Pretty good start at the new job … some money problems unrelated to new stuff causing problems … but the days are long, the weather is bad, and the commuting is almost as bad as I could imagine already.
So on to the important stuff … Underbelly of course.
Former Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto is flying to Singapore today to try to recover millions of dollars for investors of the failed Melbourne stock broker Opes Prime.
Well, if he has to be on somebodies team, I’d certainly prefer it to be mine …
And in crime news that relates to a real Underbelly trial (yet another reason why the show won’t be on in Victoria anytime soon … like all you Victorians aren’t watching it anyway of course. Turn away if you don’t want to know what happens to a particular character who isn’t dead yet …
Witness “thought Moran murder was a movie”
A woman has told the Supreme Court in Melbourne that she thought a movie was being made on the night gangland figure Lewis Moran was murdered.
And now it really has … hmmm … that doesn’t sound right …
Well, it’s odd to still see real life court cases going on while the show is airing. You can see why Nine won’t show it in Vic for a long time, and why it was just never be on DVD at this rate … imagine what it will be like when they finally get Tony Mokbel back to Australia.
Underbelly character guide:
Domenic “Mick” Gatto
Mick Gatto really is the lucky one in this whole story. Despite having a string of convictions and serving jail time for offenses including burglary, assaulting police and illegal firearms, he is currently a free man and likely to stay that way unless he does something really stupid. Best known for a 2004 restaurant shoot out that led to murder charges. He was ultimately found not guilty on the grounds of self defense, a judgement that still has some police seething.
Simon Westaway
As a former cop, best known for playing cops on TV, it must be interesting for Simon Westaway to be turning to the other side of the law, playing the definitely shady, but obviously clever Gatto. Familar in the past for his suave and dark-haired good looks, Westaway turns in a chameleonic performance here, looking much older, and with a grey, receding hairline — a good resemblence for Gatto. Mick was probably impressed, as he was the only figure in this story in any position to provide technical advice to the production.
Lewis Moran
A veteran of the Melbourne crime scene, Lewis Moran was the patriarch of a crime clan starring his son Jason and stepson Mark. He didn’t look like a criminal, but his crime past stretched back to the 1960s. His shooting death in 2004 was the most public of all the gangland war murders, and caused police to seriously ramp up their efforts to end the spree.
Kevin Harrington
Lewis Moran is played by the versatile Kevin Harrington, not the first actor anyone would associate with playing a crime figure, but maybe that’s fitting for a figure such as the senior Moran. Harrington is best known for his comedic role in the successful 2000 feature The Dish as layback Dish technician Mitch. Not a massive likeness for Moran, but he should have the acting chops and create the right mood to pull it off.