Graham Allen Kinniburgh (20 October 1942 – 13 December 2003) was an Australian organised crime figure from

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He became a victim of the

Melbourne gangland killings The Melbourne gangland killings were the murders of 36 underworld figures in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between January 1998 and August 2010. The murders were retributive killings involving underworld groups. The deaths caused a power vacu ...

, which were dramatised in the drama series ''

Underbelly Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society. This term could refer to: Business * ...

''.

Early life

Kinniburgh's criminal record consisted of charges of wounding with intent to cause murder, escaping legal custody, dishonesty, racketeering, extortion, bribery, possession of firearms, escape, resisting arrest and assaulting police. Kinniburgh met with members of the

Moran family The Moran family is an infamous Melbourne, Australia-based criminal family of Irish ancestry,Melbourne's waterside. A member of the Painters and Dockers Union, Kinniburgh was one of the most influential gangsters in Australia.

Death

Kinniburgh garnered notoriety for his role in the

. On 13 December 2003, Kinniburgh himself was murdered outside his home in Kew on Belmont Avenue. Two members of a rival criminal gang, or a two-man operation, was suspected of involvement in his death; Carl Williams was questioned, and

Andrew Veniamin Andrew "Benji" Veniamin (16 November 1975 – 23 March 2004) was an Australian criminal from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A convicted car thief, Veniamin was a key figure in the Melbourne underworld killings, suspected of both murdering sev ...

was treated as a suspect. In 2004,

Mick Gatto Domenic "Mick" Gatto (born 6 August 1955) is a professional mediator within the Victorian building industry; and a debt collector. Gatto was named as a standover man during the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry. Ba ...

claimed that Veniamin had implicated himself in Kinniburgh's death prior to himself being killed, but it was later shown that Veniamin had been on the other side of town at the time of the murder. This was deduced by tracking his mobile phone at the time of the murder. However, this in turn has been disputed as a case of the mobile phone and not Veniamin having an alibi. If Veniamin had been one of the two gunmen who killed Kinniburgh, then the identity of the other has never been established. In November 2015, police charged Stephen John Asling with Kinniburgh's murder alleging that he and Terrence Blewitt were hired to murder Kinniburgh. On 18 March 2017, Asling was found guilty of Kinniburgh's murder. In 2020

Nicola Gobbo Nicola Maree Gobbo, sometimes known as Nikki Gobbo, (born 16 November 1972) is an Australian former criminal defence barrister and police informant. Drug charge at law school In 1993, while she was a law student, police raided a house owned by ...

said she had information in one of her notebooks that my help Asling, currently serving a 27 year sentence in

Barwon prison HM Prison Barwon or informally Barwon Prison, an Australian high risk and maximum security prison for males, is located from the township of Lara, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The facility is operated by Corrections Victoria, part of ...

. The notes, containing information Gobbo says proves the main witness against Asling was a liar, were seized by police during a raid in 2006 but not provided to Asling's defence team in response to a request for evidence relating to the case denying them the opportunity to use it to challenge the witness.

Alphonse Gangitano murder

Kinniburgh was a long-term associate of Alphonse Gangitano. On 16 January 1998, Kinniburgh had been drinking with associate, Lou Cozzo, at the Laurel Hotel in

Ascot Vale Ascot Vale is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Ascot Vale recorded a population of 15,197 at the 2021 c ...

before driving to the home of Alphonse Gangitano. Kinniburgh left the house shortly after 11 pm to purchase cigarettes from a local store. Upon his return 30 minutes later, Kinniburgh found Gangitano had been shot several times to the head. Gangitano's de facto wife, Virginia, was with the body of her husband who had died in the laundry. Kinniburgh adopted a

code of silence A code of silence is a condition in effect when a person opts to withhold what is believed to be vital or important information voluntarily or involuntarily. The code of silence is usually followed because of threat of force or danger to onesel ...

, frustrating police investigating the murder. Evidence was presented at an inquest that showed both Kinniburgh and

Jason Moran Jason Moran may refer to: * Jason Moran (criminal) (1967–2003), Australian mobster * Jason Moran (musician) Jason Moran (born January 21, 1975) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical inst ...

were at the home of Gangitano on the night of his murder. Both were exempted from giving evidence at the inquest on the grounds their evidence may incriminate them. Kinniburgh's blood was discovered at the murder scene and a witness had seen Moran leaving Gangitano's house.

In television

In the drama series ''Underbelly'' he is portrayed by actor

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of C ...

and also reprises his role in the 2014 direct sequel '' Fat Tony & Co.''.

References

External links

* *Modest mobster who kept the peace, John Silvester, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...