Vince Muscat: the convicted gang hitman who broke the code of silence

Vince Muscat, a convicted killer turned prosecution witness, began testifying on Monday in the trial of businessman Yorgen Fenech.  

Muscat, better known as il-Koħħu, is serving a 15-year sentence for helping brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio plant and trigger the bomb used to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.  

Fenech is standing trial for allegedly ordering the killing and funding the €150,000 plot.  

The 64-year-old Muscat was identified in a Europol report as being part of a 10-man organised crime gang involved in murder, drugs smuggling and arms trafficking.  

Muscat’s main role in the gang, which allegedly included Ta' Maksar brothers Robert and Adrian Agius, was identified as being that of “executioner and intimidator.” 

The Degiorgio brothers, who are serving a 40-year sentence for Caruana Galizia’s role, were similarly identified as being the gang’s “executioners”.  

Caruana Galizia’s assassination was the last in a series of car bombings and other murders suspected to be linked to the gang.  

Investigators were never able to crack the gang’s code of silence.  

That would change in April 2018, when Muscat, facing life imprisonment for the journalist’s murder, gave up the name of Caruana Galizia murder middleman Melvin Theuma.  

€1 million reward 

Muscat’s motives were not altruistic. 

In giving up Theuma’s name, he was hoping to gain a presidential pardon for Caruana Galizia’s murder and tap a €1 million reward fund. 

His attempt to turn state’s evidence was leaked to the Degiorgio’s the day after police investigators briefed officials about it at the Office of the Prime Minister. 

Muscat, who survived two gunshots to the head in an April 2014 attempt on his life, was left fearing retaliation from the brothers in prison.  

The aftermath of the car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

The convicted killer would double down in his attempts for clemency in 2020 by sitting down for 15 hours of taped conversations with investigators, walking them through various unresolved crimes, ranging from Caruana Galizia’s assassination to other murders and robberies. 

His evidence would eventually lead to four people being convicted for their respective roles in Caruana Galizia’s murder and the fatal shooting of lawyer Carmel Chircop in 2015.  

Fellow gang members Adrian Agius, Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio went down for life for the Chircop murder thanks to Muscat’s testimony.  

Vella and Agius’ brother Robert were separately convicted for supplying the bomb used to kill Caruana Galizia.  

Jamie Vella was convicted of supplying the bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Times of Malta

In exchange for his testimony, Muscat gained immunity from prosecution for his role in Chircop’s murder and a 15-year sentence for murdering Caruana Galizia.  

Muscat insisted in court that he had spoken out partly for the victim's family and not solely to receive a reduced sentence. 

"Everyone knows I was sentenced to 15 years. I wanted a lower term, yes, but also for the victims," he told the court. 

Determined to kill 

In his testimony during the trial of the bomb makers, Muscat chronicled George Degiorgo’s determination to kill the journalist at all costs.  

“There could be anyone with her [in the car]. There could be her children, because we’ll blow her up nonetheless,” Degiorgio told Muscat during Notte Bianca in early October 2017. 

Convicted hitman George Degiorgio was determiend to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia at all costs. File photo.

Muscat would also go on to implicate then Economy Minister Chris Cardona in an aborted 2015 plot to murder the journalist.  

Cardona dismissed the claims as “pure evil fiction”.  

Muscat had claimed Cardona was behind an approach to the Degiorgio brothers in 2015, settling on a price of €150,000 to kill the journalist. 

No money is believed to ever have changed hands.  

Former economy minister Chris Cardona dismissed as 'pure evil' a claim he had previously conspired to murder the journalist. Photo: Times of Malta

Cardona has never faced prosecution over the claims, which investigators treated with caution, as much of the information about the alleged plot was based on hearsay evidence, relying on what he was told by the Degiorgio brothers rather than any first-hand knowledge.  

Despite the pardon and reduced sentence for the Caruana Galizia murder, Muscat’s legal woes do not end here.  

Muscat is set to face trial for a failed 2010 heist on HSBC’s Qormi headquarters which ended in a shootout with police.  

The trial was postponed in 2022 after Muscat’s co-accused Daren Debono (it-Topo) admitted to the charges in exchange for a reduced sentence and information about those involved in the heist.   

Debono was shot in the face during the shootout with police outside HSBC.  

The plea-deal descended into farce the following year when Debono refused to name anyone other than Muscat, saying he feared for his son's safety.