The Melbourne gangland killings were the murders of 36 underworld figures in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between January 1998 and August 2010. The murders were retributive killings involving underworld groups. The deaths caused a power vacuum within Melbourne's criminal community, and rival factions fought for control and influence. Many of the murders remain unsolved, although detectives from the Purana Taskforce believe that Carl Williams was responsible for at least ten of them. The period culminated in the arrest of Williams, who pleaded guilty on 28 February 2007 to three of the murders.
Roger Caleb Rogerson is a former detective sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force and convicted murderer. During his career, Rogerson was one of the most decorated officers in the force, having received at least thirteen awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest annual police award. During his time in office he was implicated in—but never convicted of—two killings, bribery, assault and drug dealing.
This is a timeline of major crimes in Australia.
Carl Anthony Williams was an Australian convicted murderer and drug trafficker from Melbourne, Victoria. He was a central figure in the Melbourne gangland killings as well as their final victim.
Antonios Sajih Mokbel is an Australian criminal who has been convicted of a number of offences, most prominently commercial drug trafficking. He has spent most of his life in Melbourne, Australia. Operation Purana alleged that he is the mastermind behind the Melbourne amphetamine trade. He has been linked to Carl Williams, and charged but not convicted of two murders in the Melbourne gangland war. He disappeared from Melbourne while on trial in March 2006, and was arrested by Greek police in Athens on 5 June 2007. Since being brought back to Australia he has remained incarcerated.
Terrorism in Australia deals with terrorist acts in Australia as well as steps taken by the Australian government to counter the threat of terrorism. In 2004 the Australian government has identified transnational terrorism as also a threat to Australia and to Australian citizens overseas. Australia has experienced acts of modern terrorism since the 1960s, while the federal parliament, since the 1970s, has enacted legislation seeking to target terrorism.
The Tottenham Mandem were an organised street gang based in Tottenham, North London, that began on the Broadwater Farm estate prior to the Broadwater Farm riot in 1985. One of the early members and later leader Mark Lambie was a suspect in the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during that riot. Lambie had been top of Operation Trident's wanted list due to the close links he had built with gangs in Wembley, Harlesden and south London. He was jailed in 2002. During the 90s, TMD was one of the largest gangs in North London and controlled much of the drug markets in the area.
Brothers for Life, also Brothers 4 Life was a Middle Eastern crime gang, active in south-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. They came to public prominence largely from internal disputes between the Bankstown chapter and the Blacktown chapter that resulted in a number of shootings in October 2012 to February 2014 that killed two members. Several other gang members were seriously injured. At least one uninvolved person was injured during a shooting. In October 2020, and June 2021 two other people related to the BFL leader, Bassam Hamzy, were killed in shootings.
On 20 January 2017, around 1:30 pm AEDT on a busy Friday, a car was deliberately driven into pedestrians along Bourke Street in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. Six people were killed and twenty-seven were seriously injured. The driver of the vehicle, James "Dimitrious" Gargasoulas, who was in a drug-induced psychosis, was subsequently found guilty of six counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 46 years.
On 21 December 2017, at 4:41 pm AEDT, a driver rammed pedestrians with his car at the corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, killing one person and injuring seventeen others, including himself. The sole fatality, an elderly man, died eight days after the attack.
Jamell Maurice Demons, known professionally as YNW Melly, is an American rapper and singer from Gifford, Florida. He rose to fame in 2018 following the commercial release of his single "Murder on My Mind," a trap song which explores homicidal ideation. As his breakout hit, the record garnered him further attention after he was charged with the double-murder of two fellow rappers in the "YNW" collective the following year, resulting in an ongoing legal battle and incarceration. Prior, the success of "Murder on My Mind" led him to sign with 300 Entertainment and issue the song as a single for his debut commercial mixtape I Am You (2018), which was met with positive reception along with its follow-up, We All Shine (2019).
Santiago "Pucho" Villalba Mederos is an American former fugitive who was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on September 25, 2017. He was wanted for two murders in Tacoma, Washington, in 2010. Mederos was the 515th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The FBI offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture. He was captured in Tenancingo, Mexico, on June 5, 2020.
On 16 January 2019, Aya Maasarwe, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who was studying at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia as an exchange student, was killed as she returned home from an evening at a comedy club in North Melbourne. The violent, random nature of the killing sparked renewed community concern about the safety of women, especially after dark in Melbourne. Parallels were drawn to the murders of Eurydice Dixon, Jill Meagher and Maša Vukotić. Maasarwe was buried in her hometown of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Israel.
Criminal activity in Victoria, Australia is combated by the Victoria Police and the Victorian court system, while statistics about crime are managed by the Crime Statistics Agency. Modern Australian states and cities, including Victoria, have some of the lowest crime rates recorded globally with Australia ranked the 13th safest nation and Melbourne ranked the 5th safest city globally. As of September 2018 the CBD of Melbourne had the highest rate of overall criminal incidents in the state (15,949.9), followed by Latrobe (12,896.1) and Yarra (11,119.2). Rural areas have comparatively high crime rates, with towns such as Mildura (9,222.0) and Greater Shepparton (9,111.8) having some of the highest crime rates in the state.
Thomas Sewell is a New Zealand-born Australian neo-Nazi and convicted criminal. He is the leader of the National Socialist Network, the European Australian Movement, and founder of the Lads Society. The groups led by Sewell focus on promoting White supremacy and far-right activism in Australia. He is known for associating with other prominent neo-Nazis and for controversial public stunts.
Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have occurred around the world. There have been several protests against lockdowns and other restrictions introduced by the Commonwealth and state governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia since 2020. Some joining protests have also been against vaccinations, while others have also subscribed to various conspiracy theories or misinformation about COVID-19. Protests have been held in several state capitals, with most occurring in including Sydney and Melbourne. While some protests were peaceful, others ended in clashes between protesters and police. Australian police have issued fines against protesters for breaching lockdown restrictions.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), an international outlaw biker gang, has been involved in multiple crimes, alleged crimes, and violent incidents in Australia. The Hells Angels are legally classified as a criminal organisation in the Australian state of Queensland, and there have been attempts to classify them as such in New South Wales. The Hells Angels have been linked with drug trafficking and production, as well as a host of violent crimes including murder, in Australia.
