The gangland war has become like folklore in the tale of crime in Australia. From 1995, dozens of murders occurred in Melbourne in a wrestle over drugs and egos involving notorious underworld figures such as Carl Williams, Tony Mokbel, and the Morans.At the centre of it all was Stuart Bateson, a det… The gangland war has become like folklore in the tale of crime in Australia. From 1995, dozens of murders occurred in Melbourne in a wrestle over drugs and egos involving notorious underworld figures such as Carl Williams, Tony Mokbel, and the Morans.At the centre of it all was Stuart Bateson, a detective with the Purana taskforce.Today, John Silvester - who wrote the definitive account of the gangland war - talks to Bateson about what investigating this violent web of crooks was really like, and hear part of a recording of a real gangland hit.Bateson talks to Sly ahead of the release of a new three-part documentary from Channel Nine called Naked City: Hitmen, which screens from March 4.

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For a time gangland figures lived a fast and often lucrative life, but very few made it out alive. After 11 unsolved murders, including Moran brothers Mark and Jason, and their father Lewis, police put together a taskforce to tackle the gangland war. They investigated Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin, Mick G… For a time gangland figures lived a fast and often lucrative life, but very few made it out alive. After 11 unsolved murders, including Moran brothers Mark and Jason, and their father Lewis, police put together a taskforce to tackle the gangland war. They investigated Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin, Mick Gatto, Carl Williams and Tony Mockbell among others. 
Purana ended up investigating over 300 people, listening in on more than 100,000 hours of phone conversations, using 39 tracking devices to follow suspects for more than 22,000 hours. One of the key police informants was lawyer Nicola Gobbo, a fact which puts several convictions into jeopardy.

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He nearly died because his boss liked a cheap beer: Bertie Wrout was right hand to Melbourne crime lord Lewis Moran and saw the gangland wars up close. He was there as Moran family and associates came and went, witnessed the rise of the infamous drug lord Carl Williams and was with Lewis Moran when … He nearly died because his boss liked a cheap beer: Bertie Wrout was right hand to Melbourne crime lord Lewis Moran and saw the gangland wars up close. He was there as Moran family and associates came and went, witnessed the rise of the infamous drug lord Carl Williams and was with Lewis Moran when he was was shot dead at his favourite drinking hole, The Brunswick Club. 

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