Australasian biker news

AUSTRALASIAN BIKER NEWS

Melbourne’s fatal gang wars came to Perth, court told
21st September 2006, 14:00 WST

Melbourne gangland figure Antonios “Tony” Mokbel was rumoured to have put a price on the heads of senior Perth Coffin Cheaters bikies Troy Mercanti, Eddie Withnell and Darren Whittaker, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.

In startling evidence given in his own wilful murder trial, former security guard Johnny Montani said there were widespread rumours that Coffin Cheaters had beaten Mr Mokbel almost to death in Melbourne a few years ago. Mr Mokbel supposedly wanted them killed in return, he said.

Mr Montani is alleged to have murdered former Coffin Cheaters bikie Kevin “Mick” Woodhouse in 2004 after the pair had a falling-out.

But, in giving evidence of his friendship with Mr Woodhouse, Mr Montani revealed details of the Melbourne connection.

He told the jury that Mr Woodhouse had fallen out with some members of the Coffin Cheaters shortly before his death but was desperate to “reconcile” with them.

So Mr Montani suggested that Mr Woodhouse contact Mr Mokbel and ask him if he really had put a price on the heads of Mr Mercanti, Mr Withnell and Mr Whittaker.

Mr Woodhouse could then pass the information to his former comrades in an effort to get back in their good books, Mr Montani said.

Despite Mr Montani’s suggestions that Mr Woodhouse use the internet to contact Mr Mokbel, the court was told Mr Woodhouse had hand-written the letters. One, written in early 2003, was shown to the jury yesterday. It was never sent to Mr Mokbel because Mr Woodhouse got the information by “word-of-mouth”, Mr Montani told the court.

“Dear Sir, I am from Perth and have had close personal interest in the Coffin Cheaters Motorcycle Gang and their hierarchy over many years having fallen foul of them some time ago,” it read.

A later draft of the same letter, which was also shown to the jury, went into more detail, asking: “How much for Troy (Mercanti)? How much for Eddie (Withnell)?”

Mr Montani is expected to be quizzed by the prosecution today.

Opening the trial earlier this month, prosecutor James Mactaggart said Mr Woodhouse had been hit by four bullets fired from a highpowered .357 Magnum revolver as he waited for the Bayswater Waves Aquatic Centre to open just before 5am on May 12, 2004.

He said Mr Woodhouse identified his killer as he lay dying, saying: “Johnny Montoyo”.

Mr Montani, who previously guarded tennis superstar Anna Kournikova and St Kilda coach Grant Thomas, admitted he had a falling out with Mr Woodhouse not long before the shooting. But he claims he was asleep at the time.

Mr Montani told the jury yesterday that Mr Woodhouse had defected from the Club Deroes bikie gang in the mid-90s to join the Cheaters. A Club Deroes bikie, Andrew Edhouse, later had been acquitted of shooting Mr Woodhouse as revenge for leaving.

Mr Montani also produced a report about himself in People magazine in 1994, about a bloody street fight he supposedly had. The headline was “Street-fighting Aussie tells ‘I took on the Thai Mafia and won’.”

David Darragh

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=28&ContentID=7515

Murder accused 'offered hit' for Mokbel
By Adam Gartrell
September 21, 2006

A MAN accused of gunning down his friend outside a Perth aquatic centre wrote letters meant for Melbourne underworld figure Tony Mokbel in which he offered to murder Coffin Cheater bikie gang members for money, a court heard today.

Johnny Montani, 41, of Morley, is on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the murder of former Coffin Cheaters member Kevin Ashley Woodhouse, 36, outside the Bayswater Waves Aquatic Centre in Perth two years ago.

Prosecutors allege Mr Montani, dressed in dark clothes and wearing a motorcycle helmet, shot Mr Woodhouse four times on May 12, 2004 while he was sitting on a bench waiting for the centre to open.

Later that day police watched Mr Montani take several bulging garbage bags to a waste disposal business, from which they found spent revolver shell casings, dark clothes, a motorcycle helmet and hand-written letters meant for Melbourne drugs baron Tony Mokbel.

Mr Montani told the court today he had heard Mokbel wanted Coffin Cheaters dead because the drug baron believed they had savagely beaten him.

In the letters, which were never sent, Mr Montani wrote: "I am from Perth and have had a close personal interest in the Coffin Cheaters gang, and their hierarchy for many years having fallen foul of their group some time ago ...

" ... I have the knowledge, the equipment, and the skills to clip more than a couple of their wings ...

" ... I don't ask for much, just the incentive to carry out my heart's desire ..."

" ... do you dream of having all the other fuckers where they belong – in their coffins?"

Mr Montani admitted writing the letters in mid-2003, but said he had "ghost-written" them on behalf of Mr Woodhouse and had not actually intended to act on the offers.

Mr Montani said Mr Woodhouse wanted to send the letters to Mokbel and ascertain whether there truly was a price on the heads of several Coffin Cheaters.

He intended to then use the information to reconcile with the gang, Mr Montani said.

"I have never met Tony Mokbel, I am not a hitman," Mr Montani told the court while under cross-examination.

Mr Montani today said he had been disposing of letters and the other material he thought police might consider "suspicious or questionable" if they came to question him, but maintained he was not involved in the shooting.