Police probe new witness claims in the 1977 mafia slaying of Griffith anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay

POLICE are investigating new claims made by a man who says he witnessed the murder of anti-drug crusader Donald Mackay.

POLICE are investigating new claims made by a man who says he witnessed the murder of anti-drug crusader Donald Mackay.

He has confided to friends that he fled overseas immediately after the 1977 murder as he feared those who did it would kill him to prevent him giving evidence against them.

The man has since returned to Australia and is now claiming he saw a number of people attack Mr Mackay in Griffith, NSW.

Nobody has been charged with the murder of the Liberal Party candidate.

The shooting of Mr Mackay, whose body has never been found, was Australia’s first political assassination.

Police in NSW are aware of the man’s claims and are investigating them along with other new leads as to the possible whereabouts of Mr Mackay’s body.

Melbourne hitman James Bazley was convicted in Victoria of conspiring to murder Mr Mackay.

But the Calabrian mafia figures who ordered that Mr Mackay be silenced because of his public stance against their drug business have never been charged.

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James Bazley was convicted of conspiring to murder anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay.

Former homicide chief Peter Halloran

Former Victoria Police homicide squad boss Peter Halloran was part of the taskforce which charged Bazley.

“I have no doubt it was Bazley who shot Mr Mackay,” Mr Halloran said yesterday.

“We never had any evidence that anybody was with Bazley at the shooting, but it is certainly possible others were there.

“You have to wonder why this supposed witness to the murder is telling people about it now, but it is still a lead that needs to be followed up.”

The man who claims to have witnessed Mr Mackay being murdered recently told the Herald Sun he wasn’t prepared to talk to police because he didn’t trust them.

He said there were a number of people involved in the shooting of Mr Mackay in the car park of the Griffith Hotel about 6.30pm on July 15, 1977, and that what he saw that night led to him leaving Australia in fear of his life.

“You had crooked cops involved,” he claimed.

“I don’t want to say too much because there are people who would see me dead.

“All I can say is after they finished with Don they turned their attention to me.

“And that’s all I am going to say because it’s a miracle that I am even talking to you today.”

The Herald Sun knows the man’s identity and has spoken to him several times in recent weeks.

It has chosen not to name him as he claims his life is still in danger.

Former Griffith Area News editor Terry Jones yesterday told the Herald Sun he had been provided with details of what the man claims to have witnessed on the night Mr Mackay was murdered.

“I have provided that information to police,” Mr Jones said yesterday.

“From my own investigations in recent times I am absolutely sure the man did witness the Mackay murder. I appeal to him to tell police what he knows.”

Evidence suggests a 1977 board meeting of the Calabrian mafia in Griffith coldly decided Mr Mackay needed to be assassinated because the budding politician’s main platform was a very public and vocal campaign against the Italian organised crime group’s domination of the local marijuana trade.

A $200,000 reward is available for information leading to the discovery of Mr Mackay’s body.

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