Intrigue swirls around suburban Melbourne safe house for guns
A police raid on a Glen Waverley home know as “The Armoury” has sparked speculation about links to organised crime, and one theory suggests a sweet deal on the rent may have been the prize for babysitting the stockpile of firepower.
Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.
Guns for hire
It is a long time since the late hitman for hire, Andrew “Benji” Veniamin, reputedly hid spare guns with a late-night kebab caravan and with a former North Melbourne footy star.
And no, the tasty player wasn’t Wayne Carey.
The Duck’s main underworld contact was on the other side of the fence from Veniamin and ended up just as dead. That was Jason Moran, who was inclined to change guns more than his jeans, favouring an underworld armourer in the inner-western suburbs. The one he visited 20 minutes after tossing a “hot” weapon off the West Gate Bridge after shooting Alphonse Gangitano in 1998.
Guns haven’t gone out of fashion in crime circles but some people are getting cagey about “carrying” because of the stiff prison sentences it attracts if they are arrested in possession.
Long after Moran and Veniamin and their footballing pals have left the scene, there is a lot of intrigue about who is, or was, behind a suburban safe house for guns known as “The Armoury.”
Six months after establishing that it existed, police finally nailed a location recently and raided a Glen Waverley home last week.
Detectives from the illicit firearms squad seized 24 weapons of all shapes and sizes, most of them high-calibre.
The theory is that a man and woman who lived at the house were doing so rent-free, on condition they keep a close eye on the firepower.
“The Armoury” proved an expensive exercise for someone.
The median house rental in Glen Waverley is about $750 a week, which adds up to nearly $40,000 a year. Not to mention the black market value of the weapons themselves, which could be north of $50,000.
Perhaps the guns’ real owner earns so much money from whatever it is he does that price is no issue.
Maybe he is the kind of fellow who has to consider whether his background might mean big trouble if he was busted with a stockpile of guns.
It’s unclear whether the guns were for business, held sentimental value or a bit of both.
Police are certainly most curious about that and will run ballistic tests on the seized items to find out whether they’ve been used in any mischief from murders down to drive-bys.
That time frame might stretch back a bit as one of the weapons is a 1921 Thompson fully automatic submachine gun, the classic gangster “tommy gun” made popular on both sides of the law in the Al Capone era of the 1920s.
But whoever was behind the collection had broad tastes. Apart from the vintage tommy gun, there were pump-action shotguns, SKS semi-automatic carbines and a pistol created on a 3D printer.
Unsurprisingly, some of the weapons had been stolen — including one taken as far back as 28 years ago.
A man and woman were arrested at the house and inquiries are “ongoing”.
Detective Insp. Julie Macdonald of the firearms squad confirmed the inquiry began with little information except that “The Armoury” was somewhere in the suburbs.
“Nobody has a cache of 24 firearms stored in a locked room with a sitter for any good purpose,” Insp. Macdonald said.
“This armoury of weapons is linked to organised crime and there is no doubt these guns would have posed a substantial risk to the community if they were not detected as part of this investigation.”
Nice shot
Plenty of unhappy people were venting on the internet after Geelong lost last Saturday’s AFL Grand Final.
At least social media is safer than the previous alternatives.
Long before the invention of Facebook and such things, Melbourne gangster Charles “Mad Charlie” Hegyalji was a bloke who took defeat poorly.
One such occasion came late at night in the 1990s when Hegyalji lost a game of pool at the Inkerman Hotel in St Kilda East.
The winner, most unwisely, came off a bit cocky after his win.
The loser quickly removed the joy of victory by producing a pistol and shooting his opponent in the leg.
Hegyalji would ultimately end up on the wrong end of a gun over something clearly a bit more substantial than sinking the eight-ball first.
He was shot dead in November 1998 as he arrived home at night to his Caulfield South house. Sadly, Charlie’s security camera and sensor light weren’t working. His murder remains unsolved and is likely to stay that way.
Another Sergi’s final plot
It’s not long since the most common family name in Griffith was Sergi. The Singh dynasty of Sikhs from India now outnumber them but there are still plenty of Sergis in the Riverina, many of them related by blood or marriage (too often both) to other Calabrian clans, notably the Barbaros.
No offence to all the good Sergis but the bad ones won’t be missed. Such as Tony Sergi, who died still unrepentant in 2017 at 82 years old, after staring down the common knowledge that he and other evil men paid a hit man to kill an honest Griffith family man (Donald Mackay) in 1977 for agitating against the illegal cannabis trade that made them rich.
These “crims in grass castles” built grandiose houses on what had been modest irrigation blocks, and thought being able to buy off bent police and the patently corrupt politician Al Grassby meant they were unassailable.
Up to a point they were right. Tony Sergi and his cousin Domenic “Mick” Sergi (who died in 2020) got away with a murder conspiracy, along with their relatives the Barbaros, Romeos and Italianos and others in the secretive crime family the Calabrians call ’Ndrangheta and others call the Honoured Society.
A 1993 police report shows that of 250 people arrested over 188 big cannabis crops in Australia from 1974 to 1986, most were connected to 15 families: Sergi, Barbaro, Romeo, Trimboli, Perre, Pelle, Pochi, Cannistra, Catanzariti, Velardi, Agresta, Carbone, Zappia and Alvaro. Only the Alvaros were not related to the rest.
The practice of ’Ndrangheta families marrying each other continues to this day, consolidating criminal and family bonds.
Another prominent member of the Sergi family died recently. This was Francesco Sergi, grandfather of 19 grandchildren and great grandfather of 22 but not missed by the silent majority in Griffith, who resent the mafia shadow hanging over their home town but don’t like to say so publicly.
Champ’s battle
It’s sad to hear of a former top Melbourne sportsman’s personal struggles of recent times.
We won’t name him but the bloke who was once a hero of so many has found himself facing a massive battle because of the behaviour of someone close to him.
It’s a cautionary tale about the perils of ice use over time.
As a youngster, the person concerned had probably as much natural talent as his father but he ran off the rails before it came to anything.
Word is that the bright youngster who used to zip around town in a black Beemer is now sleeping rough and doing it very tough.
As former boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard once said about the toughest game of all, “it’s the fight after the fight that counts.”
Guns, and more guns
While we’re on guns, four more people — including a Bandidos bikie gang boss — have been arrested in an investigation into firearms thefts allegedly linked to the club.
A total of 59 firearms have now been recovered as part of a sprawling inquiry which began with the theft of 17 weapons from a Creswick property on April 21.
Five warrants were carried out on Tuesday by members of the western region crime squad and illicit firearms squad, two at Mount Pleasant and one each at Wendouree, Alfredton and Soldiers Hill.
Confiscated were 12 guns, a large quantity of ammunition, 20 swords, a bayonet, a chainsaw allegedly stolen in the Crewsick theft, an imitation pistol and a traffickable quantity of amphetamine and ecstasy.
A 40-year-old Mount Pleasant man who is allegedly a chapter president of the Bandidos was arrested and interviewed for unlicensed gun possession, and possessing a controlled weapon.
A Wendouree man, 37, was arrested and had his gun licence suspended after nine firearms were seized.
Both are expected to be charged on summons.
A 31-year-old Mount Pleasant man was arrested after police found 20 swords and a rifle allegedly stolen in the Creswick break-in.
He was charged with unlicensed gun possession and possession of prohibited weapons and was bailed to face Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on October 22.
A Soldiers Hill man, 26, who police allege is a patched Bandido was arrested after the imitation firearm’s seizure and a trafficking drugs.
He is expected to be charged on summons.
Detective Sen-Sgt Matthew Kershaw of western region crime squad said it was one of the largest gun seizures seen in the region.
“In total, 59 firearms have now been removed from the community– each one representing a potential risk to community safety,” Sen-Sgt Kershaw said.
“We will continue to pursue those linked to this alleged offending until every single weapon is accounted for.”
