Fall of The Godmother: An Australian murder mystery

After another member of her gangland clan was murdered, Judy Moran, queen of the Melbourne mafia, delivered a public show of grief – then, in a twist worthy of mob fiction, she was arrested

Judy Moran was the archetypal gangland matriarch, blonde and glamorous, always immaculately turned out when grieving at her male relatives' funerals. Two husbands and two sons met violent deaths, and when her brother-in-law, Desmond "Tuppence" Moran, was shot dead in a Melbourne cafe this week, she was one of the first at the scene, wailing, "Dessy, Dessy".

Desmond Moran's killing seemed to herald the resurgence of a long-running underworld war that claimed more than 30 lives in Melbourne between 1998 and 2006. But yesterday it was his sister-in-law, Judy, who was behind bars, charged with being an accessory to his murder, in a twist that Australian police described as "stranger than fiction".

Detectives claim the 64-year-old disposed of the getaway car used by two balaclava-clad men who gunned down Moran in the doorway of his local coffee shop on Monday. A pair of white knitted gloves that she allegedly wore were later found discarded in bushes. A search of her home uncovered three handguns and a loaded rifle, concealed under cushions.

Also charged yesterday were Suzanne Kane, the sister-in-law of Judy's son, Jason, and Kane's boyfriend, Geoffrey "Nuts" Amour. Jason, a notorious gangster, was shot dead in 2003 as he sat in a van, watching a children's football training session. Jason's half-brother, Mark, another feared underworld figure, was killed in 2000 outside his home. Their father, Lewis, was murdered in a Melbourne bar in 2004.

The Morans were among several rival families involved in a bitter turf war over drugs and organised crime, which saw many of the male protagonists killed in tit-for-tat hits. One leading mobster, baby-faced Carl Williams, who headed a gang called the Carlton Crew (Carlton is Melbourne's main Italian neighbourhood), is serving a life sentence for three murders, including those of Lewis and Jason Moran.

The decade-long underworld feud, which has inspired a best-selling book and high-rating television series, Underbelly, was believed to have ended when Williams was jailed in 2007. So there was widespread shock this week when Des Moran, Lewis's brother, was killed on a busy shopping strip in front of horrified passers-by, after drinking his customary cup of coffee in the Ascot Pasta and Deli Café.

Des, 61, was regarded as an unlikely target. Jailed in the 1980s for manufacturing amphetamines, he subsequently kept a low profile, and reportedly disapproved of the exploits of his nephews, Jason and Mark. The last surviving male Moran, he was "the least public and most liked of the crime clan ... too popular and too harmless to be placed on any hit list," according to John Silvester, one of the Underbelly writers and a Melbourne journalist.

Someone didn't like him, though. In March, a shot was fired at his Mercedes Benz while it was parked in the driveway of his home in Ascot Vale, a neighbourhood of neat bungalows and latticed verandahs. The bullet hit the steering wheel, missing the driver. Moran, who had been drinking, was in the passenger seat.

Judy Moran, whose first husband, Les Cole, also died in a gangland hit, claimed to be worried by the attempt on Des's life. "I feel quite sick, quite ill," she said at the time. "I don't know what to think. I'm worried about myself now."

The reality, according to those in the know, was that she and Des had detested each other for years. He blamed her for a jail sentence he received for interfering with a court case; she resented his failure to give her financial support. Des and Lewis had inherited the family home, but Lewis's share was claimed by the state, under proceeds of crime legislation, after he died.

The Moran family matriarch was picked up by police on Monday night while walking home, allegedly after leaving the getaway car, a Ford Fairlane, in a northern Melbourne suburb. A self-loading rifle and gun case were found in the back of the sedan. At Moran's home, as well as firearms, police say they discovered in a hidden safe, a wig, stolen car licence plates and clothing similar to that worn by the gunmen.

Detectives also claim to have tapped telephone conversations in which Moran and Suzanne Kane told Geoffrey Amour they had disposed of or hidden incriminating items. Kane, whose father, Les, and uncle, Brian, were killed in underworld hits, has been charged with being an accessory to Des Moran's killing, Amour with murder. All three were refused bail.

At her court hearing on Tuesday night, the usually flamboyant Moran was scruffily dressed in purple tracksuit trousers, a black fluffy top and large, black-rimmed sunglasses; she hobbled into the room clutching a plastic walking cane. It was a far cry from her usual public appearances, in which she clearly relished the role of celebrity mafia widow.

Moran, whose tastes include champagne and beluga caviar, traded on her notoriety, giving colourful interviews in which she portrayed her family as innocent victims of gangland violence. During one television interview, according to The Age newspaper in Melbourne, "an astute observer noticed that several items, including an expensive vase in the background, had been stolen to order".

Moran, a former dancer dedicated her autobiography, My Story, to "my personal friend and hairdresser, Lena, thank you for all the hairstyles you created for me for the funerals of all my family. Also Eve from Vis-à-vis Exclusive Imports for helping me to choose clothes at a very difficult time."

Yesterday morning, following news of Moran's arrest, her house was firebombed and seriously damaged. Melbourne police chief Simon Overland said: "Fact is almost stranger than fiction, with what we've seen. If you were a scriptwriter and sat down and wrote this stuff, you'd probably say, 'Look, no, it's a bit far-fetched, no one will believe it'."