Cops linked to underworld murder in Melbourne


September 14th 2007- Channel 7 news A senior Victorian detective is under investigation over his alleged ties to a contract killing carried out by a notorious underworld hitman at the height of the gangland war. The hitman has told a secret police taskforce that Detective Sergeant Peter Lalor gave him the address of his target, male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott, an investigation by The Age has found. Chartres-Abbott was shot dead outside his Reservoir home in June 2003. It is believed his killing was ordered by crime figures to avenge the rape of one of his clients. The hitman has also alleged that Detective Sergeant Lalor, in an attempt to confuse homicide officers, arrested him for unrelated crimes on the afternoon of the murder. The Age has confirmed that Detective Sergeant Lalor arrested the hitman for driving offences at Prahran police station eight hours after the killing. The taskforce, codenamed Briar, is also investigating ex-detective David Waters, who the hitman claims was aware of the murder plan. The hitman claims that he, Waters and Lalor met at a Carlton hotel a few weeks before Chartres-Abbott was killed. Mr Waters left the force in 2002. He was a drinking partner of the hitman, now in jail for unrelated gangland killings. The allegations will reopen the debate about links between police and organised crime, and whether the state now has the right system in place to investigate corruption. In a major concession, Victoria Police yesterday for the first