Hitman James Bazley took his underworld secrets to the grave

James Bazley had the menacing moniker “Iceman”, winning the trust of underworld circles for his reputation as a remorseless hitman.

Cold as ice hitman James Bazley had two nicknames.

He was known as ‘’Iceman’’ in some circles and also carried the equally unoriginal moniker of ‘’Machine Gun’’ in others.

And despite his trade of choice as a killer for hire, Bazley lived a long life and was to his dying days probed by investigators who held out hope he would unburden himself of the secrets of the underworld.

At the top of the list was the 1977 murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in the regional town of Griffith, NSW - a crime in a pub carpark he almost certainly committed.

James Bazley.

Donald Mackay.

The hit was considered Australia’s first political assassination.

Bazley, unsurprisingly, chose to take his secrets to the grave.

Unlike his victims, Bazley, 93, died of old age and was a free man when he drew his last breath in a nursing home in November, 2018.

He had spent plenty of time in prison, however, including a term of nine years over the conspiracy to murder Mr Mackay although he was never tried over being the killer.

He was also given a life sentence with a minimum term for the double murder of drug couriers Douglas and Isabel Wilson, whose bodies were found in shallow graves in the beachside suburb of Rye in 1979.

Bazley walked out of prison in 2001 still a suspect for the Mackay murder.

He kept his mouth shut even though the finger had been pointed at him by an associate turned informer.

During the course of the investigation crime authorities interviewed more than 3500 people over the murder and there is still a desire to keep digging to solve the case.

Douglas Wilson.

Isabel Wilson.

The last known attempt to find Mr Mackay’s remains was in 2013 in NSW’s Riverina district.

Nothing was found.

Calabrian mafia bosses based in Griffith were suspected of ordering Mr Mackay’s murder to end his anti-drugs political campaign.

His platform raised awareness of Italian organised crime operations in Australia, upsetting its most powerful families.

Mr Mackay had also been behind marijuana crops being seized in the Griffith area.

Police believe Bazley was paid $10,000 by the mafia to execute him to stop him bringing attention to the illicit drug trade.

Bazley’s refusal to co-operate with police won him loyalty in underworld circles and a reputation as a remorseless hitman among those police officers who investigated him.

After his death, sources say, Bazley’s family refused to donate his organs for fear they could be used to save the life of a police officer.

Carlton identity Mick Gatto, a close friend to the Bazley family, particularly ‘’Jimmy’’, was among those who visited him at his nursing home.

Upon ‘’Jimmy’s’’ death, Gatto described him as being ‘’staunch’’.

‘’Jimmy was a very loyal, staunch friend. Mick Gatto and family. REST IN PEACE”, Gatto wrote in a death notice in 2018.