Deadline: Munster the master safecracker put the wise into wiseguy

It’s been 20 years this week since contract killers shot Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh in his Kew driveway, with the anniversary bringing out more stories about the master safebreaker and wisest of Melbourne wiseguys.

Graham ‘The Munster’ Kinniburgh was a safecracker extraordinaire and among the wisest of Melbourne's wise guys.

Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest scallywag scuttlebutt.

The Munster mash

It was a big news day, December 13, exactly 20 years ago this week. While US forces dragged the world’s most wanted man, Saddam Hussein, out of a hole in the backblocks of Iraq, two contract killers shot Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh in his driveway in Kew.

Until that night, Kinniburgh had kept himself out of trouble right through the gangland war, despite it involving plenty of people he knew well.

He’d become a target for no reason other than being friendly with the so-called Carlton crew that drug dealer Carl Williams hated after he fell out with the Moran half brothers, Jason and Mark.

In Melbourne, Kinniburgh’s murder almost overshadowed the big story in Iraq. And the 20th anniversary of the hit has brought out more stories about the master safebreaker who put the wise into wiseguy.

Graham Kinniburgh initially kept himself out of the trouble in the gangland war, until contract killers ambushed him in his driveway.

One that has been told before demonstrates his cunning. That’s when he was charged with receiving a valuable woman’s pendant stolen from Lindsay and Paula Fox’s Toorak mansion.

When police raided Kinniburgh’s house they found $4500 in a drawer and the pendant in a coat pocket. The Munster generously offered the police the cash if they did not charge him over the burglary but they weren’t taking the bait.

The case against Kinniburgh was that the pendant was custom made and unique. Presumably Kinninburgh had photographs of the jewellery or was able to obtain them through his lawyer.

Either way, he secretly commissioned a Hong Kong jeweller to make an exact replica of the pendant — then produced it in court as solid proof that the Fox piece was not unique.

Case dismissed. It seems some magistrates had a soft spot for the Munster.

You can’t judge a badge by its colour

Kinniburgh liked nothing better than a day at the races, where he was known to have great success betting on horses that either sustained their form remarkably well or had improved on their previous outing.

He could be handling tens of thousands of dollars but the thing about a master crook who had been involved in the $1.7m Murwillumbah bank raid of 1978 (and many others) was that he never lost his taste for beating or cheating the system in small ways as well.

A former police officer told Deadline at the weekend how he sprung Kinniburgh at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day with a bogus VRC members’ badge the year Subzero won. Not a big “pinch” but the eagle-eyed copper knew there was a relevant charge, “possession of article to cheat.”

The policeman recalls it like this: “Our eyes crossed and I thought ‘Who gave you that to wear?’ as I knew he would not be a VRC member.

“So I had a chat with him, asked him about the badge and he said someone loaned it to him.

“I told him that I needed to inspect it, which he was not over happy about, but I eventually got it in my hand.

The Munster had plenty of friends around town. Picture: Smith Ellen

“The VRC change the colour of their badges every season and it certainly looked like a current year’s badge.

“A VRC members’ badge also has a year stamp on the back and a number which identifies who it should belong to.

“Closer inspection revealed that the plastic cover had been pulled back and ink had been used to make an expired badge of a different colour look like a current badge.

“I informed Mr Kinninburgh that I would make further inquiries and then escorted him off the track, which he was most upset about. I have no doubts he would have been back inside within a few minutes.

“The owner of the expired badge was unable to tell me what he had done with his expired badge at the end of that season.

“I called Mr Kinninburgh in for a formal interview a few weeks later. He brought his solicitor along.

“I charged him with being in possession of an article for cheat.

He had a similar prior and was very worried he would do six months in the can over such a minor matter.

“He … went magistrate shopping, in my opinion, seeking many unwarranted adjournments.

“I had produced the badge as an exhibit and the magistrate had it in his hand as I explained how one could tell it had been altered to look like a current badge.”

“The magistrate claimed there was no forensic evidence before him to show the badge was a fake.

Unluckily for the policeman’s apparently strong case, this magistrate also had a soft spot for the Munster. Case dismissed.

The driveway of the Kew home where the Munster was shot dead.

Occupational health and safety

At least one former reporter recalls the Kinniburgh hit as a time of living dangerously.

In response to his boss’s fierce desire for an exclusive angle to match the opposition’s well-sourced coverage, the reporter reluctantly agreed to stake out the Kinniburgh house overnight with the ambitious aim of talking to anyone who turned up there.

But what seemed a good idea to the boss in a cosy office after a long lunch held no appeal for the reporter sitting in his car near the Kinniburgh house after dark, watching for visitors.

He felt more and more like a goat tethered as bait to trap a tiger, and feared that if he stepped out to approach any Kinniburgh friend or family member they might understandably assume he was another gunman — and shoot first.

Given that the reporter hung up his notebook some time ago, it can now be revealed that he stayed glued to his car seat and quietly drove home some hours before the end of a shift that could have got him filled full of holes.

There were too many jumpy people with itchy trigger fingers to be “doorstepping” any of them in the middle of the night.

Mick Gatto (back right) is among the pallbearers at Kinniburgh’s funeral. Picture: Supplied

Wedding parties, anything

Despite his colourful background, Kinniburgh tended not to take his work home and lived what seemed a quiet family life in leafy Kew. His children attended local schools and mixed with people who gouged a living in more conventional rackets such as dentistry, the law and property development.

Nature took its course and one of his offspring married “out” into the family of a sometime State Government cabinet minister.

That wedding reception happened at the stately property, Rippon Lea. But it was another family wedding, at the Windsor Hotel, where Kinniburgh made a speech that made quite an impression on the legal-political-medical fraternity.

One who did not know his background later commented that the gruff man with the microphone reminded him of Marlon Brando. He meant the old Brando playing the Godfather, although there was a touch of On The Waterfront about the gathering.

A guest of the bride, a property developer with a romantic streak, danced with a woman from the groom’s side. A friend of the groom, freshly released from prison over biting off someone’s ear, told the bride’s friend he would be shot if he did not quit the dancing caper.

The property developer immediately lost interest in romance, deciding that his best friend was the bottom of a glass.

Cops on message

Police taking industrial action have found another way to get their message across.

Citizens who call one Melbourne station and are put on hold are greeted with a cheeky dig at the Government.

“Thank you for calling this police station. The police at this location are desperately trying to achieve a fair wage and conditions outcome from the Victorian state government after more than six months of negotiations.”

And that’s not all.

“Police at this station are overworked and undervalued by the government but they’re always there for you,” it continues.

“All we ask for is your continued support during tough times like this. It’s what gets us through. Our stretched officers will be with you as soon as they possibly can”.

Meanwhile, of course, teachers continue to be very poorly paid. It was Abraham Lincoln who said that if you don’t build schools you have to build jails.