No charges over terrifying Melbourne Italian restaurant stick-up

A notorious criminal accused of aiming a gun at a woman’s face and telling her “I’ll blow your head off”, will not face trial over a holdup at one of Melbourne’s top Italian restaurants.

A total of $33,981 in cash in Christmas tips was stolen from Cecconi’s.

Notorious Melbourne criminal John Lindrea will not face trial over a frightening holdup on a swank CBD restaurant.

Lindrea had been facing charges of armed robbery over the heist at the up-market Cecconi’s Italian eatery in Flinders Lane in 2019.

He had been accused of pointing a gun at a contractor inside the restaurant during the stick-up and saying, “just do what you’re told and you won’t get hurt”.

Police said that worker knelt on the floor facing a cellar wall before being locked inside and having his phone taken away after the two bandits arrived at 7am on December 20.

John Lindrea. Picture: Victoria Police

An earlier court hearing was told Lindrea went to an office area and was rummaging through a safe when a woman who is a Cecconi’s director walked in and demanded he and another man leave.

It was alleged Lindrea then pointed a handgun in her face and said: “if you don’t f---ing shut up, I’ll blow your head off.”

He was then accused of putting her in a headlock and dragging her to the ground while keeping the gun pointed at her head.

A total of $33,981 in cash which was to be given to employees as Christmas bonuses and tips was allegedly taken, although $15,000 was dropped on the way out.

But Lindrea, who is in a maximum security jail over other matters, will not be prosecuted over the robbery at Cecconi’s, which is regarded as one of Melbourne’s top Italian restaurants.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed charges against him had been discontinued.

Lindrea recently pleaded guilty over a frightening holdup on the Westmeadows Tavern.

The 59-year-old and another man cut through the roof of a pub and used guns to menace a female staff member when she arrived for work.

But the bandits left behind the $176,000 they grabbed from safes and machines in their haste to avoid police.

Lindrea has a criminal record stretching back more than three decades and has spent only a handful of years at liberty since his 1992 murder of Kaelene McDonald and Andrew Johns at a house-warming party in Kinglake.

In 1995, he was busted trying to break out of maximum security Barwon Prison with underworld wild man Christopher Dean Binse.