The Carlton Crew

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section relies largely or entirely upon a single source.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations of additional sources.

The "Carlton Crew" is an Australian criminal organization from Melbourne, Victoria.

Contents

[edit] Description

The closest organization to a traditional Sicilian Mafia family in Australia was the Carlton Crew. It is part of a local phenomenon caused by the emigration of Sicilian criminals called the Australian Mafia. It was formed in Melbourne, Victoria by famous gangster Alphonse Gangitano. Named after Melbourne's Little Italy district, it ran from the late 70s until today. The organization had a strong rivalry with the Honoured Society and the Calabrese Family. Both were Calabrian 'Ndrangheta groups also based also in Melbourne, and are now defunct. The current leader of "The Carlton Crew" is Domenic "Mick" Gatto, who rules the organization since Gangitano's death in 1998.

[edit] History

Founder Alphonse Gangitano was born in the Melbourne suburb of Templestowe and attended several local colleges without obtaining a degree, before he settled on a life of crime. His primary associaates included Domenick 'Mick' Gatto (a boxer from East Doncaster), Mario Condello (born in Calabria, Italy, but raised in Melbourne) and Alex Normoyle (a peculiar felon who responded to police interrogation in nonsensical rhymes).

Gangitano logged several minor arrests in the late 1970s and early 1980s while building up his reputation as "The prince of Lygon Street". In addition to his three main confederates, Gangitano recruited a score of thugs (mainly of Italian origin) who installed jukeboxes and vending machines in local bars and nightclubs under the threat of violence, then reinvested their profits in drug trafficking. From there, it was a short step to establishing covert casinos and methamphetamine labs. In February 1989 an inmate at Fremantle Prison accused Gangitano of murdering Australian Federal Police Commissioner Collin Winchester in Canberra, but no charges were filed.

In June 1994 Gangitano apparently engineered a Victoria armoured car robbery that netted the gunmen 2,3 million Australian dollars. Evidence of this involvement did not emerge for several years and once again no charges were laid. In 1995 Melbourne police suspected Gangitano in two murders, including those of small-time crook Greg Workman (killed at Wando Grove while celebrating a friend's release from prison) and prostitute Deborah Boundy (whose clients included Carlton Crew hitman Christopher Flannery). Once again, however, the crimes remained officially unsolved. On 19 December 1995 Gangitano engaged in a wild melee with rivals Jason Moran and Mark McNamara at a Melbourne nightclub. Prosecutors were still debating various charges against him, when Gangitano's wife found him dead in the laundry room of their Templestowe home on 16 January 1998. Moments before his death, Gangitano had welcomed mobster Graham Kinniburgh into his home, but Kinniburgh reportedly left to buy cigarettes, then returned 30 minutes later to find Mrs. Gangitano standing over her husband's dead body. Authorities found that Gangitano had been shot several times in the head. Witnesses reported seeing Jason Moran leave Gangitano's home on the night of the murder, but once again prosecutors deemed the evidence insufficient to support criminal charges. Jason Moran was murdered by persons unknown in June 2003, perhaps as an act of retaliation. Graham Kinniburgh died in similar fashion on 13 December 2003, followed shortly by the murder of Jason Moran's father Lewis.

Gangitano's murder signalled the onset of hard times for the "Carlton Crew". Police charged Mick Gatto, Gangitano's successor, with deception in June 1999, for placing 39 bets with a bookie under the pseudonym ('Mick Delgado'). He pleaded not guilted but was convicted and fined $10,000. A few months later, jurors acquitted Gatto of running down a pedestrian with his car. in February 2002 royal commissioners investigated Gatto on suspicion of accepting $250,000 to 'mediate' labour disputes with the Australian Workers Union. No charges were lodged in that case. Carlton Crew member Mario Condello boasted a record of convictions for arson, fraud and drug trafficking. Police also suspected him for multiple murders. In 2005 he was charged with plotting to murder crime Boss Carl Williams, who also faced charges of scheming to ambush Condello. Trial was pending in that case when uknown gunmen executed Condello outside his Brighton home on 6 February 2006. Six hundred mourners attended his funeral, with Micl Gatto serving as a pallbearer.

Since then, "Mick" Gatto has been trying to manage the organization while being himself subject of numerous indictments, police informants and police raids to his numerous places of business.

[edit] Influence

The Carlton Crew is one of the most powerfull and influent Australian crime groups. On it's peak, it had influence in other cities as Sydney and Perth. It also has international ties with both the American Mafia and the Sicilian Mafia. However, in recent years the organization's power has been declining.

[edit] Unique Characteristics

Named after Melbourne's Little Italy district, the "Carlton Crew" is an unusual Mafia family in many ways. It did not share the American Mafia's strict rules of acceptance in order to become a Made Man. Altough there was a preference for Sicilian or Sicilian descendent members, it accepted non-sicilian individuals to become members, and even non-italians. However it's structure was based on the Sicilian Mafia and it's founder was of Sicilian heritage, so it should not be confused with Melbourne's Calabrian oriented criminal organizations. The Carlton Crew did dealings with many other non-Italian Melbourne, Sydney and Perth criminal groups, including Nick Radev's Melbourne based Bratva offshoot, and the Irish Mob related group, the Moran family.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Newton, Michael (2007). Gangsters Encyclopedia. The World's Most Notorious Mobs, Gangs and Villains, Collins & Brown (C&B)