The Pettingill family is a Melbourne-based criminal family,[1] headed by matriarch Kath Pettingill. Family members have many convictions for criminal offences including drug trafficking,[2] arms dealing[3] and armed robberies.[2]
Two of Kath Pettingill's sons, Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, faced a murder trial for the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings, with both acquitted along with two fellow defendants. Victor Peirce's de facto wife, Wendy, later claimed that her husband planned and carried out the murders with the fellow accused.[2] The family was furthermore involved in the infamous Melbourne gangland killings, where it suffered a major blow, with the death of one of its highest-ranking members, Victor Peirce, and resulting in its power being greatly weakened.