Police are searching for two gunmen after the brother of gangland figure Lewis Moran was shot dead in a cafe in suburban Melbourne.

Des "Tuppence" Moran, 60, was shot as he left the Ascot Pasta and Deli Cafe in a busy shopping strip in Ascot Vale, the first gangland related murder in Melbourne since 2004.

His body was still lying in the doorway several hours after the shooting, which shook Union Road around midday on Monday.

Detective Inspector Steve Clarke would not identify the victim, but gangland identity Mick Gatto and several locals said it was Mr Moran, whose nephews Jason and Mark were also killed in the gangland war which has now claimed 25 lives.

"Someone called me this morning and told me he had been shot a number of times and was dead," Mr Gatto told AAP from overseas.

Eyewitness Han Tarkeek, who was waiting at the tram stop opposite the cafe, said Lewis Moran's widow Judy, who lives nearby, arrived within 15 minutes of the shooting screaming "Dessy, Dessy".

Mr Tarkeek said he heard four shots.

"I saw a guy walking out of the shop and falling to the ground," Mr Tarkeek told AAP.

"This guy (the shooter) ran off and I heard a car's tyres screech as it drove away."

Det Insp Clarke said there were two gunmen.

"The victim was inside the deli when he was shot," Det Insp Clarke told reporters.

"I believe that both men shot at the deceased."

He said several spent cartridges were found at the scene.

"They escaped the immediate scene on foot and were seen getting into a dark blue or green car, which was seen leaving the scene along Union Road in a northerly direction."

Homicide squad detectives are investigating the shooting at the moment, but Det Insp Clarke said they would liaise with the Purana gangland taskforce if necessary.

Mr Moran was a regular at the Ascot Pasta and Deli Cafe, where he often had coffee outside with friends, and was well known in the local community.

He survived an attempt on his life in March, when a masked gunman botched a shooting as Mr Moran sat in a car with a friend outside his Ascot Vale home.

He said at the time he had no enemies and did not know who would want him dead.

Police cordoned off the area of Monday's shooting, while most shops nearby closed their doors and pulled down shutters.

A nearby worker who heard the shots fired just a few shops away, said people were shocked after the shooting.

"People were just shocked and standing ... it was freaky," she told AAP.

"I don't think they knew what it was, but I knew what it was, because I'm American."

Maurice Moschini, from Maddison real estate agency, said he heard about six shots fired around noon.

"I thought it was gunfire - at least half a dozen shots," he said.

He said five minutes later three police cars and an ambulance had arrived, with the street being cordoned off.

"The thing that's most shocked me was that the street was full of young families out shopping - there are a lot of shaken people walking around," he said.

Several doors down, Union Deli and Cafe owner Anne Boland said the first she knew of the shooting was when a customer ran in.

She said someone had been shot and within minutes people knew it was Des Moran.

"Everybody knew Dessy," Ms Boland said.

"He was just one of our locals. He would have coffee outside that deli every day.

"We knew his name, we knew his family history, but he was just one of our locals."

Ms Boland said Mr Moran had been liked on the Union Road shopping strip, "because nothing ever happened, he was just one of the locals".

This was the first time there had been any problems on Union Road, she said.

Lewis Moran, 58, was gunned down by two men in the front bar of the Brunswick Club in March 2004, a year after his son Jason was killed.

Jason, 36, was shot multiple times while sitting in a van following a children's football clinic alongside associate Pasquale Barbaro, who was also fatally shot, while five children sat in the back seat.

In June 2000, Jason's half-brother and Lewis's stepson Mark Moran, 36, was shot dead after getting out of his car outside his Aberfeldie home.

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won't mean much to those outside australia. think that's all of them dead now. bet the producers of underbelly are thinking: "sweet, sequel!" this is also pretty close to my grandma and my place. fun!

Is it bad that the first thing I thought was that it made for another season of Underbelly?!
Am pretty sure the news just before said that it was the last of them dead.

my dad said he must've done something to piss someone off lol.

Things that make no sense :o
;D

what makes no sense?

the moran's were well know gang land members. now they've all been shot. lol. a tv series was made about it called underbelly. victorians, like me, aren't allowed to watch it, though most of us had by pirating it haha.

Just out of curiosity, why aren't Victorians allowed to watch it?

explains it better than i could. lol.

I was joking :x

Why can't you watch it?

Ând i think it was something to do with tainting jury selection etc...some of these people are yet to go to trial.

tuppence was not a gangland member he was a hard bloke that had a pshyco familaly he was a good man

Do I smell a fake diary? ^^^^

yeah i smell it too. he may have not been a gangland member, but he pissed someone off obviously lol.