‘I’m not a hitman’: Mick Gatto speaks to Anthony Dowsley

Debt collector, negotiator, underworld figure and Melbourne identity Mick Gatto doesn’t hide from his colourful history, but the labels have worn thin.

Mick Gatto in Bendigo. Picture:Rob Leeson

For a man who makes a good living as a negotiator, Mick Gatto doesn’t say much.

He doesn’t need to.

Gatto cuts an imposing figure in the flesh but speaks in a measured tone.

He is sitting at the head of a table at a local pub entertaining guests where I meet him and he notices a shake in my hands.

It’s the pressure of deadline adrenaline causing the shake, mixed with some nerves, but he assures me there’s nothing to worry about.

“No one’s going to hurt you,” he says.

Gatto usually gets his point across with fewer words, not more.

But lately words have annoyed him. Words that give the impression that he is a cold-blooded killer involved in some of Melbourne’s worst unsolved crimes.

Mick Gatto cuts an imposing figure in the flesh. Picture: AAP

He has consistently denied he is a cold-blooded killer or involved in any unsolved crimes.

Type Domenic “Mick” Gatto into a search engine and it gives an insight into a life straddling the corporate and under worlds.

In a single sentence Gatto is described as an “Australian businessman and previously involved in the Melbourne underworld”.

It goes on to say he is a “mediation professional within the Victorian building industry and a debt collector”.

Gatto doesn’t hide from his colourful history, but the labels have worn thin.

His hard-edged reputation has made him who he is today, but Gatto makes the point he has had the finger aimed at him far too often.

To most, Gatto is the man who took down gangland hitman Andrew “Benji” Veniamin in a Carlton restaurant in 2004.

The infamous fatal shooting, in self-defence, has followed him ever since.

“I’m not a hitman,” Gatto says. “I was acquitted.

“It should be null and void. Why do they (the media) keep going on about it.

“It’s created havoc for me. I can’t go anywhere without being stopped for an autograph or a photo.’’

Mick Gatto has fought back against allegations of being a hitman.

Two years ago, however, police files aired in the media angered him and he decided to strike back.

But on Friday the former heavyweight boxer lost his protracted defamation fight with the national broadcaster, the ABC, over an article he said was untrue and damaged his reputation.

The next morning (Saturday) he stands between champion boxers Anthony “The Man” Mundine and Michael “Pretty Boy” Zerafa in a Bendigo mall to hold a press conference for a coming fight night.

Before arriving, Gatto has told the press, via text message, he will make a “few comments relating to this episode” in reference to the defamation ruling.

Gatto sued the ABC claiming it had depicted him as a “murderer” a “hitman” and “one of Australia’s most violent criminals” in a 2019 article.

The article was derived from a document tendered during a 2016 court hearing into the dangers facing barrister turned police informer Nicola Gobbo if her identity as a “human source’’ was revealed.

Mick Gatto walks out of the Melbourne Supreme Court a free man in 2005. Picture: David Crosling

A statement made by Victoria Police Inspector Brooke Hall said Gobbo would “almost certainly” be murdered if her former clients found out she was a police informer while acting as their lawyer.

It was alleged Gatto and Horty Mokbel — brother of Tony Mokbel — and others had threatened Gobbo, also known as informer 3838.

“That group specifically stated that if (3838) were found to be a human source then (she) would be killed,’’ Inspector Hall said.

Gatto denies ever threatening Gobbo and the inference he was a “hitman’’ involved in gangland murders — notably the shootings of Frank Benvenuto in 2000 and Victor Peirce in 2002 — bug him the most.

Anthony Mundine with Mick Gatto at Hisense Arena. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

And he insists that had his defamation case been put before a jury instead of judge alone, he would have won.

“I’m extremely disappointed that I never had a jury for my trial. I never had 12 people of my peers, and if I had, the trial would have been a different story,’’ Gatto said.

“At the end of the day, I mean, this whole thing was not about money, it was about pride. It was about my children that put up with all this ridicule and all these lies …’’

“I take umbrage with it. The ABC shouldn’t be allowed to print lies. Today it’s me, tomorrow it might be you.

“We had hoped that the court would have applied the test of the ordinary reasonable reader rather than the test of a lawyer.”

For the record, Justice Andrew Keough ruled that Gatto was a “newsworthy and legitimate subject of public interest” and that the articles were not “distorted” and were “entirely accurate”, correlating with the court proceedings.

But Gatto wants to know where the evidence exists.

And he has vowed to appeal against the ruling.

Mick Gatto leaves his lawyer’s office in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

“It’s not over. I’ll sell everything I’ve got and I’ll go all the way,” he said. “I won’t leave a stone unturned.”

Other labels have been bestowed upon Gatto over the years, such as “Carlton Crew” member and “Gangland War” survivor.

It is understandable that he often feels maligned.

Now aged in his mid-60s, Gatto lives on the Mornington Peninsula and wants to shed the Underbelly image. He is a father and grandfather.

“I’ve got children in the corporate world who can’t run their businesses because of me, because of my notoriety,” he said.

The tattoos Gatto has near his heart bear the names Faruk Orman and Robert Richter. Orman is a close ally whose gangland murder conviction was overturned in 2019 due to the Lawyer X saga.

Mick Gatto greets Angelo Venditti. Picture: Alex Coppel

Mick Gatto. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Richter, one of Australia’s foremost barristers, defended both Gatto and Orman.

Orman, a firebrand youth devoted to Gatto, spent 12 years in jail over the 2002 murder of Peirce in Port Melbourne.

Richter represented Gatto over the shooting, which rates as one of his greatest court victories.

The tattoos represent loyalty and gratitude.

Their effect on Gatto’s life cannot be overstated.

“I love them both,” he said.