Multimillionaire Ron Medich emerges as person of interest in execution murder of Les Samba
A MILLIONAIRE jailed for a contract killing has emerged as a person of interest in the execution murder of Les Samba, as police probe whether the racing identity was murdered over his bagman role.
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EXCLUSIVE: A millionaire jailed for a contract killing has emerged as a person of interest in the execution murder of racing identity Les Samba.
The Herald Sun can reveal Sydney businessman Ron Medich, a business associate of Samba, has been under scrutiny over the 2011 slaying in Middle Park.
This week, Medich was convicted of ordering the Sydney shooting murder of another associate, Michael McGurk, in September 2009.
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Samba is believed to have supplied some of the $500,000 cash to property developer Medich to pay for the shooting of McGurk, and the Herald Sun has been told Samba may have been considered a “loose end”.
Medich’s trusted lieutenant Lucky Gattellari, a former boxing champion, told his boss in July 2009 it would cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 to have McGurk killed.
Medich is alleged to have told Gattellari it was not a problem and he would get the money from Samba.
It is believed Samba then used a false driver’s licence to fly to Perth to get the money, which was later given to Medich. Two months later, McGurk was shot dead in the driveway of his North Shore home, in front of his son, 9.
Gattellari was arrested in October 2010. When Medich refused to pay his legal fees, he began to give police details about who had been involved in the McGurk murder plot.
Police interviewed Samba about his knowledge of the McGurk murder. Not long after one interview, he was lured to Melbourne and shot.
When Victorian police flew to Sydney to interview Medich, he denied having anything to do with Samba’s death.
“Samba would have been a pivotal witness in the McGurk investigation. He could have been the link between the money and Medich. His death certainly didn’t hurt Medich,’’ a senior detective said.
Victoria Police declined to comment on the Samba investigation.
Medich has long been one of the people of interest in a complex and wideranging investigation by the anti-gangland Purana taskforce.
The inquiry has also entangled interstate racing industry and Melbourne organised crime identities.
It is suspected the plot to kill Samba revolved around enticing him to Melbourne’s Inglis yearling sales.
He was allegedly offered a huge cash fee to identify quality bloodstock for a non-existent Malaysian businessman.
In 2015, Victoria Police investigators flew to Perth to interview 18 people, and another six in Sydney.
At that stage, they said Samba had owed $200,000 to a NSW-based crime syndicate.
Earlier, police had travelled to Queensland and searched the home of trainer John Nikolic, who has denied involvement in the death. He is the brother of Danny Nikolic, the former husband of Samba’s daughter, Victoria.
Police believe at least two people were present at the Samba killing, but that many others were involved in commissioning and setting it up. A $1 million reward is on offer to anyone able to help secure a conviction for the principal offenders.
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
FROM the moment Les Samba’s bullet-riddled body was found, it was clear to police that this investigation would be a challenging one.
The murder had all the hallmarks of a gangland-style hit. He was chased down by two killers intent on eliminating him quickly and efficiently.
Those involved in such killings rarely make it easy for those trying to catch them.
Police had no indication about why Samba was in Middle Park, where he was killed.
Neither was there any indication of who he might have been intending to meet there.
His background only made things more complicated.
Les Samba was a charming family man and a great judge of horse flesh.
But he also had many and varied connections.
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He was well known at the nation’s premier racetracks and also to some very heavy figures in the crime world.
Police have never identified the figures they think are among the players in this difficult investigation.
But Sydney property developer Ron Medich, who this week was convicted in New South Wales of ordering the 2009 murder of his business associate, Michael McGurk, remains a person of interest.
A committal hearing in that case heard that Samba had been asked to come up with some of the $500,000 cash that was required to pay for the McGurk killing.
If that was the case, Samba was a potentially damaging witness against Medich.
But Medich would have been only one of the players.
It is more than likely that a chain of figures played a role in setting Samba up.
There has been talk that a smooth-talking former racing identity well known to Samba played a part in getting Samba to Melbourne for the Inglis yearling sales.
Then there is the matter of who lured Samba to Middle Park on the night of February 27, 2011. It has never been clear why Samba went there. He told no one his reasons for leaving the Crown Metropol hotel that Sunday night.
Perhaps a call made from a payphone at a post office in an inner-southern suburb might offer some insight. That call was made to Samba on the morning before he died.
It suggests the possibility that someone wanted to make untraceable contact with him.
Then there are the two triggermen, who struck as Samba arrived for the meeting. Among the names to have circulated was that of a bikie associate with convictions for extreme violence.
One of his mates is a drug dealer and horse-doper connected to former Melbourne drug king Tony Mokbel.
Of interest would have been misinformation peddled about Samba’s activities the weekend he died.
Police are believed to have queried the motives for circulating that information and who might have stood to benefit.
Investigators have remained tight-lipped in the seven years since he was gunned down.
In 2015, they gave their most revealing insight into where they were heading.
They revealed they were probing whether a $200,000 debt led to Samba’s murder.
Purana taskforce detectives went to New South Wales and Western Australia to talk to several people about what they knew.
It was announced that a man had telephoned former Victoria Police homicide squad boss John Potter and had offered important information, including the identification of a man said to have organised the killing.
They appealed for that person to contact them again.
They stressed that a reward of up to $1 million remained in place for anyone able to help solve the crime.