Gangland hitman Rodney Collins told police Tony Mokbel wanted him dead

Police files reveal hitman Rodney Collins claimed Tony Mokbel put a $250,000 contract on his head during an awkward family dispute.

Gangland hitman Rodney Charles Collins told detectives Tony Mokbel put a contract on his head, police files show.

Collins also said that he had a falling-out with Mokbel’s former partner, Danielle McGuire, over the murder of another of her ex-lovers, Mark Moran.

Moran, an underworld kingpin, was shot outside his luxury Aberfeldie home on June 15, 2000.

The feared triggerman told detectives from the Petra taskforce, which investigated him, that McGuire blamed him for the Moran killing.

The alleged dispute between McGuire and Collins appears to have flared while the gangland hitman was seeing her mother, Joan Madden.

“Collins later found out that she (McGuire) was with Tony Mokbel and that Mokbel had taken out a $250,000 contract on Collins,” Petra documents reveal.

Tony Mokbel is said to have offered $250,000 for Rodney Collins to be killed.

Rodney Collins was a ruthless hitman whose kill count is thought to be in double figures.

Collins told investigators he fronted Mokbel and made it clear that, if anything happened to him, his friends would ensure the drug lord would be next.

“The issue was not raised again,” the police documents state.

Police documents seen by the Herald Sun also reveal an informer told investigators McGuire had a belief that her mother had given Collins an alibi at the time Moran was executed.

“Rod Collins murdered Mark Moran for Carl Williams. He was going out with Danielle’s Mum and she provided his alibi,” police were told.

“Danielle was afraid of Collins because Roberta (Williams) and Carl (Williams) were very close to him.”

There were many rumours Collins was involved in the Moran killing but this was not the case, Collins told Petra investigators.

Collins, a heroin addict who was extremely well connected in the underworld, was one of Australia’s most ruthless hitmen whose kill count is believed to have entered double figures.

At the time he spoke to police about the alleged Mokbel contract, he was on remand over the brutal 1987 killings of associate Ramon Abbey and his wife Dorothy inside their Heidelberg home.

Danielle McGuire allegedly had a falling out with Collins over the murder of ex-lover Mark Moran. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Mark Moran was executed outside his Aberfeldie home in 2000.

He was also charged over the murders of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine at their Kew home in 2004.

That prosecution was abandoned after Carl Williams was murdered inside Barwon Prison in 2010.

Collins has been linked to numerous other killings dating back decades, including the Brunswick pub hit on Painter and Docker figure Brian Kane in 1987.

A secret gangland informer known as “The European” would also tell police Collins was close with Williams.

“Carl vouched for Collins and it was obvious that Collins would do anything that Carl said,’’ the European told the gangland investigators.

“After Mark Moran was killed there was a rumour going around that Collins was responsible for the hit.

“Carl said to me that he wanted to tell Collins this … but then Carl told me a lot about Collins and said he was a ‘gun for hire’ and that Collins needed to know that people were saying that he was responsible for the Mark Moran hit.”

Gangland investigators have long believed Williams was personally involved in the Moran hit and probably pulled the trigger.

It was also believed an associate, known by the pseudonym Mr McGrath, was his driver on the night.

Williams was convicted by a jury over the murder of drug dealer Michael Marshall, and in a massive plea deal, admitted to having also ordered the murders of Jason Moran, Mark Mallia and Lewis Moran.

He also took the rap for a conspiracy to kill Mario Condello.

Although he was charged with the murder of Mark Moran, that charge was dropped and the case remains unsolved.

Police documents also reveal the underworld became suspicious that Williams was doing a deal with police as early as April, 2006, while Mokbel was on the run.