EXCLUSIVE
A former associate has launched a bid to have underworld identity Mick Gatto charged with a series of serious crimes.
Jamal Mohammad, who also goes by the name Jamal Khan, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court as a private prosecutor earlier this month.
The former restaurateur and jewelery designer to the rich and famous is trying to have police charge the former Carlton Crew boss with ten offences, including blackmail.
Mr Mohammad has launched a private prosecution against the former heavyweight boxer turned industrial mediator in the hope that Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions will take over the case.
It has been reported that 39 private prosecutions have been launched in Victoria since 2011, of which the OPP has taken over 23 and dropped all of them.
Most of the remaining sixteen were unable to proceed for various reasons, while several are still pending.
Jamal Mohammad, who also goes by the name Jamal Khan (right) and underworld identity Mick Gatto (left), in happier times
Jamal Mohammad made his name in the early 2000s as the leader of Port Melbourne’s Waterfront
This month in court, Judge Brett Sonnett warned Mr Mohammad that his prosecution already appeared doomed to failure because some of the charges brought had to be heard in a higher court.
Under Victorian law, only minor charges can be prosecuted by private citizens.
Mr Mohammad told the court he had been trying to convince Victoria Police detectives to charge Gatto since June last year.
“This started from 1999,” he told the court on Monday.
Mr Mohammad claimed that police were investigating his claims.
“They’re contacting me,” he said. ‘The [crime investigation unit] hasn’t contacted me yet.
‘They say they are investigating and will be in touch [me].’
Mr Mohammad said he turned to private prosecution after becoming frustrated with the legal process.
“Your Honor, I tried to speed things up because that’s what I did [the victim of] attempted extortion,” he said.
Mr Mohammad said he had compiled his own 1,100-page piece of evidence against Gatto and Adam Wright, the owner of a Melbourne-based security company.
Mr Sonnett adjourned the case until June in an attempt to get a decision from the OPP on whether or not it intended to take over the prosecution.
Gatto did not appear in court for the hearing.
Bad blood between the former friends began to hit social media last year, The age reported.
In one conversation, Mr. Mohammad posted a TikTok video in which he labeled Gatto a “weak dog.”
Jamal Mohammad has launched a private prosecution against Mick Gatto
Anthony Mundine celebrates with Mick Gatto after a win in 2014. Gatto had been a heavyweight boxer himself
Gatto was acquitted of the murder of gang killer Benji Veniamin (pictured with Roberta Williams)
The pair had been close friends in the early 2000s when Mr Mohammad owned the Waterfront restaurant in Port Melbourne.
A money dispute over “millions of dollars” is said to be at the heart of the dispute between the couple.
In September, Mr Mohammad was interviewed by Viper task force detectives after two guns and ammunition were found at his Beaumaris home, but no charges were laid.
In court, Gatto’s lawyer rejected all of Mr Mohammad’s allegations and suggested he should pay Gatto’s legal costs if the private prosecution fails.
Gatto allegedly branded Mr Mohammad ‘king’s stomach’ in a 1,000-word message for friends and business associates, The Age reported last July.
“You’re making all these threats and ultimatums,” Gatto said in a text message on July 20.
“I, Mick Gatto, in my almost seventy years on this planet, I have never met a lesser human being than you.
“I hate you with a passion for what you’re trying to do.”
The OPP is expected to make a decision on charges by the end of May.