AFL Richmond recruit Ben Cousins has admitted he is friends with accused underworld murderer Angelo Venditti.

"I know Angelo Venditti, yeah," he told reporters at his first press conference since being recruited on Tuesday to play for Richmond.

"I know him reasonably well, along with probably a number of people in the footy industry.

"My association or friendship or contact with him has been nothing to with anything of a criminal nature and as far as I'm aware, I don't think he's been convicted yet, but that's not for me to go into.

"I was hopefully looking forward to today being about putting the past in the past and moving on, and hopefully it won't be long before things that get spoken about me are more related to football and less about stuff like that."

Venditti, 43, was released on bail by Supreme Court Justice Bernard Bongiorno on Wednesday on a $400,000 surety put up by his parents and sister.

He is charged with the 2002 underworld murder of drug dealer Paul Kallipolitis.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP