Roberta Williams paid a loving tribute to gangland killer ex Carl Williams in her eulogy at his funeral on Friday, describing him as ''a family man''.
About 100 friends, family and former associates sat through the Catholic service at St Therese's church in Essendon, which culminated in the coffin’s departure atop the shoulders of 10 pallbearers.
‘‘You gave me self-belief and confidence when it had been ripped away years before,’’ Roberta Williams told mourners at St Therese’s Church in Essendon.
‘‘You didn’t love Dhakota (Roberta and Carl’s eight-year-old daughter) any more or less than my other three children.’’
Williams' daughter Dhakota also paid tribute to him, along with her two half-sisters.
During the service, Tina Turner's Simply the Best was played as mourners watched a slideshow showing photographs of Williams' life.
Roberta Williams Photo: Angela Wylie The gold-plated casket was carried slowly and carefully to a waiting hearse, with mourners milling around waiting for the black Mercedes to begin its journey to the cemetery.
A modest collection of bouquets was placed in the hearse to travel with Williams to his final resting place.
The service was dominated by stories of Carl showering his daughter and stepchildren with gifts, giving them everything they wanted, and teasing Roberta and making her angry.
‘‘You gave me $500 after my teeth fell out, because you were drunk,’’ said his stepdaughter Bree.‘‘You were my best friend.
‘‘I’m sorry I didn’t write to you and visit you as much as I should have, you were always there for me and stuck up for me, I have no excuse.’’
Dhakota spoke of her love for her father and told how he used to change lyrics to songs to annoy her mother.
‘‘Your favourite was Hot and Cold, but you sang for mum I’m hot and you’re not,’’ Dhakota said.‘‘You thought you were really funny, but you weren’t.’’
Roberta Williams sat beside George Williams, the father of Carl, consoling him with her arm around his shoulder throughout much of the service.
Earlier, a black-clad Roberta Williams hugged mourners as they arrived at the church.
Roberta, her daughter Dhakota and other family members pulled up outside the church in a stretch black Hummer that also contained Carl’s father, George Williams.
Williams' gold-plated coffin was placed near the church altar, adorned with a tall, dome-shaped bouquet of white roses.
Mourners were presented with a Tobin Brothers card bearing a portrait of Williams, his full name, Carl Anthony Williams, and a photograph of Melbourne’s cityscape and the Yarra River by night.
The convicted murderer and drug dealer, who was killed in prison last week, used to call himself ‘the premier’, because he said he ran the state.
The card read: ‘‘A loving dad, husband, son, brother and friend whose smile will never be replaced. 13.10.1970 to 19.4.2010. A special smile, a special face, a special man we can’t replace. Just think of Carl as resting from the sorrow and the tears in a place of warmth and comfort where there are no days and years.’’
A film crew, believed to have been arranged by the family, arrived equipped with cameras and sound equipment to capture the service.
But there will be no shortage of footage of the event. Reporters have crammed the footpaths opposite the church, while the skies are abuzz with news choppers.
One mourner shielded their face with an umbrella to avoid being photographed.
Williams' daughter Dhakota was baptised at the church and funerals were held there for his mother Barbara and underworld rivals Mark and Lewis Moran.
A heavy police presence greeted mourners, barricades cordoning off a side street and armed officers positioned strategically along footpaths surrounding the church.
In the playground of the primary school next door to the church, children played basketball as the media pack crowded the nearby footpath.
Williams was beaten to death with the stem of an exercise bike in the day room of his maximum-security unit at Barwon Prison, near Geelong, last week.
He will be buried at Keilor Cemetery, not far from the graves of his mother and his former henchman, Andrew "Benji" Veniamin.
Williams was jailed for a minimum 35 years for ordering hits on Lewis Moran and his son Jason, Mark Mallia and Michael Marshall.
Due to security concerns, Roberta Williams' son Tye Stephens has been refused leave from jail, where he is serving a sentence for robbery.
with AAP