Fat Ange is suing Victoria Police over being charged with the murder of PK
He is well-known for his relationship with ex-AFL star Ben Cousins, but now Angelo Venditti is seeking justice for what he believes was a police stitch-up to get him to roll on Mick Gatto.
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A one-time Carlton Crew figure, Ange Venditti, is suing Victoria Police over being charged with the murder of a notorious underworld figure known by his initials - “PK”.
Venditti, who was dubbed by the media as “Fat’’ Ange, was accused of ordering the 2002 killing of notorious standover man and gunman Paul Kallipolitis almost six years after the shooting.
But following revelations that Nicola Gobbo was a key police informer - registered as 3838 - who helped a Crown witness in the case draft his statements, Venditti has revealed the charges were aimed at putting pressure on him to “roll” on Mick Gatto.
“On the way to the police car they said ‘Mick’s not your friend’,’’ Venditti told the Herald Sun.
“There was nothing to roll on and I wasn’t prepared to lie.”
Venditti said after his arrest in mid-2008, he became aware through a barrister of concerns Gobbo was co-operating with police.
But he says he did not comprehend the extent of Gobbo’s duplicity.
Although Gobbo was never Venditti’s lawyer, he says her role with police was integral to him being charged with a murder he did not commit.
“I’d fight somebody over a burnt match to make money, but killing is not what I do,’’ he said.
“I’ve never been involved in murder.’’
Venditti says he wants to recover the money he spent defending himself and be compensated for the five months he spent in solitary confinement within Barwon Prison while on remand.
After being granted bail in December, 2008, he spent four months on strict conditions until his charges were suddenly dropped.
Since, he has had no interaction with police.
“I want to be left alone. The police who caused this are now in high-places.
“Those games need to stop. What happened all those years ago, it all has to stop.
“I knew this would happen.’’
Purana taskforce built a case that Venditti had ordered hitman Andrew “Benji’’ Veniamin to murder Kallipolitis, whom he had grown up with in Sunshine.
Six years after the 2002 shooting in Kallipolitis home, Venditti was questioned and released before being charged two weeks later.
They had evidence through phone taps that Kallipolitis had wanted to kill Venditti.
Police also suspected that during a meeting in Queensland between key Carlton Crew figures, Kallipolitis’ future was on the agenda. He had been standing over car dealers known to them.
But the charges against Venditti were withdrawn because the prosecution key witness, a gangland figure close to Gobbo, was considered unreliable.
That evidence of that same witness would be crucial in the conviction of Faruk Orman over the gangland slaying of underworld heavy Victor Peirce.
Last year the conviction was overturned.
Venditti, who is best known for his friendship with fallen ex-AFL star Ben Cousins, says while he was isolated in maximum security prison he was “shackled like a dog’’, given undersized shoes to wear, and his diabetes was not properly treated.
Venditti and Orman are among a growing list of figures affected by Gobbo’s informing who have obtained legal advice about launching writs aganist Victoria Police over their use of Gobbo - dubbed Lawyer X.
Gobbo’s intelligence and her manipulation of police statements made by her clients, sometimes against other clients, is a central issue.
Gobbo not only acted for Orman, but also aided the Crown witness against him.
At the same time, she was determined to infiltrate Gatto and his associates and report back to Victoria Police.
Venditti said police indicated to him that if he “rolled’’ on Gatto he could cut himself a deal.
“Tell us what you know. It’ll be all fine. Don’t think Mick is your friend,’’ Venditti says he was told in the back of a police car after his initial arrest.
“The strategy was to get to Gatto.’’
Venditti said he also heard that Gobbo was spreading a “vicious’’ rumour about him while he was in jail.
He said he met her at a South Melbourne restaurant to ask her why.
“Nicola started a vicious rumour that I had been wearing a wire for two years,’’ he told the Herald Sun.
“These were rumours that could get me killed.’’
He said Gobbo turned up at a Clarendon St meeting and strongly denied she was behind the rumour.
Gobbo has told the Lawyer X royal commission she was infiltrating Gatto’s crew circa 2007, and that Purana boss Jim O’Brien had a particular dislike for him.
Her work, however, was disrupted when she was turned into a witness against Paul Dale - a police officer under investigation for the murder of Terry and Christine Hodson.
But she now says she never believed the ploy to infiltrate Gatto’s network would work because they were loyal to him.
“Um, I said to, my view was that, that no one in his crew would (roll),’’ Gobbo said in June last year.
“...all of the people that I knew through Mick, um, were not people that would be prepared to do that because they knew they’d be killed and unlike ....the Mokbels and the Williams of this world...he always looked after his crew.’’
Gobbo even alleges her police handler encouraged her to “take one for the team’’ and sleep with Gatto if required, which she says she was not prepared to do.
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Gatto has denied ever using Gobbo as a lawyer.
Venditti’s lawyer, Jeremy King of Robinson Gill, says the justice system was subverted due to Gobbo’s recruitment as an agent of police.
“You can’t charge someone for an ulterior purpose, which in this case was to pressure someone to effectively become an informer without proper basis,’’ he said.
The civil writ is set to be lodged this week.