Underbelly

The Melbourne gangland wars start the night the gangster Alphonse Gangitano - one of the legendary Carlton Crew - murders a low-life crim named Greg Workman at a St Kilda party for the sheer hell of it. It sets the tone for the mayhem that will follow, and sets Alphonse himself on a path to self-destruction.

Alphonse Gangitano might have got away with murder but police officer Steve Owen is determined heﾐll pay for starting a riot in a nightclub where many innocent people are hurt. But Alphonse doesnﾐt need the cops to point out heﾐs crossed an important line. He decides to give up his gangster ways and redeem himself. However his best mate, acolyte and rival in love, fellow Carlton Crew member Jason Moran, rejects Alphonseﾐs transformation. The bitter feud that ensues reaches a climax when Jason shoots Alphonse dead.

Topless waitress Tracey Seymourês turbulent love life with gangsters leaves her bruised and confused. She decides to get out of the underworld, turn over a new leaf and start afresh, But her past comes back to haunt her; her ex-husband has been accused of double murder and Tracey knows all the details. Homicide detective Jacqui James persuades her to prove her commitment to an honest new life by testifying against him. But her courage will cost Tracey her life.

The Melbourne drug world is in uproar - the city is awash with cheap eckies and none of the established dealers knows who's undercutting them. Tempers flare, accusations fly and the blood flows. The culprit is Carl Williams, small time crim and driver for the Moran brothers. When Jason and Mark discover that not only is Carl responsible for stealing their market share, he's doing it with their own pill press, they hit the roof! To teach him a lesson they shoot him in the gut. But failing to finish him off will prove to be a doubly fatal mistake.

With Jason in goal for the nightclub riot, Mark Moran takes control of the family drug business and attempts to maneuver drug baron Tony Mokbel out of the game. However his moment of triumph is short-lived. Carl Williams launches his campaign of revenge against the Morans by shooting Mark dead in his driveway. Steve Owen is the only Homicide detective to consider Carl a likely suspect, but without proof his suspicions are no more than clouds in his coffee.

Carlton Crew, hires Benji Veniamin to a) find out whodunnit, and b) kill him. Benji concludes the murderer must be Dino Dibra, a drug-dealing associate of Carl Williams. Dino also happens to be a long-time mate of Benji’s, but the hit man doesn’t let emotion interfere and he executes him in the coldest, cruelest, most ruthless way possible.

When Carl Williams is sent to jail on drug charges, his wife Roberta takes over the family business, learning to fend off rival drug dealers and stand up for herself. In contrast, the late Mark Moran’s gorgeous girlfriend Danielle McGuire needs a sugar daddy to survive. She plays gangster Nik Radev off against drug baron Tony Mokbel before choosing the latter. Meanwhile Carlton Crew lawyer Zarah Garde-Wilson defends ex-con and convicted murderer Lew Caine on a minor matter, and falls hopelessly in love with him.

Out of prison again, Carl Williams gets straight back to work dealing drugs and building up his empire. When rival dealer Nik Radev gets in his way he hires Benji Veniamin and another gunman, the psychotic Mr T, to take him out. The brazen nature of the hit prompts the police command to set up a special squad to tackle the escalating gangland war, and Taskforce Purana is born. While Carl is busy making headlines, the Carlton Crewês money man, Mario Condello, goes about his loan-sharking business quietly, nevertheless leaving just as many ruined lives in his.

With Jason Moran back in town after a self-imposed exile, Carl Williams steps up his war against the Moran clan. But his hit man of choice, Benji Veniamin, is now subject to so much police pressure heﾐs a useless weapon, so Carl turns again to Mr T. While Jason desperately scrapes together enough cash to finance a hit on Carl, Mr T stalks him like a deer. The strike finally happens on a Saturday morning at a kidsﾐ footy game. Jason is shot dead in front of his own children.

King Carl is confident he can get away with anything, so when a mate of Tony Mokbel's is murdered, he offers to avenge him by murdering the man Mokbel believes responsible, small time dealer Michael Marshall. Once again Mr T and his driver Mr L are wheeled into action. However, the newly enlarged and resourced Taskforce Purana install blanket surveillance on the gang and manage to arrest the gunmen, but only after the hit has gone down, and the horse has been scratched.

When Carlton Crew elder statesman Graham the Munster Kinniburgh is gunned down, his comrades Mick Gatto, Mario Condello and Lewis Moran know the upstart Carl Williams has to be put in his place before they too are targeted. Theyﾐre right to be worried, as Carl despatches Benji Veniamin to take out his old mentor and friend, big Mick. But itﾐs Benji who winds up dead and Mick who lives to tell the tale.

Determined to remove Mario Condello and Lewis Moran, the last two Carlton Crew members free and alive, Carl Williams engages yet another freelance hit man to do the job. Meanwhile, former Carlton man Lew Caine also joins Carlês service, desperate to avenge his best mate Benjiês murder. According to plan, Lewis Moran is killed at his favorite watering hole, but in a case of double and triple cross, Lew Caine meets his maker as well.

While Carl Williams plots to murder Mario Condello, the last man standing, Mario is busy conspiring to kill Carl - unaware that his chosen gunman is a Purana plant. Meanwhile Purana detectives are working hard to convince Carlês former hit team, Mr T and Mr L, now locked up in maximum security, to roll over and testify against him. At the eleventh hour Purana officers led by Steve Owen swoop on Carlês latest crop of hired guns, then Mario, and finally Carl himself. Two murders have been prevented, the conspirators arrested and Carl taken off the street. After nine years the gangland war is over.