A former kickboxing champion has been charged over what was considered one of Melbourne's perfect crimes: the infamous 1994 Richmond "road gang" robbery.
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Pasquale 'Percy' Lanciana, a 59-year-old former Australian welterweight champion from Seddon, was arrested on Friday morning.
Mr Lanciana has been charged with armed robbery, robbery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, theft of motor vehicle, handle stolen goods and money laundering.
In the heist, men dressed as road workers allegedly stopped an Armaguard truck turning onto a freeway on-ramp just before the Punt Road bridge over the Yarra River on June 22, 1994.
They allegedly held the guard in the back of the van at gun point and handcuffed the two guards in the front together before putting bags over their heads.
It took them less than eight minutes to steal $2.4 million, police allege.
It became one of the most notorious unsolved armed robberies in the state's history, allegedly committed by a slick armed robbery crew linked to several similar heists.
Mr Lanciana is a trainer at Fight Fit gym in South Melbourne alongside Paul "The General" Fyfield, who was charged in February with a $1.1 million Armaguard theft at Sunshine Plaza in 2006.
Mr Lanciana faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon.
Prosecutor Diana Hogan applied for Mr Lanciana to provide a DNA sample.
His lawyer Melinda Walker requested an adjournment from Magistrate Peter Dunn.
"All I've been told is there is DNA found on a number of items, but I don't know what, when, where," Ms Walker said.
It is believed a number of props, including a witch's hat and cheap handcuffs, were left at the scene of the crime.
The case was adjourned for two weeks. Mr Lanciana made no application for bail.
Charge sheets show Mr Lanciana is also accused of dishonestly receiving and laundering $400,000, which police allege was cash from the robbery.
The arrest was a part of Operation Tideland, established to investigate several armed robberies and three unsolved murders, including the execution of Mr Lanciana's 25-year-old wife in 1984.
Maryanna Lanciana was shot by a hitman while she was asleep in bed at their Werribee home. Their 22-month-old son was asleep in another room.
Mr Lanciana, one of six boys, had stayed at his parents house in Seddon after working late at their pizza shop.
The connection between his wife's cold-blooded killing and the murders of Dimitrios Belias and George Germanos, and the armed robbery crew, has never been revealed.
A million dollar reward for information still remains for each of the murders.
No one else has been charged with the heist, but a lawyer arrested in 2014, John Anile, has pleaded not guilty to laundering $400,000 of the stolen cash.
The Tideland probe also saw detectives charge helicopter pilot Wladimir "James" Babaeff with a separate robbery at Myer's city department store in 1993.
Three men armed with guns stormed the store after one of the trio posed as a security guard to lure one of the store's real guards to the staff entrance in Lonsdale Street.
The guard was allegedly overpowered and handcuffed to a banister before the gang raided the strongroom and stole more than 200 cash bags.
