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Roberta Williams has shared a heartfelt tribute to her friend and assassin Andrew Veniamin on her birthday and the 20th anniversary of his death.
Veniamin, known as ‘Benji’, was shot dead at the back of a now-defunct pizza shop, La Porchetta, by Melbourne gang figure Mick Gatto on 23 March 2004, aged 28.
Ms Williams, the widow of former gangland boss Carl Williams, turned 54 on Saturday but took the opportunity to pay tribute to Veniamin, sharing a series of never-before-seen photos of him.
Veniamin was also her husband’s trusted unofficial bodyguard.
Roberta Williams (pictured right) shared photographs of Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin (pictured left) on her birthday to mark 20 years to the day Veniamin was shot dead
Ms Williams said on Saturday that “20 birthdays I haven’t been able to celebrate”.
“Every year on this day instead of celebrating my birthday I am so devastated and devastated that you were taken from us on this day,” she wrote.
‘I miss you so much and nothing and no one will ever heal me or fill the void you left behind.’
She said Veniamin ‘lit up the room’ and made ‘everyone happy’.
“There wasn’t a moment you never made us laugh,” she said.
‘I hope (you’re) proud and I hope you shine down and know I’m doing the best I can with what I have left of us.
‘No one will ever compare to you, whether it’s you or even come close.
“There was, is and will be only one you.”
On the day Veniamin died, Gatto had asked to meet him at the pizza restaurant.
Williams took to Facebook on Saturday to write an emotional message (pictured) to remember her friend
Veniamin (pictured) is seen with the late drug kingpin Carl Williams
Things between the pair got heated after Veniamin pulled out a gun.
Police charged Gatto with Veniamin’s death, claiming he had set a trap for his victim, who was once a suspect in the death of Gatto’s good friend Graham ‘The Munster’ Kinniburgh.
Gatto was acquitted of murdering Veniamin, although he admitted that he fatally shot him twice in the head in self-defense.
Ms Williams had married drug kingpin Carl in 2001 and the couple were still together at the time of his death in 2010.
Williams was killed in Barwon Prison by fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson in 2010, aged 39.
He had been sentenced to 35 years behind bars for the murders of gangland rivals Lewis and Jason Moran and drug dealer Mark Mallia.
Ms Williams had rejected suggestions of an affair between herself and Veniamin when the gang war was the focus of one season of the TV series Underbelly.
‘I would say Andrew was my soulmate, yes. We were really close and I loved him to death, she told several new outlets in 2009, but denied an affair.
‘He had a very soft side when it came to family. We were always together.
“He used to pick up my girls every Tuesday and take them to religious education, then take them home, bathe them, put them in their pyjamas, feed them dinner and put them to bed.
‘He used to sleep with one of my little girls. She used to adore him.’
Gatto was acquitted of murdering Veniamin (pictured) despite admitting he fatally shot him twice in the head in self-defence