Underworld killer Thomas ‘Little Tommy’ Ivanovic, who witnessed Carl Williams’ murder, to be released from prison
A NOTORIOUS killer with links to murdered gangland kingpin Carl Williams is about to walk free from jail, sparking fears of an outbreak of underworld violence.
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A NOTORIOUS killer, who was in the same room when gangland kingpin Carl Williams was murdered, is about to walk free from jail.
The Herald Sun can reveal Thomas “Little Tommy” Ivanovic was granted parole last month and is readying himself for life outside of jail.
He has been locked up since his arrest for murder in 2002 and will be released in the coming weeks.
Ivanovic was in the same Barwon prison exercise room when Matthew Charles Johnson bludgeoned Williams to death.
Ivanovic was jailed for a minimum of 15 years after he shot dead a motorcyclist in a road rage incident outside a Brunswick West home.
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Authorities fear the 43-year-old crime figure could be a target on the outside as he holds key information on the underworld’s most closely guarded secrets. Adding to fears last year he was the victim of a jail yard stabbing.
The former pastry chef and drug dealer was a close friend of infamous underworld figure Carl Williams.
He is believed to hold vital information on police corruption with links to murders and large scale drug trafficking.
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A spokesman from the Adult Parole Board of Victoria said prisoners that are granted parole must meet a strict set of conditions or they will return to jail.
“The Board carefully reviews each case on a range of relevant information to decide whether to grant the prisoner parole and which conditions to impose,” the spokesman said.
“If the prisoner breaches their parole conditions, the Board can cancel their parole and return them to custody.”
The spokesman said all decisions are made with the best interest of the public in mind.
“The Board’s paramount consideration is always the safety and protection of the community,” he said.
Ivanovic was the only other prisoner in the room when Johnson attacked Williams with part of an exercise bike. It is believed Williams was assisting police when he was killed.
There have long been suspicions that Johnson was acting on the orders of mafia figure Rocco Arico.
Ivanovic was sharing a section of the Acacia unit with the pair when Johnson struck.
It is understood investigators believe Arico was the first person Ivanovic telephoned, just minutes after the hit on April 19, 2010.
Ivanovic is said to remain on good terms with Arico after first becoming friends over 20 years ago, growing up together in the Brunswick area.
Taskforce Driver, which investigated Carl Williams’ murder, put intense pressure on Ivanovic during the probe, including reinvestigating old crimes he was suspected of involvement in.
The underworld figure also remains a close associate of Matthew Johnson, who heads the powerful jail gang, Prisoners of War.
In 2012, he and two other men were charged with conspiring to murder Matt Tomas, the former bodyguard of Mick Gatto.
The prosecution was later quietly dropped.
An Office of Public Prosecution spokesman confirmed conspiracy to murder charges was dropped against the trio of Ivanovic, Haissam El-Jari and Hodo Zeqaj.
Ivanovic was also separately investigated over two attempts on the life of a man at Westmeadows in 2001.