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Bandido's death linked to old friend
By Geesche Jacobsen
November 2, 2004
Twenty or 30 Bandidos farewelled Max Gibson at Rookwood cemetery. They put his
photo on the coffin. They chose the music at his funeral. They signed the
memorial book.
Afterwards they held a wake at Lady Jane's, a strip club owned by the alleged
criminal Tony Vincent snr.
But Gibson had never really fitted in because he was "always late and too
easy-going for a bikie", an inquest into his death heard yesterday.
A police statement read to the inquest from a document compiled by Detective
Sergeant Christopher Bailey said a witness linked Gibson's death to Tony
Vincent's son, Tony jnr, and claimed his father and the flamboyant businessman
Jim Byrnes were also responsible, but suggests it might have been triggered by a
courtroom chat.
Gibson's association with the Vincent family started at school. He became
friends with brothers Jamie and Tony Vincent jnr. Gibson left school aged 15, in
1986, the same year he got his first criminal conviction. Soon after he started
using drugs, quickly progressing to heroin and cocaine.
Tony Vincent jnr, the inquest heard, had been the last to admit seeing him alive
on the second day of their joint trial for causing an explosion at a Woollahra
property which was about to be bought by their associate, Jim Byrnes.
Five days later, on March 26, 2001, Gibson's body was found in a drain in
Marrickville with puncture marks to his left arm and a syringe cap nearby.
According to police evidence, he died of a drug overdose.
But his father was suspicious: Gibson was left-handed, had given up heroin, and
had only ever injected into his ankle, the father told police.
Gibson's friends also told police he had never used alone or in "dirty
locations".
But before the body was found, Tony Vincent jnr had told Gibson's mother he
would search the Marrickville canals because her son often shot up in that area.
Jennifer Dwyer, the prosecutor in the arson case, said the evidence against
Gibson had been strong, but he had declined to give evidence against Tony
Vincent jnr. On the last day he was seen, Gibson talked to Ms Dwyer in court,
probably because his lawyer was running late. Tony Vincent jnr was watching. Ms
Dwyer told police she was concerned Gibson's death may have resulted from him
being seen speaking to her.
Michael Pestano, alleged standover man and associate of private eye Tim Bristow,
had told police he had heard Gibson had been given a heroin "hot shot" in his
flat in Pyrmont before his body was dumped in the drain.
Pestano had said this was because Gibson "was always telling Byrnes that unless
he gave him more money to keep quiet about the house bombing in Woollahra he
would tell the truth what happened", according to the police statement.
Pestano had variously nominated Tony Vincent jnr and other associates as
responsible for injecting Gibson, but later told police he believed Jim Byrnes
and Tony Vincent snr were to blame.
Between September 1999 and June 2000, Gibson was paid $700 a week for being a
director of some of Byrnes' companies.
Byrnes has always denied he benefited from the February 1997 fire at the
Woollahra property, but the court heard yesterday he had tried to negotiate a
cut in the purchase price after it exploded, but failed. He claims Tony Vincent
snr and jnr were not involved in Gibson's death.
The inquest into Gibson's death continues.
