Brian Kane gangland murder at Quarry Hotel in Brunswick 30 years on
He said: “If the jury don’t get you, we will.”
Raymond Patrick “Chuck” Bennett was acquitted in September 1979 of the murder of Kane’s brother Les, who was blasted with machine guns at his Wantirna home a year earlier.
And less than two months later, Kane’s promise was fulfilled.
A man shot Bennett dead as he was escorted by two unarmed police up a set of stairs at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, known then as the City Court, to face an armed robbery charge.
The gunman fled through a fence that had been prepared for his escape.
Few doubted Kane was behind it.
Bennett was known as The General, and he had earlier formed a small army to carry out what was Australia’s biggest heist, the Great Bookie Robbery.
Bennett’s robbery team was well-trained and each had a role to play in the raid on the Victoria Club in Queen St, where bookies would be settling after three Easter race meets on April 21, 1976.
The gang made off with dozens of bags of cash - and Kane, who made his living standing over other criminals, reportedly wanted a slice. Mastermind Bennett wasn’t keen to share.
Some say the Bookie Robbery had netted up to $15 million, but police conservatively estimated it at $1.5m.
Still a fortune for the day, and enough to make any man greedy.
Collins and Cox suspects in Kane's shooting
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And as it happens, that was the nickname of one of Bennett’s close associates, a man said to have helped launder the missing Bookie Robbery money - and who perhaps drove Kane’s killers to the Quarry Hotel in Brunswick on the night of November 26, 1982, to help avenge Bennett’s murder.
When quizzed by police years later, Dennis William "Greedy" Smith denied it.
Dennis William "Greedy" Smith was quizzed by police over Kane's death but denied it. Picture: HWT Library
But he admitted to the Sunday Herald Sun shortly before his 2010 death that he shed no tears over Kane’s passing.
“I thought, 'There goes another one (of my enemies)',” he said.
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He said he’d received the news from a friend, who reported: “Greedy, pop the champagne corks, Brian Kane has got his head blown off'.''
Kane had arrived at the Quarry Hotel around 9pm.
It was rumoured he had given his female companion his gun, which was in her bag when two gunmen wearing balaclavas had walked in and shot him in the head and chest.
Notorious armed robber and prison escapee Russell “Mad Dog” Cox had long been a suspect.
He’d spent much of his time since the murder either on the run, or in prison.
Cox was questioned by police more than 20 years later, several years after his release from a New South Wales jail in 2004.
Police received information that sent them north to visit Cox, who lives in Queensland with his long-time partner Helen Deane - Bennett’s sister-in-law.
Cox spent 11 years on the run and was one of Australia’s most prolific and best-known armed robbers.
Rodney Charles Collins is suspected of being involved in Kane's murder. Picture: Herald Sun
But the other suspected Kane gunman largely enjoyed anonymity outside of the criminal world, until just a few months ago.
Collins is serving a life sentence for the horrific murders of Dorothy and Ramon Abbey in 1987, and remains a suspect in the murders of police informer Terry Hodson and his wife Christine in 2004.
It was after Collins' arrest in 2008 over the Abbeys that police began to take another look at the Kane murder.
They upped the reward from $50,000 to $100,000, but still the criminal code of silence held fast.
And even Victoria Police aren’t talking. They told the Herald Sun this week they wouldn’t comment on the Kane case.
WHO'S WHO: The cursed clans of the Kanes and Morans
BRIAN KANE
Gunned down at the Quarry Hotel on November 26, 1982 as he reached for his pistol, which he had hidden in a woman’s handbag.
The eldest of the Kane brothers, former boxer and standover man who made a living collecting debts.
Believed to be behind the murder of Ray “Chuck” Bennett at the Melbuorne Magistrates’ Court in 1979, as revenge for the execution of his brother, Les Kane, the year before.
LES KANE
Painter and docker based at Geelong docks and sometime armed robber. It was rumoured his friend Ray “Chuck” Bennett had the Kanes to look after the cash stolen during Bennett’s Great Bookie Robbery in 1976, but a fight ensued over distribution of the money.
Kane’s wife gave evidence that Bennett and two others ambushed Kane at his Wantirna home and took his body away after shooting him with machine guns, but all three were acquitted at trial.
SUZY KANE
Daughter of Les Kane and his first wife. She was just a child when her father was murdered. His body has never been found.
She played minor role in the murder of Des "Tuppence” Moran, helping her partner and hitman Geoffrey "Nuts" Armour go into hiding after the shooting.
She pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in the Des Moran murder.
TRISHA MORAN
Sister of Suzy Kane. Widow of Jason Moran, who was shot dead during Melbourne’s gangland war in April 2003.
She and Moran were teen sweethearts.
She has lost her father, husband, uncle, father-in-law and brother-in-law to gangland feuds.
JASON MORAN
Married to Trisha Kane. Shot dead in 2003 outside his children’s football clinic by a hitman acting on behalf of underworld figure Carl Williams.
His friend Pat Barbaro was killed in the same attack, which Williams ordered as revenge for the Morans shooting him in 1999.
MARK MORAN
Shot dead outside his Aberfeldie home in June 2000. Half-brother of Jason. Carl Williams was charged with his murder after his getaway driver turned informer, but the charge was dropped as part of Williams’s plea deal for several other killings including that of Jason Moran.
LEWIS MORAN
Father of Jason, step-father of Mark and husband of Judy. Another victim of the Carl Williams vendetta against the Moran family. Williams hired three criminals to shoot drug trafficker Moran dead at his regular drinking hole, the Brunswick Club, in 2004. Drug boss Tony Mokbel was found not guilty of financing the murder.
JUDY MORAN
Former showgirl and mother of Mark and Jason, wife of Lewis. Lost both sons and her husband to Carl Williams during the underworld war. But held a grudge against her brother-in-law Des over the Moran family money. Enlisted Suzy Kane’s partner to kill Moran. Serving at least 21 years for murder.
DES "TUPPENCE" MORAN
Shot seven times in a busy cafe in Ascot Vale in 2009 by hit men arranged by his sister-in-law. Judy Moran drove former Rebels bikie president Geoffrey "Nuts" Armour, the partner of Suzy Kane, to and from the scene.
Originally published as 'If the jury don't get you, we will'