AAP
Police are investigating whether Melbourne underworld figures ordered the murder of Carl Williams from outside the maximum security Barwon Prison.
Matthew Johnson, 38, was on Thursday convicted by a jury of Williams’ murder.
Victoria Police’s Taskforce Driver is now examining information that suggests criminals on the outside plotted Williams’ murder, suggesting a massive jail security breach, Fairfax reports.
Police are investigating whether Williams was murderedbecause of his knowledge of historical crimes or his sour relations with other criminals, instead of the information he was providing to police about former detective Paul Dale.
Williams told police during his secret dealings with them that Dale had given him $150,000 to pay for the murder of Terrence Hodson, an informer who was planning to give evidence against the detective.
The Justice Department has refused a freedom-of-information request by The Age to release a briefing to the government by Justice Department secretary Penny Armytage which reveals how she and senior officials made the decision to move Williams from isolation to the unit with Johnson.
Williams was kept in the unit even after Johnson and other prisoners knew he was assisting detectives in their investigations of Dale, the newspaper said.
Prisoners who assist police are targeted by other inmates and Williams was also loathed and feared by many for organising multiple gangland killings and because of the information he had, the report said.
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