Top boxer and underworld figure Steve Nittes dies aged 87

Former underworld heavy hitter and boxer Steve Nittes — who helped pull off one of the nation’s biggest armed heists, and was linked to top gangland figures — has died aged 87.

Boxer Steve Nittes (left) has died aged 86. Picture: Leo Berry's Gym/ Facebook

Former prominent Australian underworld figure and top-line boxer Steve Nittes has died in Victoria, aged 87.

Nittes, the one-time Painter and Docker heavy hitter, was a well-connected figure in Melbourne and Sydney gangland circles who was linked to big armed robberies and international drug smuggling.

During the 1960s and 1970s, he was investigated over bombings and firearms crime, some of which was linked to union conflict related to the Painters and Dockers.

In 1970, Nittes was part of a team which stole $580,000 from a Mayne-Nickless armoured truck at Guildford, in the west of Sydney, in what was, at the time, the nation’s most lucrative armed heist.

He was later jailed in New South Wales over the robbery, which happened in the period in which the notorious Toe Cutters stalked the criminal landscape.

They were a brutal gang who would pursue the proceeds of big crimes, earning their name because of what was purportedly their favoured method of torture.

Nittes was stood over for some of the money but managed to survive, unlike some of his contemporaries.

He also attracted heavy scrutiny from Victorian police and was linked to some of the biggest names in the state’s underworld, including suspected hitman Billy “The Texan” Longley and Painter and Docker hardmen Jack Twist and Fred Harrison.

Former Victoria Police detective Brian “The Skull” Murphy said he had investigated Nittes and two other men over the kidnapping of a jockey in the 1970s.

Bill Longley ‘The Texan’ Longley.

Painter and Docker hardman Freddie Harrison.

Mr Murphy recalled how they drove the rider to bush outside of Melbourne where he was handed a shovel.

“They said, ‘start digging!’.

“He said, ‘what am I digging for’?”

“They said, ‘you’re digging your own grave’.”

The jockey used the shovel as a weapon and was able to flee, running to a nearby town to report his ordeal to police.

Nittes was later arrested at his home, lying under a door propped up against the back fence.

Mr Murphy said Nittes was also suspected, with Twist, of bombing a Punt Rd hotel during that era.

“He was as hard as granite,” Mr Murphy said.

Nittes was later involved in drug importations.

In 1986, he was jailed for a maximum seven years for being the Victorian distributor for a colossal shipment of cannabis.

Steve Nittes’ co-conspirators Nick Paltos and Ross Karp at Melbourne Airport.

The cannabis shipment smuggled from Lebanon.

Up to seven tonnes of the drug had been brought from Lebanon in a vessel which was scuttled off Darwin after the haul was transferred to a fishing trawler to be moved to Sydney.

Nittes was later shown in famous photos with surveillance-wary co-conspirators Nick Paltos, Ross Karp and Graham Palmer.

Taskforce Lavender investigators knew they would meet in Fawkner Park but not where, so placed electronic bugs in trees around every likely rendezvous point.

Viewing points were drilled into trees for the shooting of long-range video.

Among Nittes’ other notable associates from the Harbour City were former prison buddy Neddy Smith and Graham “Abo” Henry.

Management of the legendary Leo Berry’s Gym in Richmond recently announced the death of Nittes, sending sympathy to his family and friends.

Former policeman Brian ‘The Skull’ Murphy probed Nittes over a the kidnapping of a jockey in the 1970s.

A social media post said he was one of the gym’s greatest fighters.

“Steve, a southpaw, was one of the best boxers of many that were the foundations of the gym,” the post said.

“Leo McDonald rates Steve as possibly the most skilled of any of the literally 100s of top shelf boxers that were trained by Leo Berry over more than five decades.”

“Steve was originally from Queensland, but relocated to Melbourne and had his first professional bout on the 20th September 1956. He retired after his final bout on the 9th December 1960. He fought Solomon Boysaw at Festival Hall over 12 rounds in 1960 as a lightweight and boxing purists still talk about that fight.”