A close friend of Melbourne crime figure Lewis Moran reportedly confessed on his deathbed to his role in the pivotal underworld murder of gangster Alphonse Gangitano.
Bert Wrout, who was wounded when his mate Moran was shot dead in a bar in 2004 at the height of Melbourne's gangland wars, died after a long illness last month.
The Herald Sun reports that before his death, Wrout confessed to giving Moran the gun, which Moran's stepson, Mark, then used to fatally shoot Gangitano.
The gun was later handed back to Wrout, according to the report, and Wrout claimed it was Mark Moran not his half-brother Jason who went to Gangitano's home.
Moran decided Gangitano, aka "The Black Prince of Lygon Street", had to be killed in 1998 because he was "going silly on cocaine" and "screaming" about a debt, Wrout reportedly said.
It is generally accepted that Melbourne's gangland wars began with the killing of Gangitano, who was the front man for the notorious Carlton Crew, in the laundry of his home.
No one was charged over his death, although a coroner believed Jason Moran and fellow gangster Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh had been in his home on the night.
