Ben Cousins candid with Tigers on links to drug underworld
Stephen Rielly | December 18, 2008
RICHMOND knew of at least some of the connections that exist between Ben Cousins and the underworld.
His relationship with John Kizon, one of Perth's more notable identities, is a matter of public record. As is his long-standing association with Fabian Quaid, who was arrested in Sydney in May over a record ecstasy haul in Western Australia.
Last month, only a week before the national draft and just days ahead of a St Kilda board meeting thought then to be critical to his hopes of a return to the game, Cousins flew to Melbourne to attend the funeral of convicted drug trafficker, John Giannarelli.
Moreover, to each of the clubs that asked, Cousins was prepared to detail these friendships with a candour that surprised and, on occasion, impressed his inquisitors.
Richmond and others knew, for instance, that Giannarelli, as a recovering addict himself, had been Cousins's mentor in the drug rehabilitation program which has been critical to the 2005 Brownlow medallist's continuing rehabilitation and return to the game.
However, the club wasn't expecting to be confronted with these allegiances within hours of selecting him in Tuesday's pre-season draft.
Only an hour or so after making their call on Cousins, the Tigers were fielding them, being asked about the fact he had just been named in the Victorian Supreme Court as a friend of Angelo Venditti, a man accused of being behind the 2002 gangland killing of Paul Kallipolitis.
According to police, Kizon, Quaid, Cousins and Melbourne underworld identity Mick Gatto all spoke often with Venditti earlier this year, connections established through surveillance focused on the alleged killer since May.
If Richmond did not know what to say, though - and the club declined to comment on Tuesday - Cousins did when he spoke yesterday with great aplomb about his addiction to illicit drugs and the world in which he has moved and moves.
Typically, he made no apologies.
"Part of the last 12 months has been learning about the situations I can put myself in and those that I can't. Throughout this whole process I'm still very early on in my recovery and coming to terms with the changes in my lifestyle," Cousins said.
"Contrary to public opinion and what the press like to say, some of my associations with people that people think are untoward or have caused me to be in this situation, it couldn't be further from the truth.
"I am a drug addict and part of my rehabilitation and the program I'm in is addicts helping other addicts, so it's not like I'm not going to have contact with people that have been in the situation that I have. It's probably quite the opposite that I require, to keep myself on a level playing field."
Cousins said he was unaware of the phone-tapped evidence involving Venditti but scarcely drew back from his association with him. As Cousins told his various footballing suitors, for better or worse there is no distance between friends.
"I know Angelo Vendetti, yeah. I know him reasonably well, along with a number of people in the footy industry," Cousins said.
"My association or friendship or contact with him has been nothing to do of a criminal nature and as far as I'm aware he hasn't been convicted yet but that's not for me to go into.
"I guess it's like six degrees of separation. Through the hard times I've found myself in, people love to link me with other people who have found themselves in hard times.
"What doesn't get reported is the relationships or associations I have with those people have been born out of sincere friendship, a common thread that we've found ourselves in hard times. In a lot of those cases it's been people who have played pretty significant roles in me getting to where I am today."
Which, of course, is now Tigerland, where the club switchboard shutdown yesterday after the membership hotline overloaded the entire network and almost 2000 fans, at 9am, turned up to watch Cousins strut out for the first time in yellow and black.
A moment more other-worldly than an underworld.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24816124-5012432,00.html
