JenyEliza
June 17th, 2009, 10:46 pm
I've been following this Australian "mafia" story for several years now. If you were writing a screenplay or book, and wrote it like it really has played out--especially this final chapter, I'd tell you that you had really gone off the deep end and that nobody would believe your storyline/plot. The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!
I do believe this is the last of the Moran family left to be rubbed out. The men are all dead--as of Monday. As of Monday at noon (Australian time), the last Moran was rubbed out in a coffee shop in broad daylight. His sister in law put the hit on him. She helped dispose of the evidence, and now sits in jail without bond. But it doesn't stop there....keep reading.
I've watched over the years from half-way around the world as Mark Moran (son), then Lew Moran (husband), and then Jason Moran (son) were wiped out in hits by the Carlton Crew (Melbourne Australia's own Italian Mafia). Mrs. Moran turned up at each funeral perfectly coifed, stiff upper lip and put on one hell of a show for all! One of the sons was rubbed out as he sat in a van at his children's soccer match--5 little soccer players in the backseat watched on in horror!
Those Aussie mobsters take their murder/hits SERIOUSLY, my dear friends. And so, this chapter in the Melbourne gangland war appears to be over. Finally. Some 30 people have been killed in tit-for-tat contract murders.
But this last murder surprised 'em all. It was over money. And it involved family killing family. They ate their own.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/fall-of-the-godmother-an-australian-murder-mystery-1707913.html
Judy Moran was the archetypal gangland matriarch, blonde and glamorous, always immaculately turned out when grieving at her male relatives' funerals. Two husbands and two sons met violent deaths, and when her brother-in-law, Desmond "Tuppence" Moran, was shot dead in a Melbourne cafe this week, she was one of the first at the scene, wailing, "Dessy, Dessy".
Desmond Moran's killing seemed to herald the resurgence of a long-running underworld war that claimed more than 30 lives in Melbourne between 1998 and 2006. But yesterday it was his sister-in-law, Judy, who was behind bars, charged with being an accessory to his murder, in a twist that Australian police described as "stranger than fiction".
Detectives claim the 64-year-old disposed of the getaway car used by two balaclava-clad men who gunned down Moran in the doorway of his local coffee shop on Monday.
A pair of white knitted gloves that she allegedly wore were later found discarded in bushes. A search of her home uncovered three handguns and a loaded rifle, concealed under cushions.
Also charged yesterday were Suzanne Kane, the sister-in-law of Judy's son, Jason, and Kane's boyfriend, Geoffrey "Nuts" Amour. Jason, a notorious gangster, was shot dead in 2003 as he sat in a van, watching a children's football training session. Jason's half-brother, Mark, another feared underworld figure, was killed in 2000 outside his home. Their father, Lewis, was murdered in a Melbourne bar in 2004.
The Morans were among several rival families involved in a bitter turf war over drugs and organised crime, which saw many of the male protagonists killed in tit-for-tat hits. One leading mobster, baby-faced Carl Williams, who headed a gang called the Carlton Crew (Carlton is Melbourne's main Italian neighbourhood), is serving a life sentence for three murders, including those of Lewis and Jason Moran.
The decade-long underworld feud, which has inspired a best-selling book and high-rating television series, Underbelly, was believed to have ended when Williams was jailed in 2007. So there was widespread shock this week when Des Moran, Lewis's brother, was killed on a busy shopping strip in front of horrified passers-by, after drinking his customary cup of coffee in the Ascot Pasta and Deli Café.
Des, 61, was regarded as an unlikely target. Jailed in the 1980s for manufacturing amphetamines, he subsequently kept a low profile, and reportedly disapproved of the exploits of his nephews, Jason and Mark. The last surviving male Moran, he was "the least public and most liked of the crime clan ... too popular and too harmless to be placed on any hit list," according to John Silvester, one of the Underbelly writers and a Melbourne journalist.
Someone didn't like him, though. In March, a shot was fired at his Mercedes Benz while it was parked in the driveway of his home in Ascot Vale, a neighbourhood of neat bungalows and latticed verandahs. The bullet hit the steering wheel, missing the driver. Moran, who had been drinking, was in the passenger seat.
Judy Moran, whose first husband, Les Cole, also died in a gangland hit, claimed to be worried by the attempt on Des's life. "I feel quite sick, quite ill," she said at the time. "I don't know what to think. I'm worried about myself now."
The reality, according to those in the know, was that she and Des had detested each other for years. He blamed her for a jail sentence he received for interfering with a court case; she resented his failure to give her financial support. Des and Lewis had inherited the family home, but Lewis's share was claimed by the state, under proceeds of crime legislation, after he died.
I plan to buy Judy Moran's biography to read and compare to the truth. I'm not sure there's much truth to find in her book. She had quite the flair for the dramatic.
Now she's cooling her heels in a women's prison until a court date set in September. Her husband, sons and family.....all gone. Her house, burned. Her life ruined.
She is a pathetic figure in some regards....I almost feel sorry for her. But, I catch myself and realise she is NOT a nice person. Her entire family were not nice people, including her brother in law "Dessy".
At any rate, folks here may not be fascinated by this real-life "The Godfather", but thought I'd toss it out here for folks in the States to read and comment on.
Cheers! :mrgreen:
I do believe this is the last of the Moran family left to be rubbed out. The men are all dead--as of Monday. As of Monday at noon (Australian time), the last Moran was rubbed out in a coffee shop in broad daylight. His sister in law put the hit on him. She helped dispose of the evidence, and now sits in jail without bond. But it doesn't stop there....keep reading.
I've watched over the years from half-way around the world as Mark Moran (son), then Lew Moran (husband), and then Jason Moran (son) were wiped out in hits by the Carlton Crew (Melbourne Australia's own Italian Mafia). Mrs. Moran turned up at each funeral perfectly coifed, stiff upper lip and put on one hell of a show for all! One of the sons was rubbed out as he sat in a van at his children's soccer match--5 little soccer players in the backseat watched on in horror!
Those Aussie mobsters take their murder/hits SERIOUSLY, my dear friends. And so, this chapter in the Melbourne gangland war appears to be over. Finally. Some 30 people have been killed in tit-for-tat contract murders.
But this last murder surprised 'em all. It was over money. And it involved family killing family. They ate their own.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/fall-of-the-godmother-an-australian-murder-mystery-1707913.html
Judy Moran was the archetypal gangland matriarch, blonde and glamorous, always immaculately turned out when grieving at her male relatives' funerals. Two husbands and two sons met violent deaths, and when her brother-in-law, Desmond "Tuppence" Moran, was shot dead in a Melbourne cafe this week, she was one of the first at the scene, wailing, "Dessy, Dessy".
Desmond Moran's killing seemed to herald the resurgence of a long-running underworld war that claimed more than 30 lives in Melbourne between 1998 and 2006. But yesterday it was his sister-in-law, Judy, who was behind bars, charged with being an accessory to his murder, in a twist that Australian police described as "stranger than fiction".
Detectives claim the 64-year-old disposed of the getaway car used by two balaclava-clad men who gunned down Moran in the doorway of his local coffee shop on Monday.
A pair of white knitted gloves that she allegedly wore were later found discarded in bushes. A search of her home uncovered three handguns and a loaded rifle, concealed under cushions.
Also charged yesterday were Suzanne Kane, the sister-in-law of Judy's son, Jason, and Kane's boyfriend, Geoffrey "Nuts" Amour. Jason, a notorious gangster, was shot dead in 2003 as he sat in a van, watching a children's football training session. Jason's half-brother, Mark, another feared underworld figure, was killed in 2000 outside his home. Their father, Lewis, was murdered in a Melbourne bar in 2004.
The Morans were among several rival families involved in a bitter turf war over drugs and organised crime, which saw many of the male protagonists killed in tit-for-tat hits. One leading mobster, baby-faced Carl Williams, who headed a gang called the Carlton Crew (Carlton is Melbourne's main Italian neighbourhood), is serving a life sentence for three murders, including those of Lewis and Jason Moran.
The decade-long underworld feud, which has inspired a best-selling book and high-rating television series, Underbelly, was believed to have ended when Williams was jailed in 2007. So there was widespread shock this week when Des Moran, Lewis's brother, was killed on a busy shopping strip in front of horrified passers-by, after drinking his customary cup of coffee in the Ascot Pasta and Deli Café.
Des, 61, was regarded as an unlikely target. Jailed in the 1980s for manufacturing amphetamines, he subsequently kept a low profile, and reportedly disapproved of the exploits of his nephews, Jason and Mark. The last surviving male Moran, he was "the least public and most liked of the crime clan ... too popular and too harmless to be placed on any hit list," according to John Silvester, one of the Underbelly writers and a Melbourne journalist.
Someone didn't like him, though. In March, a shot was fired at his Mercedes Benz while it was parked in the driveway of his home in Ascot Vale, a neighbourhood of neat bungalows and latticed verandahs. The bullet hit the steering wheel, missing the driver. Moran, who had been drinking, was in the passenger seat.
Judy Moran, whose first husband, Les Cole, also died in a gangland hit, claimed to be worried by the attempt on Des's life. "I feel quite sick, quite ill," she said at the time. "I don't know what to think. I'm worried about myself now."
The reality, according to those in the know, was that she and Des had detested each other for years. He blamed her for a jail sentence he received for interfering with a court case; she resented his failure to give her financial support. Des and Lewis had inherited the family home, but Lewis's share was claimed by the state, under proceeds of crime legislation, after he died.
I plan to buy Judy Moran's biography to read and compare to the truth. I'm not sure there's much truth to find in her book. She had quite the flair for the dramatic.
Now she's cooling her heels in a women's prison until a court date set in September. Her husband, sons and family.....all gone. Her house, burned. Her life ruined.
She is a pathetic figure in some regards....I almost feel sorry for her. But, I catch myself and realise she is NOT a nice person. Her entire family were not nice people, including her brother in law "Dessy".
At any rate, folks here may not be fascinated by this real-life "The Godfather", but thought I'd toss it out here for folks in the States to read and comment on.
Cheers! :mrgreen: