George Joseph, key player in mafia murder case, dies

Melbourne gun dealer George Joseph, a key player in the infamous Donald Mackay mafia murder case, has died.

George Joseph has died.

Melbourne gun dealer George Joseph, a key player in the infamous Donald Mackay mafia murder case, has died.

Joseph is suspected of holding to his death the secrets of what happened to the anti-marijuana businessman, slain under the orders of powerful mobsters in 1977.

Police say Joseph supplied the weapon used by hitman James Bazley when he murdered Mr Mackay at Griffith, in the New South Wales Riverina.

Joseph, Bazley and mafia informer Tizzoni were later jailed for conspiring to murder Mr Mackay.

Italian organised crime figures had decided Mr Mackay must die because he was actively campaigning against their wholesale cannabis growing activities in the area.

Bazley died in 2018, aged in his 90s.

Police believe he ambushed Mr Mackay in the car park of a pub as he walked to his vehicle at 6.30pm on July 15.

There were bloodstains in the car and three spent .22 calibre cartridges were found nearby.

Bazley stayed silent on the murder until his death and the body of Mr Mackay has never been found, despite decades of police investigations.

Tizzone died in 1998.

Joseph ran a firearms shop in Victoria St, Fitzroy, but had a lucrative sideline in black market weapons, from pistols and revolvers to machine guns.

Former organised crime detective Ken Ashworth was the last detective

to try to get the truth out of Joseph about the location of Mr Mackay’s body.

“Any hope of finding Donald Mackay’s body died with him,” Mr Ashworth said.

“He was the only one left.”

Mr Ashworth said Joseph claimed he did not know where Mackay’s body

was but he did not believe him.

But Joseph also admitted he feared what would happen to him and his

family if he spoke out.

“I can’t say anything because the mafia is still alive,” he told Mr Ashworth.

“I believe he knew exactly where the body is.”

Former Victoria Police detective Brian Murphy said, at one stage, Joseph feared he would be murdered by Bazley because of his knowledge of the Mackay killing.

“He thought he was going to be killed. He had a meeting with Jimmy Bazley and squared it off,” Mr Murphy said.

“They sorted it out with money and good will.”