Ron Medich lost his mobile phone straight after his right-hand man, Lucky Gattellari, was arrested for the murder of Mr Medich's business enemy, a court has heard.
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Giving evidence at his father's murder trial, Peter Medich said that shortly after Gattellari's arrest on October 13, 2010, his father's then wife Odetta "threw his phone in the water".
Peter Medich, who is currently employed by his father, said that he was working at Lucky Gattellari's electrical company in Chipping Norton on the day Gattellari was taken away in handcuffs by the police.
Peter Medich told the jury that he immediately rang his father who, while shocked, responded to the news saying: "Righto".
That night Gattellari's son Loren allegedly rang Peter Medich asking him to tell his father Ron to put $1 million bail money into Gattellari's lawyer's account.
The court heard that Peter Medich advised Loren that he "didn't think that will happen" but that he would pass on the message.
The following day Loren Gattellari sent a text message to Peter Medich which read in part: "What's going on, dude?...I get the feeling you are distancing yourself???just be straight up with me, man."
That night at the Zoo Bar tavern in Leichhardt, Peter Medich allegedly met Loren and Matthew Crockett, who worked as a debt collector for Lucky Gattellari, .
Peter Medich said that they made him put his phone behind the bar and then Loren demanded to know if he was wearing a wire.
Mr Crockett then allegedly told him they'd been asked to pass on a message that if Ron Medich didn't put $1 million into Gattellari's lawyer's account, Lucky was going to say Ron Medich was involved in the murder.
"The police don't want my father, they want yours," Peter Medich claims Loren said.
Peter Medich told the jury he was quite "offended" at the suggestion his father was involved in the murder. "I didn't believe Ron's got anything to with it."
He told them his father was uncontactable as he had flown to Adelaide to stay with his friend Les Samba. He said Loren demanded he fly to Adelaide to speak to his father.
He also said that his stepmother had thrown his father's phone into the water.
Ron Medich, a wealthy property developer, was arrested a month after Gattellari. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael McGurk, with whom Mr Medich was embroiled in a raft of legal disputes.
Mr McGurk, 45, was shot in the back of his head outside his Cremorne house on September 3, 2009.
Gattellari received a discount on his sentence for his role in the facilitating the murder in return for giving evidence against Mr Medich.
Gattellari has testified that Mr Medich paid him $500,000 to organise Mr McGurk's murder and to later threaten his widow when she pressed on with her husband's legal actions against Mr Medich.
"He's made a fool of me, the laughing stock of the eastern suburbs," Gattellari claims Mr Medich gave as the reason he wanted McGurk killed.
The court has heard that Gattellari has since been charged with conspiring to extort $15 million from Mr Medich in return for changing his evidence at the trial.
