Networked Knowledge - Media Report

On 4 May 2008 Nigel Hunt of the Sunday Mail reported “Police seek Von Einem Associate”

He said, an Adelaide chiropractor who fled Australia while being investigated for sexually assaulting young men is being sought in Europe by police conducting fresh investigations into the Family murders. The Sunday Mail understands Major Crime Investigation Section detectives are planning to quiz Gino "Luigi" Gambardella, who now lives in Italy after fleeing Adelaide in 1980. He was an associate of convicted murderer Bevan Spencer von Einem and connected with several of his associates who are currently under investigation. While Gambardella is not believed to have been involved in any of the Family murders, detectives believe he has information that can assist their inquiries.

Gambardella was active in Adelaide's gay scene in the 1970s – notably through his strong friendship with murdered homosexual lawyer Derrance Stevenson, 44. In 1979, Gambardella was charged with being an accessary after the fact of Stevenson's murder, but the charge was later dropped. Stevenson's lover David Szach, 19, was charged and subsequently convicted of his murder. He was released from jail in 1993 after serving 14 years of an 18-year non-parole period. Gambardella's practice of picking up and sexually assaulting male hitchhikers first came to police notice during investigations into Stevenson's June 1979 murder.

His activities were again investigated in the late 1980s as part of investigations into the Family murders that resulted in von Einem being charged with two counts of murder. Von Einem, 61, is the only member of the Family to face justice – he is serving a life sentence with a 24-year non-parole period for the murder of teenager Richard Kelvin, 15, in 1983. Four other murders – those of Mark Langley, 18, Alan Barnes, 17, Neil Muir, 25, and Peter Stogneff, 14, – have also been linked to the Family.

In 1989, von Einem was also charged with murdering Barnes and Langley, but the charges were later withdrawn. During those investigations detectives discovered that Gambardella was taking hitchhikers to Stevenson's Greenhill Rd premises, where they would be abused by Stevenson. Gambardella also took the hitchhikers to his chiropractic clinic on Prospect Rd, Prospect, where they were shown home-made pornographic movies and seduced or sexually assaulted.

One man told police Gambardella had picked him up in 1977 at North Adelaide and had then driven him to Stevenson's house, but found he was not home. They then drove to his Prospect clinic, where Gambardella put a pornographic movie on and then indecently assaulted him. They also investigated his practice of advertising for "apprentices" to work at his chiropractic business. During job interviews they were propositioned by him.

Several young men made formal complaints of indecent assault against Gambardella, but he was never formally charged before fleeing Australia. The Sunday Mail last week revealed Major Crime detectives would be travelling to Europe and Indonesia to interview several key witnesses as part of the fresh investigation into the Family murders. The inquiries are part of a major review of the Family murders, which has so far seen a number of suspects in Adelaide and interstate DNA tested.

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