AUSTRALIA’s most wanted man Graham Gene Potter jumped bail five years ago and went on the run because he feared police would stop protecting him after he began snitching on some of the country’s biggest crime bosses, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Potter, the notorious “Head and fingers killer” and underworld identity, slipped the grasp of federal police in 2010 and remains at large with a $100,000 bounty on his head.
The fugitive ratted to police about a Mafia drug importation — referred to as “the operation” — carried out by Griffith Mafia boss Pasquale Barbaro when he was taken into custody in Tasmania in 2008.
Sources close to the case said Potter was co-operating with police and believe that is the only reason he was given bail, not only on the drug charges but also on charges of conspiracy to murder underworld figure Mick Gatto’s associates months later.
But Potter, who was convicted of cutting off the head and fingers after murdering Wollongong shop assistant Kim Barry in 1980 panicked when he thought his bail would be revoked and he would be behind bars, meaning certain death at the hands of inmates working for the men he betrayed.
“He thought they (the cops) were going to turn him over,” a source said.
In an exclusive interview, his family told The Daily Telegraph about the pain of having a son on the run and a life spent looking over their shoulders.
Mafia boss Pasquale Barbaro, who was running a drug smuggling operation Potter was involved in.
Graham Gene Potter, now 58, pictured five years ago when he jumped bail, fearing for his life.
His mother recounted her last conversation with her fugitive son as he sat in a phone box, in tears.
“He said he felt like a rat in a drainpipe and he didn’t know which way to turn,” Potter’s mother said.
“He was heartbroken … it got too much.”
And like that, Graham Gene Potter vanished.
The 58-year-old is a master of disguise and has been known to wear layers of clothing to appear heavier and to dye his hair different colours.
He spent 16 years in jail for the murder of Kim Barry before being released in 1996 before coming to police allegedly running a massive drug importation with Pasquale Barbaro in 2008.
He then turned police informer, making himself and his family forever marked.
“I talk to him with my heart and my head, I just hope he’s safe,” said Mrs Potter, adding she has only recently learnt to live with the constant fear she feels since he disappeared.
Graham Potter is driven away from Cooma jail by wife Sheree after being granted parole after serving 16 years for the murder of Wollongong shop assistant Kim Barry.
Graham Potter hacked off Kim Barry’s finger and decapitated her while his brother was asleep in his flat.
“I still put away birthday and Christmas presents for him. I write him birthday and Christmas cards and put $50 notes in them.”
She said she doubts her son will ever “turn himself in” because a return to prison is as good as a death sentence.
“He’s dead, he’s dead,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter what jail they put him in, he’s dead.”
Potter’s sister added: “You could put him in Fort Knox, they’d still kill him.”
He is officially wanted over conspiring to kill two men and for his role in the major drug operation.
