More than a decade on, Melbourne’s underworld war continues to play out in court.

A jury has been told that Carl Williams arranged the murder of fellow Melbourne underworld figure Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh only because his plan to kill Lewis Moran was going nowhere.

Williams hated Moran, his family and his associates, a Victorian Supreme Court trial heard on Tuesday.

Unhappy at excuses and a lack of action from two alleged hitmen he’d hired to kill Moran, Williams told the pair if they couldn’t kill Moran, they should murder Moran’s close friend Kinniburgh instead.

The murder featured in the first Underbelly television series, which focused on the Melbourne gangland killings between 1995 and 2004.

Stephen John Asling, 56, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kinniburgh, 62, in December, 2003.

Prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said Asling and another man, the late Terrence Blewitt, ambushed Kinniburgh about midnight as he arrived at his Kew home.

Kinniburgh was shot three times by two guns as he got out of his car. He had fired his own pistol in defence.

Mr Tinney said Asling and Blewitt had agreed to take on the $150,000 contract offered by Williams to execute “The Munster”.

Williams himself was later murdered in jail in 2010 while serving time for the murders of Lewis Moran in 2004 and Jason Moran in 2003.

Williams met with Asling and Blewitt in a series of meetings and agreed to offer a down payment and provide guns.

He supplied a bag to the accused containing speed, two guns and $20,000 cash, the jury heard.

It was agreed Asling would be the shooter, and witnesses at the trial would allege Asling admitted to the killing, Mr Tinney said.

One would testify that Asling talked about how a true crime book named him a suspect in Kinniburgh’s murder and he allegedly said he had never been charged, adding: “I never got pinched for this because I’m the best sneako”.

“They think I did it, but they don’t have any proof,” Asling allegedly told the witness.

Mr Tinney said four people – Asling, Blewitt, Williams and another man – were all involved in the joint criminal enterprise to kill “The Munster”.

Blewitt told the same witness only a portion of the agreed contract fee had been paid and they were having trouble getting Williams to pay the whole amount.

Defence barrister Michael O’Connell SC said his client denied anything to do with the murder and questioned the credibility of the witnesses implicating him.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

 
– AAP