Dino Dibra was just 25 years old when he was shot dead outside his Sunshine West home. Picture: HWT library Source: HeraldSun
THE name Sunshine Crew sounds like a pretty good name for a teenage boy band.
But this mob of mostly western suburbs boys were a long way from New Kids on the Block.
They were volatile, ruthless and hungry for an easy dollar.
And many ended up with another thing in common - a violent death.
Through the 1990s, they were a major issue for police on their side of the West Gate and weren't afraid to cross the bridge looking for trouble.
Dino Dibra took inspiration from a string of Hollywood movies, such as Scarface (featuring Al Pacino - pictured), Reservoir Dogs, Casino and Pulp fiction. Picture: Universal Studios
Much of what happened back then seemed to be in orbit around drug-dealing Dino Dibra, a gun-toting extrovert who, from childhood, was destined for big trouble.
He was mate, accomplice of both to players such as Andrew Veniamin, Paul Kallipolitis, Rocco Arico, Michael Dewhirst, Mark Morrison and Terrence Chimirri.
For years, Dibra and Veniamin were particularly close and shared a mutual association with Carl Williams.
One detective who investigated both said Dibra, for all his criminal ways, was not seen as a huge problem until, in the mid-1990s, he "crossed the line" and threatened to kill police.
Paul Kallipolitis and Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin were mates before Benji is suspected of shooting him dead.
"He had an ego and a keen sense of humour. Nothing would faze him," the officer said.
"He constantly referred to himself as pretty. He wasn't the worst or the most dangerous of them."
As Dibra himself once told the Herald Sun: "Mate, I've just watched Reservoir Dogs too many times.''
Veniamin, who was to become Melbourne's leading gangland assassin, was a more menacing proposition
Rocco Arico was associated with the Sunshine Crew. Picture: Lisa Nolan
"You could always get that sense of nastiness with Veniamin," the detective said.
"He had an edge that made you know he'd go on to bigger things."
That edge was to bring Dibra and another of their mates, Paul Kallipolitis, undone.
'Mate, I've just watched Reservoir Dogs too many times,' Dino Dibra told the Herald Sun.
Dibra had already survived one shooting but there were to be no second chances at Krambruk St, West Sunshine, on October 16, 2000,
Kallipolitis, 32, is suspected of being part of the Dibra killing, but he would ultimately come to grief at the end of Veniamin's gun.
A violent drug dealer, Kallipolitis was known for extreme violence and had served jail time for the 1994 manslaughter of former wrestling champion Mark Anthony Walker.
He had been due to face an affray charge after a violent incident at Footscray but was found shot dead in his bed in West Sunshine in 2002.
Carl Williams carried the coffin of Andrew Veniamin after he was shot dead by underworld figure Mick Gatto in self defence. Picture: Craig Borrow
At the time of his death, Dibra was awaiting trial over a shooting at the Dome Nightclub in which a crowd controller was seriously injured.
The investigation into that incident led to Dibra's arrest with Chimirri and Arico over the kidnapping of a man in an Ardeer street in August. 1999.
Phone and video surveillance installed as part of the Dome job was vital in the later kidnapping prosecution, in which Arico and Chimirri pleaded guilty to having tried to extract $5000 from the victim's family after grabbing him off the street and bundling him into the boot of a car.
Years later, Chimirri was allegedly intended to have become a victim of Melbourne's gangland wars.
Michael Dewhirst, one of the Sunshine Crew, met his demise at the wrong end of a knife in 2006. Picture: HWT library
An informer told police of 2004 plans to have Chimirri murdered as part of a lot to kill Williams and his father George.
Chimirri had taken over as the bodyguard for Carl Williams after the death of Veniamin.
Veniamin himself was shot dead by Mick Gatto, who later beat a murder charge with a successful self-defence plea.
Arico, who was once also an old pal of Dibra, is now a successful businessman who was investigated over the murder of Richard Mladenich, a former bodyguard of Williams.
The murder of Richard Mladenich, who acted as Carl Williams' bodyguard, remains unsolved. Picture: Supplied
It has been suggested the relationship between the unpredictable Mladenich and Williams had deteriorated in the period before he was shot dead at the Esquire Hotel in May, 2000.
His death is considered significant enough to have prompted police to post a $1 million reward for anyone able to help secure a conviction.
One theory is that the demise of Williams, who was murdered in Barwon Prison in 2010, is linked to what happened to Mladenich.
The death of Dewhirst - another Dibra mate with his own long history of violence and drug offences - never generated the headlines of many of the others.
Dominic Gatto meets Mario Condello, Sunshine Crew member Andrew Veniamin and Carl Williams at Crown Casino. Picture: HWT library
He was fatally stabbed in a Melton street in 2006, having served a year in jail for his part in the Dome nightclub shooting fracas.
The former Footscray reserves player's criminal background of assaults and weapons offences went back as far as doing time at the old Pentridge Prison.
As a police officer said on the day of Dewhirst's death: "He was a street criminal who got tied up with the wrong crew - and a lot of those blokes are dead now."
Dewhirst, Dibra and Morrison were the target of a major 1999 police operation looking into their activities.
The three were allegedly connected to a house in Peter Chanel Court, Deer Park, where cannabis was being grown and guns and stolen cars stored.
Morrison had an extensive history of crime and had done jail time for deliberately running over police officer Darren Matters and killing him in 1994.
A police report once noted of Morrison: "He appeared to be a surly, hateful person who oozes contempt for any type of authority."
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