‘I’ve got life insurance on this bloke’: Lanciana’s gangland hit link
When Melbourne underworld figure Dimitrios Belias was shot dead execution-style in a St Kilda Rd car park, one man stood to benefit from his death.
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Veteran crime figure Percy “No Mercy” Lanciana had a $150,000 life insurance policy on an associate murdered in a gangland hit.
Lanciana was this week convicted over one of Australia’s most infamous armed robberies, the 1994 Richmond road gang heist in which a gang stole at least $2.3 million from an Armaguard cash truck.
Five years after the Richmond job, Dimitrios Belias was shot dead execution-style in a St Kilda Rd car park.
The 38-year-old had been there for a pre-arranged meeting on the evening of September 9 and was seen by witnesses sitting in his car, talking to someone on a mobile phone.
Ten minutes later he suffered a single bullet wound to the back of the head.
A life insurance policy had been taken out for Belias in the period before he died which nominated Lanciana as beneficiary, should the worst happen.
The kickboxer presented himself to detectives and accounted for his movements in the aftermath of the hit.
“He pretty much said; ‘I’ve got a life insurance policy on this bloke who’s dead’,” a police source said.
No one was ever charged with pulling the trigger but the Herald Sun understands figures known to Lanciana have come under scrutiny in the past.
Belias, a heavy gambler, is believed to have had substantial debts at the time of his murder.
His murder would later be part of the sprawling Operation Tideland investigation into huge robberies — including the Richmond job —- and three murders.
Tideland would also probe the shooting death of Lanciana’s wife, Maryanna, at their Werribee home in 1984 and that of nightclub bouncer George Germanos in a park at Armadale in 2001.
In the hours before he was murdered, Belias had caught up with a leading Melbourne organised crime figure at the Rockman’s Regency hotel in the city.
That man, who is now dead, was also a significant person of interest to Tideland detectives because of his links to key suspects in the inquiry and the possibility he played a part in setting up Belias.
He declined to assist the initial Belias murder inquiry.
Milorad Dapcevic, a friend and business partner of Belias, disappeared soon after providing a statement to investigators.
He was, at one stage, thought to have been murdered by the same people who killed his mate.
It has since emerged police believe the violent Dapcevic left Australia and is living in Europe.
A Coronial finding into the death of Belias stated he worked as a debt collector and was mixed up in dodgy schemes that focused on gambling and loan scams.
“He was a very heavy gambler with a past history of failed business ventures, association with underworld criminal figures and having criminal convictions for deception offences,” the finding said.
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