George Marrogi: Video shows Melbourne underworld killer chasing victim, as appeal bid fails

Terrifying footage released for the first time shows George Marrogi, a Melbourne underworld figure, chasing three men, one of whom he has killed.

Marrogi will remain in prison for more than three decades after an attempt to have his murder conviction overturned was rejected Wednesday.

The 34-year-old appealed in March, arguing that unrealistic police timetables and poor circumstantial evidence had led him to a wrongful conviction for the 2016 daylight murder of Kadir Ors.

Marrogi arrived at Campbellfield Shopping Plaza on September 26 in a stolen red Holden Commodore.

The never-before-seen footage shows him stopping at a bus stop near the mall, chasing three men – Mr Ors, Sam Abdulrahim and Alex Harrouk – and firing several bullets in their direction as they run away from him.

He shot Mr. Ors with 13 rounds, including five rounds while the victim lay wounded on the floor outside an Officeworks store.

Marrogi faced four trials for the murder, with a jury finding him guilty in December 2021. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

His lawyers claimed he may have been indirectly involved in the shooting, supplying the Commodore or bullets, but he did not pull the trigger.

They pointed out gaps in the prosecution’s circumstantial case during the murder trial, including issues with DNA evidence and their timeline of Marrogi’s movements after the shooting.

However, three appeals court judges on Wednesday rejected Marrogi’s appeal, saying the jury could convict him on the basis of the evidence.

“In our opinion, the evidence paints a compelling picture of guilt,” Justices Phillip Priest, Cameron Macaulay and Kim Hargrave wrote in their verdict.

“The claim that the jury’s verdict is unreasonable or cannot be supported by the evidence must be rejected.”

The judges said Marrogi’s DNA found on a cardboard bullet box in the Commodore was very important and suggested that he “handled the box very shortly before the murder.”

Marrogi will not be eligible for parole until he is in his mid-60s, as his minimum sentence was increased by five years in February after he was caught running a drug empire with his girlfriend while in prison.

It was revealed earlier this year that Marrogi was the mastermind behind the $50 million drug trafficking operation while incarcerated in one of Australia’s toughest prisons.

He was aided in his drug dealing business by “clean” girlfriend Antonietta Mannella, who posed as his lawyer to help him move a massive drug shipment.

It was the use of her phone, which was tapped with secret police listening devices, that unraveled the alleged crime operation.

Mannella, 28, from Mickleham, pleaded guilty to helping Marrogi run his business from Barwon Prison.

The County Court of Victoria learned that Mannella had been his late sister’s best friend when she made contact with the jailbird.

Until then, Mannella had lived a spotless life, previously distributing food to the homeless on Melbourne’s streets for a charity set up in memory of Marrogi’s sister Meshilin, who died of complications related to Covid-19.

The court heard that Mannella and some of Marrogi’s cohorts were trying to move 800 liters of the drug butanediol from South Australia to Victoria.

Marrogi and Mannella pleaded guilty to attempting to traffic a large commercial amount of illegal drugs.

The $50 million scheme was based on a brutal scheme where Mannella posed as Marrogi’s lawyer.

While all inmate phone calls are tapped and recorded by Corrections Victoria, the pair took advantage of a known exemption that allows unmonitored calls with legal personality, which are considered privileged.

In circumstances not explained, the court heard that a phone used by a real lawyer representing Marrogi was forwarded to Mannella whenever he called him.

Mannella answered the phone by posing as ‘Cassidy’ in a poor attempt to throw snoops off the jail.

The pair then spoke in code as they organized the move of four 200 liter barrels of butanediol – the main ingredient in gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB.

The court heard Marrogi was able to convince a man who owed him money to arrange the shipment, which revolved around a 71-year-old lorry driver who drove the barrels across the border to Melbourne.

The elderly driver was apprehended by police as he entered Horsham in western Victoria.

The mission was doomed from the start.

The court heard that the Australian Federal Police tapped Mannella’s phone and listened to every conversation she had with the crime boss.