Latest news with #Auskick
Sydney Morning Herald
32 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Crooks who zigged when they should have zagged
2) Carl's three boo-boos For a drug boss and killer, Carl Williams made many dumb decisions. Here are three. Williams commissioned one of his hit teams (he had five) to kill hot dog vendor Michael Marshall, and the paid killer known as 'The Runner' sourced a clean car for the job. Police had got there first, bugging the car and hiding a tracking device in the rebuilt sedan. But the brake light stayed on, leading The Runner to find the device. He sought advice from Williams, who told him to carry on, using The Runner's own car, which was already bugged. After he killed Marshall, he was recorded ringing the 'Big Fella' with the message: 'You know that horse you and George [Carl's father] tipped me? It got scratched.' The Runner and the driver were arrested that night. The next mistake Carl made was not to pay his hitmen. He had promised The Runner $100,000 to kill rival Jason Moran – which he did, during an Auskick morning in Essendon North. But by June 2003, Williams had paid him only $2500. The Marshall contract was worth $300,000. The Runner was paid a $50,000 deposit, but once jailed, Williams sent the hitman's mother a paltry $1500. You shortchange hitmen at your peril. The Runner became a prosecution witness and was one reason Williams eventually had to plead guilty to several murders. The third mistake was when Williams wanted to do a deal, and he believed informing on an allegedly corrupt cop would not be seen by the underworld as being a snitch. But one gangster thought Williams needed to take certain secrets to the grave. In 2010, he was beaten to death inside prison by fellow inmate Matt Johnson. 3) Why they invented voicemail On December 22, 2003, Carl Williams and hitman Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin met Melbourne identity Mick Gatto at Crown casino for peace talks. Gatto said he wanted to remain neutral but made it clear he could fight gunfire with gunfire. 'If anything comes my way then I'll send somebody to you. I'll be careful with you, be careful with me,' Gatto said. 'I believe you, you believe me; now we're even. That's a warning. It's not my war.' When Williams considered a truce, Veniamin urged, 'Kill him'. The second dumb decision was when Benji answered his phone on March 23, 2004. It was Gatto inviting him to a Carlton restaurant, where Veniamin was shot dead. Gatto was charged, then acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. If only Benji had let the call go to voicemail. 4) The dumb cop and the public phone William Stephen 'Dingy' Harris was not much of a cop, but he was an excellent conman. In the police force, he was a sergeant stationed at Hawthorn, but to the underworld he was known as 'The Captain' and had impressive contacts that could protect massive hashish importations of more than 300 kilos a time. The syndicate would pay him $300,000 a pop. Dingy's identity was known by few, and to protect himself he would never use the Hawthorn police station phone to talk business, preferring to use the public one across the road, believing it couldn't be bugged. By the time he knew he was wrong, the jig was well and truly up. In the secret investigation code-named Rock, police recorded 14,000 phone calls and in October 1987, Dingy was sentenced to 14 years' jail, where he was allowed a couple of phone calls a week. 5) Know when to walk away, know when to run Loading The six-man burglary team was to pull off the crime of the century. Break into the Sigma pharmaceutical company and steal amphetamines with a street value of $166 million. They broke into the plant 25 times – perfecting their methods based on the movie Heat, in which the message was: at the first sign of risk, walk away. When they were setting up CCTV monitors in the ceiling, they found a system that had been set up by police to watch them. Rather than walk away, they convinced themselves it was the management that was using the system to monitor staff. One was recorded saying: 'Flash a brown eye at them. It was our idea to put a camera in, anyway.' In September 1996, they were arrested at the scene by the special operations group as they broke into Sigma. 6) The clock was ticking, but not in a good way As a terrorist, Hagob Levonian should have spent less time studying international politics and more time swatting up on chemistry. In 1986, he came to Melbourne to blow up the Turkish consulate. However, he ignored the fundamentals of OH&S. He was supposed to set the timer for a few hours. Sadly, he stuffed up and was blown to pieces. Forensic experts found a piece of skin the size of a 5¢ piece at the blast site that matched a fingerprint on an invoice book from Levonian. The only other remains found were a pair of feet in the bomber's shoes. 7) Drugs are bad, OK? Allan Williams was a drug dealer who used his own product and was too big for his boots. Why else would he agree to the crazy scheme to kill an interstate undercover cop to stop him testifying in a case so weak it was doomed to fail? He wanted to bribe the undercover, Mick Drury, but when he refused the offer, Williams, NSW rogue cop Roger Rogerson and hitman Christopher Dale Flannery conspired to kill him. On June 6, 1984, Drury was shot in his Chatswood home, but survived. The backlash was immediate. Although never convicted, Rogerson was finished, and he died in prison serving time for another murder. Flannery was considered too hot to handle and killed in cold blood, while Williams pleaded guilty to trying to bribe and then kill Drury. He later told me: 'I was a giant in the trade; I thought I was invincible and unpinchable. But I stepped over the line with the Drury thing. It is something I will regret for the rest of my life.' 8) Milking a snake without gloves Barrister-turned-snitch Nicola Gobbo didn't play by the rules. She was too close to her clients, then she turned on them, becoming a police informer while still feeding crooks titbits of information. She burnt both sides, which has become a stain on the criminal justice system costing north of $300 million, and with criminal appeals and civil action, shows no signs of reaching resolution. Loading 9) The smiling assassins In a world full of dangerous men, Nik Radev was a man to be feared. He had ambitions to be a drug boss and wanted to 'borrow' a drug cook who worked for Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel. The fear was that he wouldn't give him back. In April 2003, he was lured to a meeting at a coffee shop in Brighton and then given directions to travel across town to get the cook. He was ambushed in his car in Coburg. Earlier, he paid $55,000 in cash for dental surgery to have teeth as pearly white as his idol Tony Montana from Scarface, money that would have been better spent on armour-plating his car. He remembered to floss but forgot to duck. 10) Mafia's own goal In the 1970s, the Griffith mafia had a winning hand. Corrupt cops, bent politicians, an Australian-wide transport network and a near-monopoly on massive cannabis crops. They were rich and getting richer. Trouble was, there was a whistleblower and that son of a bitch was brave and getting braver. Local furniture shop owner Donald Mackay had reported on a couple of crops. Instead of seeing it as a minor hiccup, the mafia took out a $10,000 contract on his life.
The Age
32 minutes ago
- The Age
Crooks who zigged when they should have zagged
2) Carl's three boo-boos For a drug boss and killer, Carl Williams made many dumb decisions. Here are three. Williams commissioned one of his hit teams (he had five) to kill hot dog vendor Michael Marshall, and the paid killer known as 'The Runner' sourced a clean car for the job. Police had got there first, bugging the car and hiding a tracking device in the rebuilt sedan. But the brake light stayed on, leading The Runner to find the device. He sought advice from Williams, who told him to carry on, using The Runner's own car, which was already bugged. After he killed Marshall, he was recorded ringing the 'Big Fella' with the message: 'You know that horse you and George [Carl's father] tipped me? It got scratched.' The Runner and the driver were arrested that night. The next mistake Carl made was not to pay his hitmen. He had promised The Runner $100,000 to kill rival Jason Moran – which he did, during an Auskick morning in Essendon North. But by June 2003, Williams had paid him only $2500. The Marshall contract was worth $300,000. The Runner was paid a $50,000 deposit, but once jailed, Williams sent the hitman's mother a paltry $1500. You shortchange hitmen at your peril. The Runner became a prosecution witness and was one reason Williams eventually had to plead guilty to several murders. The third mistake was when Williams wanted to do a deal, and he believed informing on an allegedly corrupt cop would not be seen by the underworld as being a snitch. But one gangster thought Williams needed to take certain secrets to the grave. In 2010, he was beaten to death inside prison by fellow inmate Matt Johnson. 3) Why they invented voicemail On December 22, 2003, Carl Williams and hitman Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin met Melbourne identity Mick Gatto at Crown casino for peace talks. Gatto said he wanted to remain neutral but made it clear he could fight gunfire with gunfire. 'If anything comes my way then I'll send somebody to you. I'll be careful with you, be careful with me,' Gatto said. 'I believe you, you believe me; now we're even. That's a warning. It's not my war.' When Williams considered a truce, Veniamin urged, 'Kill him'. The second dumb decision was when Benji answered his phone on March 23, 2004. It was Gatto inviting him to a Carlton restaurant, where Veniamin was shot dead. Gatto was charged, then acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. If only Benji had let the call go to voicemail. 4) The dumb cop and the public phone William Stephen 'Dingy' Harris was not much of a cop, but he was an excellent conman. In the police force, he was a sergeant stationed at Hawthorn, but to the underworld he was known as 'The Captain' and had impressive contacts that could protect massive hashish importations of more than 300 kilos a time. The syndicate would pay him $300,000 a pop. Dingy's identity was known by few, and to protect himself he would never use the Hawthorn police station phone to talk business, preferring to use the public one across the road, believing it couldn't be bugged. By the time he knew he was wrong, the jig was well and truly up. In the secret investigation code-named Rock, police recorded 14,000 phone calls and in October 1987, Dingy was sentenced to 14 years' jail, where he was allowed a couple of phone calls a week. 5) Know when to walk away, know when to run Loading The six-man burglary team was to pull off the crime of the century. Break into the Sigma pharmaceutical company and steal amphetamines with a street value of $166 million. They broke into the plant 25 times – perfecting their methods based on the movie Heat, in which the message was: at the first sign of risk, walk away. When they were setting up CCTV monitors in the ceiling, they found a system that had been set up by police to watch them. Rather than walk away, they convinced themselves it was the management that was using the system to monitor staff. One was recorded saying: 'Flash a brown eye at them. It was our idea to put a camera in, anyway.' In September 1996, they were arrested at the scene by the special operations group as they broke into Sigma. 6) The clock was ticking, but not in a good way As a terrorist, Hagob Levonian should have spent less time studying international politics and more time swatting up on chemistry. In 1986, he came to Melbourne to blow up the Turkish consulate. However, he ignored the fundamentals of OH&S. He was supposed to set the timer for a few hours. Sadly, he stuffed up and was blown to pieces. Forensic experts found a piece of skin the size of a 5¢ piece at the blast site that matched a fingerprint on an invoice book from Levonian. The only other remains found were a pair of feet in the bomber's shoes. 7) Drugs are bad, OK? Allan Williams was a drug dealer who used his own product and was too big for his boots. Why else would he agree to the crazy scheme to kill an interstate undercover cop to stop him testifying in a case so weak it was doomed to fail? He wanted to bribe the undercover, Mick Drury, but when he refused the offer, Williams, NSW rogue cop Roger Rogerson and hitman Christopher Dale Flannery conspired to kill him. On June 6, 1984, Drury was shot in his Chatswood home, but survived. The backlash was immediate. Although never convicted, Rogerson was finished, and he died in prison serving time for another murder. Flannery was considered too hot to handle and killed in cold blood, while Williams pleaded guilty to trying to bribe and then kill Drury. He later told me: 'I was a giant in the trade; I thought I was invincible and unpinchable. But I stepped over the line with the Drury thing. It is something I will regret for the rest of my life.' 8) Milking a snake without gloves Barrister-turned-snitch Nicola Gobbo didn't play by the rules. She was too close to her clients, then she turned on them, becoming a police informer while still feeding crooks titbits of information. She burnt both sides, which has become a stain on the criminal justice system costing north of $300 million, and with criminal appeals and civil action, shows no signs of reaching resolution. Loading 9) The smiling assassins In a world full of dangerous men, Nik Radev was a man to be feared. He had ambitions to be a drug boss and wanted to 'borrow' a drug cook who worked for Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel. The fear was that he wouldn't give him back. In April 2003, he was lured to a meeting at a coffee shop in Brighton and then given directions to travel across town to get the cook. He was ambushed in his car in Coburg. Earlier, he paid $55,000 in cash for dental surgery to have teeth as pearly white as his idol Tony Montana from Scarface, money that would have been better spent on armour-plating his car. He remembered to floss but forgot to duck. 10) Mafia's own goal In the 1970s, the Griffith mafia had a winning hand. Corrupt cops, bent politicians, an Australian-wide transport network and a near-monopoly on massive cannabis crops. They were rich and getting richer. Trouble was, there was a whistleblower and that son of a bitch was brave and getting braver. Local furniture shop owner Donald Mackay had reported on a couple of crops. Instead of seeing it as a minor hiccup, the mafia took out a $10,000 contract on his life.
The Age
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Will Albanese be bolder now? He's five moves away from greatness
Howard plunged head first into negotiations over the GST after his near-death experience at the 1998 election, while Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (albeit after major reforms in their first term) held a tax summit in 1985, with Keating opting to champion (temporarily) the introduction of a broad-based consumption tax, or GST. Loading The problem for Albanese is that few people believe he will abandon his small-target fixation. The most contentious reform Labor has proposed so far is a tax increase on super balances over $3 million, which affects a tiny percentage of people. Changes to gambling advertising will be contentious, and other fights loom over access to cheaper childcare, the creation of a federal environmental protection agency and more. It must be said, but Albanese's steady-as-she-goes approach is part of what got Labor over the line on May 3 – he was seen as steadier and less risky than Peter Dutton at a time when people were focused on paying their mortgage or rent, getting food on the table and making sure they could afford to enrol the kids in Auskick or Saturday soccer. We know he supports Australia becoming a republic. We know he wants four-year federal parliamentary terms. The idea that the prime minister, so badly burnt by the defeat of the Voice to parliament, should pursue these two additional constitutional referendums may seem laughable. But with the right preconditions and handled in the correct fashion, it is not impossible. First, Albanese should only pursue these changes if he can seek and secure bipartisan support from both the Liberal and National parties. Loading This does not mean that those two parties must also support both proposals – far from it – but rather, Albanese needs an undertaking that the parties will not use the two proposals as political weapons against Labor. Absent this, Albanese should not proceed. The vote could be held on election day 2028. Cuts to the company tax rate, advocated for by former cabinet minister Ed Husic last term, are essential to maintain Australia's international competitiveness and to encourage more Australians to take a risk and start a business. The Liberals, under Sussan Ley, could be persuaded to back this proposal. And given that those tax cuts will need to be paid for, changes to the capital gains tax break should be part of the negotiations. While the opposition is unlikely to back the abolition of the CGT discount entirely, it is surely worth at least discussing scaling back the discount to, for example, 25 per cent (from 50 per cent). And on changing the date of Australia Day from January 26, an increasingly contentious day of grief and mourning for some and source of bombastic national pride for others, Albanese should lead a national conversation about the issue and pursue it if the opposition is willing to be sensible. Loading Australia is one of very few colonised countries to have achieved independence and implemented a federated national commonwealth without having an all-in civil war. It was a significant and underrated achievement and one that should be marked. January 1, the day our constitution came into effect, is the obvious choice to replace January 26 – if the prime minister chooses to go down this path. Halfway through the last term of parliament, after promising dozens of times that the Coalition's stage 3 tax cuts would be implemented unchanged, Albanese changed his mind. Australia's 31st prime minister had a light-bulb moment and realised that years from now, when he is long retired, he did not want to wake up one day and think 'thank goodness I implemented Scott Morrison's tax cuts in full'.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Will Albanese be bolder now? He's five moves away from greatness
Howard plunged head first into negotiations over the GST after his near-death experience at the 1998 election, while Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (albeit after major reforms in their first term) held a tax summit in 1985, with Keating opting to champion (temporarily) the introduction of a broad-based consumption tax, or GST. Loading The problem for Albanese is that few people believe he will abandon his small-target fixation. The most contentious reform Labor has proposed so far is a tax increase on super balances over $3 million, which affects a tiny percentage of people. Changes to gambling advertising will be contentious, and other fights loom over access to cheaper childcare, the creation of a federal environmental protection agency and more. It must be said, but Albanese's steady-as-she-goes approach is part of what got Labor over the line on May 3 – he was seen as steadier and less risky than Peter Dutton at a time when people were focused on paying their mortgage or rent, getting food on the table and making sure they could afford to enrol the kids in Auskick or Saturday soccer. We know he supports Australia becoming a republic. We know he wants four-year federal parliamentary terms. The idea that the prime minister, so badly burnt by the defeat of the Voice to parliament, should pursue these two additional constitutional referendums may seem laughable. But with the right preconditions and handled in the correct fashion, it is not impossible. First, Albanese should only pursue these changes if he can seek and secure bipartisan support from both the Liberal and National parties. Loading This does not mean that those two parties must also support both proposals – far from it – but rather, Albanese needs an undertaking that the parties will not use the two proposals as political weapons against Labor. Absent this, Albanese should not proceed. The vote could be held on election day 2028. Cuts to the company tax rate, advocated for by former cabinet minister Ed Husic last term, are essential to maintain Australia's international competitiveness and to encourage more Australians to take a risk and start a business. The Liberals, under Sussan Ley, could be persuaded to back this proposal. And given that those tax cuts will need to be paid for, changes to the capital gains tax break should be part of the negotiations. While the opposition is unlikely to back the abolition of the CGT discount entirely, it is surely worth at least discussing scaling back the discount to, for example, 25 per cent (from 50 per cent). And on changing the date of Australia Day from January 26, an increasingly contentious day of grief and mourning for some and source of bombastic national pride for others, Albanese should lead a national conversation about the issue and pursue it if the opposition is willing to be sensible. Loading Australia is one of very few colonised countries to have achieved independence and implemented a federated national commonwealth without having an all-in civil war. It was a significant and underrated achievement and one that should be marked. January 1, the day our constitution came into effect, is the obvious choice to replace January 26 – if the prime minister chooses to go down this path. Halfway through the last term of parliament, after promising dozens of times that the Coalition's stage 3 tax cuts would be implemented unchanged, Albanese changed his mind. Australia's 31st prime minister had a light-bulb moment and realised that years from now, when he is long retired, he did not want to wake up one day and think 'thank goodness I implemented Scott Morrison's tax cuts in full'.
West Australian
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
SuperKids SuperHeroes Round founders Simon and Kim Kane want to take Auskick activation national
From scooters to superheroes, Simon and Kim Kane have spent the past 10 years honouring the legacy of their son Declan and teaching kids they can be the superheroes they aspire to. And now, the Bridgetown pair are hoping this weekend's WA Auskick SuperKids SuperHeroes Round, which raises money in memory of Declan, can go national to raise even more money in the fight against childhood cancer. Kids across more than 50 Auskick clubs across the state donned the cape and cowl on the field this weekend for the annual commemorative round, which brings together two of Declan's favourite things: football and superheroes. This year's round will also feature a half-time activation at Sunday's AFL clash between West Coast Eagles and St Kilda at Optus Stadium. Declan was just eight years old when he lost his fight to neuroblastoma, a type of cancer mostly diagnosed in young children, in 2017 after four years battling the disease. The Kane Family began to fundraise for The Kids' Cancer Project in 2016, initially with a 10-day, 600km odyssey from their hometown of Bridgetown to Perth on motorised scooters. Having driven the creation of SuperKids SuperHeroes Round to celebrate Declan's legacy, the Kanes have now raised more than $440,000 for The Kids' Cancer Project and are set to pass the half-a-million mark this year. Simon Kane, who often dresses up as Batman, Declan's favourite superhero, said the round just kept getting bigger and bigger. 'Every time we stop and reflect, we just get overwhelmed with joy, helping making a big difference on other people's lives,' he said. 'Obviously going through that hard stage ourselves, trying to make fun out of it and then seeing the kids have so much fun and kids helping kids as well at the same time, which they don't realise they're doing — that brings a lot of joy to our hearts.' While the round remains a strictly-WA affair for now, Kim Kane said the goal was to raise even more awareness around the battle against childhood cancer and take the message national. 'Kids definitely do gravitate towards the superheroes. Whenever we arrive at any of the ovals, it kind of brings an element of crazy and the kids just go bananas,' she said. 'We're hoping that this will spread right throughout WA and even over to the eastern states. That's our main would really like to extend that nationwide. 'All the funds that are raised help all kids in Australia who are fighting cancer,so it's not just kids in WA that benefit, it's kids throughout the whole of Australia.' Kids' Cancer Project chief executive Owen Finegan has been involved with the foundation since 2015 and has watched the Kane family's story unfold every step of the way. 'Families who have gone through the childhood cancer journey, for all of them, it's a lifetime challenge,' he said. 'They're either going through sort of secondary chronic illness and the chance of it reoccurring, or like the Kane family, you have families that forever doing something like this in memory and as a legacy for the child they lost. 'Our strongest advocates are the people that have been through this experience and it's amazing to see 10 years later the Kane family are still fundraising in memory of Declan, who passed away and will be forever eight.' Finegan, who played 56 games for the Wallabies before moving into the non-profit sector, said the personal stories of the Kane family helped add more emotion to the statistics. 'Every day, three families are hearing the words 'your child has cancer'; every week, three of those children pass away; there's 950 kids every year diagnosed with cancer in Australia,' he said. 'The round and the activations, it's raising awareness, which make people aware of those sort of statistics, but also then the opportunity for them to donate and we celebrate that every dollar makes a difference. 'It has been a way for them to honour and preserve Declan's legacy, while continuing to help others and making sure that the next kid that's diagnosed with neuroblastoma or cancer hopefully finds kinder and better treatments and a better survival rate and better quality of life, and they're able to not just survive their treatment, but thrive.'
