The Morning I Almost Got Caught in a Mafia Hit, A fateful decision saved me from a Mafia ambush.
It was a morning like any other in Melbourne. I got up, had breakfast, kissed my wife goodbye, and took my dog for our usual walk around the block. There were a few small differences that day, though. First, I noticed a helicopter overhead, circling our neighborhood for the entire 20-minute walk. I figured it was just looking for something trivial—like misplaced supermarket trolleys. Second, I decided to shorten the walk by skipping the part where we’d pass the high gates of the cemetery. Lastly, when I returned home, my wife rushed to me, hugged me tightly, and pointed to the TV, her face pale with worry.
On the screen, a live news report was showing a major police operation happening right in our neighborhood. The SWAT team, police helicopter, and all, were there to intercept a mafia hit squad. According to the reporter, the hitmen were lying in wait at the cemetery, ready to ambush a mafia boss who routinely walked his dog past that very spot. As I stood there, the pieces clicked. A man, walking his dog, just like I was doing. Had I not cut my walk short, I might have been mistaken for the intended target.
Years later, I learned the full story from a TV series based on Melbourne’s mafia history. Apparently, a powerful mafia Don lived in my area, and that morning he was marked for death. A hit squad had been sent to the cemetery to ambush him. The terrifying part? The gunmen didn’t even know what he looked like—they were told to look for a lone man walking a dog. That was almost me. The police were there to catch them, but if they had been too slow, I could’ve been in the crossfire. Thankfully, the mafia boss didn’t take his usual walk that day, and the police arrested the hitmen before anything happened.
