Roberta Williams pleaded guilty to blackmail and recklessly causing injury to a TV producer

Details of the gangland widow’s gun-wielding attempt to blackmail TV producer can be released following the lifting of a gag order.

Gangland widow Roberta Williams is set to avoid jail after admitting a vicious gun-wielding extortion attempt on a TV producer.

Williams, 52, pleaded guilty to blackmail and recklessly causing injury to Ryan Naumenko, who she had hired to help her make a reality TV series about her life.

Her plea unfolded in the County Court in May, but can be reported for the first time after a court gag order was lifted on Friday.

The court heard Williams, who was married to slain drug lord Carl Williams, enlisted a group of men to stand over Mr Naumenko after she thought he was scamming her.

One of those men was Daniel De Silva, who runs Cloakroom Media, and was also helping to film and produce the show.

In the days after filming at a Hampton Airbnb in July 2019, De Silva and Williams came to an agreement they would intimidate Mr Naumenko because he had not paid them like he said he would.

Roberta Williams is set to avoid jail.

De Silva lured Mr Naumenko to Cloakroom’s studios on Rokeby St in Collingwood, telling him that he had edited a reel and wanted to show him.

But the pair had far more sinister plans.

As De Silva proposed a toast, he told Mr Naumenko: “You’re f---ed. I want money now. Roberta wants money”.

Mr Naumenko was then ambushed by De Silva and Williams, and three other associates of hers: James Harrison, Jake Sexton and Hassam Al Zhwainy.

“Kill the c---! He has no money,” Williams barked.

Harrison produced a handgun while Sexton threatened to break Mr Naumenko’s hands.

The men gagged the father and tied him to a chair, before repeatedly punching him in the face.

The court heard Roberta Williams enlisted a group of men to stand over Ryan Naumenko after she thought he was scamming her.

They then tried to force him to transfer money to them.

Criminal lawyer Emma Turnbull, for Williams, said her client was “sorry for her involvement”.

“She wished she never met the man,” Ms Turnbull said, referring to Mr Naumenko, who the court heard had spruiked to Williams the potential success of the show and that it would be picked up by Netflix.

She conceded that Williams was financially motivated, and while she had “agreed to participate in a frightening altercation” she did not commit any acts of physical violence.

Williams only pleaded guilty after Ms Turnbull successfully pushed that the mother of two shouldn’t face jail because it would bring hardship to her eight-year-old son, who has non-verbal autism and relies on her as his full-time carer.

“This is a woman who is living a different lifestyle to what she previously had,” Ms Turnbull said, adding that she was surviving on Centrelink payments.

“The care of (her son) is difficult. That’s her full-time job.”

She said her client should be placed on a community-based order that was therapeutic focused, including having to complete offender behaviour programs and treatment for mental health.

Ms Turnbull said Williams would struggle to commit to doing unpaid community work because of her home commitments, and she had recently had surgery on her hands.

Judge Fiona Todd agreed exceptional hardship had been made out and indicated while the offending was serious, she would not jail Williams.

“Your client did absolutely the wrong thing,” Judge Todd said.

All five accused have pleaded guilty, with Williams to be sentenced later this month.