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suspended sentence persuaded him to plea to the extra three murders but the final decision was always going to be Justice King’s, as Williams senior would find out many months later.
    While the Crown honoured its end of the ‘bargain’ by not pushing for a jail sentence for George in late 2007, Justice King would reject the sweetheart deal and sentence him to a minimum twenty months prison, regardless of his heart condition.
    But that would be later. Meanwhile, it was Carl’s big day in court. According to an insider, he began to waver as his mother begged him to change his mind. The observer said the deal was ‘within a hair’s breadth’ of collapsing. ‘If we had lost him then maybe we would have lost him forever.’ But the court convened in front of Justice King and three times Williams ‘nodded’ — admitting his guilt. A decision that saved millions of dollars in trial costs and sent a message to the underworld that no-one was above the law.
    Before Williams would agree to any deal he wanted to pass a message to a man on the outside. He desperately wanted him to know that no matter what, he wished him no harm. That man was Mick Gatto.
Postscript
    * The Runner, The Lieutenant and The Driver cannot be identified by name as they have been given protected witness status. All are in jail.
    * Williams’ cousin, Michael Thorneycroft, 32, also became a protected witness but he couldn’t use his second chance in life. The first to turn on Williams and tell police he was prepared to give evidence, Thorneycroft was arrested with three others on 9 June2004 and charged with conspiracy to murder Mario Condello. He soon agreed to plead guilty and make a prosecution statement. In return he was given a three-year suspended sentence.
    He was offered a new identity but decided to live with his mother in Melbourne’s east and although he was given a new name he always knew that Williams could have reached out if he wished.
    Police urged him to move and start a new life but he told them he was determined to stay in the area where he lived and maintain a low profile.
    He sought and received assurances from a Williams relative that there would be no payback.
    Thorneycroft returned to playing suburban football under his new name but lost his battle with drug addiction.
    He was found dead in his Boronia home in May 2007 of a suspected drug overdose. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.
    * Phil Swindells has been promoted to inspector and works in the Ethical Standards Department. Andrew Allen was promoted to Superintendent and became officer in charge of Geelong police before transferring to Ballarat. Detective Inspector Jim O’Brien was appointed head of Purana. He masterminded the destruction of the Mokbel drug syndicate and retired shortly after Tony Mokbel was arrested. Detective Inspector Gavan Ryan was picked to head a taskforce into the Hodson murders before returning to run Purana and in 2007 was awarded the Australia Police Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
    Stuart Bateson was promoted to work as a crime strategy expert and Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland was promoted to Deputy Commissioner.
    * Members of the Purana taskforce, initial homicide investigators, Special Operations Group, bugging experts and surveillance police received commendation awards from Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon at a private dinner in 2006.
    Ryan sang a duet with Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon and the police show band at the function, proving beyond reasonable doubt he is a better detective than nightclub crooner.
    * Mick Gatto lost 30 kilograms while in jail. On his release he put the weight back on and runs his successful crane company. His portrait has been painted for the Archibald Prize.
    * Roberta Williams split from Carl Williams and was seeing someone else. She says she considered converting to Islam and was dubbed for a short time ‘Roberka’.