorn.

Two co-defendants had entered guilty pleas, one has reserved his plea, and Herbert Wrout, 62, who was seriously wounded when Lewis Moran was shot dead, awaited a committal.

Mr Sequenzia's barrister, Chris Dane, QC, had grilled former drug squad detectives Martin Allison, Victor Anastasiadis, David Bartlett and Paul Firth.

In his final submissions at the committal, Mr Dane said the case against Mr Sequenzia was "untriable", described the police brief as "junk", and asked how a jury could convict his client when the informer and the chief police investigator had accused each other of lying.

In response, Mr Hillman said a number of Mr Dane's submissions were "distractions" or irrelevant and that much of the "material canvassed" in the committal did not provide a defence for Mr Sequenzia.

Throughout the evidence of the informer and policemen, two members of the anti-corruption Ceja taskforce sat in court.

Mr Coghlan would not comment, but one of the reasons for a nolle prosequi is that it is not in the public interest to proceed with charges.

Georgia Halikopoulos, solicitor for Mr Sequenzia during the committal, told The Age she was not surprised by the decision.

"The informer turned on his keepers (the former drug squad detectives), accusing them of impropriety and concoction," Ms Halikopoulos said.

A Victoria Police spokesman told The Age that the four policemen had been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but that they may face disciplinary action.

Victoria's Purana gangland taskforce had indicated it was ready to charge him with at least one murder, and that he was a suspect in others.

Keith Faure had told police Mokbel offered him and two others $150,000 to murder Lewis Moran.

On May 3, 2006, Keith Faure (left) was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in jail in the Supreme Court for the Lewis Moran hit and the murder of a rival underworld gunman Lewis Caine six weeks later.

Justice Bernard Teague said missing underworld figure Tony Mokbel was one of two men who agreed to pay $150,000 for the execution of Moran.

Justice Teague fixed a 19-year minimum jail term for Keith Faure, who pleaded guilty to murdering Moran.

It is hoped an inquest might shake out vital pieces of evidence that could help police close in on remaining players in the underworld.

Judy Moran hopes an inquest will formally resolve the slaying of her son Mark.

"I want the person who shot my son dead to be incarcerated," she said.

She said Moran's young children, aged 12 and 13, deserved closure.

Gangland kingpin Carl Williams had been charged with murdering the drug dealer outside Moran's Aberfeldie home on June 15, 2000.

But the charge was withdrawn in a plea deal that saw Williams locked up for at least 35 years over three other underworld killings, including Ms Moran's husband Lewis and other son Jason.

Ms Moran believes other key players in the killing remain at large.

Initial investigations into Mark Moran's murder suggested Williams had not pulled the trigger, but a key witness later gave police a version of events implicating Williams.

Police and State Coroner Graeme Johnstone have had lengthy talks about plans for an inquest.

Ms Moran will this week write to the coroner appealing for an inquest.

The Purana report is now being compiled.

Ms Moran said she wanted justice for her son and hit back at her critics, some of whom panned the black cowboy hat and skirt she wore to Carl Williams' sentencing on Monday.

"If I go out, that's how I dress," she said.

"I don't do that just to go to court. I'm not a jeans person -- never have been.

"But none of this is about me -- it's for my family who are dead.

"Now my mantra is about Mark."

The prison worker allegedly handed a package containing the gun to the kidnapper in the presence of a road-rage killer who was a close associate of gangland murderer Carl Williams.

The County Court heard that several people could be charged over a conspiracy to kill Moran while he was in custody.

A former Port Phillip Prison employee who smuggled the gun into the prison has been jailed for at least two years. A judge said the man was motivated by the "lure of easy money".

The court heard that the former prison employee also moved drugs, including methamphetamine, ecstasy and cannabis, into the prison system for several prisoners between January 2000 and July 2006. He received $500 to $1000 each time.

In 2003, the man was paid $2000 to smuggle two packages -- one containing the loaded gun -- into jail. He did so at the request of a gangland figure, the court heard.

He later told police that he had believed the prisoner he gave it to needed a gun for his own protection.

But police investigations found that the real purpose for the gun was allegedly to kill Moran, the court heard. "It is not suggested, in your case, by the Crown that you were aware of that conspiracy or you were a party to that conspiracy," the judge told the man.

The man's barrister argued that he was not certain he had even taken a loaded gun into jail in what was "wilful blindness rather than actual knowledge".

But the judge said he was satisfied that the man was told he was taking a gun into the prison.

The prison employee was told "some idiot wants a gun in there", the court heard.

He later told police the convicted kidnapper was in fear of his life "and basically wanted to scare anyone who came near him or attacked him".

The judge said the man was in a position of trust and had used his knowledge of security measures to avoid detection.

"You took a gun into a prison knowing the danger this placed other persons in, whether they be prisoners, employees or prison officers," the judge said.

The judge said he was satisfied that the prison worker had taken the gun behind bars for financial reward.

"What is clear is that a message must be sent to the community that such criminal offences will not be tolerated by the courts," the judge said.

The employee did not care what drugs he took into the prison provided he was paid for his services, the judge said.

He said the man, who pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in drugs of dependence, including methamphetamine, ecstasy and cannabis, possession of a general category handgun and possession of cannabis, had good prospects of rehabilitation.

He was jailed for four years with a minimum of two.

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.

Mr Grigor is believed to have spoken to Williams, the drug kingpin convicted of organising Moran's killing.

It is believed he also wanted to speak to two other men, one convicted over, and another awaiting trial for, the Brunswick Club murder.

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.

Mokbel is languishing in a Greek prison after being arrested in June after spending more than a year as a fugitive.

He fled Australia in March last year, just before being sentenced to serve 12 years in jail on serious drug charges.

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.

A "gangland pension" of up to half a million dollars had been paid to women who lived high on criminal profit.

Yet genuine victims of crime had been denied compensation.

The jackpot, totalling up to $493,000 for crime families, had been kept secret from taxpayers, who paid the bill.

A Sunday Herald Sun investigation uncovered public payouts to wives and girlfriends of gangsters Alphonse Gangitano, Victor Peirce, and Mark, Jason and Lewis Moran.

Victim advocates were angry and old-school gangsters sneer that those claiming compo are soft.

Underworld matriarch Kath Pettingill said: "In the old days you wouldn't have dreamed of going to government for money. Death was an occupational hazard."

Mrs Pettingill, who has buried three sons, said she did not seek compensation when the last of them, Victor Peirce, was shot in Port Melbourne in May, 2002.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said "gangsters' molls" were picking the pockets of genuine victims.

"This is ludicrous," he said. "Live by the sword, die by the sword."

Mr McNamara said the women "exploit the scheme, are protected by its secrecy and are experts when there's easy money to be made".

The investigation found Virginia Strazdas received a $20,000 gift from taxpayers after boyfriend Lewis Moran was shot.

Judy Moran received $20,000 when son Jason -- drug dealer, standover man and killer -- was executed at a junior footy clinic. And she was paid up to $50,000 as part of a family claim over son Mark Moran's death.

Trisha Moran, widow of Jason, pocketed up to $50,000 for his death.

The families of "Lygon St Godfather" Alphonse Gangitano and Mark Moran are believed to have been each paid up to $100,000.

The Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal refused to disclose payouts.

It is not known if payments have been made to Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh's family or Victor Peirce's surviving lover and her son, or to Carl Williams for having been shot in the stomach.

And embattled lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson refused to say if she had claimed crimes compensation over slain boyfriend, Lewis Caine.

The widows defended the payments.

Ms Peirce said: "People say I have been living off the money Victor was supposed to have made from crime. But what have the kids done wrong?"

Virginia Gangitano reportedly didn't know where her husband obtained his money and she never asked.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said laws guided the tribunal on compensation claims.

"An applicant's character must be taken into account, including past criminal activity," the spokeswoman said.

Critics of the system have called for open court compensation deliberations.

Mrs Pettingill said part of the money Victor's widow, Wendy, received was paid to his children -- the two youngest were at school at the time of his death. She said she understood the argument when young children were still dependent.

"Jason Moran's twins were in the vehicle with him at the footy clinic when he was shot and they would have suffered, so I can see why they should get something," she said.

But while gangland families count their public cash, innocent victims remain penniless.

Melissiah Diabel, whose mother and baby sister's disappearance is one of the state's most mysterious unsolved crimes, was recently refused compensation.

"I was refused Crime Compensation from the Government over the murder of my mother and sister 27 years ago," she said.

"I was told there was currently no proof Louise and Charmian Faulkner were deceased and that any crime had been committed."

Ms Diabel has spent more than $60,000 in a quest to solve the mystery. Max Coulton was three when his mother was murdered in Melbourne and her naked body dumped in Elwood.

Mr Coulton, 19, was denied a payout for trauma because he may have been in Queensland when told of her death.

Train drivers, such as Arthur Enver, used as executioners by suicide victims are routinely denied compensation for pain and suffering.

Sharlene McKenna's daughter, Charli, was stillborn at 22 weeks after a motorist smashed into her car in March last year.

Ms McKenna qualified as the "primary victim", but her bid for compensation as a "related victim" to her daughter was refused -- because her baby wasn't born.

Postmaster Gilbert Icke, shot during a hold-up, at first received only $231 for clothes. After public outrage, he received about $2500 -- for petrol and other expenses.

He faces weapons and drugs charges after a routine street patrol in St Kilda West uncovered a loaded gun after stopping the vehicle in Beaconsfield Pde.

The man arrested, from Keilor Downs, was linked to prominent crime identities interviewed over the plot to murder Lewis Moran inside Port Phillip Prison.

A 25 year-old woman from Narre Warren was charged with possession of the loaded .38 calibre handgun allegedly found in the car.

On January 20, 2007, the Sunday Herald Sun reported that Judy Moran had delivered her verdict on Channel Nine's gangland drama series Underbelly: It's rot.

But she applauded the depiction of notorious killer Carl Williams as a dim-witted "fat boy" driver.

"They got that right - he seems the village idiot and that is what he is," Ms Moran said.

Violent scenes depicting her family in brutal bar brawls and her son Jason's cold-blooded shooting murder of family friend Alphonse Gangitano were "disgusting lies", she said.

She said the series painted an inaccurate picture of what was once a "loving, caring family".

"To me it's just all too fictitious and stupid," Ms Moran said.

"As a mother I feel sick. I'm deeply offended. I'm worried for Jason's children. How are they going to think of their father . . . as a murderer?"

Mrs Moran said she was considering legal action.

"I haven't had advice , but I can assure you I will seek it," she said.

The jury yesterday Barbara Marincic thought cameras were rolling when she saw two men holding guns in the doorway to the hotel.

But Ms Marincic, who was striding past listening to her radio, said she realised it was for real when she heard a gunshot ring out.

She said she only saw the face of one of the gunmen as the other wore a balaclava.

She noted the man wearing the balaclava was much taller than the other, who appeared to be in his 50s.

He was holding a shotgun while the older man had what looked like a pistol, she said.

"I actually thought it was a movie and then I turned around . . . then it was like people started screaming," she said.

Ms Marincic said she heard more shots so she ran and jumped on a tram.

She later dialled 000.

Brunswick Club patron Robert Anderson, who saw the pair approaching the club without wearing their balaclavas, was later able to identify one shooter from a video line-up, but not the second man -- allegedly Mr Goussis.

He told the court he was leaving the club minutes before the shooting and walking to his bus stop when he noticed two men who seemed out of place because of what they were wearing.

"They seemed to be talking, happy, joking," he said.

As he passed them, the man he later identified to police looked directly at him.

Under cross-examination, Mr Anderson conceded his focus was on the man who looked at him, not the man prosecutors allege was Mr Goussis.

He said his opportunity for observation was "extremely limited".

On April 10, 2008, the Supreme Court heard a drinking mate of Lewis Moran who was wounded in the shooting that killed his friend is suffering post-traumatic amnesia.

The jury was told Herbert Wrout was unfit to give evidence because he was suffering a number of health issues.

Justice Betty King told the jury Mr Wrout's amnesia meant he had no memory of the event on March 31, 2004, that killed his friend.

"To put him through the ordeal of giving evidence and saying 'I just can't remember' to things put to him just doesn't serve a useful purpose," she said.

Evangelos Goussis, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Moran, 58, and to the attempted murder of Mr Wrout.

The jury heard that four days before the Moran shooting an agitated man threatened staff at the Sydney Rd pub.

Staff member Sally Davis said the man, in his 50s, was asked to leave when he began swearing loudly on his mobile phone.

"Amongst what he said was, 'I'm not scared of the Morans, f--- the Morans, I'm not a narc, Lewis is not a narc'," Ms Davis told the court.

"I don't know why he brought that up; there was no reason for it. It's not like Lewis was standing at the end of the bar, or anything, at that time.

"Lewis wasn't there so there was no reason for this guy to say anything about what he said about the Morans. It wasn't connected. It wasn't related to anything."

The court heard that as the man left the club with a woman he said: "Wouldn't f-----g come back here anyway. Watch your backs."

Ms Davis said she marked the security footage and kept it because she was worried about the incident. "It was quite scary. It was very, very strange and very scary."

The court heard the tape was given to police after Moran's shooting and used in their investigation.

The career criminal, who the jury heard would give evidence central to the trial, took police through a videotaped re-enactment of what allegedly happened at the club.

Sen-Det David Leveridge said the man also led them to a beach where he said he had dumped his clothes from the night in a bin and threw the guns used off a pier. But the jury heard a dive team could not find the weapons.

On April 11, 2008, the court heard a commando-style gunman stopped running and looked at a man outside the pub where Moran had just been shot dead.