When suburban gangster Dino Dibra shot his mouth off in an encounter with the cops
STRIPPERS, bongs and crying mums — late suburban baddie Dino Dibra was quick to shoot from the hip when he crossed paths with the cops. | Plus evidence pics
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PEOPLE react in a different ways to police pressure.
Some offer a resolute no comment to every question, others fold like beach chairs, and others turns nasty.
Then there are those, like the late Dino Dibra, who liked to try a bit of everything when conversing with police: From hostility to humour, from longwinded explanations to no response.
When Dibra was spoken to by police in March 1999, he knew he had some major problems.
Already regarded as a major pest by police in the western suburbs, they must have been delighted with what they found at a house in Peter Chanel Court, Deer Park.
The property, in which Dibra asserted he lived, contained 22 cannabis plants being hydroponically grown.
His strife deepened when a .45 calibre pistol and a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle were found tucked under a lounge cushion.
Dibra, arrested nearby by the special operations group, was soon making it absolutely clear he wouldn’t be talking.
‘I have a bong. I love marijuana’
“We can sit here all day until the cows come home. It’s gonna be `no comment’,” he said.
But that stance didn’t last.
Before too long, Dibra was moving to explain the crop was for his personal use in a clear attempt to avoid a trafficking charge.
He made the extraordinary claim that he puffed through more than 28 grams of dope every day — then made an offer no detective was likely to accept.
“You should hang around with me,” he says.
Pressed further about his cannabis consumption, Dibra said: “You know heroin users have got addictions, well, I can’t wait to have a bong.”
“I go have a p--- at night-time, I have a bong. I love marijuana.”
Dibra wasn’t afraid to talk guns either, a bad look for a man with Dibra’s long criminal history.
“I’ve got pistols cos I fear for my life. I’ve been shot.
“I’m sick of my mother crying. I’ll get some other mothers crying for once.”
History was to show Dibra’s fears were well-founded.
On October 16 the next year, he was shot dead outside a house in Sunshine, most likely by his old partner in crime Andrew “Benji” Veniamin.
Court documents reveal how a detective had a crack at tricking Dibra into implicating others in his growhouse, by asking who had set it up.
“Myself. My intelligency. Myself,” Dibra replied.
“I’ll admit to everything to save youse hassles. The lot’s mine. Don’t incriminate anyone else. Incriminate me.”
‘I’m allowed to have visitors. Whoopy-doo!’
Asked under whose authority he was growing cannabis, Dibra replied: “My, my authority. Self authority.”
When quizzed about the number of people police have observed visiting the house, Dibra responded: “Whoopy-doo! you’re allowed to have visitors. I’m allowed to have visitors. Whoopy-doo. Whoopy-doo!”
But answers about where he had been that day were less than helpful.
“I could have been in Sydney, back, Melbourne. It’s none of your concern where I’ve been. You’re not my father, so therefore I don’t have to answer nothing to you. Not being smart, don’t take it the wrong way,” he says.
When asked where he lived, Dibra told police his house was Peter Chanel Court.
But he failed to anticipate the obvious follow-up question about where his clothes were.
“Doesn’t matter where my clothing is,” Dibra said.
“My clothing could be in Sydney. My clothing could be anywhere.”
So, police asked, what about your personal effects?
“I took them out this morning. You just missed out.”
Dibra was quite candid when police mentioned that a woman had been intercepted with another suspect nearby.
Dibra: “She’s a prostitute”.
Detective: “Mm”.
Dibra: “That I’m f---ing.”
Detective: “Mm”.
Dibra later offered a more detailed outline of his love life.
“She’s not my girlfriend. Just another bl — bag. Girlfriend. I haven’t got any girlfriends. Girls? Plenty. Six, seven hookers, strippers. You name it, I’ve got `em.”
What about the stolen car he was observed travelling in the day before?
“I dunno what you’re on about. I’m s-, I’m supposed to be saying `no comment’ but I’m trying to make things a lot easier for you.
“Hot car? You’re trippin’.”
A detective finally asked Dibra whether there was anything else he wanted to say.
“I’ll see youse in court,” he replied.
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