The underworld party before gangland war

Days before Melbourne’s gangland war reached its climax, Carl Williams was preoccupied by partying and escaping the turmoil.

Carl Williams leaves court in June 2004, just months after the Grand Prix party.

Days before Melbourne’s gangland war reached its climax, Carl Williams was preoccupied with partying and escaping the turmoil.

All Williams wanted to do on March 5, 2004 was to play socialite at Melbourne’s Formula One Grand Prix, where Ferrari ace Michael Schumacher was odds-on to take the chequered flag.

Williams had landed 10 tickets to a marquee “right on the straight’’, police transcripts reveal.

And he was eager to rub shoulders with the city’s social elite.

Among those Williams asked to join the party was his increasingly elusive hitman, Andrew “Benji’’ Veniamin.

But Veniamin was growing distant, rightly fearing his dirty deeds might catch up with him.

He was battling poor health and frayed nerves, knowing he had gone from hunter to hunted.

Veniamin’s high-risk career as a professional hitman would end in his death just 18 days after his phone conversation with “Fatboy’’ Williams.

Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin was apprehensive about going to the Grand Prix with Williams.

Veniamin would come a deadly second in a confrontation with Mick Gatto in the back hall of an Italian restaurant in Carlton.

For months, Veniamin had been dealing with stomach pains and sleepless nights as he sensed the “war’’ was turning on him. The diminutive Veniamin told Williams he was happy to catch up for a night out, but the drug boss had grander ideas.

“Hey, you um, wanna go to the Grand Prix?’’ Williams inquired.

“If you wanna go, buddy, I’ll go ... I’ve never been in my life,’’ an unsure Veniamin told the gangland boss.

Seeking to convince his mate, who grew up on the hard streets of Sunshine, Williams said the catered event would be the big party they needed.

“You know it’s not the normal part, where they race, you know, not the normal general admission. We’re up the top part with all the other people, you know, where you drink, you eat,’’ Williams said.

Veniamin was concerned he would need to get dressed up. But Williams reassured him: “No, you wear a pair of, er … you can wear a pair of pants or jeans and a jacket, whatever ... I don’t think you gotta wear a suit.’’

For Williams, the day had little to do with watching the Formula One cars speed by.

“Yeah, we’re not even watching the racetrack though, we’ll just party upstairs,’’ he said.

“Tony (Mokbel) and his girl are gonna go in there, and that Holly Valance,’’ Williams said. “But they’re not with us ... I dunno who else is going to be in the tent.’’

Carl Williams claimed Holly Vallance would be attending the Grand Prix event.

Veniamin, aware he had become infamous as Melbourne’s top hitman, had second thoughts.

“Um, I dunno, buddy, but mate, if you wanna go, we’ll go ... cause I’m not really interested, but if you go, if you get the tickets and ya gonna go, we’ll go,’’ he said.

Gangland taskforce detectives spent thousands of hours listening to such conversations, with 80 per cent of the force’s surveillance commitments exhausted on gangland players.

Veniamin was ultimately a no show at the race circuit, but Williams’ new bodyguard managed to get lost at the Albert Park Lake track almost immediately after arriving.

Williams had to talk him though how to reach the marquee, as police listened in to his bugged phone.

Carl Williams with his increasingly elusive hitman Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin.

Their plan was to go straight to “Schumacher’s after-party at Heat’’ following the race.

Veniamin was eager for a private meeting with Williams instead.

Rightly concerned, he talked of getting new phones, just for the two of them to communicate.

“Every f---in’ time we say something, these c---s just blow it up outta proportion,’’ Veniamin said, in an apparent reference to the police monitoring.

He lamented not being able to dine at Crown’s swank “Silks’’ restaurant due to the increasing spotlight.

Williams, however, was more interested in bawdy chitchat, asking Veniamin if “Steve’’ liked his “pornos’’. Veniamin told him they were not up to scratch.

“Nuh, they’re f---in’ old, man,’’ he replied.

Williams laughed, saying: “Ah, are these old stock?’’

Veniamin hit back with a great line: “Mate, if you see these ones, you know what? I reckon your old man’s been in these pornos, that’s how old they are.’’

Veniamin had been popping pills to settle his nerves, knowing he had made some deadly enemies following a switch of camps in the middle of a gangland war, from the established Carlton Crew to the new team associated with Williams and Mokbel.

By early 2004, he kept on the move to avoid a bullet while remaining close to Roberta Williams and her children.

Veniamin, who was never convicted of murder, remains a suspect in the murders of mafia don Frank Benvenuto, underworld heavyweight Victor Peirce and drug lord Nik Radev, as well as one-time mates Dino Dibra and Paul Kallipolitis. Dubbed “Melbourne’s busiest hit man’’, Veniamin was also blamed for murders he did not commit.

It is not clear if Williams and Veniamin did hit the town together before “Benji’’ was killed.

But Veniamin told Roberta he had one glass of champagne at a March 6 wedding, noting he had “spunked it up’’ on the dance floor.

Schumacher also enjoyed champagne when he won the 2004 Australian Grand Prix the next day, as a lubricated Williams and Mokbel looked on.