Rahib 'Rob' Karam, Jessie Franco, Mark Aisbett etc
Hash Bust - July 2001/Ecstasy Bust - 2005

On July 21, 2001, seven men, including Jessie Franco (left) were arrested and charged over Victoria's largest hashish raid.

The men were accused of importing three tonnes of hashish valued at almost $150 million.

Cannabis resin had been hidden beneath false floors in two shipping containers.

The containers, also carrying marble tiles, were picked up from East Swanson dock and trucked to a yard on the Hume Hwy at Campbellfield.

Federal police watched five of the men as they arrived at the yard, driving trucks and utilities and unloaded the marble tiles before breaking into the containers false floors.

The men were arrested trying to flee or hide in the yard.

Jessie Caesar Franco, 32, of Pascoe Vale Rd, Essendon - who was charged with being one of the unpackers of the shipment; Tony Ilija Crnac, 34 of Banbara Court, Sunshine; Paul Pratico, 32, of Cartwright St, Oak Park; David Ciampoli, 42, of Barva Drive, East Keilor; and Robert Cetranglo, 32, of Buckley St, Essendon, were all arrested on the night.

They faced charges of knowingly importing a commercial quantity of hashish and possessing a commercial amount of hashish.

It was later revealed that Crnac, a building union official, was a very close friend of St Kilda detective Sergeant Tony Juric.

In a move approved by his superior officers, long-serving police officer Sergeant Juric would give character testimony for Mr Crnac during his County Court trial.

A secret anti-corruption taskforce examining links between police, criminals and sex workers later raided the Australian Croatian Association as part of inquiries into its president Tony Juric.

Mr Crnac was an active member of the Croatian Club.

Mr Juric was suspended from his role as uniform sergeant at the St Kilda police station in October 2007.

Federal Agents later charged Rahib Karam, 35, after searching his Brunswick Rd, home and the North Melbourne offices of his business, Freight Trade International.

Police believe was organised and financed by Mokbel and murdered underworld heavyweights Lewis Moran and Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh.

Rahib 'Rob' Karam had been arrested on August 31, 2001, and accused of taking part in a racket that included the alleged importation into Australia of more than half a tonne of ephedrine, a chemical used in the manufacture of amphetamines.

These accusations came after a raid on a property belonging to his mate, drug lord Tony Mokbel.

His brother, Nabil Karam, 30, of Elizabeth St, Coburg, was arrested on August 30.

The brothers were charged with knowingly importing a commercial amount of hashish.

Trafficking and possession charges against Rob Karam were dropped in 2005.

Karam, a casino high-roller, was one of Crown casino's top 200 gamblers.

On May 7, 2002, the men charged over the hash importation appeared in court.

Commonwealth prosecutor John Champion said the they imported almost three tonnes of hashish with a street value of between $132 and $147 million into Melbourne

The preliminary hearing before Magistrate Raffaele Barberio continued.

The seven pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on May 28, 2001.

They were bailed to stand trial in September.

A County Court jury convicted the five of importing almost three tonnes of cannabis resin.

Jessie Franco claimed Tony Mokbel forced them at gunpoint to help him import the hashish.

At his County Court trial, Franco, who was said to have had the biggest role in the operation, gave evidence that he had no idea drugs were involved, claiming Mokbel and a now-dead underworld figure approached them to help unload tiles in a Campbellfield yard.

An earlier hearing was told that the men were alleged associates of murdered crime figure Lewis Moran.

He claimed Mokbel pulled a gun and ordered them to remove the false flooring where the drugs were hidden.

"The instructions were very clear," he said.

"This was a threat and I had no intentions of doing anything but co-operate from that point on."

The court heard that the cannabis resin was labelled as Finnish coffee and concealed in the shipping containers beneath black marble tiles.

Judge Meryl Sexton said she was satisfied that each of the men, who were found guilty of possessing a commercial quantity of a prohibited import in September, knew about the cannabis resin before going to the yard that night.

Franco, an electrician, was the link between that night's workforce at the yard and those higher up the chain of organising the cannabis resin that was shipped from the Middle East, the court was told.

The court heard that Franco, Pratico and Cetrangolo were all highly regarded members of the Moonee Valley Football Club.

Pratico, a pizza cook, hired the truck that was brought into the yard, while Crnac, a labourer, organised the yard to which the containers were delivered, the court heard.

On August 9, 2002, Jessie Franco pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious injury to Senior-Constable Stuart Morris.

Prosecutor Paul Stefanovic told the County Court the incident happened during an Essendon District Football League match between Strathmore and Moonee Valley on July 29, 2000.

Mr Stefanovic said Sen-Constable Morris, playing for Strathmore, had tried to defuse a scuffle between a team-mate and three opposition players including Franco.

After the scuffle, Franco approached Sen-Constable Morris and king-hit him with a right fist to the jaw.

Sen-Constable Morris later said he distinctly remembered Franco telling him "take that, you fuck" before the blow. He felt his jaw break.

Judge John Nixon was told the league's tribunal suspended Franco for eight weeks and he no longer played football.

Franco's counsel, Gregory Lyon, told the court his client had played football since he was 11 and had been suspended only once before.

Judge Nixon asked Mr Lyon to confirm that Franco had no previous convictions and no legal matters pending.

Mr Lyon responded: "None for assault."

Judge Nixon released Franco, of Essendon, on bail pending sentencing.

On Tuesday August 13, 2002, Franco walked free after receiving a one year suspended jail sentence for the assault.

One of the reasons given for what appeared as leniency was the amount of time it took place to take the matter to court.

The 2005 seizure of more than five million pills with a street value of $350 million was believed to be the world's largest ecstasy bust.

The 1.2 tonne of pills were in a container of tiles that was shipped from Italy to Melbourne.

Australian Federal Police agents caught Mark Aisbett, 38, and Antonio Giampaolo, 54, red-handed as they unloaded a container they thought contained the ecstasy.

What the two men did not know was that police had intercepted the container, removed the ecstasy and replaced it with fake tablets.

Also charged were Rahib 'Rob' Karam, Antonio Sergi, 31, Christopher Stavreff, 36, and Anton Claite, 28.

Stavreff (left) and Claite (right) both worked for a Melbourne freight forwarding company at the time.

The prosecution later claimed they were the drug gang's inside men.

It was at a party held for Aisbett in 1995 that career criminal and amphetamine cook Greg Workman was shot dead.

A coroner later found Lygon Street gangster Alphonse Gangitano was the gunman.

Those organising to flood the Australian market with more than a tonne of ecstasy tablets thought their plan was foolproof.

Distribution of the ecstasy in Australia had been arranged through a proven network.

All the Australian organisers had to risk was the estimated $20 million they had to pay those who supplied and packed the ecstasy inside a shipment of ceramic tiles in Italy.

That seemed a gamble worth taking as the tablets' street value in Australia was up around the $350 million dollar mark.

What they didn't know was that Antonio Sergi, who used to work as a courier delivering shipping industry documents, was under surveillance for something else at the time the ecstasy was due to arrive.

Australian Federal Police had Sergi high on its list of suspects for an illegal importation of 25 tonnes of tobacco into Melbourne in November 2004.

It suspected Sergi used a forged document to get the container load of illegal tobacco through Customs.

That prompted the AFP to keep tabs on Sergi's telephone records for several months, which led them to believe he had been in contact with a Melbourne-based freight forwarding company.

Further AFP checks revealed the company had been hired to handle the customs clearing and delivery of container MSKU2815585.

Paperwork for the container showed it contained eight pallets of ceramic tiles, which were due to be delivered to a Braeside company.

The tiles were made in Calabria and packed into the container in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.

Investigations are continuing into who supplied and packed the ecstasy in Italy and no arrests were made other than in Melbourne.

The container left Italy on March 10, 2005, and passed through Singapore and Taiwan before arriving in Melbourne on April 12.

AFP interest in the container began on April 6, 2005, which was when it alleged Sergi first used his mobile to contact the Melbourne freight forwarding company four times between 9.06am and 9.20am.

The AFP claimed Sergi had been in contact with two of the company's employees, Anton Claite and Christopher Stavreff.

Stavreff was the company's sales and marketing manager, and his friend Claite was hired on his recommendation.

The AFP claimed that Sergi went into a Tullamarine newsagency and faxed the waybill for container MSKU2815585 to the freight forwarding company at 9.14am on April 6, 2005.

It alleged he used the alias Sam Pacini in the fax and claimed that he represented the Stone Italia company. The fax was addressed to Chris and it asked Chris to clear the container on behalf of Stone Italia.

The AFP later discovered Stone Italia was a genuine company, based in Braeside, and that the company had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the ecstasy importation.

AFP agents alleged Stavreff was the Chris referred to in the fax and that another alleged gang member, Tony Mokbel associate Rob Karam, had previous legitimate dealings with Stone Italia.

They alleged Sergi posed as a representative of Stone Italia at Karam's suggestion, as using a genuine company as the supposed recipient of the tiles was less likely to attract attention.

Suspicion would obviously be raised if the container was delivered to the real Stone Italia in Braeside as it hadn't ordered any tiles – or ecstasy – from Italy.

An email addressed to Chris at the freight forwarding company instructed the company to deliver the container to 67 Temple Drive, Thomastown, claiming the Stone Italia warehouse in Braeside was full.

The AFP alleged the plan was to have the container dropped off in Temple Drive by a legitimate delivery company.

As soon as the legitimate driver left, the gang would move in and take the container to a nearby warehouse to be unpacked by Antonio Giampaolo (left) and Mark Aisbett (right).

The empty container would then be returned to Temple Drive to be collected by the legitimate delivery company and nobody would be any the wiser.

That all went ahead as planned, other than the container was never returned empty to Temple Drive as the AFP seized it as it was being unpacked at a warehouse in Abruzzo Crescent, Thomastown.

The AFP had the container under surveillance from the second it arrived in Melbourne on April 12, 2005.

While the AFP became increasingly convinced the container would contain illegal drugs, it had no idea it was about to make the world's biggest seizure of ecstasy.

It wasn't until AFP agents started unpacking the container on April 13 -- after whisking it off the MSC Matilde and into a secure warehouse -- that they realised this was "The Big One".

They discovered each of the eight pallets had packs of tiles that formed a square wall and that the cavities inside the walls of tiles were filled with 670 plastic bags containing just over five million ecstasy tablets weighing 1.235 tonnes.

Aimed at brand-conscious users, logos stamped on the pills included the Ferrari horse, diamonds and the Bacardi bat.

The normal AFP practice during similar discoveries is to remove the drugs and replace them with an equal amount of fake drugs and keep the shipment under surveillance to see who collects it on delivery.

But such was the size of the ecstasy haul that the AFP didn't have enough fake ecstasy to replace the real stuff and didn't have time to make more.

So AFP agents put bags of cement in the cavities and put the 250,000 fake ecstasy tablets that they did have on top of the bags of cement.

That meant whoever received and unpacked the shipment would quickly know something was wrong -- but the agents figured they would still have long enough to burst in and arrest whoever was unpacking the container.

And burst in they did -- with 9mm Glock pistols drawn -- at 3.50pm on April 14, 2005.

AFP agents Steven Rickard, Pam Damokas and Mark Gstalter were the first three through the door and they shouted "police, don't move" as they did so.

"Mr Giampaolo co-operated immediately," Agent Gstalter said.

"Mr Aisbett took a little bit of convincing. As we entered he took off, running towards the door.

"I told him to stop. He kept going. I told him again, with a little bit more force.

"Then he turned around as though he was going to rear up at us. He threw his gloves to the ground.

"But then, seeing as though he was told again, he went to the ground."

Giampaolo and Aisbett had already taken the eight pallets out of the container and had just started packing the tablets into empty lettuce boxes when the AFP burst in.

AFP bugs recorded mobile telephone conversations between alleged gang members during the morning and afternoon of April 14, 2005.

The AFP claimed the calls indicated the callers knew the container had got through Customs and had been picked up as planned from Temple Drive, Thomastown, and taken to the warehouse in nearby Abruzzo Crescent to be unloaded.

While Stavreff's mobile phone wasn't bugged, his call records were obtained later and he had rung the switchboard at work and Claite's mobile.

Given the proximity of these calls to movement of the container, the AFP claimed Stavreff was put through to Claite and was given progress reports on the ecstasy shipment.

Sergi rang Karam at 8.48am on April 14, 2005, and said: "Everything will be there between 11 and 12."

Karam said: "OK."

Sergi said: "OK, it's pick up, pick up, Oh, nearly now."

Claite rang Sergi at 4.17pm and said: "I was just talking to Chris (Stavreff) and . . . all OK."

Sergi replied: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, so have I, man."

Claite rang Sergi from the freight forwarding company's toilets at 6.08pm on April 14 after he allegedly overhead discussions at work about the container not having been returned as planned and that police were being notified.

"You better work out what you're gonna do, cos they pretty much suss out," he told Sergi in the bugged conversation.

Sergi said: "Where are you?"

Claite said: "In the dunny. But you better sort out what you're doing, man, cos they're, they're on to it."

Sergi said: "They're what? I'll come down and see you cos your phone is very crackly man, I can't hear s--t."

Claite said: "ASAP."

Sergi, Claite, Aisbett and Giampaolo were arrested that night. Karam was charged the following month and Stavreff was arrested in December 2005.

On November 13, 2005, Antonio Sergi was shot as he sat in his car just 400 metres from the Moonee Ponds police station.

Three shots were fired as he sat behind the wheel of his parked car, and he was hit in the chest and both arms.

The gunmen fled after Mr Sergi pretended to be dead.

Despite extensive injuries, Mr Sergi was able to drive to the nearby Moonee Ponds police station for help.

He staggered into the arms of police.

Sergi, of Sydenham, was in a stable condition in hospital, having driven himself to the police station after being shot in The Strand, on the edge of Queens Park, about 1.20am.

Sergi later told the armed offenders squad's Sen-Det Justin Tippett he didn't want to make a formal complaint and didn't want the shooting investigated.

Sen-Det Tippett warned Mr Sergi his life and the lives of his family and girlfriend were in grave danger.

"I accept those warnings; however, I wish to deal with my safety and that of my family in my own way," Mr Sergi said in a November 18, 2005, statement.

On December 20, 2006, some of those charged over the 2001 hash bust won two-year discounts on their sentences but two of the men were refused a new trial in the Court of Appeal.

All five men claimed they were simply Tony Mokbel's pawns.

Crnac and Pratico appealed against their convictions, claiming they acted under duress and the trial judge erred in summing-up to the jury.

They also argued the judge's decision not to allow evidence about Mokbel's bad character undermined their ability to defend themselves.

Justices Chris Maxwell, Peter Buchanan and Frank Vincent rejected the appeal, but agreed there had been an error in the sentencing of all five, saying their involvement was at the bottom level.

Franco's sentence of nine years with a minimum of six was reduced to seven with a minimum of four.

The other four's 7 1/2 year terms with five-year minimums were cut to 5 1/2 years with non-parole terms of three years.

In May 2007, Aisbett and Giampaolo were found guilty at a County Court trial of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of ecstasy.

Details of their convictions were suppressed until the trials of their co-accused were completed in July.

On July 10, 2007, Rob Karam walked free two years after being accused of masterminding the world's biggest ecstasy shipment into Australia.

He was one of four men acquitted in a blow to the Australian Federal Police.

Karam was portrayed in court as the "puppeteer" pulling the strings in the ecstasy operation.

The four acquitted men hugged each other after the not guilty verdicts were read out.

One of them, an emotional Antonio Sergi, shouted out his thanks to the jury.

Those cleared were alleged by federal police to have been involved in organising the shipment and attempting to get it through Customs.

A County Court jury cleared him of conspiring with others to import the five million ecstasy tablets.

Cleared with Karam on the conspiracy charge were Sergi, Stavreff and Anton Claite.

During the 30 day trial, prosecutor Gavin Silbert said: "While Sergi is doing the hands-on work, Mr Karam is effectively pulling the strings in the background."

Karam and Sergi denied being involved in the ecstasy importation and were found not guilty.

The two convicted men, Giampaolo, of Konagaderra Rd, Clarkefield and Aisbett, of Stanhope St, Black Rock, will be sentenced by Judge Michael Bourke on a date yet to be fixed.

On July 12, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that police feared that Rob Karam was going to "do a Mokbel" and flee Australia before his jury reached a verdict.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert had applied for Mr Karam's bail to be quashed so he could be jailed pending the outcome of his trial.

But County Court judge Michael Bourke refused.

It used to be almost automatic that people accused of serious crimes had their bail revoked at the conclusion of evidence in their trial.

Mr Silbert wanted the four charged over the ecstasy bust to be locked up until a verdict was reached.

Tony Mokbel skipped bail and fled Australia in March last year, days before a jury found him guilty of cocaine smuggling.

The prosecutor sought to have bail revoked three days before the drug boss disappeared.

In the ecstasy bust case, Judge Bourke ruled that Karam, Sergi, Stavreff and Claite could remain free while the jury decided their fate.

"Fifteen years ago, simply, bail would be revoked," Judge Bourke said.

"But it has become practice, and speaking for myself, that over a relatively short period, but in almost five years now I haven't revoked anybody's bail."

On October 12, 2007, the Herald Sun's Keith Moor reported that the jailing of a gunman over a shootout with police revealed a drug ring's bid to kill a man it feared would turn informer.

Evidence suggests those who organised the 2005 importation to Melbourne of five million ecstasy pills feared he was likely to expose them.

Sergi was wounded during one attempt on his life as he sat in his car, and police believe they foiled a second bid to execute him.

The first attempt to silence Mr Sergi was in the early hours of November 13, 2005, after he was lured to Moonee Ponds.

It appears a second attempt was made to kill him three months later.

Those who organised and funded the $350 million importation were never identified.

Senior drug gang members were determined to avoid capture and allegedly hired convicted murderer and alleged hitman Craig Bradley (right) to permanently silence Mr Sergi.

Neighbours saw Bradley sitting in a car outside Mr Sergi's home in Dundee Way, Sydenham, about 7.30am on February 11, 2006. But Mr Sergi was sleeping at a friend's house.

Bradley, 38, was back near Mr Sergi's home the following night. Police suspect he was on his way to kill Mr Sergi, but he crashed his stolen car into a house in Meade Way about 10.10pm.

He was arrested after a gun battle with Acting Sgt Glenn Saw and Sen-Constable Ross McCann in which Bradley fired six shots from his .357 Magnum revolver

Acting Sgt Saw was hit three times and wounded. Bradley narrowly missed Sen-Constable McCann as they exchanged shots, ran away after emptying his weapon and was arrested during a massive police hunt.

When police searched him, they found two scraps of paper in his pocket.

One was a photocopy of a photograph of Mr Sergi; a cross had been drawn over Mr Sergi's right eye.

The other bore Mr Sergi's address and the registration number of his car.

But police didn't have enough evidence to charge Bradley over this, and once again, Mr Sergi wasn't interested in pursuing charges.

If he had intended exposing members of the organised crime syndicate, as it had feared, the attempts on his life appear to have persuaded him otherwise: he didn't turn informer.

In the absence of the jury Mr Sergi's lawyer, Paul Higham, said the shooting was linked to the million ecstasy importation.

"It seems that there is no doubt that its purpose was to effectively silence Mr Sergi," Mr Higham said.

Bradley was cleared in the Supreme Court in August 2007 of attempting to kill the two policemen, but convicted of conduct endangering their lives and intentionally causing injury to acting Sgt Saw.

Bradley's lawyer argued in court that Bradley wasn't attempting to kill the officers, but had deliberately aimed low to avoid killing them and that his intent in firing at the officers was to frighten them so he could escape.

Having acquitted Bradley on the attempt to kill charges, it appears jury members believed that argument despite experts giving evidence of how hard it is to be accurate with a Magnum when firing it one-handed.

Supreme Court judge Betty King jailed Bradley for nine years and three months over the shootout and ordered that he serve a minimum of seven years.

Details about Sergi were withheld from Bradley's Supreme Court trial on the grounds they might influence jury members against Bradley.