Domenic "Mick" Gatto (born 6 August 1955) is a professional mediator within the Victorian building industry, and a debt collector.
He was found not guilty at trial, during which Gatto claimed he had acted in self-defence[5] after Veniamin pulled out a .38 handgun and threatened to kill him.
He also claimed that during the argument, Veniamin had implicated himself in the deaths of Dino Dibra, Paul Kallipolitis and Graham Kinniburgh.
One witness, a representative of Baulderstone Hornibrook expressed the fears of a colleague stating, "... he expressed some concerns about his safety, that people associated with this deal were the sorts of people that break legs ..." Gatto and Hedgcock's solicitor rejected any implication they had used threats or intimidation.
Appearing before the Royal Commission in 2002, Gatto claimed he was being made a scapegoat by the inquiry and strenuously denied he was a standover man.
The associate, according to the reporter Kate McClymont, expressed concern to the newspaper at the questions they were raising with Teo, including about alleged sexual harassment of colleagues in Arkansas, United States.
[14] He told the court he kept the loaded sawn-off shotgun in his home because of fears for his life, having been threatened by a criminal cartel.
[18] In 2021 Justice Andrew Keogh ruled in favour of the ABC, stating "Far from being distorted, the article was entirely accurate and correlated with what occurred in those parts of the Proceedings which were reported.