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Purana Taskforce
The Melbourne gangland killings were the murders of 36 underworld figures in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between January 1998 and August 2010. The murders were retributive killings involving underworld groups. The deaths caused a power vacuum within Melbourne's criminal community, and rival factions fought for control and influence. Many of the murders remain unsolved, although detectives from the Purana Taskforce believe that Carl Williams was responsible for at least ten of them. The period culminated in the arrest of Williams, who pleaded guilty on 28 February 2007 to three of the murders. (2007) 19(1) Current Issues in Criminal Justice 120. Since the confession of Williams, the ultimate source of the violence has become public knowledge. On his 29th birthday, while meeting with Jason Moran and his half brother Mark Moran on 13 October 1999 at a suburban park in Gladstone Park, Jason Moran shot Carl Williams in the stomach over a dispute about money relating to their ...
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Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of Local Government Areas of Victoria#Municipalities of Greater Melbourne, 31 local government areas. The name is also used to specifically refer to the local government area named City of Melbourne, whose area is centred on the Melbourne central business district and some immediate surrounds. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong Ranges, and the Macedon R ...
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Melbourne Markets
Melbourne Market, more formally the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit & Vegetable Markets, is the main wholesale produce market for Melbourne, Australia, and the wider state of Victoria. Located in the outer northern suburb of Epping and operated by the Melbourne Market Authority, the Market provides for the wholesale distribution of fruit, vegetables and flowers to the Melbourne region daily. The markets were located on a 33-hectare site in Footscray Road, West Melbourne, adjacent to the Melbourne Fish Markets, the Port of Melbourne and the South Dynon railway yards and were moved to Epping in 2015. Prior to Footscray they were at the Queen Victoria Market The Queen Victoria Market (also known colloquially as the Vic Market or Queen Vic) is a major landmark and public marketplace in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Covering over , it is the largest open air ... and before that the Western Market in Collins Street which opened in 1841. ...
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'Ndrangheta
The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the Sicilian Mafia Commission, Sicilian counterpart, comprises three subordinate bodies known as ''mandamenti''. These include a ''mandamento'' for clans on the Ionian Sea, Ionic side of Calabria (including the Aspromonte mountains and Locride), a second for the Tyrrhenian Sea, Tyrrhenian side (the plains of Gioia Tauro), and a central ''mandamento'' for the city of Reggio Calabria. A July 2019 article published in Canada summarized the traditional 'Ndrangheta structure. According to this report: "For decades, the 'Ndrangheta families of Siderno operating in Canada—about seven of them—have been governed by a board of directors, called the "camera di controllo", or chamber of control. The local board, as in other countries around the world ...
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Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It has 1,832,147 residents as of 2025 across a total area of . Catanzaro is the region's capital. Calabria is the birthplace of the name of Italy, given to it by the Ancient Greeks who settled in this land starting from the 8th century BC. They established the first cities, mainly on the coast, as Greek colonisation, Greek colonies. During this period Calabria was the heart of Magna Graecia, home of key figures in history such as Pythagoras, Herodotus and Milo of Croton, Milo. In Roman times, it was part of the ''Regio III Lucania et Bruttii'', a region of Roman Italy, Augustan Italy. After the Gothic War (535–554), Gothic War, it became and remained for five centuries a Byzantine empire, Byzantine dominion, fully recove ...
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Honoured Society (Australia)
The Honoured Society () is a Calabrian 'ndrangheta criminal confederation, started in Melbourne and currently active in all of Australia. Frank Benvenuto was a leading figure in the Melbourne groups until his slaying in 2000. Tony Romeo, another high-ranking member, was shot in 2002. History Known by the names "The Honoured Society", L'Onorata Societa or La Famiglia to Italians but more simply as the Mafia to most Australians, the 'ndrangheta has controlled Italian-Australian organised crime all along the East Coast of Australia since the early 20th century. The 'ndrangheta began in Queensland, where they continued their rural form of organised crime, especially in the fruit and vegetable industry. From 1928 to 1940, some 10 homicides and 30 bombings were attributed to the Society. 'Ndrangheta operating in Australia include the Sergi, Barbaro and Papalia clans. Similarly in Victoria the major families are named as Italiano and Benvenuto. Melbourne godfather Domenico "The Pope ...
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Charles Hegyalji
Charles Hegyalji (6 August 1956 – 22 November 1998) also known as Mad Charlie was a Hungarian born gangland criminal in Melbourne, Australia. Hegyalji was a key figure in the amphetamine trade. He was charged with attempted murder in 1997 after a gun battle with another criminal associate and subsequently kept in custody for twelve months. Charges were dropped after witnesses refused to testify. Hegyalji was murdered within months of his release. He was one of a large number of criminals murdered by other criminals that were killed during the Melbourne gangland killings.John Silvester and Andrew Rule (2005), ''Underbelly. The Gangland War'', Floradale and Sly Ink, Sydney, pp.124-131. A major suspect in Hegyali's murder was fellow criminal Dino Dibra. Hegyalji was best friend of celebrity criminal and convicted standover man Mark "Chopper" Read, whom he had contacted several days before his murder. Hegyalji is buried in Springvale Botanical Cemetery The Springvale Bo ...
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Alphonse Gangitano
Alphonse John Gangitano (22 April 1957 – 16 January 1998) was an Australian criminal from Melbourne, Victoria. Nicknamed the "Black Prince of Lygon Street", Gangitano was the face of an underground organisation known as the Carlton Crew. He was also an associate of alleged organised crime bosses Tom Domican (Sydney) and John Kizon (Perth). Gangitano is considered to be the second of the thirty Melbourne gangland killings between 1998 and 2010, when he was murdered in 1998. Gangitano was portrayed by Vince Colosimo in the 2008 TV series ''Underbelly'' and ''Fat Tony & Co,'' and by Elan Zavelsky in the 2009 TV series '' Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities''. Early life Gangitano was born on 22 April 1957. He attended De La Salle College and Marcellin College. In later years through the 1980s and 1990s, it was later alleged that he was a co-owner of a King Street nightclub and numerous fight promotions and other ventures that went on to include horse racing and protection ra ...
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Armed Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear; that is, it is a larceny or theft accomplished by an assault. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between jurisdictions. Robbery is differentiated from other forms of theft (such as burglary, shoplifting, pickpocketing, or car theft) by its inherently violent nature (a violent crime); whereas many lesser forms of theft are punished as misdemeanors, robbery is always a felony in jurisdictions that distinguish between the two. Under English law, most forms of theft are triable either way, whereas robbery is triable only on indictment. Etymology The word "rob" came via French from Late Latin words (e.g., ''deraubare'') of Germanic origin, from Common Germanic ''raub'' "theft". ...
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Gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (game theory), strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elements to be present: consideration (an amount wagered), risk (chance), and a prize. The outcome of the wager is often immediate, such as a single roll of dice, a spin of a roulette wheel, or a horse crossing the finish line, but longer time frames are also common, allowing wagers on the outcome of a future sports contest or even an entire sports season. The term "gaming" in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. The two words are not mutually exclusive; ''i.e.'', a "gaming" company offers (legal) "gambling" activities to the public and may be regulated by one of many gaming control boards, for example, the ...
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Nightclub
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who mixes recorded music. Nightclubs tend to be smaller than live music venues like theatres and stadiums, with few or no seats for customers. Nightclubs generally restrict access to people in terms of age, Clothing, attire, personal property, personal belongings, and behaviors. Nightclubs typically have dress codes to prohibit people wearing informal, indecent, offensive, or gang-related attire from entering. Unlike other entertainment venues, nightclubs are more likely to use Bouncer (doorman), bouncers to screen prospective patrons for entry. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday nights. Most nightclubs cater to a particular music genre or sound for bran ...
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King Street, Melbourne
King Street is a main road in the Melbourne central business district, Australia. It is considered a key hub of Melbourne's nightlife and is home to many pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, and adult entertainment venues. Part of the original Hoddle Grid laid out in 1837, the road has become a main traffic thoroughfare connecting Southbank, Victoria, Southbank and North Melbourne through the city centre. King street is named for Captain Philip Gidley King, the third Governor of New South Wales. Geography King Street begins at Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders Street and ends at the intersection of Hawke Street and Victoria Street, Melbourne, Victoria Street in West Melbourne, Victoria, West Melbourne. Towards the northern end of King Street lay the Flagstaff Gardens, whilst the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium and Crown Melbourne, Crown Casino are at its southern tip. King Street becomes Princes Highway, Kings Way south of Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders Street. The street was ...
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Protection Racket
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from violence, robbery, ransacking, arson, vandalism, and other such threats, in exchange for payments at regular intervals. Each payment is called "protection money" or a "protection fee". An organized crime group determines an affordable or reasonable fee by negotiating with each of its payers, to ensure that each payer can pay the fee on a regular basis and on time. Protections rackets can vary in terms of their levels of sophistication or organization. The perpetrators of a protection racket may protect vulnerable targets from other dangerous individuals and groups or may simply offer to refrain from themselves carrying out attacks on the targets, and usually both of these forms of protection are implied in the racket. Due to the freq ...
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