Ron Medich finally behind bars after avoiding justice for ordering the execution of Michael McGurk
DODGY property deals, a cast of notorious Sydneysiders and a street execution — the assassination of Michael McGurk at home in Cremorne was the definition of Sin City.
NSW
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FEUDING millionaires, dodgy property deals, a cabal of shadowy characters and a savage street execution — the murder of Michael McGurk is the crime that sums up Sydney.
Even the 16 words that set the $500,000 contract killing in motion were typically Sin City in their matter-of-fact brutality.
“He’s got to go, I’ll get you the money. This f...ing bastard is ruining my life.”
The man receiving the orders was former professional boxer and Qantas steward Fortunato “Lucky” Gattellari, a close confidant and fixer for Medich who had political and business connections at the highest levels of NSW.
And so, at Medich’s request, a hit squad organised by Gattellari shot 45-year old McGurk dead in front of his nine-year-old son as he climbed out of his Mercedes holding his family’s chicken and chips dinner at their Cremorne home in 2009.
Medich shook his head angrily before handing his wallet, keys and phone over to his defence barrister Winston Terracini SC and being led to the holding cells. He now faces the prospect of dying in jail.
WIFE’S ORDEAL
Outside the court Kimberly McGurk, flanked by her children, thanked police and prosecutors.
“The damage to my family will never be repaired but the result today will allow my family to move forward,” she said.
Among family members at court was the son who she recalled running up to their house on the night of the shooting screaming, “Mummy, mummy, Dad’s been hurt — there was a pop and there’s blood.”
Mrs McGurk ran onto Cranbrook Av and, with the help of family friend, tried to resuscitate her husband, surrounded by scattered hot chips he had picked up for dinner.
But even after McGurk had been executed, Medich was still livid about the time it had taken the killers to their job, the court heard.
“Are you happy its done?” Gattellari recalled asking Medich.
“Well it’s taken f...ing long enough to happen and look at all the shit it’s caused me,” Medich replied.
Gattellari, 68, received a 60 per cent discount on his sentence in return for testifying against Medich.
MATES’ FALLOUT
Once upon a time the pair enjoyed boozy, long lunches, visited Chinese massage parlours and spoke on the phone daily but their friendship quickly dissolved when Medich refused to give Gattellari $1 million bail after he was arrested first for the murder in October 2010.
“I asked you for help, with legal expenses and bail money — you turned your back on me and left me for dead. I would have protected you at all costs but you f...ed me. Well, my so-called friend, this is the way it is now,” Gattellari said in a letter he authorised to be sent to Medich while he was serving his 7½-year sentence in Cooma jail.
On Medich’s motive for wanting McGurk killed, Gattellari told the jury he was livid about a series of failed property deals and costly legal disputes and believed McGurk owed him millions of dollars.
Medich told Gattellari he felt “humiliated” about being “the laughing stock of the eastern suburbs”. “People in the eastern suburbs think I’m a fool,” he said.
Gattellari told the court Medich had first asked him to organise the murder as the pair spoke at their shared office in Leichhardt.
He said Medich had asked him if he could “possibly help him to find someone to kill the bastard”.
Other witnesses throughout the trial testified about Medich’s hatred towards McGurk.
Medich was heard calling McGurk a “c...”, “motherf...er” and a “conman”.
LEGAL DISPUTES
During her opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Sharon Harris outlined the multimillion-dollar legal disputes Medich and McGurk were involved in at the time of the murder.
She said Medich had an “overwhelming motive” to have McGurk killed due to the “extreme animosity between the two men and the amount of money Mr McGurk was claiming he owed him … and the perceived embarrassment, anger and frustration this caused the accused”.
“The only way the accused could see a way out of it was to get Michael McGurk out of his life permanently,” she said.
Ms Harris also explained Medich had gone to Gattellari because he trusted him “implicitly” and that Gattellari had agreed because he was dependant on Medich for money and his lifestyle. Medich had invested $16 million into Gattellari’s electrical companies.
Medich’s defence barrister Winston Terracini, SC, argued there was no evidence of any payments Medich had made to finance the murder and told the jury they could not trust a word spoken by Gattellari, who was “spiv”, “a crook” and a “liar”.
He pointed out police had charged Gattellari with trying to extort $15 million from Medich in return for changing his evidence.
The court heard how Gattellari had enlisted the help of killer cops Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara just before they murdered Sydney University student Jamie Gao.
HIT SQUAD
The court heard Gattellari’s driver Senad Kaminic, teenager Christopher “The Kid” Estephan and Haissam Safetli all pleaded guilty to their involvement in the murder but who pulled the trigger has never been proven.
After the killing Safetli and Estephan ditched half the gun in water at Rozelle and threw the other half off the M5 motorway. But they were pinged by a Harbour Bridge toll camera for failing to pay.
During the trial the court heard how Medich was still not happy as Kimberley McGurk continued to fight her late husband’s legal battles.
“The f...ing bitch has got to get the message — I’m sick of it,” Medich allegedly said to Gattellari.
He hired a man to intimidate the grieving widow who said he told her “that I should do the right thing and not be a thief like my husband and pay my debts”. Medich will face a sentencing hearing later this year.
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