Deadline: Melbourne gangster expands empire into European soccer

In a stark departure from the typical sign of wealth — bling, car or tattoo — that Melbourne’s gangsters flash, this crime kingpin is expanding into the world game.

A formidable Melbourne organised crime figure has taken a financial stake in a European soccer club.

Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest crime buzz.

Crook kicks on overseas

Bad news travels fast, which explains why Deadline hears loud and clear that a formidable Melbourne organised crime figure has expanded his interests overseas.

The fellow concerned has added a financial stake in a European soccer club to his already diverse portfolio.

The same bloke has associates connected with a number of successful lower-tier sporting clubs in Melbourne.

Police have thought they’d caught him off-side several times but they’ve never really got the red card result they wanted.

Our man has previously been known for having connections in AFL circles, including a friendship with a once-troubled star of the game. Of course, crooks have involved themselves in a range of sporting codes since Judas was a player agent in Jerusalem.

Dennis “Fatty” Smith was a longstanding sponsor of the North Melbourne football club, even hosting players on trips to the Philippines, where he had considerable business interests such as the girlie bar he advertised back at the old Arden St ground.

Painter and Docker Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh enjoyed the company of a range of figures in thoroughbred racing, from jockeys to colourful Sydney identities.

Likewise, the influence of massive drug operator John William Higgs gripped harness racing for years, often in relation to his spooky powers of knowing results in advance.

One season when Higgs and a few other crooks were out of business because of police activity and a spate of arrests, the harness racing yearling sales suffered a serious slump.

There was a time when spring racing carnival crowds were the natural hunting ground of professional pickpockets, and a heap of consorting squad detectives would join the racecourse detectives for the big days at the track.

The coppers knew that urgers would pretend to start fights to get people to crowd around so that their pickpocket mates could jostle them and do the business.

One of the last old-time practitioners of the pickpocket racket was the late Lewis Moran, whose famous mean streak and light fingers came out after he had spent good money on a long lunch at the Flower Drum. He would pick a pocket or two on the tram home to offset his expenses.

Bikie love got the shove

Tattoos proclaiming loyalty are common in the outlaw motorcycle gang scene.

They follow a particular format across a number of big name clubs, as in “gang name forever, forever gang name.”

An example would be the MFFM tattoo, meaning Mongols Forever, Forever Mongols.

Sometimes, though, times and allegiances change and such displays become redundant.

Deadline recently noticed some photographic evidence that one bloke who has been a fixture in one club appears to have moved on.

An indistinct blur on his hand told the tale.

They pulled the plug

There is plenty of fallout from the cancellation of Sexpo, which was meant to be held in Melbourne this month.

The organisers’ decision has left some upset vendors who clearly had big plans to cash in by selling “merch” to enthusiastic patrons at what was an annual event.

“I’ve been speaking to a bloke who’s got 20,000 butt-plugs with price tags on them sitting in a warehouse,” was just one of the tales of woe outlined to Deadline this week.

That has to be hurting the bottom line.

Thieving reptiles beware of the snake

Signs warning against dangerous dogs are common, even running to variations like the French ones drawing attention to “chien lunatique”.

Deadline has also seen Beware the Bull signs designed to keep dog walkers and mushroomers out of other people’s paddocks.

Not so common is the highly-official looking yellow and black sign in peaceful Queenscliff that grabs the attention of those strolling the balmy bayside boulevard known as Gellibrand St.

The sign is on a gate across a laneway entrance and warns all who enter to beware of VENOMOUS SNAKE. This, of course, might be a cunning stunt by the householder to give wannabe thieves pause for thought — even if the deterrent effect would be limited to those who can read words like “venomous,” a high bar for most of them.

It turns out that keeping dangerous reptiles in Victoria imposes dozens of rules and regulations on licensed keepers and the yellow sign is almost surely one of them.

Licensees have to ensure against the possibility of dangerous reptiles escaping — and not just from their tank or cage. The room it is in has to be totally enclosed to provide a second line of defence.

Apart from a lot of rules about locked doors, security alarms and sensor systems, the snake keeper has to be aware of a “duty of care” to inform visitors of the dangers, according to subsection 7 of long and detailed regulations under the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals under the Wildlife Act 1975.

Obviously, snake catchers whose busy season has just started are not exempt from the rules but the reality of their job means they have snakes in their vehicle. One veteran catcher known to Deadline would end up with bags and boxes of snakes after a big day on the tools.

Because of the nature of the job, he didn’t always want to be carrying his car keys in case they fell out of his pocket while stalking stray snakes in backyards and factory blocks. He figured that the sign on his car window warning against live snakes would do the trick.

Sadly, not all thieves can read. One day, some eejits jumped in the snake whisperer’s car and sped off. They didn’t realise what was in the large toolbox next to the driver’s seat … until they opened it.

Our hero found his car abandoned a few hundred metres away, both doors open, motor still running. A good tiger snake will do that.