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In a first-person essay published by PerthNow on 11 October 2009, Mick Gatto recalled his friendship with Alphonse Gangitano, a partnership in baccarat that soured, and an incident that persuaded him to keep his distance. The account is valuable as Gatto’s personal recollection, not as an independent investigation of Gangitano’s life or crimes.
What Gatto recalled about his relationship with Gangitano
Gatto wrote that he and Gangitano socialised and were friends. He said they went into baccarat together in the early 1980s, but described the arrangement as a failure and said he avoided further business with Gangitano afterward. Those details come from Gatto’s account in the PerthNow essay.
Gatto also portrayed Gangitano as becoming increasingly volatile. He said a night out that nearly ended in a fatal shooting led him to maintain his distance. The essay recounts Gatto’s perspective and does not establish every detail independently.
Which incident was hearsay in Gatto’s account?
In recounting an incident at Bunny’s, Gatto said he had not been present and was relating what he had been told. That distinction matters: it is a second-hand story within his essay, not a firsthand observation by Gatto. The article also discusses Gangitano’s alleged cocaine use and violence; those descriptions should be understood as Gatto’s claims, not as a verified diagnosis or comprehensive record.
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How Gangitano’s killing fits the gangland-war timeline
The State Library of Victoria’s account of the Melbourne Gangland War describes a series of “tit-for-tat” murders resulting in 27 deaths. It dates the beginning to Gangitano’s 1998 killing and the end of the period to the 2006 killing of Mario Condello. The library page does not state the year in which it was published.
In an ABC News report published 5 September 2026, the outlet said many see Gangitano’s 1998 murder as the start of the gangland wars, and reported that Gatto described him as a childhood friend. That provides a more recent framing of the event, but it does not resolve who killed Gangitano or why.
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What the essay does—and does not—establish
The PerthNow piece is chiefly a personal account of friendship, gambling and Gatto’s reasons for stepping back. It is not, by itself, proof of the allegations or anecdotes it recounts. The sources cited here do not establish the perpetrator or motive for Gangitano’s killing, so neither should be inferred from Gatto’s recollections or from the fact that the killing is often treated as the start of the gangland-war period.
Readers looking for a longer account in Gatto’s own voice can consult Melbourne University Publishing’s listing for I, Mick Gatto, written by Mick Gatto and Tom Noble. It is Gatto’s book, not independent verification of the 2009 essay’s claims.
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