Carl Williams: The house that drugs bought and a deal soaked in blood

CARL Williams knew the power he held when he struck a deal to become a police informant, demanding money for his daughter and that his dad’s tax debt be waived. But when Carl died, the deal did too, leaving George Williams out in the cold with the taxman knocking.

IT is said that nothing is more certain in life than death and taxes.

Death would come early for gangster Carl Williams. And the taxman would ring twice for his father, George.

George, until he drew his last breath in May 2016, had staved off paying the $576,000 he owed to the Australian Taxation Office.

The debt was from undeclared income he made from the illicit drug trade. But he died in the bitter belief he didn’t owe the taxman a cent.

The deal Carl Williams made for his dad died when he did.

George Williams fought his tax debt until the day he died.

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George’s home in Primrose St, Essendon stands as a physical reminder of the wrangling that has taken place ever over the deals the father and son struck while they were alive.

Last week a final eviction notice for the Williams clan came in the form of a Supreme Court judgment declaring the house of ill-gotten gain be sold to pay the ATO.

The trouble began with a deal Carl Williams struck with police in return for his co-operation.

The jailed kingpin knew the power he held.

His father’s tax debt pay out was just one of his conditions — quashed with the stroke of a pen.

The man holding that pen was Simon Overland, and in 2007, Carl had tempted him with a flash of the cards he held.

So Carl upped the ante.

Carl also made demands for money for his daughter Dhakota. Picture: Instagram @dhakotawilliams

Carl tried to protect his family in his deal with police to become an informant.

For starters, he demanded a chunk of the $1 million reward for a conviction and negotiated 10 years be sliced off his 35-year sentence for his co-operation.

His daughter, Dhakota, would have her private school fees paid and monthly payments of $290 for the entirety of his jail term.

The deal may have cost him his life, such was the farcical manner his co-operation and safety was handled by the authorities.

On April 19, 2010, he was bashed to death. The deal was over.

But a year earlier, Mr Overland had “okayed’’ a big cheque to the ATO.

After much wrangling between the organisations, the money was withdrawn for legal reasons, two months before Williams was murdered.

George, a penny pincher until he collapsed and died hauling a flat screen TV into his Broadmeadows home, continued to fight the ATO.

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George Williams changed his will just before he died, leaving Roberta with a fight on her hands. Picture: Michael Potter

As far as he was concerned his debt had been wiped by his son before his jailhouse murder.

Ultimately, George signed a settlement agreement with the ATO in 2013 granting a mortgage over the property he owned in Primrose St, Essendon, where Roberta Williams paid him rent to live there with her family.

It was the same property his wife, Barb, had lived and died after her sister, Kathleen Bourke, moved into the Williams’ Broadmeadows family home to be with George.

The same property he would leave to his granddaughter, Dhakota, in his will, essentially lumping her with his tax burden.

George, however, left a sting in the tail.

He had changed his will in the months after his son’s murder.

The Broadmeadows property was left to his partner, Kathleen — which did not sit well with Roberta.

They became mired in a nasty legal stoush as coexecutors of George’s will.

The Williams’s argued George was not of sound mind when he made his last will and testament.

And they believed that if forced to pay the tax debt, it should come off the entire estate.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court decision to end Roberta’s fight to hold on to the Essendon property for her daughter ended.

Inevitably, the ATO won its almost decade long dispute to recover what George had owed — now just shy of $1 million. It will be recouped after evicting the Williams clan and selling the house.

And the case has prompted the presiding judge to call for a review of incentives offered by police in return for criminals to become informers.

In Carl Williams’ case, a deal soaked in blood.

Originally published as Carl Williams: The house that drugs bought and a deal soaked in blood