One suspects Victorian detectives at the time were not that troubled with a crime family shooting a low-level drug dealer. Crooks shooting crooks was seen as something of an advantage by police \u2013 until it wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n
Of course, what followed were years of targeted hits involving the now dead Williams.<\/p>\n
The public followed what was to be known as the Underbelly wars with a morbid fascination. <\/p>\n
That was until June 2003 when Jason and a colleague were shot at point-blank range <\/a>in the front seat of a van with five children in the back. They had been at an Auskick clinic.<\/p>\n Police, the politicians, and media agreed this was a step too far and various police taskforces were resourced well and told to stop the killings before an innocent bystander was murdered.<\/p>\n Fast forward 23 years and Melbourne is back at that point. <\/p>\n The crime capital of Australia is in the middle of a Chicago-style shakedown <\/a>that has gone from firebombing tobacco shops just months ago to now spreading to nightclubs, bars, restaurants and even a car yard in Port Melbourne <\/a>this week.<\/p>\n Just like 2003, the public are now in danger of getting injured killed or having their small business destroyed. Police Commissioner Mike Bush <\/a>at a media conference on Wednesday afternoon uttered the words that if you are heading out at night (in Melbourne) \u201cgo about your business as usual but to be alert\u201d. I\u2019m not sure what being alert means, but I confess there are now times and places where I feel nervous in my own home town.<\/p>\n How has it come to this?<\/p>\n How is it that the police commissioner \u2013 who has all the intelligence at hand \u2013 is telling Melburnians in 2026 that if you are nightclubbing or eating in a restaurant or drinking in a bar you must be alert.<\/p>\n How sad is that? And how angry should the people of this once great city be when Marvellous Melbourne has become dangerous or even deadly Melbourne? We are living in a state of lawlessness.<\/p>\n Twice this week \u2013 once in a radio interview on Adelaide\u2019s 5AA and once in a discussion with a senior media executive in Sydney \u2013 I was asked the question we should all be asking ourselves: Why is it that what\u2019s going on in Melbourne isn\u2019t happening in our other major cities around the country?<\/p>\n Yes, Sydney has had its issues with Middle Eastern crime gangs hitting on each other violently \u2013 a little like the Underbelly period here. But it\u2019s rare to read or to hear of a tobacco shop being torched, whereas it seems we have a criminal arson attack every night. <\/p>\n Now jerry cans full of petrol are now being splashed around entertainment and hospitality venues with a major disaster averted this week at Electric Bar <\/a>when the arsonists failed to torch the joint.<\/p>\n There was so much spilt fuel splashing around, observers claimed up to seven neighbouring buildings could have gone up in flames.<\/p>\n Victorians deserve answers \u2013 and not just Police Commissioner Bush telling us to watch our backs. Our broke, incompetent state government is only fixated on being re-elected and, unless I\u2019ve missed it, the Police Minister Anthony Carbines <\/a>has been silent all week \u2013 even in the face of repeated arson attacks. Missing in action. <\/p>\n The last contribution I can find from him was over two weeks ago when Carbines refused to say how many illegal tobacco shops had been shut down by his so-called inspectors.<\/p>\n You wonder how that bloke still has a job. <\/p>\n So why does Melbourne and nowhere else have organised crime gangs operating brazenly, running what seems to be a violent and potentially deadly protection racket? <\/p>\n Well, one obvious reason is Melbourne of course is the home of the outlaw rogue union <\/a>the CFMEU. Their ominous black and white flags fly over all the Big Build projects including the Suburban Rail Loop <\/a>where it has been claimed $15bn of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars have disappeared in a corrupt crime gang-style extortion racket. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n If strippers in lunch sheds <\/a>and outlaw motorcycle gang members providing the muscle to put the frighteners on builders and contractors while dealing out methamphetamine at lunchtime is possible, what\u2019s the big deal in burning down the Love Machine nightclub <\/a>or a few dozen illicit smoke shops? <\/p>\n Put simply, the state government and its agencies have lost control of the streets. And Melbourne is paying the price.<\/p>\n Dislikes<\/p>\n \u2022 Inflation raging and a third consecutive interest rate rise smashing mortgage holders.<\/p>\n \u2022 Next Tuesday\u2019s Jim Chalmers Budget looks like punishing baby boomers like me.<\/p>\n \u2022 Premier Jacinta Allan sticks her nose into the Federation Square soccer world cup ban. <\/p>\n \u2022 NT police warned social service six times around the living conditions of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. <\/p>\n Likes<\/p>\n \u2022 Richmond Tigers\u2019 2026 breakthrough win in Perth with a team of youngsters.<\/p>\n \u2022 Victorian government finally admits we need to drill for gas and opens the Otway Basin.<\/p>\n \u2022 Crown announces dining revamp with a $200m renovation.<\/p>\n \u2022 Rolling Stones announce a new album to be released on July 10 \u2013 their 25th album.<\/p>\n Melbourne media personality Steve Price writes a weekly column in the Saturday Herald Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In October 1999 emerging gangland figure Carl Williams was shot in the guts by Jason Moran of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[124,847,23,133,8495,7649,8485,8483,4093,8499,8508,8504,8492,8502,8501,8488,8507,8509,8486,8484,7637,8500,8489,8503,1646,8498,8505,8032,260,7431,8487,355,119,135,120,335,8497,8493,8491,8494,8510,8490,8496,2043,5048,247,8506,117,68,2548,353],"class_list":{"0":"post-7127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arson-attacks","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-carl-williams","13":"tag-chicago","14":"tag-consecutive-interest-rate","15":"tag-corrupt-crime","16":"tag-crime-capital","17":"tag-crime-family","18":"tag-crime-gang-style-extortion","19":"tag-crime-gangs","20":"tag-criminal-arson-attack","21":"tag-crooks-shooting-crooks","22":"tag-emerging-gangland-figure","23":"tag-front-seat","24":"tag-gang-style-extortion-racket","25":"tag-home-town","26":"tag-illegal-tobacco-shops","27":"tag-illicit-smoke-shops","28":"tag-illinois","29":"tag-incompetent-state-government","30":"tag-innocent-bystander","31":"tag-interest-rate-rise","32":"tag-jacinta-allan","33":"tag-jason-moran","34":"tag-living-conditions","35":"tag-media-conference","36":"tag-melbourne","37":"tag-mike-bush","38":"tag-morbid-fascination","39":"tag-new-south-wales","40":"tag-north-america","41":"tag-northern-america","42":"tag-oceania","43":"tag-perth","44":"tag-police-commissioner","45":"tag-protection-racket","46":"tag-rise-smashing-mortgage","47":"tag-rolling-stones","48":"tag-senior-media-executive","49":"tag-smashing-mortgage-holders","50":"tag-so-called-inspectors","51":"tag-state-government","52":"tag-steve-price","53":"tag-sydney","54":"tag-tobacco-shops","55":"tag-united-states-of-america","56":"tag-victoria","57":"tag-victorian-government","58":"tag-western-australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/price_steve.png\")
<\/a>Steve Price<\/a>Saturday Herald Sun columnist<\/p>\n