Carl Williams (criminal)

Williams attended Broadmeadows Technical School, leaving in Year 11. Williams spent much of his childhood in Western Melbourne with his friends and older brother Shane who died of a heroin overdose in 1997.[5] He was married to convicted drug trafficker Roberta Mercieca (born 23 March 1969),[6][7] with whom he had one daughter, Dhakota Williams born 10 March 2001. Williams held various labouring jobs before opening a children's clothing store in partnership with his wife, which eventually failed.[2]

On 25 November 1999, Williams, along with his father George and another associate, were arrested and charged with drug trafficking after a raid on an illegal drug factory that had been set up in a unit located in Fir Close, Broadmeadows. In excess of 25,000 amphetamine tablets were seized by police, estimated to be worth up to A$20 million.[8]

Williams, who described himself as a semi-professional gambler,[2] was banned from the Crown Casino on 2 April 2004 by police commissioner Christine Nixon under the Casino Control Act. Williams's mother Barbara Williams was found dead in her Melbourne home on 22 November 2008, having overdosed on unspecified drugs in an act of suicide. She had been suffering from depression.

On 13 October 1999, Williams was shot in the abdomen by Jason Moran because he owed the Moran family $80,000. This event sparked a lengthy underworld war known popularly as the Melbourne gangland killings. In 2002, after meeting through a mutual friend, Tony Mokbel, Williams courted the services of the murderer Andrew Veniamin as his right-hand man until early 2004.[9]

On 28 February 2007, Williams pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of Lewis Moran, his son Jason Moran, and Mark Mallia (whose name was initially suppressed by the court).[14]

Williams also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder gangland rival Mario Condello. A suppression order prevented the media from reporting this until the day of sentencing.[15] Under a deal with police, Williams was not charged for his alleged involvement in orchestrating the murder of Mark Moran, Jason Moran's half-brother.[10]

It was also revealed that Williams was serving a sentence of 21 years for the 2003 murder of Michael Marshall. The outcome of this trial had previously been suppressed.[2]

On 19 April 2010 News Limited newspapers including the Herald Sun revealed that Victoria Police were paying $8,000 in school fees for Williams's daughter. The reason for the payment was not revealed at the time. Later, during the 2011 murder trial, it was revealed Williams had turned informant and had struck a deal with Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland. Williams gave information on several unsolved murder cases believed to have involved corrupt officers and it was also revealed his murderer may have been implicated in at least one of those cases.[17] Williams's lawyer Rob Stary said Williams was upset about the publication of the story.[18]

There was speculation that the police may have agreed to pay the school fees in exchange for information and that publication of the story may have led to Williams's death.[19] The Herald Sun defended its publication of the story.[20]

On 19 April 2010, Williams died from a head injury while incarcerated at Barwon Prison. He was bludgeoned to death with an exercise bike handle by another inmate,[18] Matthew Charles Johnson, who was convicted of the murder,[21][22] and sentenced in December 2011 to 32 years in jail.[23]

Williams's funeral was held on 30 April 2010 at St Therese's Catholic Church in Essendon.[24] He was buried in a golden coffin. In January 2011 it was reported that Williams's resting place consisted of a nameless plot, without a headstone.[25]

The circumstances of his death were investigated by the Victorian Ombudsman. A report critical of Corrections Victoria (for approving Williams to share a cell with Johnson) was released in April 2012.[26] Two months later in June 2012, the Department of Justice Secretary Penny Armytage resigned and earlier in May the Corrections Victoria Commissioner Bob Hastings had resigned.[27][28][29] In 2019, during the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants, former Deputy Commissioner (Crime) for Victoria Police Sir Kenneth Lloyd Jones made a written submission stating his belief that prison staff were involved with the death of Williams.[30]

Williams was portrayed by Gyton Grantley in the 2008 Australian television series Underbelly, based on the events surrounding the Melbourne gangland wars from 1995 up to his arrest in 2004.[31] In 2014 Grantley reprised the role in Fat Tony & Co., and again in 2020 in Informer 3838.