George Williams wasn't happy.

I had just written a story implicating him in a gangland murder and, along with his son Carl, he wanted a meeting.

The timing was perfect as, just the night before, Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh had been shot dead outside his Kew home.

It was Sunday December 14, 2003 when Carl, his then-wife Roberta and George met me at a bad coffee shop outside the old Age building on Spencer Street.

If George wanted to talk tough he couldn't pull it off. Mild-mannered and bespectacled he looked more like a milk bar owner than a major drug producer.

He wanted to know why I had identified a red Vectra as one of the cars used in the April 2003 murder of drug rival Nik Radev in Coburg when I knew perfectly well he owned such a vehicle.

I told him because it was his car and he was up to his eyeballs in the hit.

He look thoughtful and decided to remain silent. It was a wise move.

Carl said they had nothing to do with the hit and, incidentally, had nothing to do with the recent murder of Kinniburgh.

He was, as usual stretching the truth. Police now allege he offered two hitmen $200,000 to kill The Munster and then welched on the payment.

The death of George Williams from a suspected heart attack finally ends the Williams' crime dynasty, which was responsible for nearly a dozen murders.

It comes as no surprise, as he has battled heart disease for years and was told the only chance of long-term survival would come with a heart transplant.

The vision of Williams Senior leaving court showed a bloke who looked like an average grandfather more likely to be a grey nomad than an active criminal.

But looks were deceiving. George and Carl were active and prodigious drug producers, which led to their conflict with the Moran clan that caused the so-called Underbelly gangland war.

It was on October 13, 1999, that Carl was shot in the stomach with a .22 derringer handgun wielded by Jason Moran in a park in Gladstone Park.

Part of the feud was due to a dispute over the ownership of a pill press.

A couple of months later the mystery pill press was found – not by the Morans but by police.

On the morning of November 25, 1999, police arrived at a housing commission home in Fir Close, Broadmeadows, to serve arrest warrants, but no-one was home.

Later that day Detective Sergeant Andrew Balsillie was passing, and noticed two cars at the house.

He recalled his team to issue the warrants and, after bursting in, found a pill press, 30,000 tablets and nearly seven kilograms of speed valued at $20 million.

Carl Williams was found hiding in a bed upstairs (his bed attire suggested he was not having a quick snooze — he was wearing a loud, red Mambo shirt).

And George was found hiding between a bed and the wall in another room along with a loaded Glock semi-automatic pistol.

Former head of the Purana Ganglands Taskforce, Superintendent Andrew Allen says, "George was a key figure. He pulled many of the strings but he stayed in the wings.

"He was smart enough to play dumb."

Police say that when he was confronted about his son's murderous activities he simply responded, "That's Carl being Carl."

Carl Williams as a boy and with his family, parents, George and Barbara and his brother Shane who later died.

When offered police protection George just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I've got nothing to worry about."

Carl Williams was found guilty of one murder and later pleaded guilty to a further three, but only after his father persuaded him to change his plea.

"George brokered the deal," says former Purana chief Jim O'Brien.

"Carl wouldn't say a word without George's imprimatur. George was up to ears in it all."

Eventually the father and son were reunited in prison, with George doing time over drugs and Carl serving life with a minimum of 35 years for several murders.

Then Carl tried to do a deal promising to tell all if a number of conditions were met.

Carl Williams and his father George Williams leaving court after a bail hearing in 2004. Photo: Jason South

These included a reduced jail term for him and his father's massive tax bill to be waived.

As an added inducement, it is alleged Carl and George were taken from prison and allowed to keep company with a couple of attractive ladies who were paid for their time.

Before he could testify, Carl was murdered in 2010 inside Barwon Prison.

In 1997, his brother Shane died of a drug overdose, then his mother Barbara took her own life in 2008. Now George has joined them.

And our streets remain awash with drugs.

Which proves the iron law of organised crime is that where there is a demand there will always be a supply.

The Williams clan is dead. But there are plenty of others that have filled the void.