Gatto takes on the ABC

MELBOURNE underworld figure Mick Gatto claims he’s been defamed by the ABC and has launched legal action against the national broadcaster.

Mr Gatto yesterday said the matter was before the courts and “I can’t elaborate”, but the case is understood to stem from a February report published online in connection with Melbourne’s gangland ‘Lawyer X’ scandal. The news report was based on a 2016 police affidavit.

On February 12 Mr Gatto’s lawyer issued a statement denying his client had ever threatened to kill Lawyer X, also known as “informer 3838”, subsequently revealed as criminal lawyer Nicola Gobbo.

The statement also denied involvement in the deaths of drug trafficker Victor Peirce and grocer Frank Benvenuto.