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Mokbel's mop top mystery solved
(Herald Sun)
August 30, 2008

The lop-sided wig Tony Mokbel wore when arrested in Athens has been traced to a hair restoration studio owned by car service tycoon and racehorse owner Sean Buckley.

The Purana gangland taskforce has information the now-notorious hairpiece was about 14 years out of date and no longer available.

The Herald Sun believes the label and serial mark had been removed in a crude attempt to prevent identification.

But hair experts have linked it to Mr Buckley's Ultra Hair operation.

The informants have told police the wig had been stored in a box of seconds in the back room of the Ultra Hair studio in Flinders Lane.

Taskforce investigators have been told the appalling wig is an "E3 System", and has been described as primitive and obsolete.

"These were so old and disgusting they would never be sold, as nobody would purchase them," a hair expert told the taskforce.

"The old hair systems that were in the seconds boxes were not there to be used on clients because they were so old and heavy."

Purana has been told the wig was supplied to Mokbel a week before his appearance in the Supreme Court on serious drug importation charges.

Just days before his conviction, Mokbel jumped bail by fleeing to an associate's rural property at Bonnie Doon. He then left Australia in a yacht.

Sean Buckley is widely known in the corporate world through Ultra Tune, the national car-care chain, which is also looking offshore for business opportunities.

In racing circles he is prominent as a breeder and owner, his profile enhanced by his international glamour sprinter, Miss Andretti.

The mare, Australia's Racehorse of the Year, is a winner of five Group 1 races, and last year set a track record with a win in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. Miss Andretti is running at Caulfield today.

Mr Buckley owns a Kilmore farm once owned by the Mokbel family, a purchase he claims was made by chance.

The farm and tens of millions of dollars in assets were seized by the Director of Public Prosecutions after Mokbel's arrest on serious drug charges.

Mr Buckley says that was the extent of his business association with Mokbel.

The Herald Sun, however, has alleged Mokbel regularly visited the Ultra Hair studio in East Melbourne, during which hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash was handed to the drug chief.

The Herald Sun alleges Mr Buckley arranged a bogus hair transplant contract to explain to law enforcement bodies Mokbel's regular visits to the studio. But Mokbel never had the treatment, sources told the Herald Sun.

The Herald Sun has also reported that the pair often lunched together and that as part of their friendship, Mr Buckley gave Mokbel use of his plush apartments at Southbank and on the Gold Coast.

Mr Buckley, who is suing the Herald Sun, claims the cash payments were part of a lease agreement struck between the parties and the DPP. He also denies giving Mokbel the use of his apartments.

Purana holds a number of statements from hair restoration and wig experts who have identified the hairpiece.

"I know this is the same hair system, as it is identical and very rare," one expert states.

The expert told police it was the same one unsuccessfully fitted to another client in May 2004.

"The serial number is not easily removed. It would have to be deliberately removed, as they don't fall or wash off," the expert states.

"The only reason you would remove the serial number is to avoid identification."

It is believed to be the same wig Mokbel wore in photographs used for his forged Australian passport and fake NSW driver's licence when arrested in Athens.

The hairpiece was taken by Greek police, retrieved by Mokbel's girlfriend Danielle McGuire, and is now in the hands of the Purana team.

Police have been told the seconds box containing the assorted wigs was in a stockroom not accessible to the public.

"There were at least 20 to 30 old-style hair systems in these boxes; they were of all varying sizes, shapes, hair and colours," the expert told police.

They were all out of date.

The expert told police the wig used by Mokbel was usually fixed on the client's head with tape or with fusion, a type of glue.

"This wig was untouched. It was in the original state, and it had not been cut or styled," the informant states.

"With this type of system the hair is quite long, and once it is fitted to the client a hairdresser would then cut and style the hair to the client's needs.

"I remember this unit, as we were looking for a system for a client to use until his new system came into the store."

But it was the wrong size and not suitable for the client."The system has been out of date for 12 to 14 years. You can no longer buy this system," the expert states.

Mokbel name 'not on trial'
August 29, 2008

The celebrity status of the Mokbel name has been compared with that surrounding the Kelly name in the 1870s and Squizzy Taylor in the Depression years.

Stephen Shirrefs, SC, told a Supreme Court jury to imagine a person going before a jury with the name of Kelly or Taylor in those eras. He also drew their attention to the differences in the cricketing prowess between Donald Bradman and his brother.

"Imagine the difficulty in Melbourne now, having the family name Mokbel," Mr Shirrefs said.

Mr Shirrefs is representing Horty Mokbel, 44, who is accused of trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Shirrefs said having the Mokbel family name could be a hurdle for his client.

"His brother is Tony Mokbel and, human nature being what it is, each of us will likely have some preconceived ideas."

He urged jurors not to bring preconceived ideas to the case.

Prosecutor Andrew Tinney told jurors they would have had to have been living under a rock not to know that Tony Mokbel had fled to Greece. But he said that had nothing to do with the case involving Horty Mokbel.

"You have heard the Mokbel name; you may or may not have feelings about that name or that family," Mr Tinney said. "Horty Mokbel is on trial here. His family isn't on trial. His name isn't on trial."

Also facing trial is Toreq Bayeh, 37, of Altona North, who has pleaded not guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence, and possession of equipment relating to trafficking a drug of dependence.

The jury heard that the trafficking charge against Mr Bayeh related to a precursor chemical known as P2P.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain told jurors the two men were innocent until proved guilty.

"Mr Mokbel is not on trial because of his name or his other relatives, and nor is Mr Bayeh on trial for the company he keeps," Justice Curtain said.

Mr Tinney accused Horty Mokbel, of Preston, of being a substantial player in the manufacture and distribution of methylamphetamine, in the period between November 2004 and April 2006.

He said Mr Mokbel contracted a drug cook to manufacture methylamphetamine, and was involved in moving chemicals to the cook.

Mr Shirrefs said the allegations relied on the drug cook's evidence, and the man's credibility would be a central issue.

Sharon Cure, representing Mr Bayeh, said he denied being involved with P2P.

The trial continues.

Anger over Gatto event
August 27, 2008

Mick Gatto has been accused of pressuring businessmen, builders and trade unionists to attend a charity event that will finance the legal defence of accused murderer Faruk Orman.

The fund-raiser has infuriated police and victims-of-crime organisations, which say Orman should pay his own legal costs.

Orman is charged with the murder of notorious armed robber Victor Peirce in 2002.

Tickets for the gala dinner at the Docklands' Atlantic function room on September 17 cost $1000, with the event expected to raise more than $500,000 to cover the fees of high-profile defence barrister Robert Richter, QC.

It includes a three-course meal and entertainment by singer Vanessa Amorosi. Cricket legend Shane Warne and boxing great Jeff Fenech are believed to have donated memorabilia for an auction.

But several people approached by Mr Gatto said they were reluctant to pay for Orman's high-profile defence.

"To be honest, I don't want to stump up $10,000 for a bloke I've never met. And there's no way I want to be seen at something like that," one businessman said.

He said Mr Gatto had "put the hard word" on several business associates over the past two weeks.

A member of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said he would not be attending but knew several union officials who had bought tickets.

"I don't want to say too much, but there will be a few union blokes heading along,' he said. "But it really has nothing to do with the union; it's more them supporting Mick."

Senior detectives are understood to be furious that a host of well-connected business and sporting figures have agreed to finance the defence.

Last night, Mr Gatto denied pressuring anyone.

"All the people that are coming are coming because they're friends of mine and they support an innocent man," he said.

"It's completely lawful what we're doing, and I do it with my head held high. We look after our friends, we don't hang them out to dry."

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara was outraged by the event.

"It's a bloody disgrace. He (Orman) is entitled to a defence, but why should he get the best defence available?" Mr McNamara said.

Mr Richter was not concerned that his legal fees would be funded by the dinner. "Providing funds for the defence are raised by legitimate means, I don't inquire as to how," he said.

Orman is awaiting trial for the murder of Victor Peirce, who was shot as he sat in a car in Bay Street, Port Melbourne, in 2002.

Mr Gatto was recently implicated in Peirce's murder after claims in the Melbourne Magistrates Court that he had also ordered the murder of Frank Benvenuto in 2000.

A police informer said in court in March: "About two years after Frank's murder, Andrew (Veniamin) said he heard Peirce had found out it was him who had killed Frank and he was worried that Peirce was going to get revenge on him and Mick Gatto."

Mr Gatto has denied any involvement with the two murders.

Orman was also at La Porcella restaurant when Mr Gatto killed underworld hitman Veniamin, and later gave evidence at Gatto's trial. Mr Gatto was acquitted over Veniamin's death.

Drug-deal death reward of $100,000
August 26, 2008

Detectives are hoping a reward will lead to information about the murder of a father of two killed execution-style during a failed drug deal.

Wayne Boyd, a Gold Coast upholsterer known by his loved ones as a typical family man, was looking forward to a fresh career as a self-employed landscape gardener when he travelled to Melbourne, hired a car and met drug figures to buy a large quantity of pseudoephedrine in November 2001.

Pseudoephedrine is the main ingredient needed to manufacture amphetamines.

Instead of buying the chemicals and returning to Queensland, Mr Boyd, 39, was shot at close range, robbed of his money and dumped on the side of Beattys Rd in Rockbank.

Police yesterday announced a $100,000 reward for information. "We believe Wayne's murder was an execution-style murder in the form of what we would term a drug rip-off," said Det-Sgt Graham Guy, of the homicide squad.

"Back in 2001 there was some pseudoephedrine stolen . . . and it appears this particular ring had been able to gain some access to that pseudoephedrine and that was the precursor chemical Wayne was trying to purchase. It was a fairly sophisticated operation he was dealing with.

"We have laid charges, which have been before the court, in regards to the drug side of things but the murder investigation is still ongoing."

Mr Boyd's wife, Shelley, and daughter Jamie-Lee said yesterday the drug link was completely out of character for a man with good business sense and love for his family.

"I didn't know anything about it," Mrs Boyd said.

"I don't know why he wanted to get involved. He was a typical family man -- a funny, caring good father.

"This is like (what happens in) movies. I don't know whether he was forced into it. I don't know whether he did it of his own free will."

"These are questions I've had to ask myself for years."

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Director of Public Prosecutions cuts deal over Mokbel home
(Herald Sun)
August 20, 2008

The Director of Public Prosecutions has played "split the difference" with a bookmaker over the proceeds of a luxury pad allegedly owned by Tony Mokbel.

DPP Jeremy Rapke, QC, has agreed to a 50/50 split with Frank Hudson over the $1 million-plus proceeds from the sale of the inner-city apartment, a Supreme Court judge heard yesterday.

Accused gangland killer Mokbel lived in the apartment for some time.

Mr Rapke took legal action to seize it under proceeds of crime laws.

After it was sold the proceeds were frozen pending court actions.

Mr Hudson, who was a friend of Mokbel, claimed that he had a financial interest in the exclusive apartment.

He made an application to be excluded from a restraining order that froze the money.

Lawyers for Mr Rapke and Mr Hudson told Justice Kim Hargrave that a settlement had been reached.

The judge was told that the proceeds would be split 50/50 between the parties.

He made consent orders that disposed of both Mr Hudson's application to preserve his financial interest in the property and Mr Rapke's forfeiture application.

Drug busts 'forced syndicate bosses to launder cash'
(The Age)
August 20, 2008

The alleged Victorian syndicate bosses behind the world's largest seizure of ecstasy are suspected of laundering more than $11 million - some of it through a Footscray supermarket - primarily to repay their overseas suppliers for its loss.

Authorities say that Pasquale Barbaro, the alleged "co-head" of the syndicate with Saverio Zirilli, arranged with another co-accused to send the money to Singapore-based associates.

The cash transactions, including two alleged $1 million one-day handovers at Sims supermarket in Barkly Street, Footscray, are said to have been conducted between February and July this year.

It is understood that Sims and other companies mentioned in a police summary obtained by The Age were not aware of any illegal activity connected to their businesses.

Barbaro, 46, and Zirilli, 51, are two of more than 20 people charged with major drug or related offences after a 12-month Australian Federal Police and customs investigation.

Also arrested were Rob Karam, 41, an alleged associate of Tony Mokbel, and John Higgs, former president of the Black Uhlans outlaw motorcycle club.

It will be alleged that an undercover operative who posed as a member of an Asian crime syndicate was secretly filmed by Hong Kong police meeting Karam.

The charges followed the seizure in June last year of 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy, comprising 15 million tablets from Italy worth about $440 million, which police kept secret in order to continue their investigations.

An AFP summary sent to prosecution and defence lawyers includes detail from two subsequent operations, codenamed Inca and Cardinia, which involved 187,000 telephone intercepts, 100 search warrants and 20,000 hours of surveillance.

Police accuse Barbaro and Zirilli of primary responsibility for "directing and co-ordinating the importations, trafficking and money-laundering activities of the syndicate".

Police installed surveillance devices in a Carlton unit which they allege was used as a base to "plan and co-ordinate � the trafficking of (ecstasy)".

The summary says that in February this year, Barbaro and co-accused Sharon Fiona Ropa, 37, started laundering the proceeds of drug sales to syndicate members in Europe via Singapore. It says investigations have established that Barbaro and Ropa were responsible for meeting an Australian representative of Yakadir (a Singapore moneychanger) "for the purpose of remitting money obtained from the proceeds of drugs sales".

Police claim to have confirmed that the "Barbaro and Zirilli syndicate has conducted transactions with (the representative) and his associates" at locations in Collins Street, Melbourne, the Sims supermarket in Footscray, Adelaide and other unconfirmed places.

The amounts listed as having been handed over at the supermarket total more than $3.7 million.

Ropa is further accused of conducting transactions that totalled $1.5 million at Sims and $1.6 million in a five-day period last month outside Melbourne's Marriott Hotel.

It is alleged that days before, Barbaro and two others had arranged for the transportation of $5 million from Adelaide to Melbourne.

The summary says that in Operation Inca, authorities used lawfully intercepted telephone communications and conversations between syndicate members to arrange drug trafficking and later collection of money.

Coded references allegedly referring to drugs included "chairs and tables", "tiles", "pumpkins", "invites" and "tickets". In one telephone conversation in February, Barbaro tells one man he was in Sydney "to see a doctor" and that "the tests came out perfect", references that police allege were to successful tests on drugs.

The summary details allegations that syndicate members learned that a container of coffee from South America - which also held 150 kilograms of cocaine - had been found last month by authorities.

The summary also claims that an undercover operative paid $100,000 to a syndicate member she met at the Middle Bar and Cafe in Middle Park in May in return for 11,000 ecstasy pills. In another operation, two accused were seen handling a vegetable box at the back of the Coburg Market that is alleged to have contained ecstasy.

It is expected that some of those in custody will soon apply for bail.

Ecstasy suspect appears
August 18, 2008

A Griffith man today gave himself up to police hunting for him in connection with the world's biggest ecstasy haul.

Giovanni Polimeni became the 24th person charged over the recent busting of the Australian arm of an international drug gang.

The Herald Sun this month revealed that police believed the global syndicate has repeatedly tried to flood the Australian market with record amounts of ecstasy.

Australian Federal Police allege the syndicate was also responsible for importing 150kg of cocaine into Melbourne on July 24.

The cocaine, with a street value of $37 million, was hidden in a shipment of coffee which arrived from Colombia.

Mr Polimeni, 35, handed himself in at AFP headquarters in Melbourne.

He has been charged with aiding and abetting the importation of cocaine, and later appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

Mr Polimeni's Griffith home was raided and searched by the AFP on August 8.

He wasn't home and agents have been searching for him since then.

The international network believed responsible for the world record ecstasy shipment of 14.5 million pills is allegedly dominated by an Italian organised crime gang of Calabrian origin.

It has allegedly teamed up with other crime gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.

The pills, with a street value of $450 million, were hidden in a shipment of tinned tomatoes from Italy.

Several of those charged are related to known Calabrian mafia members.

Karam charged over six tonne import
(Herald Sun)
August 16, 2008

Banned Crown casino high roller Rahib 'Rob' Karam has been charged over a plot to import six tonnes of chemicals to make ice and speed.

The conspiracy to import pseudoephedrine charge is in addition to those laid against him last week over the world's biggest ecstasy bust.

Mr Karam, 41, of Kew, was one of Crown's top 200 gamblers until Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon banned him from the casino last year.

Australian Federal Police have also charged Fadl Maroun, 26, over the attempt to smuggle six tonnes of pseudoephedrine into Melbourne from China.

Mr Maroun, of Preston, is also facing charges over the world's biggest ecstasy bust, the 4.4-tonne AFP seizure in Melbourne of 14.5 million pills worth $450 million.

He and Mr Karam are due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court to face charges in March.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty yesterday revealed joint operations between the AFP, Australian Customs and various state police forces had led to 38 people being charged in the past month.

Mr Keelty said the charges related to 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3 billion.

He said 23 of the arrests related to the world's biggest ecstasy bust in Melbourne.

Two months before he was charged over the ecstasy and the six-tonne pseudoephedrine plot, Mr Karam revealed he was about to fight the lifetime gambling ban imposed on him by Ms Nixon.

"I maintain my innocence and I'd like to know why I was excluded, because the Chief Commissioner has not given me a reason," he said.

Section 74 of the Casino Control Act allows Ms Nixon to ban people from entering or remaining in a casino.

The Herald Sun last week revealed a global drug syndicate was allegedly involved in repeated attempts to flood the Australian market with world-record hauls of ecstasy.

That global network is allegedly dominated by a Calabrian organised crime gang.

Australian Customs chief executive Michael Carmody yesterday revealed the seizure of 662kg of pseudoephedrine worth $52 million.

It arrived in Sydney by ship on August 8 from Thailand, hidden in fruit juice cartons.

Four Sydney men were charged yesterday.

Crime 'rampant' at the racetrack
(The Age)
August 14, 2008

Leading Victorian bookmaker has retained his licence despite being the subject of a recent police investigation over his concealment of assets belonging to alleged crime boss Tony Mokbel.

The Age can reveal that the bookmaker - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is suspected of banking hundreds of thousands of dollars that were earned by Mokbel through alleged criminal activities.

The revelation that the police inquiry has not had an impact on the bookmaker's licence comes after a Victorian judge identified "rampant" criminal activity in Victoria's racing industry and called for a new police squad to combat crime in racing.

A report by Judge Gordon Lewis yesterday called for sweeping reforms to the policing and oversight of the state's three racing codes, including a new racing integrity commissioner.

The Lewis report also revealed that the Australian Crime Commission had found that racing figures had "admitted to accepting slings" of up to $50,000 from suspected criminals in return for successful tips and that there existed "a culture tolerating criminality within the racing industry".

The release of the Lewis report comes after The Age revealed in June that leading jockeys and trainers, including Melbourne Cup winner Jimmy Cassidy and trainer Jim Conlan, had taken tens of thousands of dollars from alleged crime boss Tony Mokbel in return for tips.

The Age also reported in June that at least one Victorian bookmaker had written cheques to Mokbel in return for cash amounts despite no bets being laid, and that bookies had entered bets for Mokbel or his associates at the completion of a race, guaranteeing him a win.

In excerpts from a crime commission document contained in the Lewis report, it was revealed that a small number of bookmakers had struck deals with each other to share bets from crime figures, had taken bets from so-called "commission agents" working for criminals and had sold winning tickets to punters. The ACC report also stated that rogue bookmakers had allowed bets to be placed at the completion of a race and had helped criminals conceal assets from police.

The ACC report said: "One bookmaker issued winning cheques for non-existent bets after the relevant race � one industry participant has successfully exchanged cash for a winning cheque from a bookmaker."

It also said: "Available information suggests a widespread culture within the horseracing industry of tolerating criminality with respect to the laundering of illicitly attained funds. This culture extends from bookmakers to betting agents, horse trainers and their support staff. Rogue bookmakers are able to facilitate corrupt betting practices through actively breaching protocols."

Judge Lewis was commissioned to investigate racing integrity issues by Racing Minister Rob Hulls in March after the scandal involving Racing Victoria chief executive Stephen Allanson. The Age revealed in February that Allanson, who resigned in disgrace, had placed bets under a phoney name.

But Judge Lewis said that his inquiry had shifted focus after he was presented with information about criminal activity in the racing industry. He warned that numerous criminals had infiltrated the industry, forging ties with "bookmakers, trainers, jockeys, commission agents and racetrack identities".

Judge Lewis praised the Victoria Police Purana gangland taskforce, set up in 2003 to investigate gangland killings, in identifying the extent of crime in racing. But he said Victoria Police's decision to scrap its racing squad in the late 1990s had left a void and the existing police "racing theme desk" was inadequate.

Among his 63 recommendations, Judge Lewis called for:

� Greater use of Victoria Police's coercive questioning powers on organised-crime figures tied to racing and strengthened ties between police and racing officials.

� The immediate licensing of commission agents, who place bets for others for a small fee.

� The creation of a racing integrity commissioner to oversee integrity procedures with Racing Victoria and act as an industry ombudsman, answering to the minister.

� A new stand-alone appeals and disciplinary board that covers all three racing codes.

The Lewis report said the investigation of integrity issues should remain under the control of the respective racing codes, but more independence and accountability were needed. Mr Hulls said a working party consisting of racing officials and police would oversee the implementation of the Lewis recommendations. When asked if he took responsibility for the problems, Mr Hulls said: "Whenever crime appears and whenever people have any information in relation to criminal activity, there are processes whereby they ought to report those matters."

Opposition racing spokesman Denis Napthine said Mr Hulls' stewardship of the industry had been appalling. "Minister Hulls has been asleep at his post once again," he said.

More drug bust charges
August 13, 2008

Federal police today arrested two more men and extradited another after last weeks record ecstasy and cocaine seizure.

Danny Moussa, 30, and Fadi Maroun, 26, both of Preston, allegedly sold 11,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of $330,000 to undercover police.

They were charged with drug trafficking a commercial quantity of MDMA.

Tasmanian Graeme Potter, 50, was extradited to Victoria also charged with drug trafficking.

Twenty two people have been arrested.

The trio will appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on March 26.

Tony Mokbel paper danger in Barwon Prison cell
(Herald Sun/AAP)
August 13, 2008

Tony Mokbel will study the case against him on computer after the large paper brief of evidence against him was deemed a fire risk.

Lawyer Grace Morgan has asked for briefs of evidence against Mokbel to be given to him on computer discs instead of paper due to tight prison rules.

She said her client should be allowed to view them on a computer inside his Barwon Prison cell.

Mokbel, 42, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court via videolink yesterday to face charges of murder and drug trafficking.

Ms Morgan said it was difficult getting evidence to her client because prison authorities had said there was too much paper in his cell.

She said the prison had deemed the 24-volume brief of evidence a fire hazard and told her to find another way to deliver evidence.

"He will need to have access to this (evidence) in order for us to proceed with this matter," Ms Morgan said.

"We are having a bit of difficulty getting copies of the brief to the defendant in relation to prison regulations on fire safety."

The court heard efforts were being made to convert the briefs of evidence into electronic form.

Prosecutor Vicky Prapas said she had spoken to the police informant who was having the documents made into files that could be viewed on a computer.

Magistrate Jelena Popovic noted that accused persons in another case before the court had received the evidence against them on a CD.

Mokbel's charges include the murders of underworld figures Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall in 2004.

He is also charged with trafficking and conspiring to traffic large commercial quantities of methylamphetamine in Melbourne, Greece and other locations between July 5, 2006 and June 5, 2007.

The hearing was adjourned until October 13.

An application for the charges against Mokbel to be permanently stayed will be heard later this month.

Lawyers: Mokbel a victim of bullying
(Whitehorse Leader)
August 12, 2008

When the public thinks of Tony Mokbel it is not usually as a victim of bullying.

But that was the reason Deakin University's law professor, and Mokbel's barrister, Mirko Bagaric (left), gave the Leader for taking on the highest-profile case of his career thus far.

"I hate seeing someone being bullied, and as strange as it might sound with Tony, I felt specially early on he was being bullied," Prof Bagaric said.

The bullying Prof Bagaric feels Mokbel who is facing two murder charges and a string of drug charges faced was the public comments politicians and police made after he was charged with drug offences in 2007.

"I thought it was wrong that senior police were parading the picture of him in the wig like a prized scalp," he said. "It was as if all the rules were thrown out in this case because he was a Mokbel."

Prof Bagaric heads Deakin University Law School, where he teaches at the Burwood campus as well as running his own part-time legal practice.

Prof Bagaric said his interest in Mokbel's case began as a casual legal interest, but that he elected to take on Mokbel as a client when he got a memorable phone call last year.

"He phoned me from Greece I was surprised at first because I didn't think he had access to telephones from jail in Greece," he said.

He has since represented Mokbel in the latter's fight against extradition from Greece to Australia and will also represent his client at the European Court of Human Rights, where Mokbel will again challenge his extradition.

Prof Bagaric will also be front and centre when Mokbel faces the Melbourne Magistrates' Court at a date to be set.

Lindstrom testifies against ex
(Herald Sun)
August 11, 2008

Former Swedish model Charlotte Lindstrom has tearfully given evidence against her former boyfriend in a Sydney court.

Amidst heavy security, a frail looking Lindstrom � serving a sentence for conspiring with her former lover to have two Crown witnesses murdered � read a heartfelt love letter she wrote to him before her own incarceration last year.

Her former partner, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, looked toward Lindstrom as she read the letter written on Valentines Day 2007, in Sydney�s Central Local Court.

Fighting back tears, she read from the letter: �I want you to know that I truly love and adore you and I�m not giving up on us, ever.�

The 23-year-old also talks of being �so frustrated, sad and angry it�s not funny�.

�I want to have my man by my side � trust me and don�t get me wrong baby, I�m not blaming you but I�m just so sick and over it.

�When is this going to end? I hate being alone and lonely.

�I just keep on asking myself when did this go so wrong? Why did this happen?�

The letter is signed off with �Je t�aime, I love you�.

Lindstrom was arrested in May 2007 after meeting an undercover police officer posing as a hitman.

She had faced up to 25 years behind bars for soliciting to murder, but she was given a two year minimum term.

The Court of Criminal appeal last month decided that was �manifestly inadequate� and increased the sentence by 12 months, but Lindstrom today told the court she was appealing that decision.

Under cross-examination by her former boyfriend�s lawyer Christine Nash, Lindstrom admitted she had agreed to tell police all she knew �to look after� herself.

The case continues.

20th drug gang suspect held
August 10, 2008

An alleged member of the organised crime gang behind the world's biggest ecstasy seizure was arrested at Melbourne Airport.

Australian Federal Police swooped on Anil Suri, 53, of Maidstone, about 7pm after his overseas flight landed.

He was arrested in relation to a plan to import a large shipment of drug precursor chemicals, separate from the ecstasy importation that sparked police raids last week.

It will be alleged the chemicals were to have been used to make drugs such as amphetamines and methamphetamines.

Suri is the 20th person connected to a crime network, whose members include figures linked to the Calabrian mafia, which the AFP has alleged may be responsible for importing up to 60% of Australia's illicit drugs.

Police believe that Suri, an Australian national of Indian heritage, organised the planned importation of precursors with Severino Scarponi, a South Australian of Italian heritage who was arrested and charged on Friday.

Five people, including Suri, are expected to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court today charged with serious drug-related offences.

The 14-month AFP-led operation, codenamed Inca, into the ring culminated on Friday with raids on homes around Australia.

Among those arrested were alleged syndicate mastermind Pasquale Barbaro, suspected drug baron and founder of the Black Uhlans Outlaw motorcycle gang John Higgs, and Rob Karam, of Kew, an alleged drug importer suspected of using corrupt Melbourne dock and freight workers to make the imports.

Friday's raids related to the world's largest single shipment of ecstasy ever seized by police - 4.4 tonnes or 15 million tablets, with a street value of $440 million - discovered hidden in tins of tomatoes shipped from Italy to Australia in June last year.

After discovering the massive haul of drugs, the AFP last year made a tactical decision not to reveal the raid. After secretly substituting inert pills for the tablets and resealing each tin, it mounted an elaborate surveillance and phone-tapping operation.

This led the Federal Police to discover the crime network's Carlton safehouse, which they bugged with listening devices, gathering evidence crucial to the arrests.

More on the record bust

The Calabrian connection
By Nick McKenzie
The Age
August 9, 2008

A $440 million drug bust - the world's largest ecstasy haul - has put the spotlight on the Mafia's links to Australia.

It was a discreet meeting at Rome's Fiumicino Airport nearly three years ago. The senior Italian Mafia investigator spoke in hushed tones as he related an intriguing story. The Italian authorities, he told The Age, had begun investigating a Calabrian crime network spanning nine countries, including Australia.

The investigator offered few details and said the operation was at an early stage. It would possibly be years before the group's activities were made public.

But in describing the size of the network's activities, he was explicit. He referred to an earlier anti-Mafia operation in 2004 that had uncovered the shipment of 500 kilograms of cocaine from Italy to Melbourne. Compared with the activities of the group he was now targeting, the investigator said, the 2004 bust was no more than an "antipasto � an appetiser".

The investigator dismissed the view of some in Australian law enforcement that the 'Ndrangheta � a family-based network known also as "the honoured society" that has its roots in the Calabrian town of Plati � was more myth than reality. He named the Riverina town of Griffith and Victoria as places where the 'Ndrangheta was still "very much active in Australia".

He also warned that the findings of the 1979 Woodward royal commission into drug trafficking should not be forgotten. That inquiry was launched in the wake of the disappearance of Griffith furniture maker and anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay, who had upset some of the town's Calabrian residents.

The investigator also singled out several 'Ndrangheta family groupings from Plati that had a strong presence in Australia. One of the oldest and biggest families that remained of interest to Italian authorities, he said, was the Barbaros.

As the airport meeting drew to an end, the investigator observed that police around the world tended to play down the existence of Mafia societies unless confronted with their involvement in crimes that made headlines, such as underworld murders, kidnappings or huge drug seizures. His words echoed with renewed authority after yesterday's dramatic police operation across Australia.

The seizure by the Australian Federal Police of the world's biggest single shipment of ecstasy, and the pre-dawn arrests of some of the alleged ringleaders, exposed the easy availability and seemingly insatiable demand for ecstasy in Australia, with police and drug policy experts saying that the latest bust, as well as previous big hauls, has had no impact on the ease of purchase or price of the drug. More disturbingly, however, the elaborate law enforcement operation appears to have vindicated the Italian investigator's conviction that the 'Ndrangheta still has potent roots in Australia and that three decades after the Mackay scandal a new generation of Italo-Australian organised crime figures is flourishing.

One of the alleged principals behind the shipment from Italy to Melbourne of the 15 million ecstasy tablets is a man well known in Griffith. Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro, who was arrested in Carlton yesterday, was charged in the early '90s, and later cleared, in connection to a massive cannabis plantation on a Riverina farm.

The 46-year-old Griffith man is also the son of Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro, one of the men named by the Woodward royal commission as a member of a secretive clique of Calabrians who lived in Griffith and who were members of, or were linked to, "the honoured society".

While the vast majority of Australia's Italian and Calabrian community were honest and decent, the commission said the "honoured" society was based on a "cell" or "family" system and its members were involved in crime and violence. According to the commission, Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro was born in Plati in September 1937. He earned his nickname after planting citrus saplings on his NSW farm.

His moniker was given to him to allow others to differentiate the citrus farmer from another member of the Griffith cell also named at the royal commission, Francesco "Yoogali" Barbaro. Both Francescos had married sisters of Antonio Sergi, another Griffith resident and native of Plati, born in 1935. Sergi and Robert "Aussie Bob" Trimbole were named as the bosses of the group's cannabis operation.

The commission alleged Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro had made hundreds of thousands of dollars from "activities associated with cannabis cultivation" and, along with Trimbole and Sergi, was "between 1974 and 1977, (part of) an organisation comprised almost exclusively of persons of Calabrian descent, based in Griffith and Sydney, which engaged in the illicit cultivation, trafficking and distribution of cannabis".

Justice Woodward also found that this Griffith crime cell was responsible for the murder of Donald Mackay.

Mackay disappeared in 1977 after he reported the existence of a marijuana crop to the local police. His disappearance, the 1979 royal commission and the subsequent revelations that former Labor immigration minister Al Grassby was linked to some of Griffith's suspected "honoured society" members, dominated newspaper headlines for months.

Three decades after Justice Philip Woodward urged authorities to not allow "the curtain to fall upon the activities of the organisation in Griffith", police yesterday were back in the Riverina town. It was a visit many residents � most of whom, undoubtedly, are honest � will be cursing. When police make big arrests in Griffith, whispers about the Mafia quickly follow.

It was 4am when the AFP cars rolled down the main street and parked outside the houses of Pasquale Barbaro and his two Griffith associates, Saverio Zirilli and Pasquale Sergi. Several of the alleged crime network's other members in Victoria, and elsewhere in NSW and in Adelaide, were also rudely awoken.

Among them was Melbourne greengrocer Francesco "The Fruit" Madafferi. Madafferi's name first hit the headlines in the 1990s as a result of his nine-year battle with Australian authorities to remain in Australia. A 1998 statement from a Victorian detective was also aired in the Federal Court and contained the view that Madafferi "belongs to a crime family involved with blackmail, extortion and murder, and if allowed to remain in Australia will continue to carry out acts of violence on behalf of an organised criminal syndicate".

A well-placed police source says the arrest of Pasquale Barbaro, Madafferi (who in 2006 was allowed to remain in Australia) and other Italo-Australians does not equate to evidence that the "honoured society" identified by Woodward exists in Australia.

The network linked to the ecstasy importation included members of varied ethnicity and operated like a business organisation, with alliances that shifted to suit different money-making opportunities.

Still, the source says that the nucleus of the crime network was comprised of figures with Calabrian heritage and that comparisons with Woodward's 1979 report are unavoidable.

THE arrests will also give weight to the views of organised crime experts such as former National Crime Authority chief John Broome, who has long insisted that the focus on terrorism has led Australian police to drop the ball on organised crime.

Broome has previously warned that police agencies have shifted too many resources away from understanding how organised crime networks work, including those structured around family and ethnicity. His comments are backed up by another former senior police officer with expertise in Italian organised crime, who says police need to do more to understand how organised crime groups operate.

"As it has evolved here, those involved in Italo-Australian organised crime are in some ways totally different from earlier generations. That is not to say that they are not secretive, clannish and have the strength of community to rely on. But the younger generation are not the same. They do not operate the same or think the same as their parents or grandparents. The code of omerta (silence) is not stuck to," the former police officer says.

"The old-school Italians are mostly old men now. But they were always homebodies within their community and with strong family ties. The new school are far more flamboyant and visible. They are prepared to do business with outsiders."

Unlike the Griffith residents scrutinised by Justice Woodward, Pasquale Barbaro often ventured outside his home. Barbaro, says a well-placed source, lived dual lives. He was the family man in Griffith, where "he seemed to always have a wedding or funeral to attend". In Melbourne, he was the alleged gangster.

While the Italo-Australian criminals of old were nervous about interacting with outsiders � "Aussie Bob" Trimbole was an exception, but even he had Italian roots � the current crop of crime figures are prepared to do business with a range of groups.

One prominent figure arrested yesterday � Rob Karam � is of Lebanese heritage and an associate of Tony Mokbel. Karam's alleged utility in the crime world is his connection to a network of corrupt freight forwarders and dock workers.

Since the Woodward royal commission, focus on the "Mafia" in Australia has been sporadic, both in law enforcement and the media. The distinction between the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, the Sicilian Mafia and the Camorra of Naples is often ignored.

In 2004, the NSW Crime Commission reported that "the Italian organised crime network has received relatively little law enforcement attention over the past decade, yet continues to generate substantial wealth".

For the past four years, the Crime Commission has dedicated some of its resources to tackling the Italo-Australian-controlled domestic trafficking of cannabis. But, says one senior NSW police source, "it is a matter of too many crooks and too little time".

In 2006, another Italian prosecutor, Salvatore Curcio, told The Age that he was certain that the "honoured society" had its tentacles firmly in Australia. Curcio was one of the officials involved in the operation that uncovered the 2004 plan to import 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.

While Curcio jailed scores of Italians in connection with the importation, no one was charged in Australia. The cocaine was never seized, despite the Italian police's insistence it had reached Melbourne's wharves.

It is, of course a different story with the June 2007 importation of the 15 million ecstasy tablets, with an estimated street value of $440 million. In a major coup for the AFP, the drugs have been seized and the alleged crooks rounded up.

But no one in law enforcement is suggesting the AFP or other agencies can rest easy. In comments that should set alarm bells ringing for the Federal Government and Australian law enforcement agencies, drugs policy expert Paul Dillon warns that in contrast to other illicit drugs, large seizures of ecstasy do not appear to impact on the domestic supply or cost of the tablets. "It is a market that is resistant to seizures," says Dillon.

The NSW Crime Commission recently estimated that ecstasy can be bought in bulk in Europe for about 75 cents a pill, sold at wholesale prices in Australia for $12 to $17 a pill and then sold individually for up to $50 a tablet.

In his 2006 interview with The Age, Curcio warned that the high street-value of ecstasy in Australia meant the country would remain a lucrative market for European suppliers. The Calabrian Mafia, he said, would continue to exploit the high demand for drugs in Australia and adapt to the local law enforcement environment. "To think these people are chicken thieves is a gross error," he said.

It appears to have been yet another prescient observation.

Nick McKenzie is an Age investigative reporter.

World record to Australia before Games begin
(The Age)
August 9, 2008

A unit in Little Palmerston Street, Carlton, was allegedly a crucial safe house for an international drug syndicate broken yesterday after a year-long Australian Federal Police investigation.

In a series of dramatic raids across the country, some of Australia's most notorious alleged underworld figures were arrested in connection to the seizure in Melbourne of the world's largest shipment of ecstasy.

Police arrested 20 people, eventually charging 19 with various drug and money laundering offences relating to the seizure of 4.4 tonnes or 15 million ecstasy tablets from Italy.

The drugs, hidden inside tins of tomato shipped from Italy to Melbourne, are valued at $440 million.

Key figures in the syndicate include its alleged mastermind, Pasquale Barbaro; the suspected drug baron and founder of the Black Uhlans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, John Higgs, and Rob Karam, of Kew, who is alleged to have used a corrupt network of Melbourne dock and freight workers to facilitate importations.

Mr Barbaro, 46, and Sharon Ropa, 37, were arrested at the Carlton unit in the early hours of Friday morning. AFP sources told The Age Mr Barbaro travelled frequently between his home town of Tharbogang, near Griffith in New South Wales, and the Carlton unit.

Mr Barbaro is the son of Francesco "Little Trees" Barbaro, who was named in the Woodward royal commission as a member of the Griffith-based Calabrian organisation behind the disappearance of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay in 1977.

In Griffith, about 100 AFP officers swooped on four properties at 4am. Homes were cordoned off as a team of customs officers arrived with sniffer dogs.

The focus of operation was Pasquale Barbaro's sprawling Italianate mansion. His father Francesco remonstrated with AFP officers when he arrived at the property about 6.30am.

"I have no idea what's happening. I don't know anything about drugs, leave me alone," Mr Barbaro told The Age.

Also arrested and charged yesterday was Francesco Madafferi, 47, of Greenvale, a Melbourne fruit and vegetable market identity who the immigration department sought to deport in the '90s after discovering he had been investigated for "Mafia conspiracy" in Calabria.

Thirteen of those charged in relation to the raids appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday, with all remanded in custody except for Madafferi, who was granted bail without appeal.

Prosecutor Brent Young told the court there were 187,000 hours of telephone intercept evidence and 3600 hours of listening device recordings. He asked for six months to prepare the prosecution case.

AFP Chief Commissioner Mick Keelty said the syndicate represented 60% of all ecstasy imports into Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania.

"This is a major disruption to transnational organised crime, both for this country and abroad." The investigation was the largest ever undertaken by the AFP, Mr Keelty said. Police executed more than 45 search warrants in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands

Federal police and customs officers found the ecstasy in a shipment that arrived in Melbourne on June 28, 2007, after gathering intelligence from Australian and European agencies.

The AFP then made a tactical decision not to reveal the raid. After secretly substituting inert pills for the tablets and resealing each tin, it mounted an elaborate surveillance and phone-tapping operation.

A key operational coup was the discovery of the crime network's alleged Carlton safe house, which the AFP wired with listening devices.

Pasquale Barbaro was yesterday charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of MDMA (ecstasy), trafficking MDMA, and aiding and abetting the importing of cocaine. He was remanded appear in court again on March 26.

AFP sources said Ropa frequently used the safe house, travelling between it and her Werribee home. She is alleged to be one of three people involved in a $9 million money laundering ring, which allegedly provided funds for drug syndicate.

She appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with laundering money worth more than $1 million, trafficking MDMA, and aiding and abetting the importing of cocaine. She was remanded to appear on March 26.

Windows and doors of the alleged safe house, a double-storey brick townhouse, were boarded up last night and smashed glass covered the entrance. The front garden had also been dug up.

Neighbours spoke of waking at 4am to hear armed police forcing their way inside.

"I was woken by an awful lot of noise and shouting and banging and breaking glass," said one.

On July 24 this year in Melbourne, customs and AFP officials also seized 150 kilograms of cocaine alleged to have been imported by the syndicate.

In yesterday's raids the AFP also seized $140,000 in cash and a bounty of weapons at a Griffith property.

Melbourne Magistrate Amanda Chambers yesterday granted bail for Madafferi, who was charged with trafficking MDMA, but remanded all other accused in custody.

Mohamed Abdul Nazeer, 24, and Tanesh Dias, 34, both of West Footscray and both charged with money laundering, were remanded until February 4. All others are due back in court on March 26.

Alan Saric, 34 of Werribee, charged with various drug offences, and Abdul Nazeer are expected to make bail applications early next week.

John Higgs, 61, of Taylors Lakes, has been targeted by state and federal police for two decades. He remains a suspect in the theft of secret police files detailing the activities of a police informer from the Victorian drug squad offices in 1996.

Yesterday he was charged with conspiracy to import MDMA.

Another Melbourne figure, Rob Karam, was charged with conspiracy to import MDMA, trafficking MDMA, aiding and abetting the importing of cocaine and importing a precursor chemical to manufacture drugs.

Karam is an associate of alleged drug baron Tony Mokbel and was one of Crown Casino's top 200 gamblers before being banned from the casino by Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

Others across four states arrested and charged with various drug offences included: Saverio Zirilli, 51, of Tharboganag, NSW, Carmelo Falanga, 43, of Bungle Bungle Ranges, SA, Pasquale Sergi, 45, of Griffith, NSW, Gratian Bran, 51, of Cheltenham, Graeme Potter, 50, of Launceston, Severino Scarponi, 39, of Glenside, SA, Antonio Di Pietro, 41, of Nar Nar Goon, Pino Varallo, 39, of Eltham, Dominic Barbaro, 31, of Lake Wyangan, NSW, Tony Sergi, 34, of Sydenham, and Salvatore Agresta, 40, of East Keilor.

Drug busts 'forced syndicate bosses to launder cash' (The Age) August 20, 2008

Drug busts 'forced syndicate bosses to launder cash'
(The Age)
August 20, 2008