Tony Bellino tells why he was ready to shoot John Andrew Stuart, before Whiskey Au Go Go fire

A former Brisbane nightclub owner has told of a threat to blow up his club and an attack by a gang of 15 after he refused to pay a detective protection money.

A former Brisbane nightclub owner has told an inquest he was ready to shoot John Andrew Stuart after Stuart threatened to blow up his club, months before the Whiskey Au Go Go fire. Tony Bellino, licensee of Fortitude Valley nightclub Pinocchio’s, said his brother Gerry had been told Stuart made the threat because he had been refused entry for wearing thongs.

Mr Bellino told the inquest into the fatal 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go fire that he had a gun under his belt when Stuart and Billy McCulkin came into Pinocchio’s, around August-September 1972.

“He only came in with Billy McCulkin on that night when I was ready to shoot him,’’ said Mr Bellino, 82.

Mr Bellino said on that night he had his hand on his gun, which was under his belt and jacket.

“They looked at me and they walked out ... They knew they’d get shot,’’ Mr Bellino said.

When asked by Stephen Keim, counsel assisting the coroner, why he had not mentioned the incident in his 1973 police statement, Mr Bellino said: “Maybe I keep it to myself.”

“All I remember is them coming in to burn me up,’’ he told the court.

Mr Bellino said police had warned him in later 1972 that Sydney mafia were going to come to take over Brisbane, but they could not do anything about it unless something happened.

When asked outside court about the incident when he had the gun ready to shoot Stuart, Mr Bellino said: “I would kill them all. I would kill them all.

“My house is my house, my kids are my kids and my family is my family. You don’t touch my family.’’

In 1973 James Finch and John Andrew Stuart were convicted of arson and murder over the March 8, 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go fire that killed 15 people.

The reopened inquest was sparked by claims at the 2017 trial of Vincent O’Dempsey and Garry Dubois, who were convicted over the deaths of Billy McCulkin’s then wife Barbara McCulkin and their two daughters.

The cover of the Tony Bellino biography, Time For Truth

Tony Bellino outside court today. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

In court, Mr Bellino was questioned about information in a biography about him, Time For Truth: Antonio Bellino Tells It As It Is by Don Cameron, published in 2009.

Mr Bellino made the startling admission: “I never read it. I never read the book.”

Despite the book saying it was “common knowledge’’ that Whiskey Au Go Go manager John Bell had warned people not to go to the club on the night of the fire, Mr Bellino said he did not know that.

Mr Bellino denied warning anyone not to go to Whiskey Au Go Go six days before the fire or that he knew something bad was going to happen.

“I swear to God I didn’t know that,’’ Mr Bellino said.

In the book it was said that Detective Glen Hallahan asked for $30 a week for his protection of Mr Bellino’s nightclub.

“He was a crook cop. He was taking money. He wanted money from me,’’ Mr Bellino told the court.

In the book it was said that Hallahan arranged for fights in the nightclub every night.

Mr Bellino told the court of an incident when he had to put out a fire in the storeroom, set by someone who had come into the club.

“The next night 15 of them came with knuckle dusters, knives and guns,’ Mr Bellino said.

“...The coppers didn’t want to know nothing about it. Fifteen came, and it was all because of this copper.’’

He said he blamed Det Hallahan for the trouble, but he never complained to police about it or about the officer’s alleged demand for protection money.

“It wouldn’t do any good because coppers all the same, all together... All Queensland was like that.’’

Mr Bellino was asked about the Torino’s nightclub fire in Fortitude Valley, on February 25, 1973, about two weeks before the Whiskey fire.

The court heard Mr Bellino had earlier had a “big argument’’ with one of the Torino’s owners, after he discovered Torino’s staff had been dumping empty liquor bottles on his property.

Mr Keim put to him that someone might think he had a motive to set fire to Torino’s, but Mr Bellino denied it, saying: “People can think what they like’’.

The book said Tony Bellino was the number one suspect for the bombing of Torino’s, but when asked if he thought he was, Mr Bellino said “not really’’.

“It doesn’t matter what people say, it’s in their heads. It’s like as if I’m a Mafia already and I done nothing,’’ Mr Bellino said.

When asked by Mr Keim if he had come to an agreement for Billy McCulkin to arrange the attack on Torino’s, he laughed and said: “No. I never even talked about things like that’’.

The inquest has been adjourned for more hearings from May 9.