Melbourne underworld crime family matriarch Kath Pettingill dies aged 91

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA and ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 08:50, 4 August 2026 | Updated: 08:50, 4 August 2026 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, and 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. Her second son Peter Allen was once Victoria's most dangerous man and spent 28 years in jail. 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. 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) Kath Pettingill (above) died in a nursing home on Saturday 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.