Gangland player signed own death warrant in meal with Carl Williams
Underworld figure Mark Mallia wanted answers after his drug-lord boss was gunned down. But when he spoke out at a meal with Carl Williams he condemned himself to one of the gangland war’s most brutal endings.
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Gangland player Mark Mallia signed his own death warrant the moment he spoke his mind during a seafood meal at Crown with Carl Williams.
His outburst would ultimately lead to a scene straight out of a Tarantino movie; Mallia tied to a chair in a suburban garage in Melbourne’s inner north.
Unfortunately for Mallia, the perception was that he could become a problem for Carl Williams.
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He was asking questions about the death of his boss, drug lord Nik “The Russian’’ Radev, shot in a Coburg street in April 2003.
It was making Williams nervous, police believe, and action was taken.
Mallia could not be trusted to let sleeping dogs lie.
As told by one of Williams’ assassins, aka “The Runner’’, Mallia’s end would be more brutal than usual.
The Runner was part of a band of criminals who were becoming household names — Williams, Radev, Tony Mokbel, Rocco Arico, Terence Chimirri, Leigh Torney and Ange Goussis among them.
Others in the mix included Gino Giannerelli, Andrew “Benji’’ Veniamin and a man who would later come to be despised by them all.
The Runner could only be described as a psychopath, his former lawyer says.
He met Williams in Port Phillip Prison during a stint in 2001-2002, and even went out with Roberta Williams’ sister.
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Williams and The Runner were seeing each other daily, collecting payments and scheming.
“We would go to lunch together and drink together,’’ The Runner said.
“We also went to things like the Grand Prix together with other people such as (name suppressed) and Tony Mokbel.’’
“(Name suppressed) asked me to carry a “piece’’ (firearm) for him because there were factions of another group present at the Grand Prix and Carl was concerned.’’
“Carl always had access to firearms. Carl had someone make silencers for two .22 calibre pistols.
“Carl showed them to me in his house at John Paul Drive in Hillside. I think someone at the docks provided them to him.’’
The Runner, who would become a police supergrass, divulged Williams’ penchant for hiding guns in his Hillside home including a “5 shot silver revolver’’.
“Carl later got me to introduce this firearm to Port Phillip Prison through a prison worker for the purpose of executing Lewis Moran.’’
That plan would fail, but Williams would eventually have Moran gunned down — the third of the Moran men to meet a bullet.
In March, 2004, as Lewis drank cheap beer with his mate Bert Wrout at the Brunswick Club, gunmen burst in and after a chase, shot him.
His stepson, Mark, and son Jason, were already gangland victims of Williams. (officially Mark Moran’s death is unsolved)
Mallia, unlike Lewis Moran, would not get a last beer in before his demise.
In a statement made in 2006, The Runner revealed that career criminal Ian Lesser had told Williams the underworld was abuzz with the story that he had been behind Radev’s murder — executed by Veniamin and his driver.
“Carl and I had discussed about arranging a meeting with Mark Mallia and Carl made various phone calls to Mark Mallia trying to get together with him,’’ the supergrass said.
“I think at one stage Mark Mallia had accused Carl of killing Radev over the phone where Carl told him that it simply wasn’t true and continued to try and arrange a meeting to discuss it.”
In the underworld, paranoia has deadly consequences.
Carl and The Runner had numerous conversations about Mallia, and what he was saying to whom.
“Carl had made concerted efforts to locate Mark Mallia and to find out what the word on the street was by going and speaking to everyone who would have known anything about Mallia and Radev.’’
Eventually Williams tracked Mallia down and arranged to meet at Crown Casino — a popular underworld meeting place because of its surveillance.
They sat down at a Crown seafood restaurant facing the Yarra River.
Williams and Veniamin along with the Runner sat with Mallia.
He then effectively signed his own death warrant.
“During the meeting Mark Mallia had told Carl that the word around was that Andrew and Carl were responsible and the Carl lured Nick (sic) to the location.’’
He then added that no one other than Carl knew where he would be.
The reactions of Williams and Veniamin epitomised the way each went about the killing game.
While Williams assured Mallia he was not responsible for Radev’s death and would help him exact revenge on those responsible, Veniamin took another approach.
“If word gets out that you are trying to exact revenge on any of us,’’ Veniamin said as he rose from his seat to lean over Mallia and point, “I will kill you and your family.’’
Mallia knew Veniamin meant every word.
Emotions then got the better of Mallia, complaining that all he wanted to know was who killed Nik and why.
According to The Runner, an underworld figure with impeccable contacts, Lesser, was used as a sounding board.
Lesser allegedly told Williams Mallia had approached hothead Hizir Ferman to “do a hit on Veniamin and possibly Carl himself.’’
Williams would not let it slide.
“Carl wanted to ensure that whatever was happening he would be in a position to act first,’’ The Runner said.
“Carl also wanted to send a clear message to Mallia’s associates that if they had any intention of targeting him, he would dish out the punishment.’’
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