Australian police said yesterday the arrest of alleged mobsters on their way to a gangland hit had ended a bloody turf war over control of Melbourne's drugs trade that has claimed 27 lives in six years.
Four men appeared in court charged with conspiracy to murder after being arrested in a series of raids on Wednesday that police said foiled a plot to kill an alleged underworld rival.
Heavily armed officers arrested two of the men outside a cemetery in the city's southeast, where they were allegedly on their way to kill ex-lawyer Mario Condello.
Two handguns and a can of petrol were found in the men's car and police said they believed they had thwarted the city's latest gangland hit "by minutes."
Witnesses said one of the would-be assassins wept after being apprehended by armed police.
Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon said the arrests were a turning point in the gang war that has raged in Australia's second largest city since 1998 and seen her own force accused of corruption and complicity in underworld killings.
"I believe we are on top of this matter and we'll bring it hopefully to a conclusion in the not-too-distant future," Nixon told commercial television, saying she expected more arrests.
One of the accused, Carl "Skinny" Williams, is allegedly the leader of a gang that has challenged Melbourne's established drug lords, sparking the bloody conflict.
At the time of his arrest, Williams was on bail for a US$14 million amphetamines haul and charges of threatening to kill police.
Williams appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court flanked by armed guards, with a police helicopter hovering overhead.
The underworld war was sparked in 1998 with the murder of Alphonse Gangitano, known as the "Robert de Niro of Carlton" thanks to his impeccable attire.
A colorful roll-call of dead gangsters has followed in a turf war police describe as unprecedented in Australia.
Melbourne residents have been mesmerized by the growing body count, which has so far not included any innocent bystanders, with Treasurer Peter Costello saying the saga illustrated society's "moral decay."
"Drug barons compete for the distribution rights to sell drugs to our children in Melbourne," he said recently.
"People well-known to the police apparently live in luxury with no visible means of support or explanation as to how they maintain their lifestyles."
Costello has threatened to use federal tax authorities to rein in the gangsters, in the same way that Elliot Ness and his "Untouchables" in the US Treasury convicted Chicago racketeers such as Al Capone in the 1930s.
The Victoria state government has resisted calls for a royal commission into allegations corrupt police were involved in the gangland war.
It did, however, order an investigation into how a police report identifying an informer was circulated to the underworld shortly before the man and his wife were murdered last month.
Police investigating allegations of corruption have received bullets engraved with their names in the post and had their families followed and intimidated.
The intended victim of the latest alleged murder plot, Mario Condello, is an associate of Dominic "The Don" Gatto who is in jail charged with murdering Andrew "Benji" Veniamin, Williams' bodyguard.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese