By Adam Shand
ninemsn
Underworld serial killer Carl Williams says he has been described as "a brain dead goose" in the Nine Network's
Underbelly series which premieres next week.
Williams, who is serving a 35-year sentence for four gangland murders, told ninemsn through an intermediary that he does not care about his portrayal by actor Gyton Grantley "because he won the war".
Williams asked that his many critics "look at the scoreboard," a Williams family spokesman told ninemsn.
The Moran family dominated Melbourne's criminal world for more than a decade and Williams vowed to wipe them out.
In October 1999, Jason Moran, in company with his half-brother Mark, shot Williams in the stomach over a dispute relating to the ownership of a pill press used to produce ecstasy tablets.
Williams survived and later ordered the murders of Mark and Jason Moran, family patriarch Lewis Moran, family friend Graham Kinniburgh and drug thug Mark Mallia.
Williams believes he came out on top in the war even though his empire is effectively dismantled.
"Carl says that whatever people might say he's the king of the castle and they are dirty rascals, or dead rascals in fact," his friend told ninemsn.
"Carl says his mother might have to visit him in Barwon Prison (near Geelong) but Judy Moran has to visit her sons and ex-husband in the cemetery," Williams’ spokesman said.
Williams has also taken issue with his portrayal as a driver for the Morans in the
Underbelly series.
He claims he was never a driver, but a competitor in Melbourne's party drug scene who effectively outsmarted the Moran drug cartel by teaming up with suppliers of precursor chemicals.
"Carl says the Morans, and Jason in particular, never liked to see anyone get ahead," the spokesman said.
Grantley has told this weekend's
Sunday program that he hoped Williams liked his portrayal.
"I am very interested in how he will take this production. I can only imagine what life is like for him and I know he has a lot of time to think about things I just hope that he likes it. Stories change from mouth to mouth. Nothing is ever true."
Grantley said he could not help but like the baby-faced drug boss.
"That's why he was so successful in his pursuits," he said.
"He treated all of his people well. He paid them well, he was fun to be around, he was quite a loveable guy, always joking and smiling. He never seemed too threatening. He dressed normally. He was an average kind of guy,” Grantley said
"[Williams] almost gives Australia a bit of pride in their own gangster. The new Australian gangster been born — not the stereotypical gangster mafia man from Italy, but the tracksuit-wearing bogan from Sunshine that drives a Monaro."
Williams' friend said it was wrong to assume Williams could do nothing from jail.
"But he doesn’t care enough about this show to worry about it."
Adam Shand's exclusive report on Carl Williams and
Underbelly will be broadcast on the
Sunday show this weekend from 7.30am on the Nine Network.
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