Pettingill family

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Kath Pettingill

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption = Kath Pettingill, as seen on the cover of her biography, The Matriarch: The Kathy Pettingill Story

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alias = Granny Evil

| charge =

| conviction = Drug trafficking

| conviction_penalty =

| conviction_status =

| occupation = Brothel owner

| spouse =

| parents =

| children = 10

}}

{{main|Kath Pettingill}}

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Dennis Allen

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption = Dennis Bruce Allen

| birth_date = 7 November 1951

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|4|13|1951|11|7|df=y}}

| death_place =

| alias = Mr. Death, Mr. D

| charge =

| conviction = Rape

| conviction_penalty = 10 years imprisonment

| conviction_status = Died of heart failure

| occupation =

| spouse =

| parents = Kath Pettingill

| children = 3

}}

{{Main|Dennis Allen (criminal)}}

Dennis Allen (nicknamed Mr. Death or Mr. D) was the oldest son of Kath Pettingill. Allen was sentenced during the 1970s to a ten-year prison sentence for rape and was reported to have been a major player in drug dealing in the Richmond and South Yarra areas during the 1980s.{{cite journal |first = Adam |last = Shand |date = 24 February 2004 | title = Cast of characters; The main Melbourne crime factions and their most prominent members | journal = The Bulletin | volume = 122 | issue = 8}}

Allen was alleged to have ordered or carried out the deaths of 15 people. Allen died of heart failure in 1987 while in prison custody awaiting trial for murder.{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/02/1019441412194.html |title=Brace for more gangland shootings, police warn |author1=Munroe, Ian |author2=Butcher, Steve |date=3 May 2002 |work=The Age |accessdate=2 July 2010 |location=Melbourne}}

Police officer Roger Rogerson received his first criminal conviction in 1985 for involvement in drug trafficking when he was charged with conspiring with Allen to import heroin.[http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/13/1068674315360.html?from=storyrhs Jolly Rogerson], Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 2003

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Peter Allen

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|1|25|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_place =

| alias =

| charge =

| conviction = Armed robbery, assault, drug dealing, drug trafficking

| conviction_penalty =

| conviction_status = Still alive

| occupation =

| spouse =

| parents = Kath Pettingill

| children = 3

}}

Peter Allen is the second oldest son of Kath Pettingill. He has spent 28 years in prison. He is a violent armed robber and has a long list of assault charges. He ran a heroin empire which allowed him to purchase a mansion in Lower Templestowe. This was later taken from him due to the Proceeds of Crime act. He continued to deal heroin in jail.

He is very skilled in court and is the jailhouse lawyer of the family. He was released from prison in 2002 after serving time for an armed robbery conviction.

First born daughter and third child of Kath Pettingill. Born in 1954.

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Victor Peirce

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption = Victor George Peirce

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1958|11|11|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|5|1|1958|1|11|df=y}}

| death_place = Port Melbourne, Victoria

| alias =

| charge =

| conviction = Drug trafficking

| conviction_penalty = 6 years imprisonment

| conviction_status = Murdered

| occupation = Waterside worker

| spouse = Wendy Peirce

| parents = Kath Pettingill

| children = 5 (Christopher Peirce born 1976, Victor Peirce Jnr born 1978, Katie Peirce born 1985–2009, Mathew Peirce born 1989 and Vinnie Peirce born 1992)

}}

{{main|Victor Peirce}}

Victor George Peirce was the sixth child of Kath Pettingill. Together with his de facto partner, Wendy Peirce, he fathered five children. He was convicted for drug trafficking and served a six-year prison sentence during the 1990s.[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/02/1019441412355.html "Victor Peirce dies the way his mother predicted"], The Age, 3 May 2002 He once worked as a bodyguard for murdered businessman Frank Benvenuto.

Victor Peirce was murdered in Bay St, Port Melbourne, whilst parked outside a supermarket on 1 May 2002. It would later be alleged in court by barrister and Queen's Counsel Robert Richter that the now-deceased contract killer Andrew Veniamin had murdered Peirce.[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/02/1019441412355.html Andrew Veniamin shot dead Victor Peirce, court told], Herald Sun, 11 March 2008 Veniamin was shot and killed during an argument in 2004 with Mick Gatto in a Carlton restaurant.

Wendy Peirce was the de facto partner of Victor Peirce. The couple never married but produced four children from their long-term relationship.

She entered witness protection for 18 months, estimated to have cost approximately $2million. At trial, she refused to give evidence against the accused, and all men were later acquitted. In October 2005, Wendy Peirce gave a media interview detailing how her husband planned and carried out the Walsh Street police shootings[http://www.theage.com.au/news/crime--corruption/why-i-lied-to-protect-the-walsh-street-killers/2005/09/30/1127804661493.html "Why I lied to protect the Walsh Street killers"], The Age, 1 October 2005 for which he was charged and later acquitted.

In September 2008 Wendy Peirce was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to threatening and stalking former lovers of her ex-partner Victor who was murdered in 2002 during Melbourne's underworld war. The threats included using Facebook to make death threats.{{cite news|url=http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/631600/wendy-peirce-sentenced-to-six-months|title=Wendy Peirce sentenced to six months|last=Nolan|first=Kellee|date=15 September 2008|work=Ninemsn|accessdate=14 December 2009|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713233600/http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/631600/wendy-peirce-sentenced-to-six-months|archive-date=13 July 2012|url-status=dead}}

On 15 December 2009, Wendy and Victor Peirce's 24-year-old daughter, Katie Peirce, was found dead in her home in Greensborough.{{cite news|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/gangland-daughter-katie-peirce-found-dead-20091215-ksts.html|title=Gangland daughter Katie Peirce found dead|last=Butcher|first=Steve|date=15 December 2009|work=Brisbane Times|accessdate=15 December 2009}} At the time of her death, she and her mother were on bail for an incident at the Clare Castle Hotel in Port Melbourne on 28 March 2009, when Mark Lohse, a regular patron at the hotel, was attacked with a meat cleaver and left seriously injured with a deep and long gash across his face, three fractures to his jaw, broken teeth and facial nerve damage.{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/daughter-of-gangland-widow-wendy-peirce-in-bitter-love-feud/story-e6frf7kx-1225716682243|title=Daughter of gangland widow Wendy Peirce in bitter love feud |last=Andrerson|first=Paul|date= 27 May 2009|work=Herald Sun|accessdate=15 December 2009}} Police allege that Wendy and Katie Peirce and a third woman agreed to pay Tong Yang A$200 to assault Robert Sales, the father of a woman who was dating Katie Peirce's ex-boyfriend.{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/tong-yang-pleads-guilty-over-meat-cleaver-attack-on-mark-lohse/story-0-1225744104270 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906165029/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/tong-yang-pleads-guilty-over-meat-cleaver-attack-on-mark-lohse/story-0-1225744104270 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2012 |title=Tong Yang pleads guilty over meat cleaver attack on Mark Lohse |last=Anderson |first=Paul |date=30 June 2009 |work=Herald Sun |accessdate=14 December 2009 }} Sales had been sitting one table away from where the assault occurred but was outside having a cigarette at the time of the assault,{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/smoke-saved-me-from-meat-cleaver/story-e6frf7l6-1225796223846|title=Smoke saved me from meat cleaver|last=AAP|date=10 November 2009|work=Herald Sun|accessdate=14 December 2009}} and in a case of mistaken identity Mark Lohse was hacked across the face with the meat cleaver. Senior County Court judge Geoff Chettle said at the plea hearing the incident was "the worst example of intentionally causing serious injury he has seen."{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/katie-peirce-daughter-of-hitman-victor-peirce-found-dead-at-home-of-suspected-drug-overdose/story-e6frf7kx-1225810505690|title=Katie Peirce, daughter of hitman Victor Peirce found dead at home of suspected drug overdose |last=Butler|first=Mark|date=15 December 2009|work=Herald Sun|accessdate=14 December 2009}} Tong Yang pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally causing serious injury, but Katie and Wendy Peirce both pleaded not guilty to charges that included attempted murder and intentionally causing serious injury. Katie was bailed pending a committal hearing which had only been partly heard at the time of her death.{{cite news|url=http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/gangland-widows-daughter-dies-20091215-kt4a.html|title=Gangland widow's daughter dies|last=Iaria|first=Melissa|date=15 December 2009|work=The Age|accessdate=15 December 2009|location=Melbourne}} Wendy Peirce's lawyer said he had spoken to her on the phone on 15 December 2009 to inform her of her daughter's death and would apply to the prison for permission allowing her to attend the funeral.{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/katie-peirce-daughter-of-hitman-victor-peirce-found-dead-at-home-of-suspected-drug-overdose/story-e6frf7kx-1225810505690|title=Katie Peirce, daughter of Wendy Peirce and hitman Victor Peirce, found dead at home after suspected drug overdose|last=Butler|first=Mark|date=15 December 2009|work=Herald Sun|accessdate=15 December 2009}}

Lex Peirce (born 1960) is the seventh child and fifth son of Kath Pettingill and has a minor criminal record.

Ninth child of Kath Pettingill. Born 1963. Died of a heroin overdose in 1985 aged 21. Was alleged to have been involved in an armed robbery in Clifton Hill.

Trevor Pettingill is the tenth and last child of Kath Pettingill, born in 1965. He has a history involving drugs and burglaries. He has multiple convictions for firearms and drug-related offences, and has served several jail terms. He has been described as a "career criminal".{{cite web |url=http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1054865 |title=Melbourne crime figure's son guilty |date=20 May 2010 |work=Ninemsn |accessdate=2 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224222629/http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1054865 |archivedate=24 February 2011}}

Pettingill was charged and acquitted over the Walsh Street police murders.

Trevor's son Jamie Pettingill had two criminal convictions including one for assault.{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/melbourne-crime-figures-son-jamie-pettingill-guilty-over-assault/story-e6frfku0-1225869171131 |title=Melbourne crime figure's son Jamie Pettingill guilty over assault |date=20 May 2010 |work=News Limited |accessdate=2 July 2010}}

Members of the family, their associates and real life exploits, have been depicted in multiple media works.

These include television docudramas like the series Underbelly and the 2009 miniseries Killing Time, and fictionalised versions of family members, which have been the basis for key characters in:

• Two Australian TV series: Janus and Phoenix
• The Australian film Animal Kingdom (2010)
• Stephen Sewell's novel, Animal Kingdom, A Crime Story (2010), based on the 2010 Australian film
• The US television series Animal Kingdom, based on the eponymous 2010 Australian film, albeit with the setting transposed to Southern California

The Pettingills were also featured in the fourth episode of season one of the Netflix original Drug Lords.

{{reflist}}

{{Pettingill family}}

Category:Australian families

Category:Crime families

Category:Organised crime in Melbourne

Category:Organised crime groups in Australia