Nik Radev

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Nik Radev

Nikolai "The Russian" Radev was a Bulgarian refugee who became known as a career criminal in Melbourne.

During his life he was jailed for assault, blackmail, threats to kill, extortion, firearm offences, armed robbery and drug charges.^[1] According to police he was an enforcer for the Melbourne head of the Russian mafia, robbing drug dealers at gunpoint and that he also had access to a machine-gun. ^[2]

Radev was shot and killed in Queen St Coburg on April 15, 2003 as part of the Melbourne gangland killings.

He was shot seven times in the head and chest as he sat in his Mercedes coupé. Victoria Police told The Age that they believed his death was planned by a father and son drug manufacturing team, and a hitman suspected of four other murders carried out the killing in a red sedan. His associates Damien Cossu and Alfonso Traglia were with Radev at the time of the murder but claimed they could not identify the gunman, and were subsequently named by police as 'persons of interest' ^[3]

Despite only having worked for eight months during the 1980s, at a fish and chip shop, Radev was killed wearing Versace clothing and with a $20 000 watch on, and was laid to rest in a gold-plated coffin.

Victoria Police suspected Andrew Veniamin and Carl Williams were behind the killing ^[4]