The Carlton Crew

The Carlton Crew is an Italian Australian criminal organisation from Melbourne, Victoria.

It was formed in Melbourne, Victoria in the late 1970s by gangster Alphonse Gangitano and named after Melbourne's Little Italy district. The organization had a strong rivalry with the Honoured Society and the Calabrese Family, both of which were Calabrian 'Ndrangheta groups also based in Melbourne. The Carlton Crew had a strong role in the infamous Melbourne gangland killings.

History

Alphonse Gangitano logged several minor arrests in the late 1970s and early 1980s while building a reputation as "The prince of Lygon Street". In addition to his three main confederates, Gangitano recruited a score of thugs (mainly of Italian origin) who installed jukeboxes and vending machines in local bars and nightclubs under the threat of violence, then reinvested their profits in drug trafficking.Fact|date=June 2008

In 1995 Melbourne police suspected Gangitano in two murders, including those of small-time crook Greg Workman (killed at Wando Grove while celebrating a friend's release from prison) and prostitute Deborah Boundy (whose clients included Carlton Crew hitman Christopher Flannery). On 19 December 1995 Gangitano engaged in a wild melee with Jason Moran and Mark McNamara at a Melbourne nightclub. Prosecutors were still debating various charges against him, when Gangitano's wife found him dead in the laundry room of their Templestowe home on 16 January 1998. Authorities found that Gangitano had been shot several times in the head.

Gangitano's murder signalled the onset of hard times for the "Carlton Crew". Police charged Mick Gatto, Gangitano's successor, with deception in June 1999 for placing 39 bets with a bookie under the pseudonym ('Mick Delgado'). In February 2002 royal commissioners investigated Gatto on suspicion of accepting $250,000 to 'mediate' labour disputes with the Australian Workers Union. Carlton Crew member Mario Condello boasted a record of convictions for arson, fraud and drug trafficking. Police also suspected him for multiple murders. In 2005 he was charged with plotting to murder crime boss Carl Williams, who also faced charges of scheming to ambush Condello. A trial for that case was pending unknown gunmen executed Condello outside his Brighton home on 6 February 2006. Six hundred mourners attended his funeral, with Mick Gatto serving as a pallbearer. The organization still operates today in Melbourne, and there has been speculation that Mick "The Don" Gatto still leads it to this day.Fact|date=June 2008

ee also

* Australian Mafia
* The Honoured Society
* Melbourne gangland killings
* Underbelly (TV series)

References

*Newton, Michael (2007). "Gangsters Encyclopedia. The World's Most Notorious Mobs, Gangs and Villains", Collins & Brown (C&B)