|
Nick Stamatopoulos, the son of the
owner of the Definia Cafe, said the fugitive drug boss came in about
12.30pm with two men.
Mokbel was drinking coffee with a
Greek citizen and an Australian national.
Mr Stamatopoulos said police
officers came from a table at the cafe and arrested Mokbel, while
five other officers suddenly appeared from outside and helped bundle
him away.
"They took him very quickly. I
was surprised — we've had celebrities in here before, but
criminals, no," he said.
Mr Stamatopoulos said it was the
first time he had seen Mokbel in the cafe.
"We don't remember him. He
didn't look like a criminal."
Australian Federal Police Deputy
Commissioner John Lawler said Mokbel complied with Greek police when
they approached him.
At first hear appeared
relaxed, believing he would be able
to bribe his way out of any minor
passport offence.
But his face
dropped when he saw the Purana
detective.
He had the good grace to
say: "I don't know how you did
it, but you've done a brilliant job,"
and agreed to accompany the officers
to Athens' police headquarters to answer questions.
Greek authorities said Mokbel offered a $1.6 million
bribe to escape.
A police source later confirmed
he had twice tried indirectly to bribe
local police before he realised they knew his identity.
"He left it to be
understood how much money we wanted to let him go,"
the source said
Theodoros Angelakis,
64, the Greek man Mokbel
was with, owns a company
for buying and selling yachts — existing only on paper
and registered three months before — which Mokbel was
funding.
With silver hair and
pockmarked skin, Angelakis, said he had lived in
Australia but "wasn't fond of the place",
he gave Tony Mokbel the Volkswagen four-wheel-drive, took
him to smart restaurants and planned to go into business with him.
The man told police he met Mokbel a month
before in a cafe in Glyfada.
Mokbel introduced himself as
Greek-Australian businessman Stephen Papas and said he was keen to
invest money in Greece.
Shortly after, Angelakis set up a shipping
company in which Mokbel planned to invest.
The businessman denies all knowledge of Mokbel's past and
police are not investigating him.
However, they are investigating
his company, and whether Mokbel brought or planned to bring
"dirty" money from Australia to invest in it.
"We have suspicions and we are looking into whether Mokbel
was laundering money here," said a senior Greek police
officer involved in the case.
Angelakis would not be charged with any crimes, sources said.
They said Mokbel was
"keeping a low profile" in Athens and not
engaging in any criminal activity there.
Mokbel was still claiming he was Papas when they arrived at Athens
police headquarters.
But when Greek police revealed they knew he
was Tony Mokbel, an Australian of Lebanese background wanted in
Australia, he replied, "Yes, that's me."
"Once he realised we knew everything he was a bit
shocked," the officer said.
Police questioned him over six hours.
Always
co-operative, he gave conflicting stories about how long he had
been in Greece.
He did not ask for a lawyer, and Yiannis
Vlachos,
who now represents him and took the job through a mutual friend,
did not see him until just before his first court appearance.
Mokbel was then taken to his apartment.
Danielle
McGuire, was not with her boyfriend when he was arrested.
She was home with the couple's baby and her elder daughter, when police arrived to
search the property.
She was surprised but her
behaviour was impeccable, an officer said.
Police took away a
laptop computer but found nothing illegal in the home.
His fake passport under the name of Stephen Papas also yielded
no clues.
Since it had no stamps in it, Mokbel had not used it to
leave Australia or enter Greece.
The officer assumed Mokbel had
entered Greece under another passport, then destroyed it.
From
remarks Mokbel made, it seems he may have flown in from Germany.
Later in the day, three Australian police saw
Mokbel for the first time, and even then only for a few minutes.
"Victoria Police can
confirm that it has received information that Tony Mokbel has been
arrested and is in the custody of the Greek authorities," a
Victoria Police spokesman said.
"At this stage, due to ongoing
operational activity, it would be inappropriate to comment
further."
Mokbel was on Interpol's top 100 list.
He was arrested as part of operation Magnum, a joint exercise between
Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and Greek police.
The Victorian Government offered a $1
million reward in April for information leading to Mokbel's capture.
Authorities said the reward led to several people coming forward
with vital clues.
It was not clear if the
reward would be claimed.
Mokbel's legal representative in
Greece later said he was unaware
of the $1 million bounty offered for his capture.
Jannis Vlahos said that his client was
stunned when informed such a large reward existed.
"He was not
aware," he said, "he was shocked."
A court was later told the police operation to
track down the fugitive has cost $1.3 million.
The court documents include a police spreadsheet,
tallying the cost of Operation Magnum at $1,310,766 as of June 30, 2007.
That could soar if Mokbel fights his extradition.
Expenditure includes salaries, allowances, money for evidentiary drug
purchases and flights and accommodation for police required to identify Mokbel
when he was captured in Greece.
Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland said Victoria Police
played a major part in Mokbel's arrest.
"We had some
information that we were able to provide to the Greek authorities
that he would be at a certain cafe," he said.
"They had
been mounting a surveillance operation looking for him over four or
five days.
"On the basis of information we
provided they went to the cafe. They found him there (and) spoke to
him.
"I understand he maintained in
fact that he was someone else. He maintained that he was a different
person for a period of time."
Commissioner Nixon expressed some concern that the fact Mokbel is the father of a Greek
child may in some way complicate his extradition to Australia.
Ms McGuire had been co-operating with
Greek police but was not in custody.
"If she is in possession of
documents that are falsified and has entered the country unlawfully,
then I would imagine there will be potential charges available to
the Greek authorities should they wish to exercise that
discretion," Mr Lawler said.
George Cholidis said the Athens District Attorney
told police to hold Mokbel until he can be extradited to
Australia.
"Inquiries are being held to
find if he has any connections here and whether he has committed
other crimes, apart from the false passport and false driver's
licence," Mr Cholidis said.
"We don't think he has done it
all by himself."
Photos taken after his arrest show a
bearded and glum-looking Mokbel both with and without his
ill-fitting wig.
Mokbel claims the rug moved out of place when his cap
was removed before Greek police took a mugshot and was not as bad as
it looked in the photo.
Hellenic Police
served Mokbel with a provisional arrest warrant —
which marked the start of the extradition process.
An AFP spokesman said the
warrant was based on four outstanding Australian-based
warrants.
They are: being knowingly concerned in the
importation of 2.9 kilograms of cocaine; the murder of
Lewis Moran; two counts of incitement over the order of
100 kilograms of amphetamine and 200 litres of a
chemical from Europe in October 2005 and three counts of
drug trafficking.
"We have to prove we have a set
of charges that Tony Mokbel should answer and we think that's the
case," Chief Commissioner Nixon said
"In many cases people fight this
kind of extradition but we believe we do have sufficient matters,
some of the ones he already has been convicted of and perhaps other
matters as well."
Ms Nixon said she was confident
Mokbel would be extradited.
Australia and Greece have an
extradition treaty in place.
The Purana taskforce was confident
Mokbel would be held in custody long enough to enable Australian
authorities to apply for him to be handed over.
Australian Government officials began
immediate negotiations to get Mokbel back to Melbourne where he will
serve a sentence for drug importation and face a murder charge.
Australian police officers would
escort Mokbel back to Victoria.
Some believed that bringing
Mokbel back from Greece would
take at least a month — or years if he fights his extradition in
the Greek courts.
Extradition is a 15-stage process
that normally takes several weeks if the person involved does not
fight.
A Federal Government source said:
"The process could be stretched out for years if he opposes his
extradition in the courts." The process will begin with an
extradition application being prepared by the federal
Attorney-General's Department in co-operation with the Victorian
Director of Public Prosecutions and Victorian police.
That request must be approved by the
federal Justice Minister or the Attorney-General and then sent to
Athens through diplomatic channels.
When he does return, Mokbel will
likely be flown to Australia on a scheduled commercial flight. He is
not considered enough of a security risk to require a return, David
Hicks-style, in a chartered executive jet.
It is unlikely that Greek authorities
would hold up Mokbel's extradition because of any offences he may
have committed in Greece, according to emeritus professor of
international law at Sydney University, Professor Ivan Shearer.
He said the Greek courts had a right
to put Mokbel on trial over any offences he might have committed in
their country and to convict and sentence him if found guilty before
they allowed Australia's extradition request. It would not be an
alternative but would defer the process until the Greek authorities
had finished dealing with him, he said.
However, under Australia's
extradition treaty with Greece, signed in 1991, there is also
provision for Greek authorities to waive their right to charge
Mokbel over any crimes he may have committed while in Greece under a
false identity.
Greece's executive authorities —
the justice and police ministers — can weigh up "whether they
would be worried with relative trifling offences compared to the
serious offences for which he would be tried in Australia" —
murder and narcotic offences.
"I think the Greek authorities
would waive their right to prosecute for those," Professor
Shearer said.
On receiving a formal application
from Australia for Mokbel's extradition, they can request that the
Greek judge hearing charges against Mokbel look at the evidence
submitted by Australian authorities.
The judge can weigh up if the
offences Australian authorities allege Mokbel committed in Australia
would have constituted an offence under Greek law, punishable by at
least one year's imprisonment. The judge can then commit Mokbel for
extradition.
Under the terms of the treaty,
Australian authorities have 45 days from the day of his arrest to
formally request extradition to Australia.
Victorian authorities were
examining whether further charges can be laid within
that time.
Ironically, had Mokbel, a Lebanese
national by birth, stayed in Lebanon, he may have evaded or delayed
extradition as Australia has no formal extradition treaty with
Lebanon.
More than 120 police arrested 14 people
after simultaneous raids across Melbourne which immediately followed
Mokbel's arrest.
The raids occurred
in suburbs including Brunswick and Doncaster and were conducted on
key figures in Mokbel's empire, including members of his family,
after the arrest was verified.
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon told 3AW's Neil Mitchell that twenty-two properties were raided
and of those arrested eight people were charged with a range of
Mokbel related offences and placed in custody to appear in
the Magistrates' Court.
Police seized motor vehicles, cash,
drugs, guns, pre-cursor chemicals used to manufacture amphetamines and drug
production equipment.
Police have said that five of those
arrested were part of a drug syndicate known as "The
Company".
One female police officer was injured
in a physical altercation during the raids.
John Lawler of the AFP said that he
expected more arrests.
Eight of those arrested were placed
in custody.
  They were:
George Elias,
39, of Bonnie Doon (left); Chafic Issa, 43, of Clayton South
(right); Robert Anthony Benedetti,
41 of Templestowe; Christopher Lee
Ferraro, 28, of East Doncaster;
Batholomew Rizzo, 28 of Box Hill North; Joseph John Mansour, 28, of Park
Orchards; David David Tricarico, 23, of Doncaster East and
Andrew Ryan,
24, of Mitcham.
Police took control of more than $300,000 cash as well as properties, cars, jewellery and
furniture from five of the men.
Mobster memorabilia, including signed and framed pictures from the hit mafia
TV show Sopranos and of the memorial set of the Al Pacino film Scarface
were among the items claimed in Supreme Court restraining orders.
Cristal and Dom Perignon champagne, Wolf Blass wine, a Versace bracelet and
men's gold jewellery were also covered by the orders.
A Muhammad Ali "I am the greatest" photograph, a Carmen
Electra photo, a framed picture of Madonna, an autographed Wesley
Snipes photo and an autographed Michael Schumacher cap were also
confiscated.
Six houses allegedly controlled by the five men were covered
under the restraining orders.
Epping and Warranwood properties belonging to Ferraro and a Box
Hill North property owned by Rizzo were claimed.
 Other controlled properties were: The Park Orchards property of
Joseph Mansour (left), who faces one count of trafficking a commercial
quantity of amphetamines; the Ringwood North home of Benedetti and
the Coburg property of Tricaricco.
Mr Ferraro's Subaru and Nissan sedans were seized, while Mr
Rizzo's Holden ute, Audi, Nissan and Mitsubishi sedans, Seadoo
Jetski and a Mick Doohan memorial motorcycle helmet were among the
items frozen.
Mr Mansour's black leather couches, his dining room table and
eight leather chairs were claimed.
A panel van and a Harley Davidson motorbike allegedly owned by Mr
Benedetti and Mr Tricaricco's two BMWs and a Toyota Land cruiser
were seized.
Mr Rizzo had four Westpac bank accounts and more than $188,000
confiscated. Two ANZ bank accounts and $7000 were confiscated from
Mr Mansour while Mr Benedetti had $106,000 frozen.
Justice Robert Osborn's orders were made after a lawyer for the
Director of Public Prosecutions applied to the court under the
Confiscation Act.
The restraining orders prevent the sale or disposal of the goods.
The men appeared in the
Melbourne Magistrates' Court the following day.
All eight faced charges of allegedly
trafficking commercial quantities of drugs, which included
amphetamines, cocaine, methylamphetamine and methamphetamine.
 Christopher Ferraro, charged with one
count of trafficking a commercial quantity of amphetamines, also faces
charges for allegedly possessing a long-arm rifle and ammunition without a
licence.
The eight accused were brought two by two into a
crowded court, packed with salivating media and distressed friends and relatives
of the charged men.
 Supporters of David Tricarico, charged with one count of trafficking a
commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, occupied much of the
back row and left when he disappeared into custody.
 A woman wept on learning that Robert
Benedetti,
who faces four charges including
trafficking amphetamines and cocaine,
had appeared in court but refused to confirm her identity when approached
afterwards.
In a side row, the mood was more cheerful; police
joked about the prospect of a plane trip to Greece.
The court ordered that the men be
provided with summaries of the allegations against them within seven
days.
 Rob Melasecca, acting for several of
the men, made a special plea on behalf of the last man to appear,
Andrew Ryan, 24, of Mitcham (left), who had wanted a bail application made.
Mr Melasecca made a special request that
Ryan be transferred out
of the Melbourne Custody Centre to a remand centre or assessment
prison as soon as possible telling the court his client was a
full-time student who also had two jobs and whose partner was
overdue with the couple's first child.
He needed to be moved out of the
remand centre if he was going to have the facilities to be able to
organise for the exams he is due to take soon, and to speak to his
wife. The magistrate said she would request that he had priority for
transfer.
Magistrate Susan Wakeling said she
would request that Ryan be assessed immediately.
Ryan, tall, muscular and handsome, stood
stock-still in the dock as she explained that he would be remanded in custody.
His mother held a crumpled handkerchief and tried
to stop her tears from falling.
 Carrying 145 kilograms on a small frame,
Bartholomew Rizzo sat scowling, his arms folded across his broad belly, as Rob
Melasecca recited his woes to the magistrate.
Rizzo is also charged with one count of
trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.
He is
overweight, on sedation, on sleeping pills, on anti-anxiety medication, on
morphine for pain, on medicine to protect his stomach lining from all the
medicines, and on anti-inflammatories for a shoulder reconstruction.
Which, by the way, your honour, might now need to
become a shoulder replacement because being handcuffed "caused considerable
injury to the shoulder," Mr Melasecca said.
He asked his client to show the magistrate his
hands, and Rizzo raised his, gently curved, as if he were holding a large
hamburger.
Mr Melasecca said this was Rizzo's first day
without his medications in some time, and all he had been offered so far for his
ailments were two Panadol tablets. The magistrate noted that Rizzo would require
a medical assessment in prison.
The men were remanded in custody to reappear for
a committal hearing on January 31 next year.
Their lawyers were not happy that it would be six
months before the Crown finalised its brief — "it's an extraordinary
amount of time", acknowledged magistrate Wakeling — and Mr Melasecca
pointed out that a lack of detail about charges made it impossible at this stage
to apply for bail for his clients.
Prosecutor Kim Swadesir had successfully argued
for Ms Wiakeling to allow six months to prepare the brief, stating they had an
avalanche of evidence to compile. That included transcribing 1000 phone
intercepts and 1000 hours of listening device evidence, and conducting drug
analysis on three kilograms of amphetamines, four ounces of cocaine and 200
ecstasy tablets.
Ms Swadesir said the prosecution case would also
include bank documents detailing funds transferred between Australia and Greece.
Ms Wakeling ordered the prosecution to provide
some of the evidence — untranscribed compact disc copies of the phone
intercept and listening device material — to the defence within two months.
It was later reported in the Herald
Sun that four members of the alleged drug
trafficking gang met as youngsters at a prestigious Melbourne
Catholic school.
The group attended Whitefriars
College, at Donvale, in Melbourne's east, and three were in
the same class group.
Staff at the school were in
shock in the wake of the arrests.
The school confirmed
Bartholomew Rizzo, Joseph John Mansour
and Christopher Lee Ferraro graduated in
1996 after completing year 12.
David Tricarico left the school after year 9 in 1998.
Whitefriars' principal Fr Paul
Cahill said the school was in shock after the arrest of its
former students.
"I am shocked and
disappointed and saddened that these fellows have been charged
with what they have been charged," he said.
"It is not the sort of
story you like to read about your past students."
But Fr Cahill said the
youngsters had not shown any tendency towards drugs or drug
dealing while at school.
"While they were at school
there was nothing that would suggest they might be getting
involved in the sorts of activities with which they have been
charged," he said.
A former Whitefriars student in
the year ahead of Tricarico said the accused drug trafficker
had been a young leader at the school and revelations of his
arrest were an "absolute surprise".
 The
wife of murdered underworld figure Lewis Moran
said she toasted the
capture of Mokbel.
Judy Moran said Mokbel, who has been
charged with murdering her husband, would now pay the price.
"All these predators have to pay
the price for the carnage they have caused, especially Mr Mokbel and
his co-accused people," Mrs Moran said on ABC radio.
She said she toasted Mokbel's capture
with a cup of coffee when she heard the news the morning after 'Fat'
Tony was taken into custody.
Renate Mokbel, the sister-in-law of
Tony Mokbel will remain in custody even though the former fugitive
has been arrested.
Ms Mokbel put her house up as a
surety for Tony Mokbel before he absconded.
The house has been seized as an
alleged proceed of crime.
Police have said that although Tony
Mokbel is back in custody, he did skip bail meaning that the surety
was forfeited and that she still faces a perjury charge.
 On
June 7, 2007, Mokbel appeared before a public
prosecutor in Athens.
Danielle McGuire was standing nearby with baby Renate
in her
arms.
Sunglasses were perched on McGuire's darkened long
hair as she tried
to dodge waiting media outside the court.
Her elder daughter Brittany burst into tears as he
kissed her on the head.
Mokbel awaited his
hearing in a packed court alongside African prostitutes, men on
various charges, female drug users, and a transvestite handcuffed to
a policewoman waited outside.
He joked and laughed with his captors saying, "this is the biggest
brothel I've ever seen".
Mokbel smiled and chatted to
family and friends.
He spoke proudly of his 32 godchildren in Australia and how he was looking
forward to seeing them again.
Tanned and dressed in a two-tone grey
T-shirt, light blue jeans and black thongs, he had the relaxed
manner of a man on holiday, despite the handcuffs that had ended his
15 months of the high life on the run.
Even though handcuffed, Mokbel
managed to make a mobile phone call.
As his case was called at 8pm
Melbourne time, he was led to the courtroom about 100 metres
away by a policeman.
 Mokbel and his legal team
indicated they would fight attempts to extradite him.
When asked whether he agreed to
extradition procedures being brought against him by Australian
police, Yiannis Vlachos, said his
client did not agree.
Mr Vlachos also
said Mokbel "
does not believe he will get a fair trial in
Australia".
At the preliminary hearing Mokbel signed papers to confirm he was Tony
Mokbel, but said he
would not co-operate with attempts to return him to Melbourne.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel
would have voluntarily agreed to the extradition to
serve a minimum nine-year jail term on cocaine charges
had he not been charged with the murder of crime boss
Lewis Moran.
His lawyer said Mokbel could not deny the
allegations of a false passport but claimed the Lewis Moran murder
charge was a police conspiracy.
A defiant Mokbel, in a statement
to an Athens' prosecutor, accused Victorian police of fabricating
the murder charge in a bid to win his extradition.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel denied
any link to the murder.
"My client told me the
Australian charges are a conspiracy by the prosecutor in order to
persuade Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for him."
"It's a set-up
accusation reliant on the evidence of a convicted
murderer who has not until now said that Mokbel was
involved," he said.
The defiant claim came as
it emerged that Australian Federal Police Commissioner
Mick Keelty would arrive in Athens to thank Greek
authorities for helping catch the runaway.
Mr Keelty was at a
conference of South-East Asian police chiefs in
Singapore when Greek police arrested Mokbel.
He was to
hold a press conference with the Hellenic police chief,
Lieutenant-General Anastassios Dimoshakis.
Mr Vlachos said Mokbel was holding up
well in jail but was concerned about his children.
"The problem is he has a baby of
three months, born here in Greece, and this is something very
unpleasant for him...he has also an 11-year-old daughter and it's
not very pleasant for her to see her father in this situation."
He also denied Mokbel had been living a
luxury life in Athens.
"He has spent some money in the
time he was here, but no more than what the usual Greek family
spent," he said.
"It is his opinion that this is
why Australian authorities want him so badly, because they think
that there's a lot of money behind him and that's something he
denies anyway."
Danielle Maguire,
paced around the room.
She had the couple's baby girl swaddled in a
white blanket in her arms.
Mr Vlachos said his
client had been "moving around very obviously" in Greece.
"He wasn't hiding, he loves Greece, and he
has even learnt some Greek."
Mokbel complained about the
rotten conditions in his cell at Athens' Security Police
headquarters, and asked to be moved.
A security police source said
complaints about accommodation had been met with a gruff: "This
is not a hotel."
After the hearing, Mokbel was
put in an unmarked and returned to a Greek jail on immigration and false document
charges.
Greek police later revealed
they feared Mokbel would attempt an escape during his court hearing.
 Mokbel is facing forgery charges and
is expected to face further charges for entering the country
illegally having been charged
over the passport held in the name of Stephen Papas.
Mr Vlachos said it would be up to the court
to decide whether Mokbel would be charged with possession of false
papers in Greece or face extradition proceedings.
The false passport offence carries a small
fine or a jail term of up to three months.
Mokbel was being held in the lock-up at police
headquarters. He was expected to be transferred to the
high-security Korydallos prison, south of Athens, once convicted on the forgery
charge.
Danielle McGuire retrieved
Mokbel's infamous wig from the custody
of Greek police, at the insistence of the captured fugitive.
McGuire collected the
hairpiece and other Mokbel belongings including sunglasses, $2700 in
euros and six mobile phones.
Deputy Commissioner Overland described Mokbel's wig as a "shocker".
"But the disguise is reasonably
effective," he said. "I'm not sure I'd have recognised
him.
"I think the wig, in a way,
distracts your attention. You look at it and just think it's so bad
you don't look past that.
"I guess it didn't work for him
in the end.
"Nice try."
Ongoing investigations into
Mokbel may uncover more about
the accused gangland killer, Commissioner Nixon said.
"It is his network that we are
alleging is involved with him in drugs, transfer of funds, in fraud
- a whole set of crimes that he and other people are responsible
for."
The Purana gangland taskforce was
continuing to chase leads relating to Mokbel's alleged
Melbourne-based gang.
"It has been a very big
operation and there still may be more to come," Ms Nixon said.
"We have dealt with much of it,
but this is ongoing operation and there are always things that come
out of investigations that, as you start to talk to people as you
start to continue investigations, you learn more."
On June 8, 2007, police continued to dismantle Tony Mokbel's Melbourne drug empire, dismantling a clandestine drug laboratory believed to belong to him.
The lab, complete with drums of chemicals, was uncovered at a
self-storage centre in Alexandra, about 130km northeast of
Melbourne.
"A number of items, namely pre-cursor chemicals, were
located which were consistent with the manufacture of
methamphetamines," police said.
The Herald Sun believes a receipt allegedly found during a raid
on a country property on the night of Tony
Mokbel's Athens arrest led police to the storage
centre.
Members of the Victoria Police clandestine laboratory squad dismantled the drug lab.
The storage centre owner, who did not want to be named, said she
was shocked to learn it had become the centre of a major police
operation.
She is not under any suspicion of being involved with the drug
gang.
"People approach me about hiring them out and they get given
a key," the woman said. "I don't look at what people store
in the sheds."
Det-Insp Jim O'Brien, head of the Purana Taskforce, said the bust was just another step in the systematic dismantling
of Mokbel's designer drug empire.
On June 8, 2007, Mokbel spoke to the press when
he returned to court for his misdemeanour false
passport charge to be heard.
He sat impassively in his seat
after the judge called a one-hour recess ahead of the court's
afternoon session at about 1.30pm local time (2030 AEST).
Handcuffed and flanked by
plain-clothes police, Mokbel sat in the back corner of the courtroom
waiting for his case to be called.
Danielle McGuire, sat
and spoke with Mokbel, as did his lawyer, Yiannis Vlachos.
McGuire's daughter and the couples' infant daughter were also present at the court
compound.
A hot-tempered Ms McGuire lashed out
at the Herald Sun's photographer, grabbing her wrist and trying to
snatch the camera.
The Greek photographer couldn't
understand the furious words, but the sentiment was obvious from Ms
McGuire's wild-cat actions: back off and leave me alone.
Later, Ms McGuire approached the
photographer and apologised for her actions.
"I am trying to protect my
children, you must understand that," she said.
Mokbel spoke to The Age and AAP
in an
extraordinary interview in the packed Athens courtroom.
Mokbel said he had run from Australia
because he had no chance of defending himself in jail and declared he "would be on a plane
tomorrow" if the Australian Government was prepared to
negotiate with him on the charges he would face.
Insisting life on the run was "awful", he said:
"I would be on a plane tomorrow if the Australian Government
would agree to sort out the truth from the crap."
"I would not want one cent of the community spent on me.
I'm no different from any other person."
"When you are on the run you would not
wish it on anyone.
"You miss your family and your friends and you don't have
a real life at all. You don't have the appetite to do anything.
Your thoughts always go back not forwards."
He said the impact on his family had been "devastation
from all angles — not only my family but my friends are going
through a hard time".
Mokbel said he fled Australia because he could not defend
himself while in jail.
"I know what Acacia (maximum security wing of Barwon
Prison) was like, being in there having to fight a case. You have
no hope of winning.
"One day I am going to go back to Australia," he
predicted.
Mokbel also said he is
confident of beating an extradition bid by Australian police.
"I will fight the extradition
process 100 per cent," he said.
"I've been told that I have a
very good chance.
"I don't think I'll get a fair
go in Australia."
Denying he was involved in the murder of Lewis Moran, with which he is charged,
Mokbel said: "Mate,
I deny full stop all this."
Mokbel said that he "did not even know" the paid
hitman who has pleaded guilty to the murder of Moran
and
made a sworn statement that he was paid by Mokbel and Carl
Williams.
"I don't even know him. I met him in prison after the
event," Mokbel said.
"Carl Williams got up and thank God he told the truth
about my situation."
Williams, who is serving a 35-year jail term on multiple murder
counts, claimed in court that Mokbel was not involved in Moran's
murder.
But Victorian Supreme Court Justice Betty King dismissed
Williams as a liar, saying last month his evidence was
"unbelievable, even incredible at times".
"It was, in my view, designed to ensure that it would
provide no evidence against any person other than those who are
already dead, convicted or have pleaded guilty to various
offences," Justice King told Williams.
Mokbel said he had no reason to hurt Lewis Moran because the
Morans had "never done anything wrong to me".
"We were all friends and it (the underworld war) was the
saddest thing happening, it was just sad," he said.
"Williams has got 35 years, that's sad. I know he has got
to pay a price for what he did.
"I feel for the family of the Morans. It was just
stupidity."
Mokbel said he knew he would never get a lenient sentence in
Australia but "if I were going to jail for things that I did
that would be OK".
He also believed his case had been
discussed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Greek
counterpart, Costas Karamanlis, when the two met in Australia last
month.
"There may be a political
connection because I've been told that the Greek and Australian
prime ministers met recently," he said.
Mokbel said, he held no fears
for his safety if he returned to Australia.
"I don't fear for my life
because I've done nothing wrong," he said.
Mokbel, who was jailed for 12 years in his absence for being
knowingly concerned in the importation of 2.9 kilograms of
cocaine, said, "they got me on the wrong charges."
"Conspiracy was the right charge. But not importation.
They were going for the jugular. Even (Australian federal police
agent Jarrod) Ragg, he agreed with me when I told him what my role
was there. But the prosecution did not want to accept it."
Mokbel lashed out at the Purana taskforce claiming they were
"hungry to convict whoever they would like, not for the right
reasons".
"If I had something to do with (the Moran murder), Purana
has never once talked to me.
"Not once have they come up to me and interviewed me.
"They used to come up and say 'your life is in danger'.
That put fuel on the fire. I knew my life was not in danger."
He said Purana had never produced any hard evidence linking him
to the Moran murder.
Danielle Maguire, the former Melbourne hairdresser
who spent visiting
hours with her boyfriend in the holding cells of an Athens police
station, also spoke out.
She said she
feared her children were being
caught up in the storm surrounding his capture.
"All the kids come first and that's what you've got to
think, whether he's guilty or innocent or whatever, we've got to
think of the kids," she said.
Ms Maguire also said she took exception to being referred to in
the media as a gangster's moll.
She said she believed people had already made up their minds
about her family and feared Mokbel would not receive a fair trial
if he returned to Australia.
"I've got a daughter that can't even go to school back at
home," Ms Maguire said.
"I know that I've got a past,
everyone's got a past. … People have already judged me, people
have already made their minds up."
Mokbel waited in the courtroom until his hearing was adjourned to June 22.
A throng of media
followed him out of Athens Central Court on his way back into
custody.
As he was being led into an unmarked police car, stepdaughter
Brittany followed.
He said: "Bye beautiful, I love you. I'll
talk to you later." She burst into tears as he kissed her on
the head.
The case is not expected to affect
the extradition bid.
On
June 11, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Ms McGuire faces a hefty fine when she eventually lobs
at Athens airport bound for Melbourne as she lacks a valid visa for
Greece.
Ms McGuire lacks a valid visa
for Greece and will have to hand over a wad of cash before she's
allowed to fly home.
Police aren't sure how McGuire got
into Greece, because there is no stamp in her passport.
Investigators have found no evidence
of any criminal activity by her.
Mokbel's life in a cell and likely extradition is proving
unpalatable for Ms McGuire.
"She feels lost. She has no friends, no family, no support.
It is hardest for her," say sympathetic police who are dealing
with the case.
"She is alone. She has to be strong for her children."
Though trying to keep a brave face,
the stress of her partner's capture is starting to show.
Tanned, slim and immaculately
dressed, Ms McGuire is enraged by the widespread portrayal of her in
the Australian media as "some kind of gangster's moll".
"I'm sick of my life being
portrayed as some kind of bulls--- TV drama," she said.
McGuire has served time for drug
offences in the past, and admits she's no cleanskin.
She admits her
mistakes, but doesn't believe her past, or the current
circumstances, warrant the kind of attention the family gets in
Australia.
Life on the run hasn't been easy, but the time out of the
spotlight was a relief, she says.
Detectives who monitored the family's
every move for more than a week saw very little of her.
"She did not seem to have much
life," a police officer on the case said. "She stayed
indoors, we did not see her so much. Maybe once outside."
On
June 12, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that Mokbel had likened himself to confessed
al-Qaida terror supporter David
Hicks.
In an interview from his Athens jail
cell, Mokbel discussed aspects of his life on the run, his new baby
daughter and life inside prison.
Australia's one-time most wanted
man says he wants the $1 million reward offered by police for his
capture to be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital.
In the interview, Mokbel also:
COMPARED himself to terror detainee
David Hicks, and likened a stint in solitary confinement in
Melbourne to serving time in Guantanamo Bay.
REVEALED his new baby, Renate, was
unplanned, and that he didn't find out about the pregnancy until
late-term.
VOWED to marry girlfriend Danielle
McGuire -- if she'd wait for him to get out of jail.
CLAIMED he'd planned to open a
restaurant in Greece and work an honest life in the kitchen.
SAID he would take a DNA test if
necessary to prove he is Renate's real dad because his name is not
on her birth certificate.
APOLOGISED profusely to the judge who
let him out on bail before he fled.
In the long chat from the Security
Police headquarters in Athens, Mokbel said if anyone collected the
$1 million Victoria Police reward on his head, the money should go
to children.
Mokbel said he could see similarities
between his case and that of Hicks.
"Eventually, his offences were
found not to have been as severe as claimed," Mokbel said.
"I hope the end result is
similar for me."
The drug boss regretted he'd not yet
wed Danielle.
"We haven't been married. I hope
one day we will," he said.
"I believe every woman in the
world deserves a beautiful wedding. If I ever get that chance, I
will make it up to her.
"It will be a pleasure to marry
her, if she waits that long."
He said he and Ms McGuire hadn't
planned the birth of Renate, five months.
"We didn't plan it, it
happened," he said.
"I wasn't aware of it until some
months down the track. Danielle wanted to keep her. I'm glad, she's
a beautiful baby."
Mokbel said he would take DNA tests
if necessary to prove they were the parents and allow them to retain
custody.
"We couldn't use our real names
(on the certificate). When you are on the run you can never use your
real names," he said.
He was confident Renate would be
allowed to return to Australia when -- or if -- he is extradited
from Greece.
Mokbel extended apologies to
Victorian Supreme Court judge Justice Bill Gillard for skipping
bail, saying he didn't want to let him down.
Commenting on reports Greek tax
inspectors have joined the queue preparing to throw the book at him,
Mokbel said he didn't mind.
"I'm glad to stay longer (in
jail) in Greece. I am not going to get a fair go in Australia."
He predicted it might be five years
before Australian authorities won their battle to get him back on
home soil.
"I want to go back, but the case
is too prejudiced," he said.
Mokbel insisted he had planned to get
a job in a restaurant kitchen until he bought his own, where he
could work until retirement.
The Herald Sun also reported that Mokbel faces a $4 million tax bill when he returns from Greece
to Australia.
Mokbel's relatives and associates in
the alleged organisation known as The Company could also face large
tax bills under a federal strategy to use tax laws to combat
organised crime.
The $4 million bill for Mokbel has
been calculated by the Australian Taxation Office based on his
estimated past income from manufacturing and trafficking illegal
drugs.
Added to Mokbel's woes, Greece's
finance ministry has reportedly begun an inquiry into his business
affairs to establish whether he evaded tax or broke any laws
relating to the non-disclosure of financial transactions.
The assessment was based on details
of Mokbel's assets uncovered by federal and Victorian police during
investigations into his activities.
Mokbel was presented with the bill in
2005 but in March 2006, while his
lawyers argued with the ATO over the assessment, he jumped bail and fled overseas.
Police say Mokbel's organisation
turned over up to $50 million from drug manufacturing and
trafficking since August 2006.
On
June 13, 2007, Chief Commissioner Christine
Nixon said that Mokbel will face a second
murder charge and other offences when he is returned home from
Greece.
Ms Nixon said the proposal to lay additional charges against Mokbel
were part of preparations by Purana Taskforce detectives and the
Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) for his extradition from Greece.
"We've indicated so far drug
trafficking offences, also perhaps two murder offences," she told reporters.
Pressed on whether the second murder
charge was definite, Ms Nixon said "yes", but declined to
name the alleged victim, saying: "Not at this stage."
Purana gangland detectives have been investigating whether Mokbel
was involved in the 2003 underworld hits on drug dealers Michael
Marshall and Nik Radev.
Herald Sun Online understands police want to charge him
with at least one of those murders.
Ms Nixon said the government's efforts to extradite Mokbel
required them to list all charges he will face on his potential
return to Australia.
Police have 40 days left to organise
material that will be put before Greek authorities for Mokbel's
extradition to Australia, Ms Nixon said.
"The legislation and the treaty
requires us to inform the Greek authorities of what offences we
intend to lay and we have to have all that material, so Purana is
working with the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) to do that
now," she said.
On
June 13, 2007, the Age reported that
Mokbel's prospective mother-in-law lauds him as a charming, loyal and respectful member
of her extended family.
"My opinion of Tony as a man
will never change, for the way he treated my granddaughter and me
with respect," she told The Age in an
interview on a chilly Moonee Ponds street — which she suspected
was watched by undercover police.
"My opinion will never
change," she said. "Never. No matter what. He is part of
Danielle's life, so therefore he's part of my life. And I'll never
turn my back on him."
Identifying herself only as Joan, and
declining to offer a surname, Ms McGuire's mother is much harder on
herself than anyone else for her failings as a parent, and she
demands that no one judge her daughter.
Shaking not from the cold but with
emotion, she says in a clenched drawl: "Danielle's not looking
for sympathy. She's the strongest woman I've known.
"But if you are going to judge
my daughter on anything, then judge her for being in love with Tony.
She's in love with the man and he's in love with her."
Joan said it broke her heart when Ms
McGuire left Australia with daughter Brittany in 2006,
ostensibly for a holiday but also because she feared for her life
and to resume life with Mokbel.
"There was nothing much I could
do about it," she said.
"She wasn't the little girl I
could order to her room. She had her own life and would do anything
to keep Brittany safe."
Joan said she next heard about them
when police raided her flat a week ago to advise that Mokbel had
been nabbed in Greece.
She says no one, least of all any mother,
should criticise her for her fierce loyalty to her daughter after
having failed her "when I had too much rubbish going on in my
head … I would protect any of my children with my life."
After a relationship with underworld
figure Mark Moran, whose murder preceded that of his brother
Jason's
during Melbourne's gangland war, Danielle McGuire served 18 months'
jail for trafficking ecstasy.
Then came life with Mokbel as he
fought Victorian and Commonwealth drug charges and became a
notorious household name around Australia.
Conceding that Ms McGuire's
life in Greece wasn't what she had hoped for her, Joan is
fatalistic.
She lingered briefly on an "every mother's
dream" marital image, but snapped out of it.
"If Danielle
loves Tony, that's good enough for me," said Joan.
She derides media reports of her
daughter as a "gangster's moll", which she says unfairly
portray her as "some kind of slut".
She also rejected suggestions that Ms
McGuire was some jewel-drenched "bludger", and plead for
her grandchildren to be spared media attention.
She said Ms McGuire's love for
Mokbel's sister-in-law Renate, jailed over a $1 million surety
she lodged for him, was undiminished.
"They named their new
daughter after Renate because she was the sister my daughter never
had," Joan said.
The Age also reported that in 1974, a law that prevented
extradition of the parent of a Brazilian child was a key factor
behind British great train robber Ronnie Biggs avoiding deportation
and trial in the UK.
Now, an international law expert says Tony
Mokbel's lawyers could cite his Greek-born baby as a reason why
he should not be forced home from Athens.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the
Australian National University, said "humanitarian
considerations" was one of the "exceptions to
extradition" clauses in the 1991 extradition treaty between
Greece and Australia.
"The most obvious (legal) angle
that Mokbel could seek to pursue at the moment relates to any
possible consequences of extradition for his family in Greece,"
Professor Rothwell said.
"The ter | 
The
Tony Mokbel arrest
At 6.30pm (Melbourne time) on
June 5, 2007, Tony
Mokbel was arrested at an Athens cafe.
