Tony Mokbel, Australia’s most notorious crime lord, looked every inch the feared gangster as he snarled in the witness box during fresh bid for freedom, writes WAYNE FLOWER

Imprisoned crime lord ‘Fat’ Tony Mokbel has opened up about how detectives crushed his illegal empire at the end of the ‘Underbelly War’.

The former crime boss, who ruled Melbourne’s underworld in the 1990s and early 2000s, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday in a bid to secure early release over the ongoing Lawyer X scandal.

Dressed in a dark suit with pinstripes and a striped purple tie, the now 58-year-old looked every bit the feared gangster he once was, complete with a facial tic that saw him growling through his evidence.

Mokbel appeared otherwise sane, despite years behind bars and a brutal attempt on his life in 2019, during which he was repeatedly beaten down by prison rivals.

At a hearing last year it was revealed that Mokbel still suffers a traumatic brain injury as a result of the attack and has been hospitalized for heart attacks.

Mokbel insisted he stood while giving evidence, claiming he fled Australia in 2006 after receiving advice from disgraced lawyer Nicola Gobbo that he was about to be charged with three counts of murder.

At the time, Mokbel had already expected a long prison sentence after being charged with serious drug trafficking crimes.

Detectives from the Purana Task Force – the Victoria Police crew responsible for ending Melbourne’s gangland war – were already crushing his criminal empire by restricting his access to $15 million in cash and assets.

The court heard police seized property in Victoria and Queensland, including several properties in Brunswick, Noosa and the Red Lion Hotel in Kilmore.

Police took Mokbel’s Ferrari roadster and froze the money he had in the NAB and ANZ banks.

Mokbel was so broke that he could not afford to perform the upcoming drug trial, let alone defend a murder case.

Gobbo was unmasked as police informant superstar Lawyer X in March 2019.

She had performed for many of Melbourne’s thugs, including Mokbel and the late gangster Carl Williams.

Williams was beaten to death in prison before he even had a chance to see his former lawyer involved in the grimy scandal.

Mokbel has already won several legal victories over Gobbo’s interference in his affairs.

A 2006 conviction for importing cocaine was overturned in 2020 due to the Lawyer X scandal.

Last year, his 2012 sentence for drug trafficking was reduced from 30 years in prison with a minimum term of 22 years to a total of 26 years with a non-parole period of 20 years.

Mokbel appeared in court on Tuesday as part of a 12-week hearing that he hopes will conclude his conviction should be quashed altogether.

Gobbo had first met Mokbel in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in 1998, when she was acting as a junior to barrister Alex Lewenberg.

Mokbel claimed she was acting on his brother’s behalf.

In 2002, Mokbel said Gobbo visited him in prison while he was on remand on drug charges.

She acted as junior lawyer Con Heliotis and asked to come on board.

‘I honestly didn’t know she was a lawyer. I thought she was just a clerk in Lewenberg’s office,” he said.

Mokbel claimed Gobbo gave him the hard sell and assured him she would work hard for him.

“She was an extremely hard-working lawyer compared to others,” Mokbel said.

‘She did all the administrative work that a lawyer would do, and you don’t see that with lawyers. She kept telling me to call her, she kept coming to see me. She just put me on a pedestal… which was great for me because it was a big deal.”

Mokbel claimed the pair often discussed his legal matters outside the home over coffee and dinners.

The gangster claims he only fled in 2006 – halfway through the trial – because Gobbo warned him that the police wanted to charge him with murder.

“She told me that I am going to be accused of three murders and that I should seriously consider going into hiding,” he told the court.

Police later charged him with the murders of Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall at the height of Melbourne’s underworld war.

Mokbel said he completely trusted Gobbo and described her as “the engine” of his legal defense.

“We would discuss everything. She was the driving force in legal advice,” he said.

‘I trusted her completely. I trusted her more than Heliotis. I thought she was the most loyal person on earth.’

Mokbel said he had been in contact with Gobbo again after his arrest in Greece, hoping she could help his Greek lawyer block his extradition to Australia.

Charges against Mokbel in the Marshall case were later dropped and he was acquitted by a jury of Moran’s murder.

The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants released its findings in 2021, revealing that more than 1,000 criminals could be released or given a new trial because of Gobbo’s unlawful information to Victoria Police.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo AO concluded that the convictions or findings of guilt of 1,011 people may have been influenced by Victoria Police’s use of Gobbo as a human source.

“She told police about Mr Mokbel’s properties, finances, contact numbers, associates and the vehicles and code names he used,” Commissioner McMurdo said at the time.

‘She disclosed the defense strategies and tactics used by Mr Mokbel’s legal team, both in his criminal trial and in his extradition proceedings.’

The hearing continues.