Prison enforcers Matthew Johnson and Gavin Preston at war behind bars
TWO of the state’s most powerful and violent prisoners — once firm allies and founders of the notorious Prisoners of War gang — are now bitter enemies.
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TWO of the state’s most powerful and violent prisoners have fallen out.
Matthew Johnson and Gavin Preston — once firm allies and founders of the notorious Prisoners of War gang — are now bitter enemies.
The men are kept in separate high-security units of Barwon Prison under the highest level of monitoring legally available to the state.
Johnson’s influence on other prisoners who are part of the Prisoners of War potentially makes Preston a target within the system.
But Preston is understood to have gained support from inmates unhappy with the direction of the POW.
There has been speculation that an attack last week on gangland figure Tommy Ivanovic was payback for the jailhouse knifing three years ago of Preston.
Ivanovic was in Barwon’s Acacia unit on the day Johnson murdered drug boss and prosecution witness Carl Williams in 2010. The well-connected figure was placed with Johnson and Williams in July 2009.
They had known each other for years and letters seen by the Herald Sun detail Williams pushing for Ivanovic to make the move. By December 2009, Johnson’s relationship with a former prisoner, believed to be Preston, had deteriorated as news circulated about Williams making statements to police about underworld shootings.
Preston was also a close associate of Ivanovic at that time and remained in contact with him.
The Victorian Ombudsman detailed in his investigation into the death of Williams that a senior prison officer noted in an email that “this may eventually lead to an impact on Tommy Ivanovic’s placement in Unit One Acacia with Johnson & Carl (Williams)’’.
On December 23 that year Victoria Police became aware of a death threat to an associate of a high-security prisoner at Barwon Prison.
Ivanovic was moved out of the unit for a short time and Williams and Johnson were also isolated from one another for eight days.
But in January, 2010, they were all permitted to return to Acacia Unit One.
On February 14, 2010, Ivanovic telephoned an associate who referred to a “lot of people being unhappy’’ with Williams providing statements to Victoria Police and described him as a “dog’’.
The Herald Sun understands the fractured alliances within prison has led to powerful prison figures turning on the Prisoner of War gang.
CARL WILLIAMS KILLER MATTHEW JOHNSON CALLS THE SHOTS BEHIND BARS
There has been infighting between the two enforcers in the past, but the reasons for the split between Preston and Johnson are unclear.
Preston and Johnson are subject to the most strenuous monitoring of their communications and contact with other prisoners. There has been recent concern about Johnson’s ability to order attacks on his enemies in the outside world.
Corrections Victoria said it could not comment on individual prisoners.
A CV spokesman said the organisation worked closely with other agencies to monitor prisoner behaviour and manage inmate placements.
“Corrections Victoria closely monitors prisoner communications to help manage potential risks while members of the public are only permitted to attend prisons if they are included on a prisoner’s approved visitors list,” the spokesman said.
STABBED INMATE A KEY FIGURE IN GANG CIRCLES
TOMMY Ivanovic has orbited the biggest names in Melbourne crime for decades.
The man known as Little Tommy knows many of its deepest secrets and has been trusted to keep his mouth shut about them.
On the 2002 day he shot motorcyclist Ivan Conabere outside his family home in Brunswick, future mafia kingpin Rocco Arico was among the first on the scene to help.
Ivanovic was metres away when his mate Carl Williams was bludgeoned to death by Matthew Johnson in the Acacia section of Barwon Prison in 2010. Little Tommy just happened to be on the phone to Arico as Williams was dealt with by Johnson.
Arico — now in jail himself — is said to have been deeply unimpressed with a stabbing attack on his old friend Ivanovic on Friday, April 28.
The pair grew up together in Brunswick and are suspected to have a firm handle on the backstory of the Williams death.
“There’s only two people who know all the secrets, and one of them’s Tommy,” an underworld source said.
Ivanovic was to find himself under intense pressure in the wake of the Williams killing.
Investigators’ interest in two attempts on the life of a man at Westmeadows — in 1999 and 2003 — were rekindled.
Associates of Ivanovic were arrested and interviewed and his home searched by detectives but no charges laid.
The Driver taskforce, which examined the Williams killing, could not interest Ivanovic in sharing what he knew of the Williams killing. Ivanovic was an associate of former drug squad detective Paul Dale.
He once arranged a meeting between Williams and Dale.
Ivanovic was this week discharged back to jail from a high security hospital after being patched up.
A fellow inmate used a shiv — a homemade prison knife — in a vicious onslaught in a mainstream section of the prison.
There are many possible reasons for the attack on Ivanovic ranging from revenge to a simple personality clash.
It would have been an exercise in formality when detectives asked Tommy Ivanovic who stabbed him at Barwon Prison.
Nothing would come from fingering the attacker, apart from the risk of more bloodshed for such a grave breach of law of the jungle.
Ivanovic is a virtual unknown to the general public but a man of note in gangland circles.
His relationships, particularly with Dale and Arico, have long been of interest to various elements of law enforcement.
The Dale connection began when he arrested Ivanovic in 2001 on drug matters.
After the Conabere murder, Dale came forward and said he had heard in a pub that Ivanovic was under threat of his life in the period before the killing.
Dale would later visit Ivanovic numerous times in prison.