Underworld matriarch Kath Pettingill has died at the age of 91 after a battle with dementia.
The one-eyed woman, best known as “Granny Evil”, died in a nursing home in Venus Bay, about 40km southwest of Leongatha in Victoria on August 1.
Pettingill was a criminal in her own right, owning and operating brothels and charged with drug trafficking, but was best known as being the matriarch of some of Melbourne’s most notorious criminals.
A mother of 10 children, Pettingill raised Dennis Allen – known as “Mr Death” – a notorious drug dealer and alleged murderer of about 13 people.
A resident of the Richmond and Cremorne area, he was often in stand-offs with police, avoiding jail thanks to underworld lawyer Andrew Fraser, and died of heart failure at the age of 35 in custody awaiting a murder trial.
She was also the mother of Peter Allen, a convicted armed robber who was once considered the most dangerous man in Victoria.
Pettingill was the mother of Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, who were both tried and acquitted for the 1988 Walsh St shootings of police officers Steven Tynan and Damien Eyre in South Yarra.
Peirce’s wife Vicky spent 18 months in witness protection, and was supposed to give evidence during the trial but later dropped out.
Peirce was shot dead outside a Port Melbourne Coles in 2002.
The matriarch lived in the Richmond and Cremorne areas of Melbourne, before moving to Venus Bay, where she lived the rest of her life.
In October 1978, Pettingill earned a glass eye after being shot in the face by Kim Nelson and Keryn Thompson while trying to repay debts her daughter accumulated in Collingwood.
The same year, Victoria Police launched a probe into the shooting, dubbing it Operation Cyclops.
A book about her infamous life, The Matriarch: The Kathy Pettingill Story, was published in 1996.
Her colourful life and notorious family later helped inspire the 2010 Australian film Animal Kingdom, with the matriarch played by Jacki Weaver.
In a 1996 interview with the ABC, Pettingill said her life was “never ordinary”.
“Well, Dennis is dead, Peter is at Barwon Prison, Vicki is with witness protection,” she said.
“Then I have Victor at Bendigo prison, then I had Jamie, who is deceased. He was murdered. My youngest son Trevor is at Bendigo prison.”
She said she “never wanted” her children to enter the criminal world.
“(life) was never ordinary – it was very brutal. But I swore I’d look after my kids, no matter what,” she said.
“I never wanted them to become criminals. I don’t think any mother wants their sons to become criminals.”
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