anyone have information on the structure of this crime family or maybe a chart ?

The Carlton Crew is an Italian-Australian criminal organisation based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is so called because the members commonly met in Lygon St, Carlton, commonly called "Little Italy".

It was formed in the late 1970s by gangster Alphonse Gangitano and named after the Melbourne suburb in which it is based. The organisation had a strong rivalry with the Honoured Society and the Calabrese Family, both of which were Calabrian 'Ndrangheta groups also based in Melbourne. The Carlton Crew had a strong role in the infamous Melbourne gangland killings.

[edit] HistoryThe group was formed by Alphonse Gangitano and included convicted criminals Graham Kinniburgh, Mick Gatto and Jason Moran.[1] Gangitano had logged several minor arrests in the late 1970s and early 1980s while building a reputation as "The black prince of Lygon Street". Gangitano recruited a score of thugs (mainly of Italian origin) who installed jukeboxes and vending machines in local bars and nightclubs under the threat of violence, then reinvested their profits in drug trafficking.[citation needed]

In 1995, Melbourne police suspected Gangitano in two murders: those of small-time crook Greg Workman (killed at Wando Grove while celebrating a friend's release from prison) and prostitute Deborah Boundy (whose clients included Carlton Crew hitman Christopher Flannery).

On 19 December 1995, Gangitano engaged in a wild melee with Jason Moran and Mark McNamara at a Melbourne nightclub. Prosecutors were still debating various charges against him, when Gangitano's wife found him dead in the laundry room of their Templestowe home on 16 January 1998. Gangitano had been shot several times in the head.

Mick Gatto succeeded Gangitano as head of the group. In June 1999, he was charged with deception for placing 39 bets with a bookie under the pseudonym ('Mick Delgado'). In February 2002, a Royal Commission investigated Gatto on suspicion of accepting $250,000 to 'mediate' labour disputes with the Australian Workers Union.

On 13 December 2003, Kinniburgh was murdered outside his home in Kew.

Carlton Crew member Mario Condello boasted a record of convictions for arson, fraud and drug trafficking. Police also suspected him for multiple murders. In 2005 he was charged with plotting to murder crime boss Carl Williams, who also faced charges of scheming to ambush Condello. A trial for that case was pending when unknown gunmen murdered Condello outside his Brighton home on 6 February 2006. Six hundred mourners attended his funeral, with Mick Gatto serving as a pallbearer.

The Carlton Crew still operates today in Melbourne, and there has been speculation that Mick Gatto still leads it to this day.[citation needed]

There is something I noticed about Australian mob bosses: they often are stupid enough to personally commit murders instead of sending hitmen. That goes for Alphonse Gangitano, Carl Williams, Dennis Allen, Neddy Smith, Tom Domican and Mick Gatto (this one may have been forced by the circumstances though, in case it was really self-defense as he claimed).

That's because they are not "mob" bosses, as such. The Carlton Crew is just that; a small crew of mid level criminals, and all the figures you named operated in groups that are a far cry from the size of even the smallest LCN families. Dennis Allen was a pyschopathic nutcase, Domican was a heroin dealer and Neddy Smith was a heroin dealer with delusions of granduer.

The exception could be William's who personally committed his first murder; after that he farmed them out (which didn't work out to well anyway; two of his hitmen flipped on him and he ended being bashed to death with a metal bar ripped off an exercise machine in prison)

Many Australian media sources like to blow them up and make out like they're so much more than they are/were. In reality, sure there's millionaires amongst them, but they operate on very different plain from "the mafia".

I may cop some flak for this, since even more then a decade after his death there's still a lot of groupies: Gangitano was a joke. He was a private schoolboy who came from a good family, who decided early on he wanted to be a gangster; he spent his life posturing and hanging around guys worlds heavier. The only two murders I can remember him being linked to was Greg Workman, whom he shot over something like a $100 debt at a party surrounded by witnesses (yeah, real tough buddy) and a prostitute he administered a "hot shot" to, and yet his "reputation" preceded him for many years.

By all accounts, Mick Gatto is actually a stand up guy though. Down to earth and media shy (with the exception being his book I, Mick Gatto "setting the record straight" ) Regarding the Veniamen murder, if the official line is to be believed, it was a case of self defence with Veniamen entering the restaurant and confronting him. He claims he wrestled the gun out of his assailants hand, causing Benji to "come off second best", as he put it. Ive never really bought that argument, but Benji Veniamen had a terrible reputation at that time, and was suspected in amny murders himself. He now works as a construction consultant and in company dispute abitration. Which basically means he uses his rep to sort out problems between companies and corporations.

A funny story (IIRC); apparently back in the late '90s, he and Mario Condello fell victim to what was basically an elaborate 411/Nigerian scam. They cut their losses and never spoke of it again.

For the record Furio, a chart of the Carlton Crew would be almost completely horizontal, since despite media reports painting "leaders" there is only the barest semblance of structure. And despite reports of Mick Gatto's leadership, the Carlotn Crew as it operated in the 80's and 90's is allmost completely gone. There are numerous other, more serious players in town who dont care for sitting around in Lygon Street all day. There's a reason Chopper Reed called them "fairy godfathers".

So there's no Australian counterpart to American LCN. I don't mean in accordance with American or Italian Cosa Nostra, but an independent version that's very similar in structure to American/Italian Cosa Nostra. I guess the same with South America. I've always figured that where there's Southern Italian diaspora there's LCN.

Nope, not really. The closest is the Australian based Ndranghta cells, which aren't completely homegrown, though do contain some Australian born members. Though as we all know, there's a big difference between American LCN and Ndrangheta.

Furio, is that article from wikipedia? I only ask because its remarkably inaccurate. There was no real "rivalry" between Carlton Crew members and La Honorata/Ndrina, beyond a mutual knowledge of each other. In fact, the only Carlton Crew member who really had extensive dealings with the Calabrian cells was Mario Condello, who acted as a banker/money launderer for several figures before he was murdered. Also notice zero citations in the article.

Aren't those Ndrangheta crews that are mostly Italianized? You've said some have Australian born criminals with them. Italian-Australian or are they not ethnic Italian?

Sorry for not making it clear. Definitely Italian-Australian, but in some cases Australian born, 2nd-Generation style. Though they are like LCN in that there are associates of all ethnicities.

As far as i know they weren't a crew as such, so there wasn't a structure, they were more a group of loosely connected individuals, all who had there own exploits and business interests, but would occasionally work together.

The "carlton crew" consisted of Mick Gatto, Mario Condello, Lewis Moran and his two sons Jason and Mark, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh and at one point Alphonse Gangitano before he was murdered.

The real underbelly documentary goes into more detail about the story of the melbourne gangland killings, but has unfortunately been taken down from youtube.

I loved season one, great television show

Mick Gatto loses defamation case against ABC over Lawyer X article

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-26/mick-gatto-loses-defamation-case-against-abc/13195386