Carl Williams… is it the end of an era and the start of a new one?

The Age

Headline: Killed by a trusted inmate

Herald Sun

Headline: Jail Hit – Gangland Murder No. 30.

It’s the stuff movies and hit TV shows are made of. Everyone has an opinion on gangland killer Carl Williams, the man who triggered Melbourne’s bloody underworld drug wars. He was brutally bashed to death by a former ally yesterday at Borwan Prison.

I feel sad. I can’t explain why. Yes, I understand he is a murderer, a drug dealer and a thug, but for some reason, I like millions of others have followed his every public move.

His baby-face has made him appear not like the rest of the murderers in this unfortunate saga – yet, by all reports, he is the most brutal of them all.

Where does marketing fall into this saga? Whilst the television show Underbelly has hit a high note and without doubt will double its viewers this week because everyone is intrigued, there is a whole new industry that will be generated out of this saga. There will be books, movies, shirts, jackets, hats – you name it, they will come – hard and fast.

Every paid story from every stakeholder able to exploit Carl Williams death will showcase just how popular this man has become.

I like most others, will wait to see if the truth is ever revealed about how he died. I wait with interest and am as sucked in to this saga as the person next to me. Sad, but true.

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