Key players in the murder of Michael McGurk
BUSINESSMAN and wheeler and dealer Michael McGurk was shot dead execution-style outside his luxury north shore home in 2009. These are the key players in the murder that shocked a city.
NSW
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Ronald Edward Medich
The millionaire property developer was accused of masterminding and financing the murder of his business partner Michael McGurk outside his Cremorne home in 2009. The father-of-six was “humiliated” about being the “laughing stock of the eastern suburbs” after McGurk failed to pay him back millions of dollars and the pair were embroiled in several, costly legal disputes at the time of the murder.
In 2013 the Independent Commission Against Corruption found the 70-year-old had provided former NSW energy minister Ian McDonald with the services of an Asian prostitute in exchange for meetings with government officials.
Michael Loch McGurk
Weeks before he was executed, wheeler and dealer Michael McGurk had a number of criminal charges dropped against him — including a charge relating to the firebombing of the Point Piper mansion Ron Medich had sold to Adam Tilley.
The 45-year-old Scottish born standover man was also accused of assaulting former employee Will Manning with a cricket bat. Not long before he was murdered McGurk, a father-of-four, taped a conversation with Medich as part of an alleged extortion attempt.
Fortunato “Lucky” Gattellari
The one-time boxer, debt collector and former Qantas steward says he organised for contract killers to execute McGurk after Medich came to him and said “He’s got to go”. Gattellari, 68, is serving a maximum 10 year sentence for his role in the murder after he agreed to give evidence against Medich.
The pair shared daily lunches — often at Tuscany in Leichhardt — visited Chinese massage parlours, attended races and spoke daily on the phone. On the eve of Medich’s first murder trial Gattallari was charged with trying to extort millions of dollars from Medich in return for changing his evidence. Gattellari was eligible for parole on April 12, 2018 but because of his upcoming extortion trial, his bid for parole was refused.
Senad Kaminic
The former Bosnian soldier was Gattellari’s personal driver and was sentenced to 2 ½ years’ jail after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact to McGurk’s murder. The debt collector received a message from one of the hired hitmen after the murder saying “the tyres are done” which was code for McGurk being killed.
Kaminic, who suffered post traumatic stress disorder after his time in a Croatian concentration camp, was given a reduced sentence in return for testifying against Medich.
He is out of prison and corroborated Gattellari’s evidence about the day Medich told him he wants “to go all the way” with McGurk’s execution.
Christopher Estephan
Known as “The kid” Estephan was 19-years-old when he drove the getaway car after McGurk’s murder but claims he never knew there was a gun in the car. Estephan, now aged 27, was originally charged with murder but this was downgraded to an accessory charge which he pleaded guilty to in 2014.
He was sentenced to a minimum four years and 10 months in jail and has since been released from prison.
Haissam Safetli
One of the hitmen hired to kill McGurk and was given a 60 per cent discount on his sentence after he agreed to help police by wearing a wire and taping conversations with his co-accused following the murder. Safetli has always blamed his younger accomplice Estephan with firing the fatal shot at McGurk but police believe he was the “likely shooter”.
Fearing the police were closing in -Gattellari and Kaminic tried to convince Safetli to take the blame for the murder, promising to look after his family. “If the shit hits the fan, I would like you to put something in your handwriting clearing everybody,” Gattellari said.
Glen McNamara & Roger Rogerson
Former cops turned killers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara went to Cooma Correctional Centre to try and involve themselves in the feud between Medich and Gattellari just weeks before they murdered a young drug dealer.
McNamara claimed Gattellari confessed he lied about the evidence he had given against Medich and wanted $15 million to change it.
McNamara claims he only met Gattellari under Rogerson’s instructions and later developed an interest in the McGurk murder case in his capacity as a private investigator.