The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 35

NEWS EXTRA 3 JHEAGE SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER 1998 THE UNDERWORLD (MM Police have had to offer a reward to break through the wall of silence around the execution of Alphonse Gangitano, reports John Silvester. fitf to 4 A. 1 jmifl i 1 1 Young guns: Gangitano (far left, second row from top) in his high school days. lit tw.mil,"!!!'"!. Gangitano: The impulsive, Those who knew Virginia say she was anything but a gangster's moll.

She met Alphonse 23 years earlier when she was 16 and he was a big teenager who was quick with his fists. They had lived together for 15 years. Despite the big man's desire to keep business and family apart, one old friend felt he could pop in late at night, apparently without invitation. Graham Allen Kinniburgh had attracted police curiosity for at least three decades. To police, the older, more experienced Kinniburgh and the younger, more excitable Gangitano were an odd couple.

Kinniburgh, then 56, stayed in the shadows while Gangitano, 40, enjoyed the limelight. The older man dressed in staid casual clothes while Gangitano preferred designer suits. Gangitano had the reputation as a hot-head who could become violent at the wrong times, often leaving his lawyers to try to clean up the mess. Kinniburgh was far more controlled, although as a younger man he could flare up. He was once charged with assault outside a nightclub in an incident that left a policeman with a broken nose.

Kinniburgh was later acquitted. Kinniburgh lives in a prestigious part of Kew and has clearly dens and the nightspots of Lygon and King streets. -From the early 1980s he was known to stand over some nightclub owners and had needed to be seen and to maintain a brooding, violent presence to encourage prompt payments when required. But after 22 years in the crime world, Gangitano was under pressure. The impulsive, charismatic and violent gangster was a police magnet.

His high public profile made him a target and he was having trouble distinguishing friends from enemies. Police views on Gangitano varied greatly. Some saw him as a major organised crime figure. Others saw him as a self-promoting street thug and a parody of a gangster. All agreed he was a major pain in the neck.

Relatives remain furious at the media picture of Gangitano as a crime figure with possible connections to the drug industry. They claim he was anti-drugs and "would go ballistic" at the thought of anyone close to his family becoming involved. But they acknowledge he was a criminal. Illegal gambler yes. Standover man yes.

Killer? perhaps. But drug dealer certainly not. Crown Casino had dried up the illegal gambling industry and police investigations had cut his protection business. He described himself as a "property developer" in court documents and in his will simply as His only legitimate income came from rent from a Lygon Street property that was owned by his parents and now shared with his sister. Certainly Gangitano was under financial pressure.

He was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in legal fees. He flew one lawyer overseas to take a statement from a potentially damaging witness and lawyers don't travel economy. In 1995 he shot dead Gregory John Workman after a drunken argument during a party. He had to pay to have two star witnesses move overseas and many associates felt they needed to distance themselves from the loose cannon. He was dangerously exposed and running out of friends.

THE temperature was around 23 degrees when Alphonse climbed the stairs just after 3.30 pm and headed for the main bedroom. He turned on a fan near the bed before dozing off. Six hours later, he woke and padded downstairs. The phone rang. It was Tony, an old friend from Brunswick, who wanted to know how the case was going.

"He said he was confident he was in good spirits and was joking," Tony said later. As they chatted the phone beeped to indicate a second call coming through. It was Virginia, saying she would be home in around an hour. He took two more calls, one from a Victorian criminal and one from a well-known criminal associate in Perth. According to associates, he rarely spoke at length, believing the phone and his house were bugged by the police.

Few of his criminal associates were welcome at his home. "He always tried to insulate Virginia and the children," an associate said. Virginia knew he was a criminal but he never spoke to her of how he made his money. She was given weekly housekeeping and she knew her job was to care for the children and the home. charismatic and violent gangster 100 weeks! to go Sag tScT" was a police magnet.

would keep the front door open but the security mesh door locked. The mesh was designed so you could see out but not in. With the temperature around 18 degrees at 11pm, he wore only his blue underwear. Police believe the second man who arrived at the house late that night must have been well known to Alphonse. He would have seen him and opened the door without duress.

He remained relaxed enough not to bother getting dressed. Gangitano sat back at his favorite seat at the kitchen table. What happened then is a matter of conjecture, but it is almost certain the killer pulled a gun out of the blue. There is mounting evidence the killer was a subordinate of the crime figure, a man Gangitano felt had ambitions that exceeded his abilities. A soldier, about the same age as Gangitano, who wanted to be a general.

Observers had noticed a cooling in their once close relationship, even though they had been seen shaking hands earlier that day. Like Gangitano, the man was a hot-head who, when pushed, would pull a gun and use it without thinking. Too late, Alphonse realised he was no longer in control. He jumped up and ran a few metres towards the laundry as the gunman fired. He could not get to a gun; repeated police raids meant he would not risk hiding a firearm at home.

He was heading to a door trying to escape but it was blocked by the family clothes horse. The first shot missed. The second wounded him. Then it was an easy task for the gunman to finish off his helpless victim. About one minute before Kinniburgh walked into the Quix store, Virginia coincidently walked into the same shop to buy ice creams for the children.

Police believe the two may well have driven past each other. It is not known if Kinniburgh recognised the family's burgundy sedan as they passed in the night. In Glen Orchard Close, as Virginia neared home, she saw a car with square headlights make a U-turn and cruise slowly away. She swung right into the driveway and opened the remote-controlled garage door, noticing the front sensor light was on, indicating someone, or something, had passed within 40 seconds. The children raced to the front IT, LPHONSE Gangitano I had just arrived back at Jlfl his Templestowe home fU after yet another day in 1 court.

He was in a buoy-U Uant mood. It was January 1998, and for the first time in three years he could see the day he would finally be clear of the nagging criminal charges that reduced him from a powerful crime figure to a hunted man. His lawyers had told him that the first day of his committal at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on charges of affray and assault had gone well. 1 He had not been too worried after all, he had been in and out of courts for 20 years and had beaten charges from illegal possession of a firearm to murder. This, he hoped, would just be another inconvenience and he would soon be free to strut around Melbourne, the city he treated as his personal domain.

Bail conditions meant he was not allowed out after 9pm, making it difficult to do what he did best; be seen around nightclubs as an intimidating figure not to be crossed. Sitting in court, hearing police and witnesses describe him as an organised crime figure and violent gangster, was an occupational hazard. In fact, he had come to enjoy the notoriety. Not that he was happy with his constant legal problems. Only a day earlier he had confided to a friend, Bail Justice Rowena Allsop, that he wanted the committal to be over as quickly as possible.

He was deeply worried about his mounting legal bills. Legal Aid rarely defended clients in Zegna suits. Gangitano was dropped home the following day, 16 January, by his long-time driver, Santo. As he walked down the sloping drive to the front door of the house in Glen Orchard Close, bought six months earlier, he could see three of the four security cameras he installed as soon as he moved in. The system was set up to cover the front of the house, the backyard, driveway and along the street.

His home was not the best of the 27 in the street but it suited Alphonse. On the low side of the dead-end street, on a sweeping left hand bend, it was perfect for a man who wished to know who was coming and going. The double-storey brick, 30-square home was built on a sloping block, so the downstairs rooms and the front door could not be observed from any great distance. But the upstairs windows faced towards the street, giving a perfect view of the road to the corner and of anyone entering the area. Gangitano wanted a secure house in a dead-end street because he was concerned about police raids and surveillance.

He had been subject to the unwelcome interest of the National Crime Authority, the Federal Police and the organised crime, drug, racing, gaming and vice squads of the Victoria Police. He seemed unaware that his greatest threat could come from someone close, someone he trusted. He bought the house in late 1997 using money from the sale of his deceased parents' Eaglemont home. He still required a mortgage. The house was comfortable without being opulent.

Upstairs in the walk-in robe were up to 30 suits, leather jackets and expensive fashion accessories. One of Gangitano's favorite spots in the house was the study. On the shelves were books including one on Al Capone. On the walls were pictures from his days as an influence in the fight game. Pictures of Melbourne boxer Lester Ellis, a framed poster of the "Raging Jake La Motta, and a.

photo of the best of them all, Muhammad All, standing over a prone Sonny Liston. If Gangitano had studied the Ali-Liston photo carefully he may have learnt a valuable lesson. Liston was the biggest and baddest of his time, seemingly unbeatable. But when his powers waned he was manipulated and finally died in circumstances that suggest the involvement of organised crime. When he walked in that midsummer's" afternoon, he was alone.

His de facto wife, Virginia, and their children, had gone to her sister's St Kilda home about lpm. Gangitano removed his expensive, imported grey suit and draped It, over the bannister before going Upstairs for a sleep. I The sort of business that specialised In required night Work. For more than a decade he Was regularly sighted in gambling the Opening Ceremony on October 18, 2000. To mark the occasion, the Sydney Paralymplc Organising Committee (SPOC) is launching Its own website: wwwydneyp8ratyrnplc.or.

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His double-storey house is protected by video cameras and his privacy ensured with a large front brick fence. Kinniburgh had a few drinks with an associate and a fellow friend of Alphonse's, Lou Cozzo, at the Laurel Hotel, in Moonee Ponds, on the night of the murder. Some time after 10pm he left and instead of driving home, went to Templestowe to see his friend. Kinniburgh later told police at the scene that when he arrived, around 10.50pm, Gangitano said he was about to meet someone and asked the older man to make himself scarce for a while. Kinniburgh decided to go to the local shop to get a packet of Benson and Hedges.

The Quix convenience store in Blackburn Road was 800 metres from Gangitano's home, less than two minutes away, yet Kinniburgh said he was gone for 30 minutes. GANGITANO sat at the small, round kitchen table facing the hallway. By moving his head slightly to the left he could look down the house to the front entrance. In summer, he Ispy: Qangttanol MffVlltf llOIVM (top Ml) on on of his four Picture: JOE ARMAO door but the heavy mesh security door was locked. They rang the bell, waiting for their father to let them in.

He couldn't. He was dead on the laundry floor. Virginia let the children in and found Alphonse face down. She saw the blood but she felt his body, still warm, giving her hope. She ran to the phone and called an ambulance as Kinniburgh arrived from his trip to get cigarettes.

Virginia passed on instructions from the operator to Kinniburgh to clear the patient's airway. Ambulance tapes record Virginia desperately trying to keep her children away from the horrible sight of their father. Big Al could not be saved. He bled to death. Many of the men police hoped could shed light on what happened on that night have remained strangely silent.

A close friend, who has told anyone who would listen that he misses "Big Al" and that he would love to know what happened, turned up at the homicide squad, freshly showered and with a top criminal lawyer. He refused to answer any questions. Kinniburgh also refused to answer homicide detectives' questions, adopting a code of silence he must have learnt when he associated with painters and dockers. Hundreds of people have been interviewed by police. Many have expressed anger, grief and sorrow for the death of their friend.

Few, if any, have provided facts. The head 6f the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Charlie Bezzina, remains optimistic, even confident. Clearly, police have some major information on the murder they are keeping to themselves at this stage. "We are more advanced in the case than many people would think. We have evidence that points towards a major suspect and received new information earlier this week.

There is now a $50,000 reward for information and we are confident this case will ultimately be solved." It is usual after a crime figure is murdered to anticipate some form of underworld payback. But after this death it is as if the friends and enemies of Alphonse Gangitano have decided he died of natural causes. Australian coastal locations this year, the Tweed Heads event is being held on the foreshore of the Jack Evans Boat Harbour at the mouth of the Tweed River and In sight of Flngal Bay Lighthouse. Ms Anthony will be Joined by a series of performers, Including the Inspirational Heather Martin and the 400-strong Sing 2001 Choir, on the giant Sydney 2000 Olympic Touring Stage from lpm today. The concert concludes with a fireworks 'display In the evening.

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