Melbourne underworld matriarch Kath Pettingill has died aged 91 following a battle with dementia.
The mother-of-10 known as ‘Granny Evil’ died in a nursing home on Saturday.
Pettingill ran several brothels in inner-city Richmond, where some of her children became Melbourne underworld figures from the 1970s through to the early 2000s, which resulted in violent deaths, prison time, or witness protection.
The Pettingills inspired the 2010 Australian film Animal Kingdom starring Jacki Weaver, which was loosely based on the family’s underworld links.
Her eldest son Denis Allen, nicknamed ‘Mr Death’, was given a ten-year prison sentence for rape in the 1970s.
Allen was reportedly a major player in the drug scene across Melbourne during the 1980s.
He died in 1987 of a heart attack while in custody awaiting trial for murder. Police suspect he killed more than a dozen people.
Pettingill’s second son, Peter Allen, was once considered Victoria’s most dangerous man and spent 28 years in jail for convictions including armed robbery and assault.
Melbourne underworld matriarch Kath Pettingill (pictured in 1998) has died aged 91
Kath Pettingill was head of the Pettingill family, tied to several violent crimes around Melbourne (pictured is Trevor Pettingill)
Pettingill (above) died in a nursing home on Saturday
The Pettingills inspired the 2010 Australian film Animal Kingdom starring Jacki Weaver, whose character (above) was loosely based on Pettingill
Her sixth son Victor Peirce and his half-brother Trevor Pettingill were charged over the shooting deaths of Victoria Police constables Steven Tynan, 22, and Damian Eyre, 20, in the infamous 1988 Walsh Street killings. Both were later acquitted.
Peirce was himself murdered in 2002, gunned down outside a Melbourne supermarket.
Peirce’s wife, Wendy, said in a 2005 interview that her husband had planned and carried out the killings.
Pettingill eventually left Melbourne to spend her final years away from the public eye in the beachside town of Venus Bay, in South Gippsland.
Locals frequently saw Pettingill around town but noted she didn’t leave her nursing home in recent years.
She is survived by her sons Lex, Trevor and Peter.
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