Driver involved in the killing of underworld figure Victor Peirce

THE driver involved in the 2002 killing of underworld figure Victor Peirce has been jailed for 20 years.

THE driver involved in the 2002 killing of underworld figure Victor Peirce has been jailed for 20 years.

Peirce was shot dead as he sat in a car parked in Bay St, Port Melbourne, on the night of May 1, 2002.

Today, the man who drove gunman Andrew Veniamin to and from the scene was jailed for a minimum 14 years after a jury convicted him in September for murder.

Supreme Court Justice Mark Weinberg said the convicted man, who cannot be named, played a significant role, knowing his job was to drive Veniamin to a location so he could execute Peirce.

"This was a brazen and callous crime ... in a public street in the presence of bystanders,'' he said.

A second man, accused of setting up the murder and luring Peirce to his place of death, was acquitted.

Peirce was charged but later acquitted over involvement in the infamous 1988 Walsh Street police murders when young constables Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre were killed in an unprovoked attack.

Veniamin, who gunned down Peirce, died in March 2004 after he was shot dead at an inner Melbourne restaurant.

Mick Gatto was acquitted of his murder on the grounds of self-defence.