A Tale of Two Cities (32 page)

Once, after drinking too many bourbon and cokes, Williams told Willgoss there was another job where Flannery had ‘lashed' him. He said he was supposed to get $10,000 for killing a man as part of the Wilson deal but he was paid only $2000. ‘Kevin went on and said that he wasn't going to kill the fellow for a lousy grand so he stabbed him in the neck.'

He said Kevin said, ‘I watched him for a couple of nights. This night he came home, put his car in the garage and walked down to shut the gates. I jumped him and stabbed him in the neck a few times. He was fighting me off. He was pretty strong and I took off down the road.'

Bank executive Timothy Marcus Clarke was stabbed outside his Toorak home in Melbourne as he went to shut the gates to his property. The date was 28 January 1980 – just days before Wilson went missing.

THE woman at the counter of the Collins Street Bank of New South Wales was one of those demanding types who didn't understand the value of paperwork or the patience for process.

She arrived with a cheque for $12,800 from Falkiner Holdings (the company Clarkson was trying to take over) and wanted it processed quickly. She was breathless and talking quickly. She was, she explained, trying to organise a last minute trip to America.

It was nearly closing time on 29 February – more than four weeks after Wilson had gone missing. She wanted $6000 in US traveller's cheques for the trip and she wanted them immediately. One of the tellers remembered that the pushy woman was in a hurry: ‘I went to my desk to get the cheques and I noticed the man and woman kissing at the counter. She was excited and appeared to be in a great hurry.'

So much so that she took the paper work from the teller and tried to complete it herself. She was in a rush because she wanted to go to the nearby Pan Am office to book their tickets.

The cheques were issued – half under the name Kathleen Mary Flannery and the other under Tom Banjanin – Chris's alias.

The couple flew to America via Tahiti on 3 March and returned 21 March. There were other signs of wealth: a few days after Wilson went missing Flannery had bought himself a sports car.

And according to Debra Boundy, just days before Wilson went missing Kath bought some new jewellery – including a gold chain with a gold coin attached for her husband.

Beats thirty pieces of silver.

FOR some time Flannery appeared to be living beyond the means of a nightclub bouncer. Many wondered how he found the money to become a shareholder in Mickey's Disco.

The manager of Falkiner Holdings – the subject of Clarkson's takeover target – was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the corporate raider's methods.

Business deals went sour, money taken from the business on supposedly legitimate pretences was not returned and Clarkson was beginning to behave more like a CIA operative than a company director.

The manager recalls that Clarkson wanted to place his own industrial spy, a man known as Chris Owen, inside the company's Brisbane factory.

Later, at a local hotel, Owen told the manager he had worked for the mysterious businessman on several jobs and ‘that Clarkson had helped him to establish a big nightclub in Melbourne.'

Chris ‘Owen' was Chris Flannery.

When it became clear that Clarkson and the Flannerys were being investigated for murder, they attempted to set up a paper trail to make the money paid for the hit on Wilson look as if it had come from legitimate business transactions but fraud squad detectives were able to show the documents were falsified.

In July 1980 Clarkson was arrested and Flannery went to ground. When he was finally arrested in Geelong on 24 August he tried to bluff his way out.

‘Christ, we were only out for a Sunday drive. We are not criminals, are we? You are treating us like it,' he blustered to police.

He at first gave his name as Mark Philip Jones. When police asked if his real name was Christopher Dale Flannery he responded, ‘Never heard of him.'

Back in the police station he had one more roll of the dice. While being searched he claimed to be ill. ‘I'm nervous – I think I'm going to be sick. I'm gonna spew,' he told police.

But while in the police station toilet, something other than carrots came up. A revolver.

Police saw the gun he was hiding down his pants before Flannery could wrap a finger around the trigger and they managed to wrestle it from him.

He was charged with murder later that day. Eventually, four would be charged. Clarkson, the Flannerys and Williams.

Murder cases without a body were always notoriously difficult to solve and the people accused of killing Wilson were desperate to leave an impression the victim was very much alive.

They spread stories that he was having an affair and left Australia for America with $250,000 and his mistress by using a false passport made out under his mother's maiden name of Stewart.

Mischievously, one of the defence lawyers placed a large newspaper ad in a Melbourne paper accompanied by a photo of Wilson that read, ‘Roger, no need to hide any more. Contact me. Tony.'

Police had a compelling list of witnesses that could prove Wilson feared for his life, that Clarkson had threatened him and that the Flannerys had been mysteriously paid for something following the disappearance.

But the star witness was clearly Debra Boundy. She made a statement (which she later refused to swear to in court) that she was present during the planning, was told by Flannery they were going to kill a man and saw them leave and return.

While other witnesses could recall damaging details, Boundy was the one who was inside the alleged killers' camp during the act.

If she stood up in court, police believed they were home. So when Boundy walked into the coroner's court and winked and curtsied to Williams, detectives knew they were in trouble.

While still in court she said to Williams, ‘Hello Sweetie' and then passionately kissed him.

She said she wanted to marry Williams and have his children, declared she did not make the signed statements over the Wilson murder and that she had no knowledge that could help the inquest.

She complained about police protection, saying it was if she were under ‘house arrest.'

‘They think I might abscond or that something else might happen to me.'

She asked for the protection to be removed and police reluctantly agreed. During the inquest, Boundy was charged with perjury and given bail.

But even without her evidence the three men were committed for trial on 17 November 1980. The murder charge against Kath was dropped but she was immediately recharged with being an accessory after the fact.

She, like Boundy, was given bail. But the accused three knew that police had ‘turned' Williams' girlfriend once. What if she turned again?

On Christmas Day, Boundy had lunch with her parents, reported for bail at the Collingwood police station and then slipped over to a Richmond pub for drinks.

She didn't expect to stay long as she had only $13 and was expected home for dinner with her sister about 6.30pm. She has never been seen since.

Police initially believed she had fled to avoid giving evidence. The theory gained credence after her father received a letter written in her hand and posted 28 December. It read, ‘Dad, sorry to leave you this way. Pressure too much. I know what you and mum have done for me. I'll get in touch, ring or write to you. Love Deb'.

The grief-stricken father said ‘At least she's safe – for the time being … It's hard to believe she's done this to me.'

The truth was: she hadn't.

Although police ended up putting Debra Boundy on the top ten wanted list, she was gone forever.

What really happened was someone she knew well lured her from the Royal Oak Hotel in Richmond then forced or tricked her into writing the letter. And then she was murdered.

But who was the killer?

The chief investigator in the case, Frank Bellesini, says one name was nominated as the gunman. ‘Alphonse Gangitano.'

On 22 October 1981, after Victoria's longest murder trial, the three men were acquitted and so in the eyes of the law Mark Alfred Clarkson was an innocent man. The evidence of a policeman's wife who swore she had sold Wilson a raffle ticket in Lakes Entrance the day after he went missing did not help the case.

There were hugs and tears. But Flannery's joy was short-lived. He was immediately re-arrested for the murder of massage parlour boss Raymond ‘Lizard' Locksley.

The trial would take him back to New South Wales to play out the final scene in his life, which would prove nasty, brutish and short.

Top: Ray Chuck (a.k.a. Bennett), the Great Bookie Robber, executed at Melbourne Magistrates Court in 1979. Middle: Laurie Prendergast, who helped Bennett and Vinnie Mikkelsen (police sketch below) allegedly kill Les Kane in 1978.