March 23, 2025 • 53 mins
Jason Moran was a central figure in Melbourne’s gangland war, born into one of the city’s most notorious crime families. Known for his involvement in drug trafficking and violent underworld disputes, Moran’s life was marked by power plays and deadly rivalries. His assassination in 2003—gunned down in front of children at a football clinic—sent shockwaves through Australia and intensified a bloody underworld feud that had already claimed many lives.
Join Holly & Matthew as they explore the violent rise and fall of Jason Moran and his part in Melbourne’s gangland war.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
Join Holly & Matthew as they explore the violent rise and fall of Jason Moran and his part in Melbourne’s gangland war.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall Man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing. That's the way
a number of Australians have described the alleged encounter with
the Yowi.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's time for the Weird Crap In Australian podcast. Welcome
to the week Crap In Australia Podcast. I'm your host,
Matthew sol This is episode three hundred and fifty five.
Joining me, of course, is the co host and researcher
(00:51):
Extraordinaiy Holy Soul.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Racing down on the end of yew seven.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Here, Yes we are, as we're also racing to the
conclusion of quite a long series, being The Gangland Wars,
which will probably end up being our longest series to date,
which we pretty much figured it would be. And then
you add all that supplementary material in there, and it
is quite many hours, many many many hours.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So far at seven episodes. The next one might be
split into two, which makes it eight, and then the
one after that might be split into two which makes
it nine.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, occasionally we're asked for tips and advice and
things like that starting other people starting their own podcasts
and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Don't fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, I was going to say, like, we're only touching
the surface of the Gangland Wars and to think that
we've done I think five supporting episodes plus a series
of eight episodes and we've only really scratched the surface.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I actually found another link to a different episode that
we did, which is the Shane Chatros Abbot murder the
death of the vampire Jigglow, which is connected to this,
so it is correct another one which makes it six.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So I think that if you wanted to start your
own Australian true crime podcast and wanted to jump into
something really thick and tasty, you could probably do.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Just Melbourne, Just Melbourn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah. I think you could at least get twenty five
long form episodes out of the gang Land Wars just
by itself.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And then you have the Androgetter, then you have the
Springy Tailor era, and then you have all these other things.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
If you start, if you just focus on Melbourne gangs,
and you start all the way back in the very
very early days of Melbourne and then major way forward,
I think you could just call it the Melbourne gang
Land Podcast. Now obviously we're not going to do that,
but for all those people who often asked this, you know,
I'd like to start a podcast. I need an idea.
There's an idea for you, free of charge. All right,
(02:39):
it's time to jump back into it now. You may
remember from our last episode the Marine Brothers were down
to one, that being Jason Moran as Mark Morine was
gunned down, probably most probably by Carl Williams. Of course
that's alleged, even though he's dead and he can't sue me,
though you have to still say alleged someone did kill
a Jason's brother. And so Jason's on a bit of
(03:03):
a tear now, although doesn't seem to be aiming towards
the most lastly suspect, because let's just say Jason wasn't
playing with a full deck. And with that, Holly time
to jump into us.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Jason Moran's trajectory within Melbourne's criminal underworld is a testament
to the volatile and perilous nature of organized crime. Born
on September twenty second, nineteen sixty seven to Lewis and
Judy Moran, Jason was immersed from a young age in
an environment where criminal activities such as drug trafficking and
extortion were commonplace. In the early nineteen nineties, Jason Moran
(03:37):
rose swiftly through the ranks of Melbourne's criminal underworld, emerging
as a major figure in the city's drug trade with
the backing of the Moran family. Jason's operations focus heavily
on the distribution of high demand party drugs, including ecstasy
and emphetamines.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So you remember, I think was last episode or the
previous episode, Holly, I said, I had a friend who
partook in that Saint. Yeah, So I was asking him
a few questions about it, and he actually confirmed one
of my hypotheses. So, when the Moran brothers were running ecstasy,
which is a combination of MDMA and amphetamines, they he
(04:17):
self reported that the quality of the ecstasy was quite good,
and then there was a noticeable drop off, which I
surmised was because of Carl Williams dodgy pill press that
he had in his little setup. The Williams takeover, so
between the Mornes obviously produced a better product, and then
(04:39):
Williams produced a shittier product. And that is what my
friend anecdotally confirmed for me. So there you go. Myth
busted with a sample size of wine.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
My confirmed.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Sorry, myth confirmed. Sorry, God damn it.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Iran's control over significant parts of the drug market was
enforced by a crew of you younger gangsters drawn primarily
from Melbourne's western suburbs, mainly of whom, many of whom
were eager for the wealth and notoriety that came with
association to the Moran name.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And I mean nowadays you probably have like smaller dealers,
you know, more affable people, especially with the use of technology.
People use Snapchat to pick up drugs and distribute, and
I think you're more likely to run into a university
student trying to make extra money as opposed to like
a rather large scale criminal organization. Like the drugs are
(05:31):
still being imported and manufactured generally by larger organizations, but
when it filters down to their dealers, I find that
in this day and age that dealers can be sometimes
you know, more afforable. But that being said, I'm also
saying that based around the convictions of drug dealers around
(05:53):
university area. So obviously Camera has two large universities, so
maybe that is a bias on my my side.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Of things, I worked a part time job adjacent to
the drug trade area. I'm not going to say what
industry it was, but I can confirm that it was
not grizzled old man or bikis who were dropping off
the drugs. It was young people.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly right. And at university students you'd think.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
If they're not in university, they only just graduated.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah. And I found that in my own personal experience,
when you know you've been at a party and someone
drops something off, especially in like I said, university areas,
it's generally not the biking on the back of the bike.
In fact, it has absolutely surprised me at the people
who have offered me drugs over the years, how I
would consider them, you know, quite upstanding people. So there
(06:43):
you go. The way we use drugs and who uses
them is very, very different from how it used to be.
We have a quote here. I also knew Mark Moran
and had met him on a few occasions. He was
a gentleman. I also met Jason a few times and
knew that he was a loose cannon. Statement of Mister Thomas,
fifteenth of July two thousand and sixth Victoria Supreme Court,
Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants Victoria twenty
(07:06):
twenty or lack of management Because we have gone through
this before. But when we were talking about the Wall
Street shootings, one of the police officers who was involved
in predicting an informant a witness was not only letting
that witness go out and club whenever she felt like it,
but was also sleeping with her right. That's the reason
(07:27):
that Victoria had an inquest into the treatment of informants,
because it was so piss Poor.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Jason wasn't just writing on his family's reputation. He was
building his own and fast. His aggressive expansion into new
territory combined with his readiness to use violence to settle scores.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Did you realize you put in a dark note quote
though no aggressive expansion, ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
This made him both feared and resented rival factions already
wary of Moran family's dominance, began to view Jason's increasing
influence as a direct threat. Tensions that had simmered beneath
the surface of Melbourne's underwell for years began to rise,
laying the groundwork for a violent eruption.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Carl Williams said that Mark Morine wanted the pill press
that Brandon Maguire had for his own personal use, and
Mark believed Carl had possession of it. Mark Morane was
in a relationship with Danielle Maguire at the time and
wanted the pill press so he could produce his own tablets.
Karl didn't want the Marines to get their hands on
the pill press, nor did Danielle Maguire's brother. Carl knew
(08:30):
that Marines would have a large share of the drug
market if they got their hands on the pill press.
Karl was looking at ways to stop the Marines from
using it and ask me how he could make it inoperable.
Quote from statement of mister Thomas, fifteenth of July two
thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
That eruption came on October thirteen, nineteen ninety nine, when
Jason Morane shot Carl Williams in the stomach over an
unpaid drug debt.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
That's what we talked about last week.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Williams at the time was operating under the Marine umbrella,
manufacturing amphetamines and distributing them with the Morane backing. The
dispute between the two men escalated quickly, and Marne's decision
to pull the trigger, though they don't know which Moran
was meant to assert dominance. Instead, it triggered one of
the bloodiest gang wars in Austray in history. William survived
the shooting and vowed revenge. What followed was a systematic
(09:16):
campaign to destroy not only the Morans, but everyone allied
to them.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
After that incident, Karl was totally obsessed with getting back
at the Morans. He wanted both Mark and Jason Moran dad,
along with their father, Lewis Moran. Karl was doing everything
he could to gather information about the Mornes and their
movements so he could kill them. Statement of Mister Thomas,
fifteenth of July two thousand and six. Now, what's really
interesting about this moment in time, I think, is that
(09:42):
Carl Williams certainly wanted to be his own man, and
it's quite interesting that he was so convinced that the
Marians were willing to go and take his press so
that the Marines could manufacture the drugs themselves. Now, I
can't really contradict that opinion that Carl Williams had when
it comes to the criminal element. I mean, they're always
(10:04):
backstabbing each other. That We've proven that time and time again.
There is really no loyalty amongst thieves, there's no honor code.
They will do what they do. And then when you
add impulsive elements like Jason Moran into the mix, generally
people get killed or shot, which is exactly what happened here.
So was Carl Williams paranoid about what was going to
happen to him and to the pill Press in my opinion,
(10:27):
probably a little bit. But was there also a little
bit of truth to his concerns, Probably a little bit.
I think it was probably a fifty to fifty. I mean,
let's face of, the Marines were one of the most
prominent gangland families in Melbourne for a substantial amount of time.
We're talking about decades here.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think they were only rivaled by the Penagills.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And I also think too that as soon as there
was blood in the water. As Holly mentioned earlier, the
sharks came out to take their nap, and that's when
I think the Moran family started to fall to pieces.
It's why, once we get to the fate of Les Morine,
it's pretty evident why he just put up absolutely no
resistance towards the end, because I think that he knew
(11:11):
full well that their time in the sun was well
and truly over, as all these other little rival gangs
started nipping at their heels, and some of them were
throwing their allegiances behind Carl Williams of all fucking people to.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Follow for this moment, the Marine family had been at
the pinnacle of Melbourne's criminal empire. Jason, alongside his half
brother Mark, had grown their family's drug operation into a
multi million dollar enterprise. Mark was more calculated and strategic,
a counterbalance to Jason's impulsive aggression. Together, they maintained dominance
over Melbourn's underworld of bringing out of key strongholds in
(11:44):
the city's northern suburbs, including Asko, Vail and Aberfeldi.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Jason Moran was a thug who carried a gun before
he learned to drive. Marianne fired so many bullets into
other people's legs that a medical condition was coined the
marine limp vote from Lawyer X page of forty five.
I chuckled when I read that, Yeah, the marine limp.
I mean, look, it makes absolute sense. The guy could
not control himself. And again, I think that events would
(12:11):
have It's kind of interesting to think about this, isn't
it events were played out differently. So let's say Carl
Williams gets shot by Jason and decides that Jason is
his target. He's not going to go after Mark, He's
just going to go after Jason. He ends up killing Jason.
I wonder if Mark would have forgiven anyone he suspected
of attempting to kill Jason and perhaps would have continued
(12:34):
to maintain the gang well into the future, because I
really do believe that this is the one moment, that
that fixed moment in time where everything goes, you know,
towards the inevitable downfall of their criminal empire. So I
wonder if things have played out a little bit differently.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I think there's only two options here. Either Williams survives
or Williams died. If he survives, either way, all of
the Marines are going down. But if he dies, then
the marine to remain on top, and the Melbourne ganglamb
War actually not quite dies but fizzles a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
More So, do you think William's capacity for revenge would
always going to encompass the entire family regardless? Yes? Right, Okay,
that's a fair point, I suppose, because he goes after
Les last, after the other two boys, so you.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Know, and Lewis had absolutely nothing to.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Take Sorry Lewis, I should say.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Lewis had absolutely nothing to do with him being shot.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, I can sort of understand the logic behind Williams.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Not wanting Lewis to come after him.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
No, not so much that, but being like, well, you
raised these kids, so this is your fault. So Jason
wouldn't have been an unhinged lunatic if you had raised
him properly. He was an unhinged lunatic and had your
tacit support. And you were the fundamental kingpin of the
criminal crime empire for decades. Therefore, the responsibility of people
getting hurt is on you. On the flip side, Yeah,
(13:57):
that's a very sophisticated internal monologue that I don't think
Carl Williams has the capacity for mind.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You, on the flip side, Carl Williams basically just gave
all the young people an excuse.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh absolutely. Like I said earlier, the blood was in
the water, the sharks came out swimming, and these young
people who had been sort of cow towed into just
taking their little share that they were being offered by
the Morane family. Suddenly everything was on the table again.
That allowed for a bunch of smaller groups inable to
throw off the stranglehold of the Moran family and start
(14:31):
going for their bigger slices as well. And I think
that the criminal element was very much waiting for the
fall of the Marines. I think they were just predominantly
afraid of Jason.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
To be fair, the attempt on Carl Williams's life shattered
the already fragile balance of power in the city's criminal circles. Williams,
fueled by a desire for retribution and ambition for power,
began orchestrating targeted killings. His strategy was methodical, dismantled the
Marine Empire one hit a time. The Melbourne Gangline killings
(15:02):
begin in earnest with the associates of the Marines, drung
dealers enforces and former allies being eliminated in rapid succession.
The atmosphere in Melbourne's underworld shifted from tens to outright dangerous.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Cal told me that he wanted to kill Mark Marine first.
I'll said the Mark was the brains of the group
and was very well respected in criminal circles. I'll also
said that if he had killed Jason before he killed Mark,
the Mark would do everything in his power to murder
Carl would be more likely to succeed in doing so
than Jason would kill. Definitely saw Mark as the bigger
threat out of the two of them. Quote from a
(15:34):
statement of mister Thomas, fifteenth of July two thousand and six.
And I suppose that really does put a nail in
the coffin of my argument, then, doesn't it? So? Regardless
of the situation, it seems like Carl Williams was determined
to take out the Moran brothers. I suppose sometimes you
just need the enough motivation to finally realize your ambitions.
I suppose, and he wasn't wrong. Killing Mark was the
(15:58):
right decision because Jason and couldn't maintain that criminal empire.
It was the weak link in their armor and so
it all started to fall around. It's sort of interesting though.
I have described Carl Williams as a bit of a
slobbering boob, and I will continue to refer to him
in that way. But intelligence is multifaceted, So in this
particular instance, his intuition was right, he was correct. I
(16:21):
still think he had the face of a sloppy pancake,
and I maintained that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
On June fifteen, two thousand, Mark Moran was assassinated outside
of his home in Alberfelde. It was a calculated strike,
widely believed to have been ordered or orchestrated by Carl
Williams himself. Mark's death was a personal and professional catastrophe
for Jason. He had not only lost his brother, but
also his closest ally in a war that was now
spiraling out of control, and.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
His reputation too. If you can't protect your own then
you can't protect shit. So that means that, you know,
in the criminal empire, you can't continue your operations because
every single person who's dealing with you is going to
ask the same question. So you know, if you can
really make my product go out there into the market
and protect it and bring me back my money. How
(17:10):
come you can't protect your own brother? How come you
can't protect yourselves.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Mark's murders sent a clear signal the Morans were vulnerable.
Rival factions sensed an opening, and Jason's power began to erode.
For Jason, the loss of Mark intensified his paranoia and
his resolve. He doubled down on security, surrounding himself with
bodyguards and maintained a constant state of vigilance. He refused
to step back from the war, determined to maintain control
(17:37):
over what remained of the family's empire, even as the
walls closed in around him. The violence became relentless, each
death prompting a new round of retaliations, and with each killing,
police scrutiny intensified. The war ended for Jason Moran. On
Saturday June twenty first, two thousand and three, Marian and
Pascual Barbara and associate with links to Sydney's Barbara crime family,
(18:00):
attended a children's football clinic at cross Keys Reserve in Essendon,
a northern suburb of Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I assume it was the Essendon bombers who were conducting
the clinic. Yes, it was, and if you want more
information about Australian football. Well, we did two episodes on it,
so go check those out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The clinic was part of the oz kick program, which
aims to introduce.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You was part of the oz Kick program.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Which aimed to introduce young children to Australian rules football.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So did sorry, I'll stop doing that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So Matthew, when you made a comment earlier about football
not coming into it, it actually did.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It came into it a little bit. They Yeah, no,
I was part of the oz kick program. It was
a great little program. The idea was that you would
sign up with your favorite football club. So in the
case of us, much to our father chagrin, we decided
to go with the Sydney Swans. Me and my brother lindsay.
It was great. You go a little welcome back which
included a little os kick football. We got to play
(18:55):
a few games around Tumid so I think we went
up to bat Loan one, We did tumber Rumba, all
that sort of stuff, and we even got to go
out onto the field during a Kangaroo's match here in Canberra.
For a long time at the Kangaroos and I still
don't think they have a home ground, but the AFL
Kangaroos Club had one of the Canbra stadiums as their
(19:19):
home ground for some time. That we got to go
out there and participate. Yeah, I's Kick was a great program.
I don't think it still exists though.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Parents, let us know, we don't have anyone that we
know that's got school age kids.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Really.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Marian's own twin sons, Christian and Memphis age six, we're
among the participants.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And Memphis really either someone's in elvisman or someone really
likes the Deep South.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, Memphis is a Christian city.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oh is it?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's the joke? Oh, but yes, it is heavily Christianized
because he's in the Bible Belt.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh, I don't see. This is actually one of my shortcomings.
I do not know much about Elvis.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Memph in Tennessee. Tennessee's in the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Bible Belt right right, because yeah, he did that that song, right,
like walking in Memphis? I think Shared did a version
of it too.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Wasn't Elvis? Was about Elvis?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Is it about Elvis?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
But about Elvis?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Performed by Share? Right? No? How was walking in Man first?
That one? It's not Share, It's not Share? No, who
is it?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
My brain says, Ryan Cohen.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I'll have to look it up something for a later time.
We'll look that up later.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Christian in Memphis, we were among the participants that day,
lending a veneer of normalcy to a life otherwise steeped
in violence.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And why is it always filing criminals are the most religious.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Because what is protecting them?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
God is not protecting them. They're actually going against most
of the tenets of the Christian religion.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
There's nothing in the Bible says I can't deal drugs.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That is true. But thou shall not murder is a
big one. Thou shall not commit adultery. I don't know
if you know this about the Marines, Holly, but they
like to fuck.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
They like to do it a lot of things they should.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Not be doing. They all had girlfriends as well, right, So,
so thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not murder,
shall not steal, Thou shall not steal.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Thou shall not burn your neighbor's house to the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yet, I bet you those fuckers were always there at
church on every fucking Sunday. The hypocrisy of these people. Anyway,
Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Around ten thirty am, as the clinic concluded, Bran and
Barbaro gathered ten children, including Jason's zone, and ushered them
towards their blue Mitsubishi van. Brian took the driver's seat,
Barbaro sat beside him, and the children settled into the back.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
They were in a vent about to drive ten children
home from the Els Kick football clinic, including the children
of Jason Moran. The children were in the rear of
the van. Mister Andrews had been driven to the reserve
area by mister McGrath, who dropped him off near the
van and drove off. Mister Andrews approached the van and
using a shotgun, fired through the window of the van.
Quote from extract of Reasons for Sentence the Mister Thomas
(21:59):
vsc Victoria, Supreme Court, Royal Commission into the Management of
Police Informants, Victoria, two thousand and twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Without hesitation, he fired a shotgun blast through the driver's window,
striking Moran at close range.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Mister Andrews then dropped the weapon and used a handgun
pointed through the driver's side window, aiming at the head
of Jason Moran. Both Jason Moran, who was seated in
the driver's side and Pascual Barbao who was in the
passenger seat of the vehicle were killed. Woke from extracts
of reasons for sentence same as above. This has to
be one of the most brutal executions I think in
(22:34):
the Gangland War. The fact that you have ten children
in that van at the time, they can see what
is happening, and to have it happen in such an
execution style manner in broad daylight is one of the
most ostentatious things that I have ever encountered in the
history of true crime in this country.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
There were also literally hundreds of witnesses, all the parents,
all the kids, everyone.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This was either the most stupidest thing that any criminal
could ever do or the most brilliant. So let's take
it from two perspectives. Is it stupid and impulsive? Potentially,
there are lots of witnesses, it's wholly mentioned, it's in
broad daylight. Chances are that one of those kids could
be a cops kid. Police are very very generally speaking,
(23:25):
police are quite fit people when they maintain a good
healthy weight, so they can be effective members on the force.
God bless them for doing it. I know it would
be difficult myself trying to maintain a nice healthy weight
just every day without all the stress of dealing with
violent crime would have. So you've got that potential right there, Right,
(23:45):
you've got an intervening witness. Potentially. On top of that,
you've got all those kids. They're going to see the faces,
or they're going to notice the gun, etc. Etc. Killing
someone in front of a bunch of kids in what
should be considered a neutral area. All of these things
are going to bring down like it's going to get
media attention, which is going to get government attention, which
is going to get you police attention. Right, it's too brazen.
(24:09):
So that's the stupid side of it, and let's talk
about the brilliant side of it. Moran, with his children
in the most vulnerable of positions, is gonne down effectively
and quickly. There is no more Marine criminal empire. At
this point, it is done. The brothers are gone, both
(24:29):
of them executed, one in his home, one while picking
up the kids from the football. It meant that the
Marines were completely touchable and they could be got whenever
and wherever with very little consequences. At this point, William
cements himself as the criminal kingpin of the Melbourne gangland scene.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
The children trapped in the back of the van witnessed
the entire execution.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I've just seen my uncle shot one of the girls
from the van told and not just kick umpire. Moments
after the double murder, five children, including Marine's twins aged
about seven, were seen in the back of this Subishi
van as the gunman find at least five shots through
the van in the windows. Another three or four children
were believed to be nearby. Police said the children in
the van had not been injured. They were taken for
(25:15):
counseling to the broad Meadows Child abuse Unit. Now this
is not going to be saying you can counsel a
child out of in the short term. This is going
to be a long term process. I'm glad they got
them to counseling right away. I'm actually surprised that the
Marine family that was still alive, being their mother's grandparents,
(25:37):
actually let the police do that. I'm sort of surprised.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
They would have been too busy hunting down who did
it too. And they're like, all right, the kids are there,
they're safe. To cost them.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I don't think so. I don't think so. Yeah, Like
I understand why you would say that, but I don't
think this is a John Wick movie. I think the
police acted very quickly, especially because these children are or
now witnesses, so you've got to get their statements very quickly.
I think the police snatched them up rather quickly. And
I think at this point, don't you think that the
(26:09):
parents would like the grandparents were probably realizing what where
they were, what their situation like. To be fair, this
is not to grab guns and go out and wipe
out all the gangs. Grannies were shotguns sort of thing. Holy,
this is the end.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
To be fair, the witnesses would not have called the Marines.
The witnesses would have called the cops. The cops would
have had at least a good twenty thirty minutes on them.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, I'd love to know what happened that day, obviously
the mothers. It just it seems interesting that they were
able to get access to the kids and maintain that
access throughout the preceding days. I just find that very interesting.
I think it does signal that the Marines were done.
They were finished. A witness who wanted to be known
only as John, said he ran towards the car, where
he comforted the two children from the van. There was
(26:56):
a boy about three years old and a girl about five.
The other children were all under seven. You know, I
just held on to him until someone came. Vote from
Footy Kids see Murders June twenty second, at two thousand
and three the age.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Though none were physically harmed, the trauma they endured was
unimaginable and compounded on their already lived experiences.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
But the Marine children's cousin Blaze Armor, Oh for God's sake,
who also in the car that day, grew up haunted
by what he had witnessed at eleven and the bac
these name is Blaze finding himself on the wrong side
of the law in twenty twelve on drug charges and
more than twenty was given an adjourned undertaking after omitting
possessing items for the manufacturer of a drug. Alvin caught
(27:37):
hearing about the young youngster's tumultuous upbringing. UMA's lawyer told
the court that the Gangland murders had a profound impact
on his life that he was returning to Perth to
resume his accounting studies. Vote from Growing Up in the
Crossfire Megan Norris, October third, a twenty eighteen. Honestly, I
have nothing but sympathy for that kid. I have nothing
but sympathy, and the fact that he found himself gravity
(28:00):
towards that world is not a surprise whatsoever and is
most probably a way to sort of, I don't know,
perhaps be connected to the trauma people sometimes do that.
I'm glad that he moved away.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I will say that Tricia Moran after this took her
kids and ran.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Understandably.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, she wasn't going to wait for what happened to
her husband, happened to her kids.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
There's plenty of money to go, you know, why bother
sticking around? It was exactly the right move.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ascal bar Burrow. It was later revealed it was not
the intended target, simply collateral damage in a hit that
was focused on Jason Moran.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
The background to this killing was the enmity between Carl
Williams and the Morans over the Morane shootings of Williams
in the stomach some years earlier. Killing of Jason Morane
was to take place as close as possible to the
anniversary of the death of Mark Moran, murdered brother of
Jason Moran. Quote for extract reasons for sentence etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
They were off by a week. That's the only difference.
That they were off by a week. Who was three
years to the day.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Otherwise It's crazy, isn't it? Absolutely crazy? But inevertently Williams
did piss off the Sydney crime families mm.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Hmmm, because you fucked up one of their own.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So they were coming down to Melbourne to make this
all worse. And that's what's like. I always find those
mistakes fascinating when it comes to these sort of crimes.
It's always the mistakes the drive people, you know, through
the room. So the government he didn't know who the
other person was in that vand no no idea whatsoever,
didn't know that that was a meeting between two crime families.
(29:33):
He had no fucking clue.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What's worse, the bar Burros are part of the indigetter.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And they already have an establishment in Melbourne and they've
already been coming to blows with other crime families at
that time, and now.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
There's another reason for them to get on them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Now potentially they can re establish power m and they
have a legitimate beef with the Williams crew.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
The brazen nature of The double homicide, carried out in
broad daylight at a f family event, shocked both the
public and law enforcement. The attack obliterated any remaining pretense
of restraint among Melbourne's criminal factions. Killer had shown no
hesitation in staging a public assassination in front of young children,
not only including the victim's own.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And it meant that you know there were no protections
for you. So right now you may have seen on
the news, being surrounded by your kids meant nothing to
the Williams crew, meant nothing whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The next time, it's quite possible that the kids would
be the ones hurt.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
This is what I talked about previous in previous episodes,
where I talked about like social contracts. The criminal element
had their social contracts. Williams didn't care about the social
contracts now interestingly enough, would want those same social contracts
for himself and his own family, right, But he broke
the rules. And when he broke the rules, that empowered
(30:53):
everyone else to break the rules.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
This was of course a message to the remaining gangland
member of the Morans Lewis. Both his sons, the men
meant to take on the business, were dead. But what
could he have done to prevent it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Could have not been a criminal. He could have raised
his sons better. He could have raised them to be
better criminals. He could have kept them under control. He
could have got Adjason help, could.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Have could have put a mind and Carl's head on
his own.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
There are a million fucking things that Lewis could have done.
But the little simpy boy sat there in his puddle
of urine and just stressed and stressed and stressed, and
did nothing to control his most violent, fucking child. I
guarantee he was that same count who egged his son
Jason on. We know these sort of people. I guarantee
(31:40):
that's what he did. And so his fate, as far
as I'm concerned, was well and truly deserved.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Lewis was in jail when Jason was killed, and Jason
was in jail when Mark was killed. It's almost as
though Carl Williams was looking to make sure that the
person next in line wasn't available to stop him.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So you're suggesting police elements.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Uh No, I'm suggesting that Williams is really good at
his timing, or the guy he paid for it was
really good at his timing.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Or he was dubbing them into police to get them
behind bars, or assisting the prosecution too. There's a lot
of elements there. Like Carl Williams always said he was
smarter than people gave him credit for. I think socially
he was a fuck with I think he had the
ability to converse with people in the same manner that
a duck has an ability to converse with a piece
(32:25):
of bread. But tactically speaking, he did pretty damn well
for himself. He did a lot of happy accidents going
on there.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And we have another quote.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Lewis Morane was on remand and facing seventeen drug related charges,
including trafficking commercial quantities of hashish, amphetamines and ecstasy. Jason
was murdered with associate Pascala Barbero in June last year.
Quote from The Colorful Life of Lewis Morane April first,
two thousand and four the Sydney Morning Herald.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
The location, timing, and method of the attack revealed meticulous planning.
Aware of the ever present threats to his life, was
known to carry a firearm regularly for protection, yet on
that day he was unarmed, suggesting his assassins had carefully
chosen their moment to strike, capitalizing on what may have
been the only time Marine allowed his guard down.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Hi, mister Thomas cut the gun down to approximately half
a meter. I cut the barrels who were laying of
about ten centimeters past the wooden butt, but just passed
the trigger. The gun was cut in a similar way
to shotgun used to murder Jason Marine. So I kept
the other shotgun as a long arm in my house
for a few years. I later cut this down in
the same way as the first. It was used to
(33:37):
murder Jason Marine in June two thousand and three. I
cut that gun down in the same workshop after Karl
had asked me to do it for him. This gun
was later found by police at the scene of Jason's murder.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So the twin shotguns were used for Mark and Jason.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It's ridiculous walking in with two shotguns. You don't need
two shotguns.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
No, I mean they used one shotgun for Mark and
then came back and got this a little bit twin
for Jason.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Little bit block. Yeah, yeah, a little bit pretentious. Have
you seen how Lewis is killed in the Underbelly series.
I haven't watched it at all. It's quite it like
the actor that they have plane Lewis, if I recall correctly,
is the you know, the dude who screws up in
the Dish. We talked about the Dish episode and he
(34:20):
sort of, yeah, he screws up and Sam Neil has
to have a bit of a go at him right
plays Lewis Marine and the way they depicted an underbelly,
which I don't think was true. Of course, there's a
lot of dramatization here, but I do like the way
they depicted it. They bust into his house and he's
just sitting there in his chair looking sad.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I can straight up say that's incorrect.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And they just shoot him in the head. They shoot
him basically, and while I like, I agree with you
totally it's incorrect. He most likely put up a fight
or there.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Was some resist It wasn't even at his house.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
But yeah, but yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah,
And I I just I like the poetry of that scene,
just like you're defeated, you're done, You're finished. Obviously not
how it happened in real life.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
They are the murders at Cross Keys Reserve also exposed
the collateral damage of underworld violence. The children present that day,
including Jason's own sons, would live with the trauma for life.
The idea that wives, children, and innocence were once off
limit in gangland feuds had been obliterated. The attack highlighted
how far Melbourne's underworld had descended, where even the presence
(35:30):
of children no longer provided any protection from violence.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I mean, we talked about this in a few episodes back,
how the criminal code of silence protected a rival gang
when they abducted les Kane. Les Kane. They literally picked
les Caane up and they took him outside, and god
knows what happened to him. But missus Kane, bless her
criminal little heart of gold there. She never gave in
(35:54):
on anyone, you know. And those are the rules that
we're talking about. Those are the sort of rules. So
now that's all gone, that's finished.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
The hit not only eliminated the last major figure in
the Moran Families leadership, but mark the war's turning point.
The gang their killings had gone too far, and the
public outrage was immediate and severe.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Miss Nixon has authorized the establishment of a sixty strong
task force called Purana, who investigate Melbourne's underworld murders and
launched an investigation into drug squad corruption. While Miss Nixon
was appointed five years, several senior police forcers say she
will seek a two year extension and complete the long
term plans will take police through to two thousand and eight.
Quote from things are hotting up for the cop at
(36:34):
the Toptobra eighteen, two thousand and three. The age, I mean,
that was always going to be the inevitability. You can't
shoot two people in front of a bunch of kids
and not expect the general public to turn around and
say that's it. Enough, is a fuck enough. It's fine
when they're killing each other. To a certain extent, I
think some people also think that when police are killed
(36:56):
in the line of duty that you know, they are
putting themselves at heart risk. That is part of the job.
And I think there's a general acceptance as well that
sometimes police get killed in the line of duty. I'm
not saying that I am condoning police being killed in
the line of duty whatsoever. I'm just saying that for
the people reading the newspaper at the time, it's not
(37:17):
that too big of a shock. Oh yes, and police
died in a shootout, that makes sense that wasn't this.
This was a bunch of kids seeing a gangland execution,
not only the kids in the van, but also the
kids who are also still playing nods kick right. So
there's a huge push now from the public because what
happens to the public, The public goes, this can now
(37:39):
happen to me, right, this is escalating outside the bounds
of cops and robbers. This is now directly affecting me,
And so they put pressure on their politicians, and then
politicians were pressure on the police. Now, obviously they waited
far too long to bring about any sort of investigation
into police drug squad corruption. Those police never ever ever
(38:02):
found themselves in the dock where they should have been put,
They should have been tried. Some of them never ended
up there. But you can absolutely see why this reaction happened, can't, Charlie.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Absolutely. There's only two ways to get a task force
formed on your ass, once to shoot a cup and
once to harm a children, And in this case it's
mentally how many the children. The Purana Task Force was
established in May two thousand and three as the Rhyma
Task Force, but soon changed after the public murder of
Jason Moran. The unit Bolstered by public pressure and political support,
(38:36):
the murder of Jason Moran in such horrific circumstances galvanized authorities.
They began allocating greater resources to investigate not just the
killings of Iran and Barabaro, but the entire landscape of
organized crime in Victoria. Lean it out again and protect
the bystanders. Remember they'd only just finished doing this after
the Wall Street shooting in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I mean they cleaned it out, all right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
They started killing them themselves. The gangland war, once viewed
as a criminal feud beyond the reach of the average citizen,
now crossed the line. Public demanded action, and police responded
with unprecedented urgency.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Parana was tasked with investigating Melbourne's gangland War and dismantling
major drug syndicates dominating the illicit market. It broke the
underworld code of silence, turning paid hitman and trusted insiders
into informers and ultimately into protected witnesses. In its first
three years, Piranha investigated three hundred and sixteen people had
listening devices operating for more than one hundred thousand hours,
(39:32):
recorded six thousand hours from three hundred and twenty eight
thousand telephone conversations, Who's thirty nine trafficking tracking devices and
followed suspects for twenty two thousand hours. Baranda Tanskforce to
close under major crime finding shake up, John Silbasta, April fourteen,
twenty twenty one. The age, which.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Meant that that task force lasted for eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Absolutely, now it's a lot different. The police have definitely
moved into the era of digital surveillance. You know, you
may be wondering, why are we seeing so many pedophiles
caught these days? Why are we seeing so many gangs
being taken down before they can establish Now it's not
(40:14):
full proof, of course, but we live in the digital era,
which means it's a very very easy to track the
illicit movement of drugs. One of the interesting things was
the adoption of the Silk Road, especially here in Australia,
where people started using the Silk Road, which is part
of the dark Web, in order to move drugs about. Now,
(40:34):
little did everyone know, of course, that the FBI were
and the CIA were the manufacturers of the dark Web.
They built it as a way too. It's essentially a
communication drop. If you aren't familiar with that term. Go
check out some stuff on spycraft communication drops so that
men people were ordering and moving drugs about and they
(40:56):
could see everything.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
If you want case file did I think it was
a two or three part on the Silk Road way
back in near the beginning. So if you want to
try them, go for it.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
That's like when it comes to encryption app. Sure Facebook
encrypture data from one side to the other, but Facebook
owns your data. They have no loyalty to you. So
if you're sending back and forth information it's painted by
the police and Facebook at the time may be more
favorable towards helping the police for whatever reason, you're going
to give up that information. They're not even going to
(41:27):
be worried about it. Same with Snapchat, same with Instagram,
same with any other thing that uses two way encryption.
You are at the mercy of the company, and if
the company decides that it's more advantageous to them to
work with the police, they're going to do it. So
this era of crime died with twenty twenty, really, did
you say, Holly, Oh?
Speaker 2 (41:46):
I think it was long before.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I think COVID cemented it as well, because so many
people had to shut down for such a long time.
That included drug operations.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, they couldn't go out and deliver, although I remember
lots of stories of people who were delivering food getting
drugs at the same time.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
I mean, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I remember reading those stories.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Here's an extra two sorry. You know, you could set
up a delivery to a person, right, So let's say
we're going to send some McDonald's to Holly. I can
send a message to my uber eats go and say, hey,
well you're doing that, can you just run this too,
and I'll give you an extra two hundred dollars. Yeah,
things like that can happen. There were organized networks of
(42:25):
drug drop offs and that's Look, you're never going to
remove drugs from society. And I'm going to tell you why.
Number One, people like to have fun and party. Drugs
can be fun for people, right, that's number one. Number Two,
young people they're gonna want to experiment. Nothing's going to
stop them from experimenting. You might as well forget about
even trying. That's why pill testing is great because we
(42:46):
can keep them safe. Number Three, people are really sad
at the moment. They're depressed, angry, they're upset. Some of
its social media, some of its world events, So they're
going to rely on more and more drug use. Never
there is a market, it will always be a supplier
and you'll never be able to get rid of it.
That's why we regulate it. We keep people safe and
(43:07):
tax it and tax it. Could you imagine what cannabis
production in Australia could do for the Australian economy like
that constantly talk about having an industry up and running.
Full disclosure here, Holly and I have actually invested in
companies that produce medical marijuana, which is perfectly legal in
most states in Australia. We've invested in a company down
(43:28):
in Melbourne, and the reason for that is that we're
speculating that eventually we will be legalized in Australia and
those medicinal outfits that are currently supplying the medicinal suppliers
through a prescription with your doctor will turn into bigger
commercial entities. So we're buying up little bits and pieces
of those companies now they're still little and their supply
(43:49):
isn't huge, so that in the future we can you know,
just like everyone else who speculates on future stocks, we
can make a little bit of money help ourselves retire
a little bit easier, so disclosure there. But honestly, you
legalize and regulate weed in this country, you suddenly bring
a huge industry. It's a nice big boost to the
farming sector. It's a nice big boost to people who
(44:11):
will be setting up little small businesses, employing a group
of stoners who know exactly what they're talking about when
it comes to weed strains and will probably be high
most of the time as well. You would see that
industry just pretty much start up overnight. Unfortunately, Australia still
does the old hand like, I don't understand how this
country is built on the backs of rogues. People are
(44:33):
very like hand ringing at the same time. Doesn't quite
make sense to me.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Because it used to be the rogues that get the
shit kicked out of them and they'd get killed. So
we kind of know that we were only allowed to
go roguish so far before shit comes down.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
On us fair enough.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
In popular culture, Jason Marin in The Broader Gangland War
became household narratives, with the first Underbelly book being released
in nineteen ninety seven and the first TV series releasing
in two thousand and eight Underbelly dramatized the events, as
we've said before, which is no real wonder considering the
TV show was based off a book written by a
journalist whose sources if he didn't see it himself. Other
(45:09):
journalists working off someone else's recollections were based off interviews
with criminals known to inflate the truth to make themselves
seem more innocent or more important, or.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Even the cops who are misleading journalists or.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Wanting to seem more innocent or more important.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, so you know, that's why I say, like, and
I'm not trying to discredit Sylvester Like I'm not. I'm
not being an asshole, and I'm not trying to say
don't go out and buy his books. I'm not saying
don't go out and read them. That isn't what I'm saying.
I'm just saying, you do have to be Yeah, you
have to be aware. And that's why when we started
doing this series. There are four books that are being written,
(45:45):
but unfortunately a lot of the books are reporting on
second and third sources, so that when we're using those books,
they become a fourth source. Yeah, and makes it Yeah,
we don't have a primary source outside of the criminal's
comments themselves. Otherwise, Yeah, you are really dealing with he said,
(46:07):
she said, yeah, he said, she said, it's said and
becomes a little bit complicated.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Jason Moran's life and death ultimately serve as a grim
parable about the perilous nature of power in the criminal world.
His assassination was not just a culmination of a personal feud,
but a symbol of an era's end time when ambition,
internal betrayal and ruthless violence dominated Melbourne's streets. The Moran family,
once untouchable, was brought down by the very forces they
(46:34):
wielded for decades. Melbourne Ganglang killings the Morannes at the
heart of the storm remain a defining chapter in Australian's
criminal history, one that underscores the dark cost of power
pursued at any price. But when it came to the
Morne legacy, there was no man really greater than Lewis
Moran and his lady Judy. His life spans literally decades
of work in the Melbourne underworld, and will close up
(46:56):
the Maran chapter with his story next week.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
And that will wrap us up on the Marines before
we move on to the finale, which I assume is
going to be Carl Williams. Yes it is. Yes, Well,
thank you so much for joining us. Of course, if
you have a connection to the criminal underworld and you
would like to give us a little bit of a
tidbit or some fun stories or some fun stories, please
send us through a message via our social media. Lots
(47:19):
of you send us room messages. In fact, I believe
it was Peter who was asking about some advice concerning
establishing his own podcasts. So we we're sending some messages
back and forth there. So we love those sort of questions.
Please send them through to us. If we can help
you along your creative journey, absolutely reach out to us.
We'd love to give you some advice and help you
(47:39):
to avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into
when we started to establish the podcast. You can also
send us through an email to weekrap in Australia gmail
dot com. As I've said before concerning this topic, if
it is something that needs to be brought to police,
we will inform. Oh, don't do it if you want
to keep it secret. Otherwise, please send all those emails
through to week Crap in Australia gmail dot com. There
(48:01):
are a couple of ways to support the show. Of course,
we have our Patreon with weekly minisodes just for our
Patreon supporters. If you'd like to get in on that action.
It's only five dollars US a month. It's barely the
price of a cup of coffee and it really does
help us to keep the lights on here. There are
costs we incur by running the podcast and digital storage.
Can also grab the We Crap in Australia merchandise from
(48:24):
our red Bubble nt public stores. Just type in we
Crap in Australia to see all those wonderful designs on
those stores. And last, but not least, you can grab
our book series We Crap in Australia with a full
index glossary of every single source that Holy uses, which
takes up sometimes a good tenth of the book, so
you can see exactly where the information is coming from.
(48:47):
So you can verify our sources. We have very little
too hide. We have some things to hide. I want
to talk about them. So you can grab those books
from Impactcomics dot com dot AU. If you're living here
in Australia and want a physical copy, you can also
so I grab a physical copy from Lulu dot com.
If you're living overseas, and if you want the digital
version for your Kindle or other ebook reader, you can
(49:08):
pick that up from the Amazon Store. Now has been
the custom for this particular set of episodes. Billie has
another story from the life of someone who encounters the
Melbourne gangland scene.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Well, I've got two again, because one covers someone that
we've covered and one covers someone that we won't be
able to cover because I'm not doing fifteen episodes. So
the first one comes from Gross Lee's who was on Reddit.
I went to UNI with a girl who was engaged
to one of Tony Mockbell's dudes. I won't share too
much identifying info, but the poor girl had no idea
(49:43):
what was going on. She came from a wealthy family herself,
so had no idea what it really took to live affluently.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
She just saw blue blood and blue bloods and just
assumed that they're all rich through the same means, I suppose, So.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
When a fiance brought home so much money from what
he claimed was a normal job, she didn't even question it.
I felt really sorry for her because when the truth
came out, the bottom fell out of her whole world.
The house got raided and her car and her property
was seized as the proceeds of crime, A really horrible
way to find out how the world really works. She
decided to stand by her man, and I hope they
went on to have a good thing. But I'm not
(50:20):
sure I could do it. I'd constantly be looking over
my shoulder, afraid of more violence. So I hope they
found some measure of peace. Once her fiance finished his
sentence and there was a comment from Pepperdiangus, I imagine
getting engaged to someone before knowing how they make their
money or who your future in laws are at Grossley's
answered she thought she knew, but her family hadn't prepared
her for the reality of what it takes to make
(50:42):
ends meet, so she was hopelessly naive about everything.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
I don't understand people like that, because like when we
started dating, like it was open books, Like you knew
where my money was coming from at the time of
his newspapers, No.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
It wasn't. It was retrovision.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Well it was retrovision, but then you know, once we
moved in together, it was it was the camera time.
I just don't understand. I suppose you could argue that
you're protecting the person that maybe she was just really
dumb and fun is like, oh, she totally understands what
I'm doing. But she was like he dicked being home
the big big bag of money every day and everything
(51:15):
you win your foot in ringboo ginking cane.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
And we have the second story, which comes from Dexil
seventy three. I grew up in the Mooney Ponds area.
My dad was good mates with Toppens. Maranne which is
des Moran, which is Jason's uncle.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
One of my great uncles was named Tuppens as well.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Because you're a top and short of a pound, that's
usually why you called Toppens.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Based on my knowing my family, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
A harmless bloke, a knock about feller, but harmless. Used
to see the Morans a lot around Puckle Street as
a kid growing up, who were told stories of Jason
and how volatile he was. Whenever I saw him, I
just stared at the ground. I actually got to know
Mark a bit as I got older. He trained in
the same gym as me. It was a very friendly,
unassuming kind of guy. There was something in about him.
(52:00):
Just knew he was very capable. It was a fit guy.
He looked after himself. Even though I knew who he
was and what he did, I couldn't quite believe it
when he was killed. I've only seen him at the
gym that day.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
It's crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Yeah, people get so close.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
I mean, I see, I've never been so close to that,
like instantaneous death either. Like I mentioned, you know, the
passing of my good friend Graham a few weeks ago,
and you know, he was sick for such a long time.
So the only grace of his passing is that we
were preparing ourselves as it got closer, you know. So
that and I don't know, everyone deals with grief differently,
(52:38):
but in my opinion, that helped me that it wasn't
just this quick, you know shock. But I've never been
you know, I've never encountered that before outside of it
was one incident where I was required to do first aid,
and I think for that family it had happened very
quickly as well. It was a shock, like the person
(52:59):
had barely gotten out of their car. So yeah, I
just couldn't comprehend that like that, That's not my world.
That is just that is just not my world or whatsoever.
So there you go. Thank you Holly for those two
stories again. I think everyone enjoys them in quite a treat.
Thank you everyone for joining us. Please please please please
(53:21):
be kind to each other, stay safe and we'll see
you next week. From All Weird Crap in Australia till
then bye for now Bye. The Weird Crap in Australia
(53:43):
podcast is produced by Holly and Matthew Soul for the
Modern Meltdown. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and
review on your favorite podcatching app
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall Man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing. That's the way
a number of Australians have described the alleged encounter with
the Yowi.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's time for the Weird Crap In Australian podcast. Welcome
to the week Crap In Australia Podcast. I'm your host,
Matthew sol This is episode three hundred and fifty five.
Joining me, of course, is the co host and researcher
(00:51):
Extraordinaiy Holy Soul.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Racing down on the end of yew seven.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Here, Yes we are, as we're also racing to the
conclusion of quite a long series, being The Gangland Wars,
which will probably end up being our longest series to date,
which we pretty much figured it would be. And then
you add all that supplementary material in there, and it
is quite many hours, many many many hours.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So far at seven episodes. The next one might be
split into two, which makes it eight, and then the
one after that might be split into two which makes
it nine.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, occasionally we're asked for tips and advice and
things like that starting other people starting their own podcasts
and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Don't fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, I was going to say, like, we're only touching
the surface of the Gangland Wars and to think that
we've done I think five supporting episodes plus a series
of eight episodes and we've only really scratched the surface.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I actually found another link to a different episode that
we did, which is the Shane Chatros Abbot murder the
death of the vampire Jigglow, which is connected to this,
so it is correct another one which makes it six.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So I think that if you wanted to start your
own Australian true crime podcast and wanted to jump into
something really thick and tasty, you could probably do.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Just Melbourne, Just Melbourn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah. I think you could at least get twenty five
long form episodes out of the gang Land Wars just
by itself.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And then you have the Androgetter, then you have the
Springy Tailor era, and then you have all these other things.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
If you start, if you just focus on Melbourne gangs,
and you start all the way back in the very
very early days of Melbourne and then major way forward,
I think you could just call it the Melbourne gang
Land Podcast. Now obviously we're not going to do that,
but for all those people who often asked this, you know,
I'd like to start a podcast. I need an idea.
There's an idea for you, free of charge. All right,
(02:39):
it's time to jump back into it now. You may
remember from our last episode the Marine Brothers were down
to one, that being Jason Moran as Mark Morine was
gunned down, probably most probably by Carl Williams. Of course
that's alleged, even though he's dead and he can't sue me,
though you have to still say alleged someone did kill
a Jason's brother. And so Jason's on a bit of
(03:03):
a tear now, although doesn't seem to be aiming towards
the most lastly suspect, because let's just say Jason wasn't
playing with a full deck. And with that, Holly time
to jump into us.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Jason Moran's trajectory within Melbourne's criminal underworld is a testament
to the volatile and perilous nature of organized crime. Born
on September twenty second, nineteen sixty seven to Lewis and
Judy Moran, Jason was immersed from a young age in
an environment where criminal activities such as drug trafficking and
extortion were commonplace. In the early nineteen nineties, Jason Moran
(03:37):
rose swiftly through the ranks of Melbourne's criminal underworld, emerging
as a major figure in the city's drug trade with
the backing of the Moran family. Jason's operations focus heavily
on the distribution of high demand party drugs, including ecstasy
and emphetamines.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So you remember, I think was last episode or the
previous episode, Holly, I said, I had a friend who
partook in that Saint. Yeah, So I was asking him
a few questions about it, and he actually confirmed one
of my hypotheses. So, when the Moran brothers were running ecstasy,
which is a combination of MDMA and amphetamines, they he
(04:17):
self reported that the quality of the ecstasy was quite good,
and then there was a noticeable drop off, which I
surmised was because of Carl Williams dodgy pill press that
he had in his little setup. The Williams takeover, so
between the Mornes obviously produced a better product, and then
(04:39):
Williams produced a shittier product. And that is what my
friend anecdotally confirmed for me. So there you go. Myth
busted with a sample size of wine.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
My confirmed.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Sorry, myth confirmed. Sorry, God damn it.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Iran's control over significant parts of the drug market was
enforced by a crew of you younger gangsters drawn primarily
from Melbourne's western suburbs, mainly of whom, many of whom
were eager for the wealth and notoriety that came with
association to the Moran name.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And I mean nowadays you probably have like smaller dealers,
you know, more affable people, especially with the use of technology.
People use Snapchat to pick up drugs and distribute, and
I think you're more likely to run into a university
student trying to make extra money as opposed to like
a rather large scale criminal organization. Like the drugs are
(05:31):
still being imported and manufactured generally by larger organizations, but
when it filters down to their dealers, I find that
in this day and age that dealers can be sometimes
you know, more afforable. But that being said, I'm also
saying that based around the convictions of drug dealers around
(05:53):
university area. So obviously Camera has two large universities, so
maybe that is a bias on my my side.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Of things, I worked a part time job adjacent to
the drug trade area. I'm not going to say what
industry it was, but I can confirm that it was
not grizzled old man or bikis who were dropping off
the drugs. It was young people.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly right. And at university students you'd think.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
If they're not in university, they only just graduated.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah. And I found that in my own personal experience,
when you know you've been at a party and someone
drops something off, especially in like I said, university areas,
it's generally not the biking on the back of the bike.
In fact, it has absolutely surprised me at the people
who have offered me drugs over the years, how I
would consider them, you know, quite upstanding people. So there
(06:43):
you go. The way we use drugs and who uses
them is very, very different from how it used to be.
We have a quote here. I also knew Mark Moran
and had met him on a few occasions. He was
a gentleman. I also met Jason a few times and
knew that he was a loose cannon. Statement of Mister Thomas,
fifteenth of July two thousand and sixth Victoria Supreme Court,
Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants Victoria twenty
(07:06):
twenty or lack of management Because we have gone through
this before. But when we were talking about the Wall
Street shootings, one of the police officers who was involved
in predicting an informant a witness was not only letting
that witness go out and club whenever she felt like it,
but was also sleeping with her right. That's the reason
(07:27):
that Victoria had an inquest into the treatment of informants,
because it was so piss Poor.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Jason wasn't just writing on his family's reputation. He was
building his own and fast. His aggressive expansion into new
territory combined with his readiness to use violence to settle scores.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Did you realize you put in a dark note quote
though no aggressive expansion, ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
This made him both feared and resented rival factions already
wary of Moran family's dominance, began to view Jason's increasing
influence as a direct threat. Tensions that had simmered beneath
the surface of Melbourne's underwell for years began to rise,
laying the groundwork for a violent eruption.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Carl Williams said that Mark Morine wanted the pill press
that Brandon Maguire had for his own personal use, and
Mark believed Carl had possession of it. Mark Morane was
in a relationship with Danielle Maguire at the time and
wanted the pill press so he could produce his own tablets.
Karl didn't want the Marines to get their hands on
the pill press, nor did Danielle Maguire's brother. Carl knew
(08:30):
that Marines would have a large share of the drug
market if they got their hands on the pill press.
Karl was looking at ways to stop the Marines from
using it and ask me how he could make it inoperable.
Quote from statement of mister Thomas, fifteenth of July two
thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
That eruption came on October thirteen, nineteen ninety nine, when
Jason Morane shot Carl Williams in the stomach over an
unpaid drug debt.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
That's what we talked about last week.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Williams at the time was operating under the Marine umbrella,
manufacturing amphetamines and distributing them with the Morane backing. The
dispute between the two men escalated quickly, and Marne's decision
to pull the trigger, though they don't know which Moran
was meant to assert dominance. Instead, it triggered one of
the bloodiest gang wars in Austray in history. William survived
the shooting and vowed revenge. What followed was a systematic
(09:16):
campaign to destroy not only the Morans, but everyone allied
to them.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
After that incident, Karl was totally obsessed with getting back
at the Morans. He wanted both Mark and Jason Moran dad,
along with their father, Lewis Moran. Karl was doing everything
he could to gather information about the Mornes and their
movements so he could kill them. Statement of Mister Thomas,
fifteenth of July two thousand and six. Now, what's really
interesting about this moment in time, I think, is that
(09:42):
Carl Williams certainly wanted to be his own man, and
it's quite interesting that he was so convinced that the
Marians were willing to go and take his press so
that the Marines could manufacture the drugs themselves. Now, I
can't really contradict that opinion that Carl Williams had when
it comes to the criminal element. I mean, they're always
(10:04):
backstabbing each other. That We've proven that time and time again.
There is really no loyalty amongst thieves, there's no honor code.
They will do what they do. And then when you
add impulsive elements like Jason Moran into the mix, generally
people get killed or shot, which is exactly what happened here.
So was Carl Williams paranoid about what was going to
happen to him and to the pill Press in my opinion,
(10:27):
probably a little bit. But was there also a little
bit of truth to his concerns, Probably a little bit.
I think it was probably a fifty to fifty. I mean,
let's face of, the Marines were one of the most
prominent gangland families in Melbourne for a substantial amount of time.
We're talking about decades here.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I think they were only rivaled by the Penagills.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
And I also think too that as soon as there
was blood in the water. As Holly mentioned earlier, the
sharks came out to take their nap, and that's when
I think the Moran family started to fall to pieces.
It's why, once we get to the fate of Les Morine,
it's pretty evident why he just put up absolutely no
resistance towards the end, because I think that he knew
(11:11):
full well that their time in the sun was well
and truly over, as all these other little rival gangs
started nipping at their heels, and some of them were
throwing their allegiances behind Carl Williams of all fucking people to.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Follow for this moment, the Marine family had been at
the pinnacle of Melbourne's criminal empire. Jason, alongside his half
brother Mark, had grown their family's drug operation into a
multi million dollar enterprise. Mark was more calculated and strategic,
a counterbalance to Jason's impulsive aggression. Together, they maintained dominance
over Melbourn's underworld of bringing out of key strongholds in
(11:44):
the city's northern suburbs, including Asko, Vail and Aberfeldi.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Jason Moran was a thug who carried a gun before
he learned to drive. Marianne fired so many bullets into
other people's legs that a medical condition was coined the
marine limp vote from Lawyer X page of forty five.
I chuckled when I read that, Yeah, the marine limp.
I mean, look, it makes absolute sense. The guy could
not control himself. And again, I think that events would
(12:11):
have It's kind of interesting to think about this, isn't
it events were played out differently. So let's say Carl
Williams gets shot by Jason and decides that Jason is
his target. He's not going to go after Mark, He's
just going to go after Jason. He ends up killing Jason.
I wonder if Mark would have forgiven anyone he suspected
of attempting to kill Jason and perhaps would have continued
(12:34):
to maintain the gang well into the future, because I
really do believe that this is the one moment, that
that fixed moment in time where everything goes, you know,
towards the inevitable downfall of their criminal empire. So I
wonder if things have played out a little bit differently.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I think there's only two options here. Either Williams survives
or Williams died. If he survives, either way, all of
the Marines are going down. But if he dies, then
the marine to remain on top, and the Melbourne ganglamb
War actually not quite dies but fizzles a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
More So, do you think William's capacity for revenge would
always going to encompass the entire family regardless? Yes? Right, Okay,
that's a fair point, I suppose, because he goes after
Les last, after the other two boys, so you.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Know, and Lewis had absolutely nothing to.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Take Sorry Lewis, I should say.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Lewis had absolutely nothing to do with him being shot.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean, I can sort of understand the logic behind Williams.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Not wanting Lewis to come after him.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
No, not so much that, but being like, well, you
raised these kids, so this is your fault. So Jason
wouldn't have been an unhinged lunatic if you had raised
him properly. He was an unhinged lunatic and had your
tacit support. And you were the fundamental kingpin of the
criminal crime empire for decades. Therefore, the responsibility of people
getting hurt is on you. On the flip side, Yeah,
(13:57):
that's a very sophisticated internal monologue that I don't think
Carl Williams has the capacity for mind.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You, on the flip side, Carl Williams basically just gave
all the young people an excuse.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh absolutely. Like I said earlier, the blood was in
the water, the sharks came out swimming, and these young
people who had been sort of cow towed into just
taking their little share that they were being offered by
the Morane family. Suddenly everything was on the table again.
That allowed for a bunch of smaller groups inable to
throw off the stranglehold of the Moran family and start
(14:31):
going for their bigger slices as well. And I think
that the criminal element was very much waiting for the
fall of the Marines. I think they were just predominantly
afraid of Jason.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
To be fair, the attempt on Carl Williams's life shattered
the already fragile balance of power in the city's criminal circles. Williams,
fueled by a desire for retribution and ambition for power,
began orchestrating targeted killings. His strategy was methodical, dismantled the
Marine Empire one hit a time. The Melbourne Gangline killings
(15:02):
begin in earnest with the associates of the Marines, drung
dealers enforces and former allies being eliminated in rapid succession.
The atmosphere in Melbourne's underworld shifted from tens to outright dangerous.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Cal told me that he wanted to kill Mark Marine first.
I'll said the Mark was the brains of the group
and was very well respected in criminal circles. I'll also
said that if he had killed Jason before he killed Mark,
the Mark would do everything in his power to murder
Carl would be more likely to succeed in doing so
than Jason would kill. Definitely saw Mark as the bigger
threat out of the two of them. Quote from a
(15:34):
statement of mister Thomas, fifteenth of July two thousand and six.
And I suppose that really does put a nail in
the coffin of my argument, then, doesn't it? So? Regardless
of the situation, it seems like Carl Williams was determined
to take out the Moran brothers. I suppose sometimes you
just need the enough motivation to finally realize your ambitions.
I suppose, and he wasn't wrong. Killing Mark was the
(15:58):
right decision because Jason and couldn't maintain that criminal empire.
It was the weak link in their armor and so
it all started to fall around. It's sort of interesting though.
I have described Carl Williams as a bit of a
slobbering boob, and I will continue to refer to him
in that way. But intelligence is multifaceted, So in this
particular instance, his intuition was right, he was correct. I
(16:21):
still think he had the face of a sloppy pancake,
and I maintained that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
On June fifteen, two thousand, Mark Moran was assassinated outside
of his home in Alberfelde. It was a calculated strike,
widely believed to have been ordered or orchestrated by Carl
Williams himself. Mark's death was a personal and professional catastrophe
for Jason. He had not only lost his brother, but
also his closest ally in a war that was now
spiraling out of control, and.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
His reputation too. If you can't protect your own then
you can't protect shit. So that means that, you know,
in the criminal empire, you can't continue your operations because
every single person who's dealing with you is going to
ask the same question. So you know, if you can
really make my product go out there into the market
and protect it and bring me back my money. How
(17:10):
come you can't protect your own brother? How come you
can't protect yourselves.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Mark's murders sent a clear signal the Morans were vulnerable.
Rival factions sensed an opening, and Jason's power began to erode.
For Jason, the loss of Mark intensified his paranoia and
his resolve. He doubled down on security, surrounding himself with
bodyguards and maintained a constant state of vigilance. He refused
to step back from the war, determined to maintain control
(17:37):
over what remained of the family's empire, even as the
walls closed in around him. The violence became relentless, each
death prompting a new round of retaliations, and with each killing,
police scrutiny intensified. The war ended for Jason Moran. On
Saturday June twenty first, two thousand and three, Marian and
Pascual Barbara and associate with links to Sydney's Barbara crime family,
(18:00):
attended a children's football clinic at cross Keys Reserve in Essendon,
a northern suburb of Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I assume it was the Essendon bombers who were conducting
the clinic. Yes, it was, and if you want more
information about Australian football. Well, we did two episodes on it,
so go check those out.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The clinic was part of the oz kick program, which
aims to introduce.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
You was part of the oz Kick program.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Which aimed to introduce young children to Australian rules football.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So did sorry, I'll stop doing that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So Matthew, when you made a comment earlier about football
not coming into it, it actually did.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It came into it a little bit. They Yeah, no,
I was part of the oz kick program. It was
a great little program. The idea was that you would
sign up with your favorite football club. So in the
case of us, much to our father chagrin, we decided
to go with the Sydney Swans. Me and my brother lindsay.
It was great. You go a little welcome back which
included a little os kick football. We got to play
(18:55):
a few games around Tumid so I think we went
up to bat Loan one, We did tumber Rumba, all
that sort of stuff, and we even got to go
out onto the field during a Kangaroo's match here in Canberra.
For a long time at the Kangaroos and I still
don't think they have a home ground, but the AFL
Kangaroos Club had one of the Canbra stadiums as their
(19:19):
home ground for some time. That we got to go
out there and participate. Yeah, I's Kick was a great program.
I don't think it still exists though.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Parents, let us know, we don't have anyone that we
know that's got school age kids.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Really.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Marian's own twin sons, Christian and Memphis age six, we're
among the participants.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
And Memphis really either someone's in elvisman or someone really
likes the Deep South.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, Memphis is a Christian city.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oh is it?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's the joke? Oh, but yes, it is heavily Christianized
because he's in the Bible Belt.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh, I don't see. This is actually one of my shortcomings.
I do not know much about Elvis.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Memph in Tennessee. Tennessee's in the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Bible Belt right right, because yeah, he did that that song, right,
like walking in Memphis? I think Shared did a version
of it too.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Wasn't Elvis? Was about Elvis?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Is it about Elvis?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
But about Elvis?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Performed by Share? Right? No? How was walking in Man first?
That one? It's not Share, It's not Share? No, who
is it?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
My brain says, Ryan Cohen.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I'll have to look it up something for a later time.
We'll look that up later.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Christian in Memphis, we were among the participants that day,
lending a veneer of normalcy to a life otherwise steeped
in violence.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
And why is it always filing criminals are the most religious.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Because what is protecting them?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
God is not protecting them. They're actually going against most
of the tenets of the Christian religion.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
There's nothing in the Bible says I can't deal drugs.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That is true. But thou shall not murder is a
big one. Thou shall not commit adultery. I don't know
if you know this about the Marines, Holly, but they
like to fuck.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
They like to do it a lot of things they should.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Not be doing. They all had girlfriends as well, right, So,
so thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not murder,
shall not steal, Thou shall not steal.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Thou shall not burn your neighbor's house to the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yet, I bet you those fuckers were always there at
church on every fucking Sunday. The hypocrisy of these people. Anyway,
Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Around ten thirty am, as the clinic concluded, Bran and
Barbaro gathered ten children, including Jason's zone, and ushered them
towards their blue Mitsubishi van. Brian took the driver's seat,
Barbaro sat beside him, and the children settled into the back.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
They were in a vent about to drive ten children
home from the Els Kick football clinic, including the children
of Jason Moran. The children were in the rear of
the van. Mister Andrews had been driven to the reserve
area by mister McGrath, who dropped him off near the
van and drove off. Mister Andrews approached the van and
using a shotgun, fired through the window of the van.
Quote from extract of Reasons for Sentence the Mister Thomas
(21:59):
vsc Victoria, Supreme Court, Royal Commission into the Management of
Police Informants, Victoria, two thousand and twenty.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Without hesitation, he fired a shotgun blast through the driver's window,
striking Moran at close range.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Mister Andrews then dropped the weapon and used a handgun
pointed through the driver's side window, aiming at the head
of Jason Moran. Both Jason Moran, who was seated in
the driver's side and Pascual Barbao who was in the
passenger seat of the vehicle were killed. Woke from extracts
of reasons for sentence same as above. This has to
be one of the most brutal executions I think in
(22:34):
the Gangland War. The fact that you have ten children
in that van at the time, they can see what
is happening, and to have it happen in such an
execution style manner in broad daylight is one of the
most ostentatious things that I have ever encountered in the
history of true crime in this country.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
There were also literally hundreds of witnesses, all the parents,
all the kids, everyone.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This was either the most stupidest thing that any criminal
could ever do or the most brilliant. So let's take
it from two perspectives. Is it stupid and impulsive? Potentially,
there are lots of witnesses, it's wholly mentioned, it's in
broad daylight. Chances are that one of those kids could
be a cops kid. Police are very very generally speaking,
(23:25):
police are quite fit people when they maintain a good
healthy weight, so they can be effective members on the force.
God bless them for doing it. I know it would
be difficult myself trying to maintain a nice healthy weight
just every day without all the stress of dealing with
violent crime would have. So you've got that potential right there, Right,
(23:45):
you've got an intervening witness. Potentially. On top of that,
you've got all those kids. They're going to see the faces,
or they're going to notice the gun, etc. Etc. Killing
someone in front of a bunch of kids in what
should be considered a neutral area. All of these things
are going to bring down like it's going to get
media attention, which is going to get government attention, which
is going to get you police attention. Right, it's too brazen.
(24:09):
So that's the stupid side of it, and let's talk
about the brilliant side of it. Moran, with his children
in the most vulnerable of positions, is gonne down effectively
and quickly. There is no more Marine criminal empire. At
this point, it is done. The brothers are gone, both
(24:29):
of them executed, one in his home, one while picking
up the kids from the football. It meant that the
Marines were completely touchable and they could be got whenever
and wherever with very little consequences. At this point, William
cements himself as the criminal kingpin of the Melbourne gangland scene.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
The children trapped in the back of the van witnessed
the entire execution.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I've just seen my uncle shot one of the girls
from the van told and not just kick umpire. Moments
after the double murder, five children, including Marine's twins aged
about seven, were seen in the back of this Subishi
van as the gunman find at least five shots through
the van in the windows. Another three or four children
were believed to be nearby. Police said the children in
the van had not been injured. They were taken for
(25:15):
counseling to the broad Meadows Child abuse Unit. Now this
is not going to be saying you can counsel a
child out of in the short term. This is going
to be a long term process. I'm glad they got
them to counseling right away. I'm actually surprised that the
Marine family that was still alive, being their mother's grandparents,
(25:37):
actually let the police do that. I'm sort of surprised.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
They would have been too busy hunting down who did
it too. And they're like, all right, the kids are there,
they're safe. To cost them.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I don't think so. I don't think so. Yeah, Like
I understand why you would say that, but I don't
think this is a John Wick movie. I think the
police acted very quickly, especially because these children are or
now witnesses, so you've got to get their statements very quickly.
I think the police snatched them up rather quickly. And
I think at this point, don't you think that the
(26:09):
parents would like the grandparents were probably realizing what where
they were, what their situation like. To be fair, this
is not to grab guns and go out and wipe
out all the gangs. Grannies were shotguns sort of thing. Holy,
this is the end.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
To be fair, the witnesses would not have called the Marines.
The witnesses would have called the cops. The cops would
have had at least a good twenty thirty minutes on them.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, I'd love to know what happened that day, obviously
the mothers. It just it seems interesting that they were
able to get access to the kids and maintain that
access throughout the preceding days. I just find that very interesting.
I think it does signal that the Marines were done.
They were finished. A witness who wanted to be known
only as John, said he ran towards the car, where
he comforted the two children from the van. There was
(26:56):
a boy about three years old and a girl about five.
The other children were all under seven. You know, I
just held on to him until someone came. Vote from
Footy Kids see Murders June twenty second, at two thousand
and three the age.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Though none were physically harmed, the trauma they endured was
unimaginable and compounded on their already lived experiences.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
But the Marine children's cousin Blaze Armor, Oh for God's sake,
who also in the car that day, grew up haunted
by what he had witnessed at eleven and the bac
these name is Blaze finding himself on the wrong side
of the law in twenty twelve on drug charges and
more than twenty was given an adjourned undertaking after omitting
possessing items for the manufacturer of a drug. Alvin caught
(27:37):
hearing about the young youngster's tumultuous upbringing. UMA's lawyer told
the court that the Gangland murders had a profound impact
on his life that he was returning to Perth to
resume his accounting studies. Vote from Growing Up in the
Crossfire Megan Norris, October third, a twenty eighteen. Honestly, I
have nothing but sympathy for that kid. I have nothing
but sympathy, and the fact that he found himself gravity
(28:00):
towards that world is not a surprise whatsoever and is
most probably a way to sort of, I don't know,
perhaps be connected to the trauma people sometimes do that.
I'm glad that he moved away.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I will say that Tricia Moran after this took her
kids and ran.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Understandably.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, she wasn't going to wait for what happened to
her husband, happened to her kids.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
There's plenty of money to go, you know, why bother
sticking around? It was exactly the right move.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Ascal bar Burrow. It was later revealed it was not
the intended target, simply collateral damage in a hit that
was focused on Jason Moran.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
The background to this killing was the enmity between Carl
Williams and the Morans over the Morane shootings of Williams
in the stomach some years earlier. Killing of Jason Morane
was to take place as close as possible to the
anniversary of the death of Mark Moran, murdered brother of
Jason Moran. Quote for extract reasons for sentence etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
They were off by a week. That's the only difference.
That they were off by a week. Who was three
years to the day.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Otherwise It's crazy, isn't it? Absolutely crazy? But inevertently Williams
did piss off the Sydney crime families mm.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Hmmm, because you fucked up one of their own.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So they were coming down to Melbourne to make this
all worse. And that's what's like. I always find those
mistakes fascinating when it comes to these sort of crimes.
It's always the mistakes the drive people, you know, through
the room. So the government he didn't know who the
other person was in that vand no no idea whatsoever,
didn't know that that was a meeting between two crime families.
(29:33):
He had no fucking clue.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
What's worse, the bar Burros are part of the indigetter.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And they already have an establishment in Melbourne and they've
already been coming to blows with other crime families at
that time, and now.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
There's another reason for them to get on them.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Now potentially they can re establish power m and they
have a legitimate beef with the Williams crew.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
The brazen nature of The double homicide, carried out in
broad daylight at a f family event, shocked both the
public and law enforcement. The attack obliterated any remaining pretense
of restraint among Melbourne's criminal factions. Killer had shown no
hesitation in staging a public assassination in front of young children,
not only including the victim's own.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And it meant that you know there were no protections
for you. So right now you may have seen on
the news, being surrounded by your kids meant nothing to
the Williams crew, meant nothing whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The next time, it's quite possible that the kids would
be the ones hurt.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
This is what I talked about previous in previous episodes,
where I talked about like social contracts. The criminal element
had their social contracts. Williams didn't care about the social
contracts now interestingly enough, would want those same social contracts
for himself and his own family, right, But he broke
the rules. And when he broke the rules, that empowered
(30:53):
everyone else to break the rules.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
This was of course a message to the remaining gangland
member of the Morans Lewis. Both his sons, the men
meant to take on the business, were dead. But what
could he have done to prevent it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Could have not been a criminal. He could have raised
his sons better. He could have raised them to be
better criminals. He could have kept them under control. He
could have got Adjason help, could.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Have could have put a mind and Carl's head on
his own.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
There are a million fucking things that Lewis could have done.
But the little simpy boy sat there in his puddle
of urine and just stressed and stressed and stressed, and
did nothing to control his most violent, fucking child. I
guarantee he was that same count who egged his son
Jason on. We know these sort of people. I guarantee
(31:40):
that's what he did. And so his fate, as far
as I'm concerned, was well and truly deserved.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Lewis was in jail when Jason was killed, and Jason
was in jail when Mark was killed. It's almost as
though Carl Williams was looking to make sure that the
person next in line wasn't available to stop him.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
So you're suggesting police elements.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Uh No, I'm suggesting that Williams is really good at
his timing, or the guy he paid for it was
really good at his timing.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Or he was dubbing them into police to get them
behind bars, or assisting the prosecution too. There's a lot
of elements there. Like Carl Williams always said he was
smarter than people gave him credit for. I think socially
he was a fuck with I think he had the
ability to converse with people in the same manner that
a duck has an ability to converse with a piece
(32:25):
of bread. But tactically speaking, he did pretty damn well
for himself. He did a lot of happy accidents going
on there.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And we have another quote.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Lewis Morane was on remand and facing seventeen drug related charges,
including trafficking commercial quantities of hashish, amphetamines and ecstasy. Jason
was murdered with associate Pascala Barbero in June last year.
Quote from The Colorful Life of Lewis Morane April first,
two thousand and four the Sydney Morning Herald.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
The location, timing, and method of the attack revealed meticulous planning.
Aware of the ever present threats to his life, was
known to carry a firearm regularly for protection, yet on
that day he was unarmed, suggesting his assassins had carefully
chosen their moment to strike, capitalizing on what may have
been the only time Marine allowed his guard down.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Hi, mister Thomas cut the gun down to approximately half
a meter. I cut the barrels who were laying of
about ten centimeters past the wooden butt, but just passed
the trigger. The gun was cut in a similar way
to shotgun used to murder Jason Marine. So I kept
the other shotgun as a long arm in my house
for a few years. I later cut this down in
the same way as the first. It was used to
(33:37):
murder Jason Marine in June two thousand and three. I
cut that gun down in the same workshop after Karl
had asked me to do it for him. This gun
was later found by police at the scene of Jason's murder.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
So the twin shotguns were used for Mark and Jason.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It's ridiculous walking in with two shotguns. You don't need
two shotguns.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
No, I mean they used one shotgun for Mark and
then came back and got this a little bit twin
for Jason.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Little bit block. Yeah, yeah, a little bit pretentious. Have
you seen how Lewis is killed in the Underbelly series.
I haven't watched it at all. It's quite it like
the actor that they have plane Lewis, if I recall correctly,
is the you know, the dude who screws up in
the Dish. We talked about the Dish episode and he
(34:20):
sort of, yeah, he screws up and Sam Neil has
to have a bit of a go at him right
plays Lewis Marine and the way they depicted an underbelly,
which I don't think was true. Of course, there's a
lot of dramatization here, but I do like the way
they depicted it. They bust into his house and he's
just sitting there in his chair looking sad.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I can straight up say that's incorrect.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
And they just shoot him in the head. They shoot
him basically, and while I like, I agree with you
totally it's incorrect. He most likely put up a fight
or there.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Was some resist It wasn't even at his house.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
But yeah, but yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah,
And I I just I like the poetry of that scene,
just like you're defeated, you're done, You're finished. Obviously not
how it happened in real life.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
They are the murders at Cross Keys Reserve also exposed
the collateral damage of underworld violence. The children present that day,
including Jason's own sons, would live with the trauma for life.
The idea that wives, children, and innocence were once off
limit in gangland feuds had been obliterated. The attack highlighted
how far Melbourne's underworld had descended, where even the presence
(35:30):
of children no longer provided any protection from violence.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I mean, we talked about this in a few episodes back,
how the criminal code of silence protected a rival gang
when they abducted les Kane. Les Kane. They literally picked
les Caane up and they took him outside, and god
knows what happened to him. But missus Kane, bless her
criminal little heart of gold there. She never gave in
(35:54):
on anyone, you know. And those are the rules that
we're talking about. Those are the sort of rules. So
now that's all gone, that's finished.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
The hit not only eliminated the last major figure in
the Moran Families leadership, but mark the war's turning point.
The gang their killings had gone too far, and the
public outrage was immediate and severe.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Miss Nixon has authorized the establishment of a sixty strong
task force called Purana, who investigate Melbourne's underworld murders and
launched an investigation into drug squad corruption. While Miss Nixon
was appointed five years, several senior police forcers say she
will seek a two year extension and complete the long
term plans will take police through to two thousand and eight.
Quote from things are hotting up for the cop at
(36:34):
the Toptobra eighteen, two thousand and three. The age, I mean,
that was always going to be the inevitability. You can't
shoot two people in front of a bunch of kids
and not expect the general public to turn around and
say that's it. Enough, is a fuck enough. It's fine
when they're killing each other. To a certain extent, I
think some people also think that when police are killed
(36:56):
in the line of duty that you know, they are
putting themselves at heart risk. That is part of the job.
And I think there's a general acceptance as well that
sometimes police get killed in the line of duty. I'm
not saying that I am condoning police being killed in
the line of duty whatsoever. I'm just saying that for
the people reading the newspaper at the time, it's not
(37:17):
that too big of a shock. Oh yes, and police
died in a shootout, that makes sense that wasn't this.
This was a bunch of kids seeing a gangland execution,
not only the kids in the van, but also the
kids who are also still playing nods kick right. So
there's a huge push now from the public because what
happens to the public, The public goes, this can now
(37:39):
happen to me, right, this is escalating outside the bounds
of cops and robbers. This is now directly affecting me,
And so they put pressure on their politicians, and then
politicians were pressure on the police. Now, obviously they waited
far too long to bring about any sort of investigation
into police drug squad corruption. Those police never ever ever
(38:02):
found themselves in the dock where they should have been put,
They should have been tried. Some of them never ended
up there. But you can absolutely see why this reaction happened, can't, Charlie.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Absolutely. There's only two ways to get a task force
formed on your ass, once to shoot a cup and
once to harm a children, And in this case it's
mentally how many the children. The Purana Task Force was
established in May two thousand and three as the Rhyma
Task Force, but soon changed after the public murder of
Jason Moran. The unit Bolstered by public pressure and political support,
(38:36):
the murder of Jason Moran in such horrific circumstances galvanized authorities.
They began allocating greater resources to investigate not just the
killings of Iran and Barabaro, but the entire landscape of
organized crime in Victoria. Lean it out again and protect
the bystanders. Remember they'd only just finished doing this after
the Wall Street shooting in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I mean they cleaned it out, all right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
They started killing them themselves. The gangland war, once viewed
as a criminal feud beyond the reach of the average citizen,
now crossed the line. Public demanded action, and police responded
with unprecedented urgency.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Parana was tasked with investigating Melbourne's gangland War and dismantling
major drug syndicates dominating the illicit market. It broke the
underworld code of silence, turning paid hitman and trusted insiders
into informers and ultimately into protected witnesses. In its first
three years, Piranha investigated three hundred and sixteen people had
listening devices operating for more than one hundred thousand hours,
(39:32):
recorded six thousand hours from three hundred and twenty eight
thousand telephone conversations, Who's thirty nine trafficking tracking devices and
followed suspects for twenty two thousand hours. Baranda Tanskforce to
close under major crime finding shake up, John Silbasta, April fourteen,
twenty twenty one. The age, which.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Meant that that task force lasted for eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Absolutely, now it's a lot different. The police have definitely
moved into the era of digital surveillance. You know, you
may be wondering, why are we seeing so many pedophiles
caught these days? Why are we seeing so many gangs
being taken down before they can establish Now it's not
(40:14):
full proof, of course, but we live in the digital era,
which means it's a very very easy to track the
illicit movement of drugs. One of the interesting things was
the adoption of the Silk Road, especially here in Australia,
where people started using the Silk Road, which is part
of the dark Web, in order to move drugs about. Now,
(40:34):
little did everyone know, of course, that the FBI were
and the CIA were the manufacturers of the dark Web.
They built it as a way too. It's essentially a
communication drop. If you aren't familiar with that term. Go
check out some stuff on spycraft communication drops so that
men people were ordering and moving drugs about and they
(40:56):
could see everything.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
If you want case file did I think it was
a two or three part on the Silk Road way
back in near the beginning. So if you want to
try them, go for it.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
That's like when it comes to encryption app. Sure Facebook
encrypture data from one side to the other, but Facebook
owns your data. They have no loyalty to you. So
if you're sending back and forth information it's painted by
the police and Facebook at the time may be more
favorable towards helping the police for whatever reason, you're going
to give up that information. They're not even going to
(41:27):
be worried about it. Same with Snapchat, same with Instagram,
same with any other thing that uses two way encryption.
You are at the mercy of the company, and if
the company decides that it's more advantageous to them to
work with the police, they're going to do it. So
this era of crime died with twenty twenty, really, did
you say, Holly, Oh?
Speaker 2 (41:46):
I think it was long before.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I think COVID cemented it as well, because so many
people had to shut down for such a long time.
That included drug operations.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, they couldn't go out and deliver, although I remember
lots of stories of people who were delivering food getting
drugs at the same time.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
I mean, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I remember reading those stories.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Here's an extra two sorry. You know, you could set
up a delivery to a person, right, So let's say
we're going to send some McDonald's to Holly. I can
send a message to my uber eats go and say, hey,
well you're doing that, can you just run this too,
and I'll give you an extra two hundred dollars. Yeah,
things like that can happen. There were organized networks of
(42:25):
drug drop offs and that's Look, you're never going to
remove drugs from society. And I'm going to tell you why.
Number One, people like to have fun and party. Drugs
can be fun for people, right, that's number one. Number Two,
young people they're gonna want to experiment. Nothing's going to
stop them from experimenting. You might as well forget about
even trying. That's why pill testing is great because we
(42:46):
can keep them safe. Number Three, people are really sad
at the moment. They're depressed, angry, they're upset. Some of
its social media, some of its world events, So they're
going to rely on more and more drug use. Never
there is a market, it will always be a supplier
and you'll never be able to get rid of it.
That's why we regulate it. We keep people safe and
(43:07):
tax it and tax it. Could you imagine what cannabis
production in Australia could do for the Australian economy like
that constantly talk about having an industry up and running.
Full disclosure here, Holly and I have actually invested in
companies that produce medical marijuana, which is perfectly legal in
most states in Australia. We've invested in a company down
(43:28):
in Melbourne, and the reason for that is that we're
speculating that eventually we will be legalized in Australia and
those medicinal outfits that are currently supplying the medicinal suppliers
through a prescription with your doctor will turn into bigger
commercial entities. So we're buying up little bits and pieces
of those companies now they're still little and their supply
(43:49):
isn't huge, so that in the future we can you know,
just like everyone else who speculates on future stocks, we
can make a little bit of money help ourselves retire
a little bit easier, so disclosure there. But honestly, you
legalize and regulate weed in this country, you suddenly bring
a huge industry. It's a nice big boost to the
farming sector. It's a nice big boost to people who
(44:11):
will be setting up little small businesses, employing a group
of stoners who know exactly what they're talking about when
it comes to weed strains and will probably be high
most of the time as well. You would see that
industry just pretty much start up overnight. Unfortunately, Australia still
does the old hand like, I don't understand how this
country is built on the backs of rogues. People are
(44:33):
very like hand ringing at the same time. Doesn't quite
make sense to me.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
Because it used to be the rogues that get the
shit kicked out of them and they'd get killed. So
we kind of know that we were only allowed to
go roguish so far before shit comes down.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
On us fair enough.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
In popular culture, Jason Marin in The Broader Gangland War
became household narratives, with the first Underbelly book being released
in nineteen ninety seven and the first TV series releasing
in two thousand and eight Underbelly dramatized the events, as
we've said before, which is no real wonder considering the
TV show was based off a book written by a
journalist whose sources if he didn't see it himself. Other
(45:09):
journalists working off someone else's recollections were based off interviews
with criminals known to inflate the truth to make themselves
seem more innocent or more important, or.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Even the cops who are misleading journalists or.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
Wanting to seem more innocent or more important.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah, so you know, that's why I say, like, and
I'm not trying to discredit Sylvester Like I'm not. I'm
not being an asshole, and I'm not trying to say
don't go out and buy his books. I'm not saying
don't go out and read them. That isn't what I'm saying.
I'm just saying, you do have to be Yeah, you
have to be aware. And that's why when we started
doing this series. There are four books that are being written,
(45:45):
but unfortunately a lot of the books are reporting on
second and third sources, so that when we're using those books,
they become a fourth source. Yeah, and makes it Yeah,
we don't have a primary source outside of the criminal's
comments themselves. Otherwise, Yeah, you are really dealing with he said,
(46:07):
she said, yeah, he said, she said, it's said and
becomes a little bit complicated.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Jason Moran's life and death ultimately serve as a grim
parable about the perilous nature of power in the criminal world.
His assassination was not just a culmination of a personal feud,
but a symbol of an era's end time when ambition,
internal betrayal and ruthless violence dominated Melbourne's streets. The Moran family,
once untouchable, was brought down by the very forces they
(46:34):
wielded for decades. Melbourne Ganglang killings the Morannes at the
heart of the storm remain a defining chapter in Australian's
criminal history, one that underscores the dark cost of power
pursued at any price. But when it came to the
Morne legacy, there was no man really greater than Lewis
Moran and his lady Judy. His life spans literally decades
of work in the Melbourne underworld, and will close up
(46:56):
the Maran chapter with his story next week.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
And that will wrap us up on the Marines before
we move on to the finale, which I assume is
going to be Carl Williams. Yes it is. Yes, Well,
thank you so much for joining us. Of course, if
you have a connection to the criminal underworld and you
would like to give us a little bit of a
tidbit or some fun stories or some fun stories, please
send us through a message via our social media. Lots
(47:19):
of you send us room messages. In fact, I believe
it was Peter who was asking about some advice concerning
establishing his own podcasts. So we we're sending some messages
back and forth there. So we love those sort of questions.
Please send them through to us. If we can help
you along your creative journey, absolutely reach out to us.
We'd love to give you some advice and help you
(47:39):
to avoid some of the pitfalls that we fell into
when we started to establish the podcast. You can also
send us through an email to weekrap in Australia gmail
dot com. As I've said before concerning this topic, if
it is something that needs to be brought to police,
we will inform. Oh, don't do it if you want
to keep it secret. Otherwise, please send all those emails
through to week Crap in Australia gmail dot com. There
(48:01):
are a couple of ways to support the show. Of course,
we have our Patreon with weekly minisodes just for our
Patreon supporters. If you'd like to get in on that action.
It's only five dollars US a month. It's barely the
price of a cup of coffee and it really does
help us to keep the lights on here. There are
costs we incur by running the podcast and digital storage.
Can also grab the We Crap in Australia merchandise from
(48:24):
our red Bubble nt public stores. Just type in we
Crap in Australia to see all those wonderful designs on
those stores. And last, but not least, you can grab
our book series We Crap in Australia with a full
index glossary of every single source that Holy uses, which
takes up sometimes a good tenth of the book, so
you can see exactly where the information is coming from.
(48:47):
So you can verify our sources. We have very little
too hide. We have some things to hide. I want
to talk about them. So you can grab those books
from Impactcomics dot com dot AU. If you're living here
in Australia and want a physical copy, you can also
so I grab a physical copy from Lulu dot com.
If you're living overseas, and if you want the digital
version for your Kindle or other ebook reader, you can
(49:08):
pick that up from the Amazon Store. Now has been
the custom for this particular set of episodes. Billie has
another story from the life of someone who encounters the
Melbourne gangland scene.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Well, I've got two again, because one covers someone that
we've covered and one covers someone that we won't be
able to cover because I'm not doing fifteen episodes. So
the first one comes from Gross Lee's who was on Reddit.
I went to UNI with a girl who was engaged
to one of Tony Mockbell's dudes. I won't share too
much identifying info, but the poor girl had no idea
(49:43):
what was going on. She came from a wealthy family herself,
so had no idea what it really took to live affluently.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
She just saw blue blood and blue bloods and just
assumed that they're all rich through the same means, I suppose, So.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
When a fiance brought home so much money from what
he claimed was a normal job, she didn't even question it.
I felt really sorry for her because when the truth
came out, the bottom fell out of her whole world.
The house got raided and her car and her property
was seized as the proceeds of crime, A really horrible
way to find out how the world really works. She
decided to stand by her man, and I hope they
went on to have a good thing. But I'm not
(50:20):
sure I could do it. I'd constantly be looking over
my shoulder, afraid of more violence. So I hope they
found some measure of peace. Once her fiance finished his
sentence and there was a comment from Pepperdiangus, I imagine
getting engaged to someone before knowing how they make their
money or who your future in laws are at Grossley's
answered she thought she knew, but her family hadn't prepared
her for the reality of what it takes to make
(50:42):
ends meet, so she was hopelessly naive about everything.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
I don't understand people like that, because like when we
started dating, like it was open books, Like you knew
where my money was coming from at the time of
his newspapers, No.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
It wasn't. It was retrovision.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Well it was retrovision, but then you know, once we
moved in together, it was it was the camera time.
I just don't understand. I suppose you could argue that
you're protecting the person that maybe she was just really
dumb and fun is like, oh, she totally understands what
I'm doing. But she was like he dicked being home
the big big bag of money every day and everything
(51:15):
you win your foot in ringboo ginking cane.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
And we have the second story, which comes from Dexil
seventy three. I grew up in the Mooney Ponds area.
My dad was good mates with Toppens. Maranne which is
des Moran, which is Jason's uncle.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
One of my great uncles was named Tuppens as well.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Because you're a top and short of a pound, that's
usually why you called Toppens.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Based on my knowing my family, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
A harmless bloke, a knock about feller, but harmless. Used
to see the Morans a lot around Puckle Street as
a kid growing up, who were told stories of Jason
and how volatile he was. Whenever I saw him, I
just stared at the ground. I actually got to know
Mark a bit as I got older. He trained in
the same gym as me. It was a very friendly,
unassuming kind of guy. There was something in about him.
(52:00):
Just knew he was very capable. It was a fit guy.
He looked after himself. Even though I knew who he
was and what he did, I couldn't quite believe it
when he was killed. I've only seen him at the
gym that day.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
It's crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Yeah, people get so close.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
I mean, I see, I've never been so close to that,
like instantaneous death either. Like I mentioned, you know, the
passing of my good friend Graham a few weeks ago,
and you know, he was sick for such a long time.
So the only grace of his passing is that we
were preparing ourselves as it got closer, you know. So
that and I don't know, everyone deals with grief differently,
(52:38):
but in my opinion, that helped me that it wasn't
just this quick, you know shock. But I've never been
you know, I've never encountered that before outside of it
was one incident where I was required to do first aid,
and I think for that family it had happened very
quickly as well. It was a shock, like the person
(52:59):
had barely gotten out of their car. So yeah, I
just couldn't comprehend that like that, That's not my world.
That is just that is just not my world or whatsoever.
So there you go. Thank you Holly for those two
stories again. I think everyone enjoys them in quite a treat.
Thank you everyone for joining us. Please please please please
(53:21):
be kind to each other, stay safe and we'll see
you next week. From All Weird Crap in Australia till
then bye for now Bye. The Weird Crap in Australia
(53:43):
podcast is produced by Holly and Matthew Soul for the
Modern Meltdown. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and
review on your favorite podcatching app
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