This page examines individual crimes & criminals in Melbourne.
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The Nelson robbery was one of the major crimes of the Victorian gold rush. It involved the robbery at gunpoint of 8,183 ounces of gold valued at about £30,000 by a party of thieves from the barque Nelson as she lay at anchor in Hobsons Bay off Melbourne on the night of 1–2 April 1852.
The Depressions of the early twentieth century generated organised crime, as in most western cities. Infamous gangsters of the time included Squizzy Taylor, and were portrayed in Author Frank Hardy’s 1950 novel Power Without Glory.
From the 1950s until the early 1990s the majority of underworld crime figures and major incidents can be traced back to the Painters and Dockers Union that existed on Melbourne's waterfront. Similar in structure to Italian crime gangs, the 'dockies' followed an unwritten set of rules which included assistance to members, rejection of conventional justice and a code of silence.
Activity was centred around control of the Union, and the cut associated with the drugs that passed through the port. In the early 1970s the amount of drugs increased, and so did the violence associated with it. This was later the subject of a Royal Commission
1976: Eloise Worledge kidnapped from her suburban home and presumed killed although her body was never found.
1976: A well-organised gang of six stole between $6 million and $12 million from the Victoria Club in Queen Street; the crime technically remains unsolved and is known as the Great Bookie Robbery.
1977: Easey Street murders two women were viciously stabbed in their home in Easey Street, Collingwood.
1980: Louise Faulkner and her toddler daughter Charmian, disappear from outside their St Kilda residence and although presumed killed their bodies have never been found.
On 27 March 1986 a car bomb exploded outside the Russell Street Police Headquarters, killing 21 year old Constable Angela Taylor. The bomb caused extensive damage around the area.
On the evening of 9 August 1987, former army cadet Julian Knight went on a 30 minute shooting spree in Clifton Hill, killing 7 and wounding 19 before being arrested. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On 8 December 1987, around 4:00pm, 22 year old Frank Vitkovic walked into the offices of Australia Post on Queen Street. Over a period of four hours, he killed eight staff, wounded five, and seriously traumatised many others, before jumping out of a window and killing himself.[1]
On 12 October 1988, two police officers, Constable Steven Tynan and Probationary Constable Damian Eyre, were ambushed and shot dead in Walsh Street, South Yarra while patrolling for speeding motorists in the region. Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, Anthony Farrell and Peter McEvoy were charged, though later acquitted at trial by jury. In 2005, the wife of Peirce gave an interview detailing how her husband planned the murders.
Portland Double Murder
Portland(rural Victoria −335 km SW of Melbourne) On the 3 May 1991, the bodies of hairdresser Claire Acocks, 49, and Margaret Penny, 58, were found in the shampoo room of the Old London Coiffure hairdressing salon in Bentinck Street, Portland. They had stab wounds in their chests and throats caused by a knife and, possibly, a pair of scissors. $100 had been stolen from the salon till. The hairdressing salon now operates as a shipping agent with a private residence upstairs. Police interviewed a local man who suffered schizophrenia, although no charges were laid. The case remains unsolved.
references: The Age "theage.com.au" 4/5/2006
On 16 August 1998 Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller were staking out a restaurant when they were shot at close range. Bandali Michael Debs, and Jason Roberts were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders as well as 13 other charges of armed robbery.
Between 16 January 1998 and 7 March 2006 at least 29 underworld figures were killed in Melbourne, in a series of tit-for-tat killings between various groups, starting with the murder of Alphonse Gangitano and culminating in the arrest of Carl Williams and the killing of suspected hitman Andrew Veniamin.
On 28 or 29 May 2000 Keith William Allan was murdered in a contract killing organised by his former law clerk Julian Michael Clarke.[2] His body has never been found. Clarke, together with Sudo Cavkic and Costas Athanasi were found guilty of murdering Allan. The case involved three lengthy trials. Frank De Stefano, former Mayor of Geelong, gave evidence at the committal of Clarke and Athanasi, and at all three trials. The convicted men were sentenced to lengthy periods of imprisonment.
On 4 April 2002, Matthew Robert Wales murdered his parents, millionaire socialites Margaret Wales-King and Paul King, and buried their bodies in bushland. He pleaded guilty to their murders and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 24 years.
At 11:20am on 21 October 2002, Huan Xiang, a student at Monash University went into a tutorial room at the Clayton campus with 5 guns and shot and killed 2 students. He was tackled and restrained by a lecturer until police arrived. He was found not guilty of murder due to mental illness.
On 9 February 2005, Maria Korp was strangled by Tania Herman, the mistress of Korp's husband Joe Korp, allegedly at his instruction. Maria Korp was found four days later, brain damaged and in a coma, in the boot of a car parked near the Shrine of Remembrance. She remained in a vegetative state for almost six months before her feeding tube was removed at the request of her state-appointed legal guardian, Public Advocate Julian Gardner. Prior to Korp's death, Tania Herman pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 12 years jail with a non-parole period of 9 years. Joe Korp, who had pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and was awaiting trial (his charge was soon to be upgraded to murder following his wife's death), committed suicide on the day of Maria Korp's funeral.
On 18 June 2007, a man fired 6 shots, killing one man, and critically wounding a woman and another male. The man was seen dragging a woman out of a taxi by her hair on a busy Melbourne street when two male bystanders attempted to help her. The offender pulled out a hand gun and shot the two men and woman at point blank range. This incident occurred at approximately 8:20am Monday, during one of Central Melbourne's busiest times. Victims were rushed to the Alfred and Royal Melbourne Hospitals for emergency surgery. The gunman fled the scene almost immediately, later dumping his jacket and gun at a nearby building site.
On 12 May 2008, Christopher Wayne Hudson pleaded guilty to the murder of lawyer, Brendan Keilar, and other offences committed during the shooting.[3]
Billy "The Texan" Longley was a leader of a union faction within the Painters and Dockers. He was known as "The Texan" either because he wore a Stetson and carried a Colt .45. or because the character played by Rory Calhoun in the film The Texan was Bill Longley. A biography, In Your Face has been written of his life by Rochelle Jackson, published by ABC books.
Mark "Chopper" Read, as a figure, has been immortalised in film Chopper, played by actor Eric Bana. Due to a high profile through his books, he is perhaps the best known figure to have emerged from Melbourne's criminal underworld. His deeds as reported in his books are considered to be a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Between the ages of 20 and 38, he spent only 13 months of his adult life out of prison.