Inner West Whispers – 288

Local gossip, rumour, hearsay and unsubstantiated fact…

Gelato wars – Marrickville Mauler – Don’t mention the memorial

• The big M of gelato is coming to the Inner West. Yes, finally Messina Gelato will be occupying a storefront on King Street, the promised land of Sydney’s trendiest gelato. Just how will we cope with the choice between ‘World’s best gelato’ Cow and the Moon, Hakiki’s delectable Turkish ice cream, N2’s offerings frozen in liquid nitrogen, vegan favourite Gelato Blue and Messina? Will this be Frozen Yoghurt 2.0, where almost every fifth store on King Street was hawking curls of Fro Yo, only for all but one to shut down a year later? Who will win the Battle Royale of? Inner West dwellers with a sweet tooth, that’s for sure.

• Five Dock resident and boxing champ Jeff Fenech has had charges dismissed that he disrupted a hearing held by the NSW Crime Commission and will enter a two-year good behaviour bond. The murder hearing, at which Fenech threw documents on the floor and paced around the courtroom, was related to the alleged shooting of Brad Dillon outside Market Place, Marion Street, Leichhardt in 2014. Fenech was questioned about his connections to the mysterious St Michael Christian Brother’s Fighting Club, believed to be based in Lewisham. Muay Thai boxer Antonio Bagnato, who was one of the suspects in Dillon’s murder, has the crest of the fight club tattooed across his stomach.

• A memorial statue, intended to be unveiled in Croydon Park this week has stirred controversy. The Australia-Japan Community Network has lobbied the State Government and Ashfield’s Exodus Foundation to stop the statue from being installed. It commemorates women who experienced sexual slavery during WWII as ‘comfort women’. The Japan Community Network has expressed concerns the statue contravenes the Racial Discrimination Act. It will now probably be unveiled outside the Korean Society of Sydney’s headquarters on Brighton Avenue on August 6th.