Underworld figure Mick Gatto avoids bold question from Natalie Barr

An innocuous interview about an autism charity event turned awkward after the Sunrise host posed a question most would be afraid to ask.

An innocuous interview about a charity event turned momentarily awkward after Sunrise host Natalie Barr fired off her first question to Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto.

Gatto was appearing on the program this morning to talk about his family’s support of the charity Equal Access For Autism.

But Barr clearly had other things on her mind, pouncing on him immediately to ask about gangland warfare.

“First Mick, when you see the gangland situation today, what are your thoughts?” she asked.

Gatto sidestepped the question saying he was at a “different stage of his life” and he had “moved on”, adding he “didn’t want to talk about it”.

Mick Gatto with his wife Cheryl on Sunrise this morning. Picture: Sunrise / Channel 7

But the hosts wouldn’t let it drop, with Matt Shirvington then chiming in.

“Do you think it will ever be resolved?” he asked.

“I am just a retired grandfather I don’t get too involved in that sort of nonsense anymore,” Gatto said with his wife Cheryl stony-faced next to him.

In 2005, Gatto was acquitted of the murder of gangland hit man Andrew “Benji” Veniamin a year earlier in Carlton on the grounds of self-defence.

Mick Gatto. Picture: Getty Images

The questions from the Sunrise hosts follow a spate of disturbing and violent incidents across Melbourne in the last couple of months, which have sparked fears the city is in the grips of a “crime crisis”.

Schools have been on high alert after a string of alleged abductions in September.

On top of that, two gangland figures have been killed - one in an alleged car rampage through Bourke St and another most terrifyingly executed in broad daylight at a cafe.

Gavin ‘Capable’ Preston was gunned down at a cafe in Keilor East, 20km northwest of Melbourne’s CBD.

Graphic CCTV emerged of the moment Preston was shot multiple times in an ambush attack at Sweet Lulu’s cafe.

Preston was having breakfast with Abbas ‘AJ’ Maghnie, the son of late crime boss Nabil Maghnie, when two men in black fired shots at the pair.

Preston died at the scene, but Maghnie was shot in the stomach and rushed to hospital with serious injuries, police confirmed.

Gatto has previously denied he is an underworld figure saying he preferred the term “colourful businessman”.

Cheryl Gatto has backed up her husband, calling him “marshmallows” and refused to discuss his “hard side”.

Gatto and his wife are hoping to raise millions to fund the installation of purpose-built playgrounds across Melbourne for children with autism.

The move was sparked by the Gattos’ support for their grandson, Dominic, who has autism and struggles with social situations and spatial awareness.

– with Carly Douglas, Georgina Noack

[e-mail]